More information about driving from Guatemala to Texas
Someone emailed me through the blog about buying a car in Guatemala and driving it back to the States.  Never one to waste effort, I thought I'd post my response here in case it could be useful.  Of course, if someone needs more specifics, I'll be glad to help.I haven't driven from Guatemala to Texas (yet) but I can tell you the route I took down from Texas.  Check out this post if you haven't already:http://sagaunscripted.blogspot.com/2009/07/driving-from-texas-to-guatemala-almost.html

Why I love to teach fifth grade...
Something I really appreciate about teaching fifth graders is all of the love they have to give. That sounds really corny, but I always have kids making me cards saying "I love you, Mrs. Adina" or bringing me flowers or making me origami dinosaurs, giving me hugs, telling me jokes or something equally

Should expats in Guatemala encourage others to move here?
A discussion I had a couple of months ago with Mark prompted me to observe more closely the dynamic between locals and expats here in Guatemala.  We were discussing how it's incredibly difficult to find information about moving to Guatemala on the internet.  Sure, there's loads of information about tourism and travelling, even about hostels, but virtually nothing about cost of living (besides "it's cheap"), housing other than overpriced luxury homes, and how to get set up in the country.  With the plethora of "gringo" expats in the country, one would think that this information would be easy to come by.But alas, it's not.

"...me lo pasas después..."
I guess the concept of credit at stores is not dead in Guatemala.  As many who travel throughout Latin America know, and no doubt in other parts of the world, shops don't carry a lot of extra cash.  I was bike-riding the other day, and halfway through I stopped at a corner store in a plaza we frequent.  I've been in the store maybe five times, and not really ever made conversation there.  All I had on me was a 100 quetzal bill (about 12 USD) and was buying a bottle of water that cost Q3.50 (about 40cents US).  The cashier asked me if I had anything smaller, and I didn't, and she just said "me lo pasas después"..."you can give it to me later".  I looked at her

"Yo soy Tecun Uman!" aka Winning a Schoolwide "Fashion" Show
Who ever thought I'd be a Mayan warrior?  Well, I can now add that to my resumé.  Guatemalan Pride Week was a couple of weeks back, commemorating Guatemalan Independence Day (check out ExpatMom's parade pics Set 1 / Set 2 from Antigua), and I was coerced asked nicely by my students to dress up for the "fashion" contest in which I had to dress up as someone/thing typical of Guatemala.  The