Guatemala Salsa and Soccer

My eyes are so tired today. I keep thinking that I will be leaving this
place...Xela, Guatemala...but the people are almost too good and I keep
staying for ¨just one more day¨.

I played soccer yesterday. There were only two girls and I ended being on
the winning team all 3 games. My quads have never hurts as bad as they do
now, and my ribs are sore just from trying to get a breath in. I am so in
shape...it hurts! What hurts more is my ass on the back of a bike getting a
ride back because I hurt so much and the cobbled streets slam the seat on my
buttocks. I have a pain in my ass now!

As we walked back to the park, they had the most bazaar almost weirded me
out procession. These people dressed as Klu Klux Klan type with different
colors and all the head pieces with the cut out eyes....drunk from receiving
free beer at the bars tranced down the streets as thousands came to watch
them. American flags with big x marks in them...anti America, anti
Bush...This group belongs to University where they go around to stores and
demand 2000 Quetzals. If the business does not pay then they tar their
buildling with black paint like material. The money, I think originally was
supposed to be for the poor but now it´s just pocketed. But the crazy thing
is that they are allowed to do this! No one ever gets arrested. McDonalds
got painted black one year because they refused to pay! I am so not in
America! It made me go for a beer!

Last night, I met a guy from Albuqerque New Mexico! What are the odds. A
Tijeras boy at that! And that gringo can tear up Salsa dancing like I have
never experienced. We went, again, to KokoLocos the only place where Salsa
dancing seems to occur in this town. No one was on the dance floor...but who
started the party up...the Nuevo Mexicano. Ryan threw my ass around the
floor twirling me like I knew what I was doing! I think we may have looked
like a couple kick ass salsa queens. People were confused by our white-ness
I am sure. But, then the dance floor was loaded....and we still kicked butt
thanks to Ryan´s man moves. He had me going under him twirling around his
back. I just can´t explain what happened to me, but me and my purple sandles
were a flying. After that I could not stop dancing and I took up any offer
no matter if they were 4foot tall or not! I just wanted to dance!

After that I could not pass up the hot springs again today. My body feels
like I laid down in the cobbled streets and just let a semi run over my legs
and ribs. I´m a frickin mess! So I followed a couple of people going to
Fuentes Georginas and soaked my body in the volcanic hot springs for hours
asking the mountain gods to please just take the pain away.

I´ve decided to stay for the futbol game tonight and maybe hike the volcano
Santa Maria tomorrow with a really awesome group of people- Rachel from
Hawaii, Ryan from Borque ville, Kathy from Detroit, and Helen from West
Virginia! How can you pass up a group like that?

I am starting to really enjoy my stay in this Mayan land. There is something
beautiful amongst the polllution and trash that just soaks people in and
they can´t help but stay one more day longer. If I make it back from the
volcano I go to Antigua. Otherwise, I just stay here another night! Go
figure. I love a schedule that takes a days notice to change if I so desire.
That is how we should be living the life. Not fitting my vacation time in a
year in advance! I don´t know how I´m going to deal with this residency
business.