Toto, We're Not In Saskatchewan Anymore . . . Part 2

So . . . .

Where to start?  I have had about a million blog ideas in the last 2 weeks but no time to write one.  And now I am not sure where to start.

So lets start with some "Big City Living" realizations.  Guate is a city with over 3 million people, I am from Saskatchewan where there are 1 million people in the entire province and Saskatchewan is FIVE times the size the country of Guatemala.  So for me, who loves numbers, this is a BIG change in numbers!

I think I have said this before but there are people everywhere all the time . . . in Guatemala right now they have a mandatory person registration . . . what I am getting from my interpretation of the signs is that everyone in the country must get a photo ID . . . anyway, one of 5 of these "person registration" sites is on the lower level of our building and there are people lined up down the street from 5AM til 6PM trying to get this registration done.  If we didn't look like complete foreigners I am sure they wouldn't let us into our building thinking we are trying to budge in line in front of them.  In the mornings as we wait for our bus we watch the people get off the chicken buses and race eachother over to the line.  Its a pretty funny site because I am really not sure how people get off those chicken buses once they are on.

So . . . I took a couple chicken bus pictures last Sunday while we were out for a walk . . . but since Sunday is the day of rest they were not nearly as entertaining as they normally are . . .

They call these buses "Killer Tomatoes", I am not sure if its because you could die riding them or they would just plough you down if you got out in front of them but I am really not sure I want to find out.  I still have not ventured on one of them but they cost 1Q which is like 12 cents Canadian so it is definately an affordable mode of transportation for a very poor country.

My transportation around this country consists of a school bus to and from school, car rides from our local tour guide, and my feet.  My feet tend to be the most dangerous of the modes as this is not a pedestrian friendly country and I tend to be in a daze most times when I walk.  I believe Kara has saved my life or maybe legs a few times since being here as people do not like to use signals or follow cross walks or stop signs or pretty much anything that would make it easy to decide whether it was safe to cross the street.  Also I think they may just want to plough down the girl with the blonde hair.

I need to end this blog and attend to some marking/planning but I feel I should leave it with some pictures of things I find entertaining about this country.

McDonalds along with every other fastfood restaurant delivers . . . I think I may have to start drinking more in order to fully appreciate fast food delivery!  But the dirt bike delivery vehicles are rather entertaining.

You know you are in a Latin American country when . . . the maniquans have BOOTIES!

Anyway anyone who knows me from Uni knows that I am pretty much the best procrastinator in the world so I say now that I am going to start marking/planning.  However, I do believe that I may take a nap/have some lunch . . .

I will blog again soon . . . I didn't even cover anything from the last 2 weeks.

Miss and Love you all!