Visitors!

My family came to visit last week and it was great to show them what my life is like here. We started off with two nights in Antigua, where we climbed Volcán Pacaya, went to a coffee farm and the organic macademia farm, and took all of the tourist pictures possible.

Then it was off to Xela, my favorite and nearby Guatemalan city where we hiked up (in the pouring rain) to a Swiss restaurant with an awesome view of the city, stayed in a nice hotel that used to be a prison, got delicious chocobanano licuados at Doña Pancha's chocolate shop, and went to the Fuentes Georginas-- beautiful hot springs only about 20 minutes from Cantel but with a completely jungle-like feel to them.

My favorite part of the visit was showing them around Cantel. Their visit happened to land during Cantel's town fair, meaning the normally empty central plaza was full of vendors, concerts, and fireworks that I was 98% sure were going seriously hurt someone. My host dad took to calling my dad 'Don Jaime', which just makes me laugh, and it was great to show everyone that I'm not the only freakishly tall person from the States. For my mom's birthday on the 15th, one of my best friends here invited us over for dinner, baked a cake, and her dad played the accordian and sang ¨Las Mañanitas¨, the traditional Mexican birthday song that they use here sometimes too. My little friend Sarita, who's seven, just told me today, ¨I know who your family is! Your brother's really tall and wears a yellow shirt. (This is true, because he only wore Mizzou shirts.) Your mom takes pictures. Your dad wears a big hat. And you're their daughter!¨ I'd say that sums up the Allgire family pretty well.

My parents also brought me a new camera, so I can finally post pictures! The internet is not going too quickly right now, so only two for the time being, but more are soon to come.

My house! I live in the added-on room on the roof. It's all wooden inside making it all the more treehouse-like. My favorite part is the balcony, which looks out over the town square.

Cantel's church, decked out for the fair with streamers. This is right next to my house.