Beach Party!

This past weekend 21 of the 31 Volunteers made a trip to the Ocean! We went to the Pacific side, got burnt and got repeatedly smashed by the wicked rip tide. Do not mess with the Pacific; it will kick your butt. I was merely standing at the edge and the recession on the wave completely knocked me on the ground and the force of the wave sucked me into the ocean, it was insane! 3 years ago a married couple, after completing their service, took a trip to the ocean only to have the wife drown due to the intensity of the tide. Anyway, we were all careful. Today was Memorial Day in the States! (Sorry for the terrible transition) We made a trip the capital, Guatemala City, and as we were looking at the US Embassy, a fellow volunteer mentioned that today was Memorial Day… I thought of a pancake breakfast, marching bands, and being able to swim for free at Thornton Park. The only thing I miss is the pancake breakfast. The city is a pretty unsafe place to be. We were advised only to bring the necessities. So I wore nothing of value and I stuffed money in my shoe and bra. You wouldn’t think that it would be dangerous in the morning, well that was proven wrong. A new tactic in the city is for motorcyclists to drive by and snatch the purses or bags off of pedestrians. Well it happened to one of our Spanish teachers, thankfully she was able to hang on to her bag and nothing was stolen, but she went away with some bad bruises. A little scary but you have to be on guard at all times. I don’t know if I mentioned the truck accident down the street from my house. The breaks went out on a truck carrying a shipment of lime. As it went off the cliff it took a car with it and a little child died in the accident. I was able to walk by the accident after it was cleared and I took some shots of what was left of the truck. Well, gee, sorry to be such a Debbie Downer with this entry, I didn’t intentionally want to freak you all out. Ehh… Happy Memorial Day J