this is my friend robyn's site in san cristobal, alta vera paz.. which is the department above baja vera paz, my department! i went to visit her for the weekend in her site and there was a little fair going on.. and there you see the fresh fruit sweeets! so delicious! and the grand beautiful church of san cristobal!!!

alrighty, now we've got pictures of their interpretive dance class, or something to that effect, where they acted out the motions and lives of the animals- ants, rabbits and bees- without speaking, only sound and movement. it was entertaining for sure. these are my students and i was so glad to watch them! i'm so proud of everything they do! i really am!

and then the last photo is of my students and an art project that they completed of the center of el chol! isn't that super cool? you guys all saw the photo of the center of my town.. if you haven't.. back track in the posts and check it out because its identical! they are so creative!! excellent work!!! : ) they actually put like real stones and plants and painted it all and everything!!

here we've got some pictures of my host parents, who cooked coconut curry in honor of the Garifunas.. mm delicious! and then we've got photos of my host dad and his kids.. and then a super awesome guatemalan bus.. they are all bright colors and mad decorated.. i think its because people like half the population is illiterate, so they remember their buses by color.. and by men jumping off the bus shouting about where the bus is going... "guate guate guate...." mmhmm.. you just gotta see them and you gotta be there.. come visit! it's awesome!

the elementary school girls in the colorful dresses danced and represented ladino culture and the one girl with the head dress represents mayan culture (how maybe they used to dress because they don't dress like that anymore) and then the remaining photos are kids celebrating the garifuna culture.. garifunas are a group of people that live in different parts of central america that were brought over from africa as slaves but were very resistant and strong against the english and eventually broke free from slavery and settled throughout central america.. in guatemala the majority of garifunas reside in Livingston, Guatemala.. i want to go there! so we're going this year, i'll let you know how it is! all the cultures of guatemala are incredibly different.. it's fascinating!!!

here's some pictures from a birthday party i went too.. pinatas.. a must have. this was an extravagant birthday party.. it was lovely! : )

and then we've got some photos of the birthday girl's family.. they are really sweet!!!

and then we've got a photo of another cultural event at one of the elementary schools, celebrating three cultures of guatemala (the mayans, the ladinos and the garifunas).. this photo at the top is of the indigenous mayans!

here's some more photos of xela, the second biggest city in guatemala, near where my friend travis lives in the town outside of xela, cantel. xela is waay out west, in the department of quetzaltenango like 9 hours from my site.. but totally worth the trip when you can hang out with friends!!! the hours mean nothing to the precious time spent with the ones you love, right?

and then the other photo is me and my friend ryan when we accidently stayed in a brothel.. this is the pimp, angel. oops, did i say that out loud? i swear we didn't know, or we would not have been smiling. we found out later through insiders of knowledge of guatemala, which obviously we did not know or recognize at the time. skeettccchhyy but thank god, we're okay! but anyways, this was ryan on the left and angel in the middle.

i asked angel what he thought the purpose of life was and he said, "to be humble, to be kind and to make friends." -the wisdom i learned from a pimp.. i swear he seemed like such a nice guy.. things aren't always as they seem, i suppose