en Guate!

Here I am in Guatemala. I spent the first night in a hostel where I met a lot of new friends. The next day we all visited a non-profit that works with the families who pick through Central America´s largest garbage dump (located in Guatemala City) for things to re-sell. The organization gets kids out of the work and into school, helps them get access to showers and 2-3 meals a day, teaches them that they are important and worthy of love and respect, and does a lot to encourage their creative development through art and play and music. The parents also have the opportunity to learn to read and write and also go through the grade school program privately with the organization. They are also helped to start handi-craft businesses like making beads and jewelry out of rolled magazine pages. I was very inspired. The woman who started it sold all her things in the US and moved down here with only $5,000. She started with 40 kids and now it serves 300 families and about 500 kids.

Then I took a 4hr bus to Xela to meet Justin. Along the way I met a couple from New Mexico and we bonded on our love of desert creatures (they are herpatology nerds and I´m more of an entemology nerd), hiking, and green chile :) Then Justin picked me up and we had a very nice reunion. He showed me around his town, we ate Indian food and drank a hot fruit drink from the night market. We plan to get going on a bunch of treks ASAP, so you might not hear from me for awhile... I cannot wait to get out there and be in the beatiful naturaleza!
love!