Getting acclimated

I have been in Guatemala for 5 days now. We first arrived at the Aurora airport on Friday afternoon and were wisked away by Wendy Wever to Antigua. Wendy is a nationally certified bilingual teacher who worked in both New Orleans and Austin for several years. She is now working in Antigua Guatemala assisting ex-pats assimilate and find volunteer work in the community. She was the educator who took me around the country in 2004 to see the various cultures and regions while I was working on my masters.  If you are interested in living in Antigua, Wendy is the go-to person.  There are multiple job opportunities here for ex-pats of all countries.  There is even an English language weekly publication called La Cuadra which is published by a bar called Cafe No Se.  Wendy is a contributing author. I am accompanied by my daughter, Kaya and my step mother Wendy. This is the first time Wendy has traveled to Guatemala and the second time Kaya has been here. Kaya helped me to film my masters program thesis project in 2002 at La Pedrera.  They are both studying Spanish at Casa Xelaju and weaving with the Mayan women�s colective of La Trampa while I work with the director and the children of La Pedrera. After spending the weekend in Antigua with Wendy Wever getting acclimated to the culture and climate, we have successfully completed our second day at the school in Xela and I have completed the first day at La Pedrera.  We took a mini bus from Antigua to Xela that wrapped around the mountain and Lago Atitlan passed Panajachel.  This "65 mile trip" took over 4 hours.  We were welcomed by our house mother Sonia Lopez and fed tamales (made of rice and oil and wrapped in plantain leaves rather than corn and lard wrapped in corn husks like the ones that Texans are used to) and put to sleep. Monday morning we received our orientacion and then got settled in our new home for the next two weeks.  Tuesday (today) we attended classes and our volunteer work. We will be attending a demonstration and social justice event for women and the indiginous population on Thursday night. We will keep you posted.