Independence Day

Today is Guatemala's Independence Day! All classes were cancelled, so we got to celebrate along with everyone else!

We woke up early this morning, had a quick breakfast and then set off for Parque Central, where the Independence Day parade was being held. When we first arrived, we were surprised that there seemed to be hardly any people in the normally crowded park. However, we soon found them lining the streets on the opposite side, watching the parade. We met our friend from Denmark, Mads (pronounced Mess) and joined the crowd. The parade was incredible! Dozens of bands, school kids, dancers and other musicians marched proudly for their country. We stood watching the parade and got lot's of pictures for about an hour and a half. When we left, it was far from being over!

We then stopped by a coffee shop to get something to drink and went up to their roof, where they had more seating and a great view of the parade. We sat up there and talked and enjoyed the nice weather.

We heard from one of our tutors that there were some events going on at the soccer field, so we decided to check it out. However, we didn't really know where we were going, so we ended up just walking in random directions. We ended up in a crowded, kind of sketchy part of town. Luckily, the people were still very friendly. And then it started to pour. We were prepared with rain coats, because we are in the rainy season in Guatemala and it rains a couple times a day, but it rained hard and we got soaked! We ran through the packed streets, trying to find something familiar. We ended up finding the supermarket near our home, and stopped to shop. After making our first grocery store purchases in Guatemala (laundry detergent and shampoo) we headed home, happy we got to see the excitement of Independence Day and also ready to take naps!

While the rest of the group went to their afternoon classes, Jessica and I stayed at our home and worked on homework. Spanish homework is mostly memorization, but it takes a long time! We got a lot done and it was nice to stay home and relax in dry clothes!

That night before dinner, Cindy asked Corrie, Kymber, Jessica and I if we wanted to join her at the grocery store to shop for dinner, and of course we said yes! We went back to the store we shopped at earlier, but this time it felt different because we were deciding on what food to buy for that night and it felt like we really live here! It was also fun because Leslie, our go-to translator who knows a lot of Spanish and can communicate with Cindy, who only knows a little English, wasn't with us, and we were able to figure out what Cindy was asking us and what she needed us to find on our own! It's the little things when it comes to understanding something in a different language by yourself!

For dinner we had pasta with broccoli and squash, fried chicken and tortillas. It was very delicious. Tomorrow we have our Friday class and then a whole weekend to explore Antigua! We are planning to hang out with our friend Mads again and really get to know this beautiful city!

-Kara