with adjectives

well, I'm finally taking the time to sit down and write a decent entry.

starting my second week is much easier than the first. my head still feels like a sieve trying to hold a waterfall, but it's getting better. today I learned the past progressive passive tense (or something like that). it's different from the active tense (the dog bit the boy) and is instead (the by was bitten by the dog). basically, if you want to take a simple sentence and make it MORE complicated (something I'm just oh so keen on) you use the passive progressive whatever.

However, I love the fact that I now occasionally spout out entire phrases in spanish without even thinking. I try to remember conversations I've had, and can't remember which language we were speaking.

this weekend I climbed the active volcano Pacaya, which is about an hour from Antigua by bus. our tour of 8 people reached the village where you start the ascent at about 4:00, and by 5:00 we had reached a river of dried lava from 2006, which was about 50 meters wide. a short climb over lord-of-the-rings-esque terrain brought us to the edge of a cliff overlooking a field of black lava. climbing down and walking across the field was amazing. there were twisted pillars and floes and rocks in all sorts of crazy shapes, and we could see the red river ahead of us. as I got closer I could feel the heat through my shoes, and could see crevasses in the dried lava that still glowed.
the river moved fairly quickly, and our guide used a shovel to pull out a bit of lava, which was then used to light cigarettes for the three French guys on the tour. (unfortunately they had also stereotypically not showered in several days, which made the bus ride lots of fun, but they were backpacking across Guatemala, so I guess that's fair.)

the lava was, big surprise, very, very hot. I tried to take some from the river with a stick, but couldn't get close enough for enough time to scoop some up. also the stick caught fire as soon as it touched the lava. I got the feeling that if I were in America, there would be a guardrail and three lawyers between me and the river of lava, but that's the reason I came here.

after we climbed back up from the field and were sitting on the cliff, I made a sandwich from some bread, cheese and an avocado I bought in Antigua. the cheese had sort of melted in the heat, which made it messy and delicious. I maintain that it was and will be the most delicious sandwich in the world.

I'm on my own for meals on the weekends, and saturday I had some bread from the panederia near my house before class, and bought sandwichmakings and some pizza before the climb.
Sunday I had more bread and some pineapple for breakfast, which was a mistake. from now on I'll only eat fruit that I peel myself. after watching some of the parades sunday afternoon (there are soooo many people in antigua when they go by that you can't walk on certain streets. and there are supposed to be twice as many in the next two weeks!!!) I had a bagel for lunch. I managed to save money on dinner by beginning to feel the effects of the local bacteria now growing in my gut. I now know the location of several bathrooms between central park and my house.
however, thanks to sweet sweet antibiotics and drugs, I am feeling fine. I figure next time I want to eat street food I'll order a couple of shots to go with it, and try to kill the buggers on the way down.

I'm not sure what I'll be up to this week, but I think I might make a trip to Monterrico (pacific coast) next weekend. they have black sand beaches from the volcanoes, and supposedly you can surf there.

I bought a local cell phone sunday, which seems to work well, and I tried to call Coky, the gym coach down here, but I got his machine. I'm going to try again this afternoon. I have practically no extra time, but being away from the gym is a pain. I realized I hadn't been upside down in over a week, and did a handstand yesterday. it felt good.

right now I have to go collect my laundry at the lavanderia (I should have brought more socks, one pair isn't good for more than a day. maybe I'll buy some at the market) and see what movies are playing at the cafe 2000. I saw fight club a few nights ago, and it was awesome.

-Sam