Ruins Ruins Ruins

I’ve got a lot to write about since its been so long since my last post. For the most part, its been a lot of the same. Homework, essays, go into Antigua for a white chocolate frost grande. But with Bob gone, and Spanish class finished we had no classes for almost a week. It didn’t mean less work because of the work from other classes, but it did mean we had a little freedom to do whatever.

Last Saturday we got up nice and early at 4 and spent 6 hours on a cramped shuttle to go to Copan in Honduras. We grabbed a hotel watched our first T.V. in 3 months (anaconda 2 in Spanish) and then checked out the Mayan ruin, which are a taste of what the ruins in Tikal will be like. Of course, we got in trouble from a Honduran soldier with a big gun when a few of us tried to climb a part of the ruins. At night we walked around the small town for a while. The next morning we went back to the ruins the check out the tunnels that run beneath the pyramids and temples, and then ran back to our hotel to catch our shuttle back again. It was an awesome trip, but would have been better if we had more time.

So now our group is off on a five day trip to Tikal to see more ruins very early in the morning again.. It’s a lot of driving and a few of us are sick. So it could easily be a horrible time – but we are praying it wont be.

never want to read agian

After we came back from tactic we had a short day to recover, and then we jumped straight into school again. Professor Ruth Anaya flew down from Trinity Western and taught us Anthropology 101 and cross cultural studies 302 in a ridiculous two weeks. We had three classes a day starting at 9 in the morning and usually ending at 9:30 at night, with time in between for an inane amount of reading, studying, homework and not much else.
On the 3rd, we had a field trip type thing to different place in Guatemala City. We first went to visit the slums that had grown around and in the Garbage dump. I felt awkward just going to visit without bringing any help, or even to visit anyone. After the slums we went to the Guatemalan Palace, their parliament buildings. The contrast from cornstalk homes to a palace with gold, marble and stained glass made us feel a little weird- but I think that was the point. After our first lunch at a Wendy’s in a few months we went to the Museum and art gallery. The museum was really cool. There were two thousand year old Mayan sacrificial alters and stone idols just lying around in the open. Could have spent a few days in there.
Then last Friday we went to a game farm a few hours from the campus. It was a self driven safari type thing for most of it – including all the lions, giraffes, hippos and all that- and a zoo for the monkeys and smaller animals. Its nothing like the zoos back home. Here I could lean out of the car and be within grabbing distance of the lions, Monkeys were just hanging around the picnic areas – all thanks to the lack of those animal rights groups.

I really enjoyed the classes, and I learned a lot, but im grateful for some time off now. It was a lot of late nights studying and reading, but now we have the weekend to sleep, and for those of us who are sick, to recover.