Guilty

Normally I never feel guilty about anything. The reason for this is that I usually don't do anything to feel too guilty about...and when I do it's an honest mistake or misunderstanding and I apologize. But yesterday was different...3x.


1. I bought some ice cream for about $1. I paid with what I am pretty sure was about $2. The girl gave me change for $13 (the largest bill here). Now the reason I didn't correct this mistake was because I gave her the benefit of the doubt and just assumed that I was mistaken. The bills here kind of look the same and they are old and crappy due to a lack of wallets (I shove my money in my pocket). And what was I supposed to do? Ask her if she made a mistake? I tell myself that even if she was correct she would have said she wasn't just to get my money. I also tell myself that my Spanish isn't good enough to communicate this to her. And lastly, if she figures out her mistake later she will without a doubt be more careful in the future and thus I was preventing her from further more important loses. Either way, I still feel kind of bad.

2. I had a library book. I am in a different city now...but I still have it. After school I walked by the place to give it back but they were closed. They didn't have those handy drop-off boxes and I coulnd't just set it on the sidewalk. To check out the book all I had to do was write down my name on a list.

3. The dog always jumped on me and barked at me. I would always kick it. Last night it was doing the same thing. It was late at night so all the lights were off and I could only see from the street lights. I grabbed the broom and I took a big swing at what I thought was it´s butt...only it was it's head. She started whimpering and running in circles. She was crying so much that my host mom came all the way from downstairs to ask what happened. This morning I looked at it and one eye was half closed. I'm glad it was my last day there because I really wouldn't want to explain to a 6 and a 12 year old what happened to their dog. It really is hard to teach and old dog new tricks. I don't feel bad for hitting it. I just feel bad that the family is going to have to just guess as to what their foreign exchange student did to their dog. But in all honesty I think the adults will get a good laugh out of it.

In Mark news...I'm still in Guatemala. At Panejachel on Lago de Atitlan. I leave tomorrow.

Monterrico

I went to Monterrico this weekend with a bunch of other drifters. Highlights include..

sitting on the beach in a hammock drinking smoothies
jumping around in waves
eating food that didn't contain any beans

mentionable things...

minor sunburn
taking a big whipe out while walking
buying sandals that say Italy all over them
not getting as many mozzy bites as Rob
seeing more wildlife in our hotel rooms and restaurants than on our wildlife boat tour

strange/scary things...
Sara fainting in the restaurant.
Me trying to dig sand out of Diego's eye with a toothpick (I got it).

And finally one story. I was sitting on a hammock next to Myrna. She was writing, I asked her if she had a diary (en espanol). She thought I said diarrhea. We then had what we each thought was a normal conversation (well except for the part where I would have been asking her all these personal questions about her digestive system). The whole time I just thought she was talking about her diary and she thought I was talking about diarrhea. I was laughing so hard. It's kind of one of those you had to be there moments that I will think of everytime I hear the word diary. The toothpick story is for another day.

Antigua

Well, I've been in Guatemala for just over two weeks. So far I've come to a few conclusions...well I'm kind of thinking of them as I type but oh well.

No matter how hard I try, I will never be able to learn Spanish. I fall back on the "I'm too old to learn a language excuse."

No matter how hard I try I will never be able to spend all my money in 3 months.

And, ice cream here is like ice cream back home.

Really, not much has been going on here. I have a cool family that likes to cook beans and onions and watch soap operas...but for kids. I am not sure if we have that equivalent in the US. I sit on a hammock all afternoon and nap, read or stare at the huge volcano that is visible from my roof. I live with a dog and it hasn't been trained very well. Over the next two weeks it's training should be complete. I prefer the shoe or broom to the face method...for the dog, not me. Other than that, there isn't really much to say. I've been taking pics but forgot my cord to upload them. I'll put them on a CD eventually and upload that way.

This weekend I'm going to the ocean for some relaxing. Basically I'll be comparing the hammock and volcano view with the hammock and ocean view...I hope. Two weeks from now I will hopefully be getting my PADI cert. and then cruising around in Lake Atitlan - a collapsed volcano.

I will not be learning to salsa and I have a farmers tan that any farmer would envy. Today I walked around looking for a tailor to sew up the hole in my pocket but I couldn't find one (I had a map with the X). I also withdrew money from the bank with out any problms. I can't think of anything else now. I tried to ask my teacher if he'd ever been robbed but I asked him if he'd ever robbed anyone. I didn't know what I'd said until he started explaining to me how he has morals etc. So that, more or less, is what i've been up to.

hasta luego, marcos