All right! We're finally underway here. This first journal entry is coming at you from Antigua, Guatemala. But let me back up a bit, or 'Tarentino It' as my boy Dane Cook would say, and fill in what I've been doing. Before I begin though, let me just say I don't actually expect anyone to read allllll of this journal or the ones to come. There is no obligation, nor will there be a test when I return to see who was paying attention. This is for my benefit as much as anyone elses, so feel free to jump about as you wish. That said, here goes. Last Friday I hopped a plane to LA to see my sister in Costa Mesa for the weekend. I honestly wastn't really looking forward to it all that much because I had these horrible stereotypes of Southern California, but I was actually pleasantly surprised! Not everyone there was blonde and/or tan as I had expected. M played a great tour guide and took me all over, Huntington Beach, South Coast Plaza, the OC Fair, Hollywood, Rodeo Dr. as well as the local places she and her friends are into. It was a great time. I can't believe I won't see her until Christmas. Ah well. Marilyn, if you read this, I would appreciate it if you sent my phone home, sadly though, I still have my charger with me so I'll be carrying it around for the next couple months, dead weight if you ask me. Oh! I got to see Zabeth! She moved to Cali a year ago and hasn't been back since. We did lunch and she showed me around Balboa Island where I had my first frozen banana. Good times that. So Marilyn dropped me off at the airport Sunday night and after a slow hour and a half of security procedures I was on the plane to Guatemala City. We arrived after 4.5 hours, and that was as much sleep as I got last night. I wandered around in somewhat of a daze for most of the morning. Some other random traveller guy, Paul from Illinois, and I caught a shuttle out of the crazy capital into Antigua, the touristy cultural city an hour outside Guate. The driver hooked me up with a litte teeny hostel that looks to be this lady's house, but I can't actually tell? I have this itsy little room with a pretty big bed (surprisingly) a clothes rack, night table and that's it, it's about 6x6. :) There are 3 Austrian guys in the rooms next to me, they are studying Spanish here for 3 weeks and they're pretty groovy, which is good since they'll probably be there the entire time I am. Oh, get this, the room costs 35 Queztales a night, which amounts to about 4$. Nice! Speaking of money though, that several hours of wandering I did this morning was 90% in search of an ATM that would accept one of my cards. I had to stand in line at 3 banks before I figured out how to get money out of my Visa. I was NOT expecting that little roadbump. Funny, I refer to it as a roadbump right now, but this morning, when I'd had 4 hours of plane-sleep and nothing to eat in 18 hours, it was more like a mountain. Particularly, Volcano Pacaya which was towering over me the entire drive to Antigua. :) I've calmed down significantly since then.... The people here ROCK. They are so cool. Even the guys that call out from their bikes and corners are always relatively sweet about it. People will smile at you and don't hesitate over convo with a foreigner. I have had no trouble with Spanish, everything is coming flooding back, just like my mother and everyone else kept assuring me. Though I do have to work on using Uds instead of Vosotros as the other Span. speakers will understand. And also my Spain-Spanish so-called 'lisp'gives me away a bit. I'll miss that little accent that I had.... Ok, that's enough for now. I'm out. If you email me, I'll try to write back, but give me time! :) Cuidaos! --->Natalie