Introduction

Edit: Whoops! Didn't realize I had comments disabled for this entry at first! You can now add comments if you want! :)
I also forgot to include links to the specific programs I'm doing in Antigua. Volunteer project Spanish-language program

Hi everyone! :D For those of you who don't already know, I'm in Antigua, Guatemala for a volunteering project and to improve my Spanish. It's through HumaniTravels, which I heard about when Alex (the co-director) was sitting at a table in the USF Market Cafe and asked me if I was interested in any volunteering abroad opportunities. The program sounded really cool, and now here I am!

I just got into Antigua last night, at around 10:30 PM local time (which is 9:30 PM SF time). The driver, who picked me up at the airport in Guatemala City and took me to my hotel, was really nice. I talked to him in Spanish for pretty much the whole ride which was cool! I met the program coordinator or something at Tecun Uman which is the language school I'll be at for the 3 weeks, and then I went to my room. I have 3 full size beds in my room!! Lots of space to spread my stuff out! :D And a TV with like 90 channels, including ESPN (in Spanish) wooo! My room:

But I'm only staying there for 2 nights, and then on Sunday I'm going to my homestay, where I'll stay the rest of the time. I get my own room in the homestay, with wifi, and I'm the only person staying in that house. I had to pay $15/week extra for that.

This morning, Gustavo (a Humanitravels in-country representative that's available for me 24/7 in case I have any problems) came to my hotel and gave me a 45-minute orientation about the area. I have the rest of the day and tomorrow until noon to do whatever I want now! I just got some money from the bank (the exchange rate is about 7.5 Quetzals to a US dollar) and just finished eating lunch at this cafe that has free wifi that I'm at right now.

Oh and my hotel lobby has wifi too, but not my room. Now I'm going to go get a prepaid phone with a Guatemalan number, find a church I can go to tomorrow (and the next couple weeks), and try to find a sports bar that'll show Giants games!! :) Don't worry, I won't spend a lot of time watching the Giants, but I want to be able to watch at least a little. Then I'll just wander around and explore the rest of the city! It's a really tiny city - this is a map of the whole city! Everything is walkable. (Click on the picture to enlarge)

I'll be putting photos here throughout the trip.

Feel free to leave comments, ask questions, whatever. :)

Oh I just remembered, thanks to my wonderful mom for bringing my SIM card from home to the airport and missing her doctor appointment for me because I forgot to bring it...my regular US cell phone # works! BUT I have to pay $1.99/minute for calls, 5 cents to receive a text and 50 cents to send a text. So I'm not gonna be using it much. And please don't text me like random stuff or anything, cause then I'll have to pay. Thanks :D