Sea Turtles and Kites

The last few weeks here in Guatemala have been very exciting! Halloween weekend was a long weekend for us due to All Saint's Day November 1. I took advantage of the extra day to go to beach Saturday and Sunday. We went to this little beach town, Monterrico. Our hotel was not nearly as nice as when we went before, but this time we were actually in town. We were able to walk around, go to some beach clubs at night, and, of course, relax by the pool and on the beach. There were tons of families there celebrating the long weekend too! The highlight of the experience was setting baby sea turtles free! Monterrico is close to a mangrove/nature reserve, and one of the big projects in this area is rescuing sea turtles. They keep all of the eggs safe from natural predators and from poachers, and once the babies have hatched, they let people like me set them free into the ocean! It cost 10Q per sea turtle ($1.25 or so), and they line everyone up and have a race. The first person whose sea turtle crosses the finish line gets a t-shirt! We stayed around for a while to watch them all make it into the ocean. The waves pushed lots of them back, so it took some a long time, but it was an awesome experience! They were actually kind of creepy up close, but they were so cute trying to make their way across the sand!
The drive to and from the beach was interesting. My friend Natasha has a car, but it was the first time either of us had driven out of the city without someone more experienced. We did a great job though and made it there and back without too many U-turns! Sunday evening we got back to the city and went to Hooter's to watch the World Series. I had a craving for wings, and luckily, Hooter's has made it across the border!Monday, All Saint's Day, we went to a kite festival in Santiago Sachatepequez. This was one of those "I live in Guatemala" moments. The festival takes place in a cemetery in the town. The kites are supposed to be a way to connect with the deceased and pass messages between Earth and Heaven (that was my understanding of it anyway). All kinds of families are sitting on graves (that part was kind of weird), having picnic lunches, and flying kites. There are kites of all sizes and shapes. Some of them are so big that they don't fly. People work on their kites all year and lots of them are displayed in museums after the event.
We have also had a couple big events at school. Last Saturday the middle school hosted a baratillo (yard sale) that was open to the public. People started lining up an hour before it began! Most of the families at my school are fairly wealthy, so I guess everyone knows there will be good stuff. I myself got some new clothes (BCBG, Banana Republic, Lacoste, etc.) and some books for my classroom. The Friday before Halloween we had "Dress Like a Book Character Day" and the 4th grade hosted a Service Learning Fundraiser Picnic for the elementary school. We sponsor a Guatemalan public school, and later in the year we have a field day type thing that our 4th graders host for those students. We also had Parent/ Teacher Conferences (at least one parent is required to attend, most of mine had both parents there), and a Pumpkin Math activity day. Today, was the annual Turkey Bowl at school. All levels (K-12) have intramural sporting events after school (basketball, soccer, baseball, volleyball, etc). There are teacher vs. parent games, a family rally, and, the best part, BBQ and turkey legs! It was a lot of fun and it was cool to see my students participating in the activities and enjoying the day.

Besides all of the recent excitement, I am getting very excited for my parents to visit., and then, shortly after, my 3 week break for Christmas in the states!