El dia de la madre strikes again!

So today is Mother's Day in Guatemala. Normally, this would mean almost nothing to me, except that the way the Chapines celebrate Mother's day is ... un poco loco (a little crazy).

I was awakened this morning at about 4am by what sounded like (to my sleep deprived ears) a pretty intense machine gun battle. I kept listening and quickly discerned that what I was hearing were firecrackers - black cats. In a moment of silence, I drifted back to sleep thinking, "that was weird ..." Then it happened again ... and again ... and again ... And it kept getting closer and louder! And then the music started - really loud music. It was audio chaos and it never let up!

Evidently, it's tradition in Guatemala to light firecrackers and play loud music outside of your mom's house waaaay early in the morning. This assault on the ears is amplified in Antigua due to the fact that the town is ringed by mountains and volcanoes. You can hear every single firecracker in the city reverberating of the mountains ... at 4am ...

So ... yo estoy consado.

Yesterday, after blogging, I saw that the sky was getting darker and the wind was picking up, so I packed up my things and headed to mi casa hoping to beat the rain. No such luck! I got soaked! As I took shelter in a puerta on 1a Calle Oriente, I asked a guy how long the rain usually lasts? He told me usually about two or three hours, so I decided to just grin and bear it. Quince (15) minutes after I got to the house, it stopped raining.

My North Face backpack did a whale of a job keeping everything dry ... except my laptop. Fortunately there were only a few drops on it and it seems fine. I was also wearing some kind of dri-fit North Face shirt - thanks Nealy!

And Micah, I can honestly say that at no point during the downpour did that Jimmy Buffet song pop into my head - so we can still be friends!

This is a picture of Senor y Senora Tortuga (Mr. and Mrs. Turtle). Every morning I find them basking in a little pool next to the walkway to the bathroom. And, unless I tragically misunderstand the meaning of the word, this is pretty cute.

Here's a short video of the yard of the place I'm staying. The big black (do work, son!) door at the beginning opens directly onto the street. The closed doors at the corner of the house lead into my room. The other room that you can see into is Stefan the Austrian's room. Also, you get to see Senor y Senora Tortuga in action.

The picture of the huge slug at the top of this post is for Jim - do you still go on nightly snail hunting trips at your new place?