Sat, May 15

We woke up, got ready, and left for the Fiesta Urbana. We got lost like 3 times and ended up having to take a totally different bus across the city once before finally making it to the right location. It was a lot smaller and less cool than I thought it would be but it was still pretty fun. There were graffiti murals and breakdancers teaching a few steps (they weren’t very good at all), but Esther rocked it! America resorted to shimmying—it’s always the best resort when all else fails haha. We then walked all around the crazy and dirty markets at Centro. There were food, clothes, electronics, normal stuff but I do love markets. We asked every single pirated DVD place if they had Nacho Libre but to no avail. Our SMART goal was a failure. Bummer. We got to go to this cool artisenia market—with more handicraft and local stuff (which I loved). Also, this day was the day from HELL—weather wise. I seriously was like dying in the heat. Thankfully, it started getting overcast enough to rain for a bit but it was way unbearable for a bit! We totally bought Sherlock Holmes from the bus window for Juliann—that was priceless. We had all like 6 gringos pointing at the movie from the bus as the vendors tried to follow our points because they had no clue which one was Sherlock Holmes. We got super excited when they picked the right one and as the bus started moving away they told us it was actually 50 cents more—we should have just told them 50 cents was more than enough for a movie but Esther rapidly started getting Juliann to frantically dig through her purse for 50 more cents. The boy vendor was like half laughing as he was holding onto the bus as it started pulling away, unsure what he would do if it started really leaving. It was hilarious and we paid him JUST in time!

We then went to Wendy’s for lunch and I got a…..wait for it….wait for it……SALAD!!!! It was super plain—probably one of the plainest salads I’ve ever eaten but it tasted sooooo good. It was way worth it—I need to eat American fast food here more often so I can get some salads J Also, it’s more expensive here than in the states! Which is pretty strange to me, but oh well! We were way tired/hilarious at lunch and we were all laughing extremely hard—I was to the point where tears were literally streaming down my face. Apparently what’s Juliann’s is mine. I was talking to Tyler and Juliann pulled out some wipes for her. I just opened the package and helped myself to a wipe. Juliann and Esther watched this the whole time—not saying anything but just thinking…hmm ok haha. Tyler and I just didn’t eve notice and when I did, I looked down at my wipe and started busting up laughing as I apologized for not even asking for one. Everyone was dying laughing. Also, Juliann was asking if anyone wanted to finish her Gatorade before she threw it away (I was in the process of sucking all I could out of my ice filled cup). I decided I wanted the rest of it as she was pulling it away to throw away. I reached for it while sipping my ice in a very “NOOOOO” fashion and everyone just died laughing. It probably doesn’t sound that funny but it was.

Esther and I then did laundry for 3 hours when we got home. We were proud of ourselves for doing it all by hand (which was a freaking PAIN by the way) when Juliann came in and started laughing nervously as she said “Girls..I don’t know how to tell you this…hahahahaha but umm did you wash all your clothes with that?” We had washed our clothes with fabric softener. That was equal to conditioning our clothes without having shampooed them. We started laughing as we wanted to cry and redid our clothes.

We then went out to a Pupuseria in Antigua. We sat down at a table outside and so began our night of horrible service. It began raining and they tried to tell us they didn’t have any tables inside (as we are sitting there and the rain begins to pour on us and our empty plates—because it had taken forever). They then brought out all our pupusas on 2 plates—heaped together (like good luck figuring out which one is which! Geez—didn’t you people think beforehand about this?!) They got us moved inside and finally were able to tell us which pupusas were which. The pupusa that was advertised as blackberry was actually the leaves of the blackberry plant and it was DISGUSTING. The jalapeno one was good though! We then attempted to get into Karina’s car (she is in our ward and came with us) in the pouring rain. I accompanied her with my umbrella and as I was helping her in the car, a tree like threw up rain on my back. I was like AAAH and laughing and then I started to try to get into the back seats as everybody came in behind me (except for Tyler who was already in on the other side). I pushed my umbrella in and moved in towards the door and as soon as I was at the door ready to get in, the umbrella like shot back out at me—pushing me back and blocking my entrance. Kristen ran into me and was yelling at me to go but I was laughing so hard I was paralyzed. I finally pushed my umbrella in enough to grab it and start getting in. Tyler was then freaking out inside that the umbrella would shoot out again—but I just was cracking up—not caring and we finally all piled in. Hilarious times.

We deep cleaned our room and I got an allergic reaction or bad irritation from something. I called my family to ask for help of what to do for my rash. It was so good to tell them about my weekend briefly but especially to just talk about some situations—put them out there, and just get their advice and counsel. I really needed that parental directness and wisdom with insight into my life and situations. Thank you family J

I can’t say enough how much I LOVE MY GROUP! They really are the best—we’re always cracking up and I love Esther and feel way close to America and Tyler and Juliann too. I feel close to Kassandra and Kristen too and just everyone actually!