I wish that I could have seen you on your big 24th. Hopefully it was a very happy day. I thought about you all day and wanted to post this then, but there was not an internet signal for about 5 days. But hey, how can I complain when I have such a great cell signal now! Anyway, I wish you all the happiness in the world. I hope that this next year of your fabulous life is filled with peace, laughter, friendship, and a trip to Guatemala! I miss you so much and get very nostalgic when I dip into the memory bank and remember our goofy times together. Halla Nasty Nati! I can not wait until you visit! Mostly I can not wait to talk to you. Now that I am finally settled, well somewhat, I have time to talk to all of my loved ones. The momentito we did have to talk was great. It literally made my day. What a spectacular surprise. I’m glad to hear that all is going well for you and that you are doing things that you want to do and that make you happy. Because damn it, you deserve it! I miss you my friend and I look forward to hearing your voice! Paz y amor mi compañera. Happy Birthday.

Phew. It is stinking hot. I thought it was supposed to be “winter” and by that I mean the rainy season. San Andrés has not seen rain in almost a week and, today, we have got to be around 90. That is nothing though. Summer frequently reaches over 100, everything turns brown, and this place drys out. Desert condtions. We even have the cowboys! No for real, there are many ganaderos here. Pretty cool. The cows are quite beautiful. The other day Mat and I saw a gentleman lasso a calf in our front yard. Not my every day experience in Ohio.

So far the site is pretty great. Beautiful. Both the people and area. We are a little slow on work but that is alright. Besides we are just becoming accustomed to the “hora de la Chapina.” We still need to find a place to live. Right now we are living with Mat’s counterpart and his family. They are great but we got a double index-finger, no-no wag on living with the counterpart. Soon we will have a place to call home. Or so we hope…..

Initically we will be working in two communities who are both enthusiastic. Hooray! We have also been speaking to each other in Spanish only! Thems the rules. Avoid English at all costs. It works too. I think that we have improved in only a week. Don’t tell our Spanish teachers but this is the most Spanish I have spoken since I arrived. No more Antigua weekends to get us off the track. Sorry for the lack of pics. Commentary is best accompanied by visuals and everybody who is anybody knows that Mat and I are visual learners! For now, ¡Nos vemos!

Eleven weeks are over! We made it! We are now officially volunteers! How freakin’ awesome, right? The ceremony was short. We’re both very happy to finally be together but it is with a little trepidation that we step into our service for two years… we don’t really know our role yet and we’re starting over again in a new community and with a new family, albeit together.

More updates will come as we get acclimated to our new site!

As I’m sure you’ve guessed, we’re all a little under the weather today…

With that said, here are some pictures!

Edit— Dropped my camera today and now it seems like it doesn’t want to install correctly on some computers in Antigua. Looks like a card reader is in my future! Camera still works though.