So today we started off with a traditional Guatemalan breakfast of tortillas, fried eggs,refried beans and banana smoothies. We started off the morning with a nature/agriculture hike, it was very tiring. Our hike was led by Don Vidal and we hiked from San Juan del Obispo to San Migel. With a town in between. It was very dusty, and we learned a lot about different plants and flowers. A lot of farmers had their fields in the hills that we walked, this means that they might have to walk an hour or two in the dusty hot sun just to get to their work, and you thought your half an hour car commute was bad! Once we arrived back in San Miguel we walked back to our house, we only got lost un paquito. We then cleaned our filthy feet and walked to lunch at another farmer’s house. His name was Manuel and he had a very nice house. He also had a cat (which Rachel loved, but I did not, at all). Our lunch was chicken with a red sauce, and of course rice and coffee. es muy bien.

After lunch we headed to Antigua to go to the market! We started off with a scavenger hunt of bartering to get ingredients for dinner. My group was in charge of getting the main course of nachos. We were giving 50 quetzals to buy 12 ingredients. Our bartering didn’t go too well, they told us our economy is too good, and they couldn’t go any lower and a couple of people yelled at us, it was an experience. The group for guacamole and dessert did better, and we got all the ingredients, and dinner was So yummy. After that we had an hour to buy our own stuff and barter for ourselves. So if you are a close friend or family member of someone on this trip, you probably got something, everyone was shopping for everyone. It was awesome. I am so happy with what I got, I just wish I could have gotten more. The people in the artisan market were a lot nicer and would keep shouting lower numbers if you walked away, it was like nothing I have ever experienced before.

We then took the chicken bus back home. The chicken bus is the bus everyone takes, you sit three to a seat and it gets pretty crowded. It is called the chicken bus because people take whatever they need at the market on the bus, and people who sell chickens need to bring chickens.

We then came home to make our dinner. We made nachos with onions, peppers, tomatoes, and refried beans. We then could add our own toppings of sour cream, cheese, and mangos. Our drink was a pineapple and banana smoothie, everyone loved it. Dad I know you will be jealous of this, we had home made guacamole, you are supposed to leave the seed/pit in it so it keeps the green color instead of turning brown. Dessert was chocolate covered by plantanes. It was all so good and everyone is so full. After dinner we got our letters from all of the wonderful people supporting us. We all would like to say thank yo. Fr the support, we love you all. we are currently making collages to get to know each other better.

Tomorrow is construction day, it will be hard work and we will be very tired, wish us luck!

Love from Guatemala,

Marie