hot bath adventure

Yeseterday, we went to the hot baths outside of xela with a group from the school. we rode in a small "bus" which was really a 15 passenger van, though we had about 20 people in it, much in the style of the Peruvian buses. out in the village where the hot baths were, we had to drive down a steep mountain where there were houses literally entirely upside down because of hurricane agatha. it was pretty crazy and sad for the people who had lived there! when we got to the bottom of the hill, we had to cross a bridge and immediately on the other side of the bridge the van got stuck in the mud. we all had to get out and it took about ten people around and hour to get the bus out of the mud hole. half of the village turned up. the kids were watching and older kids were trying to help get the van out of the mud. one of the students had to drive the bus so that the driver could help push. it was pretty crazy. eventually we got the bus free and went to the baths. because of the hurricane many of the rooms were closed and we had to share in larger groups than we would have liked. the water was very hot and extermely clear. it was interesting. little else is going on right now. today was pretty uneventful for me, but cj went with her teacher to see a show at her grand childrens´school. they were doing some songs and dances and cj got to talk with some of the kids and see the school. it sounds like it was pretty exciting. i worked more on learning verbs. i do not have the ability to remember the meaning and conjugation for 50 verbs each day. five perhaps, but not fifty. so i have not retained the majority of what we´ve done. i was able to successfully get cj and i tickets for a shuttle bus to lake atitlan for tomorrow after school. right now, i´m trying to get a reservation at a hotel there, but the hotel´s reservation page does not work, and with no phone access and very little access to the internet, it is not easy. i am really hoping that they will have written me back in the time it takes me to do this blog post, but i´m definitely not holding my breath! either way, i´m sure we´ll find something. i´m looking forward to going to the lake, and i think cj will like it. it sounds similar to crater lake in oregon, but the guatemala version so much crazier i´m sure. we´ll see. there is a lot of tourism there so it´s possible we´ll be able to update while we´re there, but i´m not sure. if it´s expensive or inconvenient we won´t do it, but if there´s something close and reasonably priced we will try. otherwise, we´ll update on monday.