I passed!

Good news - I passed the exam for Grado A! Now I'm onto Grado B, which Olga (mi maestra) assures me is more difficult. Yee-ow

In making my medical preparations for my time here in Antigua, I was assured that malaria is not a problem. I assumed this was because Antigua was at a high enough altitude that there were no mosquitoes. I felt like Feivel from An American Tail - remember how they sing that song "No Cats in America?" When I was a kid I loved that song! Besides eating mice, I think the cats in Feivel's homeland were communists or something. I think most of the symbolism and political commentary went right over my head ... cause I was 7 years old.

Just for old time's sake, here's the song:



Ah - good times!

Anyway, I headed to Antigua singing "there are no mosquitoes in Antigua!" But, just as Feivel was in An American Tail, I was distraught to learn that there are mosquitoes in Antigua! I've killed several in my room! Their blood (or actually mine) is on my hands! So disillusioned ... But, if my life continues to parallel Feivels, then soon I will befriend a big gay mosquito that will protect me from the other mosquitoes. I just realized this, but Tiger was gay, right? At the very least he was a flamboyant vegetarian ...

But, if these nutjobs are right, I won't have to worry about mosquitoes after tomorrow :)

Check out these chickens I found in a pet store next to la bodegona! I've never seen chicks kept this way! Pretty crazy. They also had full grown chickens in some cages ... for some reason, I really doubt these chickens will be pets ... But who knows? After all, Peruvians eat guinea pigs, and in the US we keep them as pets. Maybe Guatemalans keep chickens as pets? Unlikely :)

Haha! Notice that the article about Peru wanting to export guinea pigs to America for food was published in 2004 ... guess it hasn't caught on yet :)

Speaking of chicks, check out these Mennonite ladies! I hardly ever see Mennonites in the states, so you can imagine my surprise at seeing them in Guatemala.