Great, fun, exciting news.

Two events have recently occurred that are of great interest to Andrew and me. One of the two items is exciting news. The other item is, well, um, interesting?

1. Today we received an email from the executive director of an organization called Amigos de Santa Cruz (www.amigosdesantacruz.org), who thinks we are a great match for their organization. This potentially means that we may be volunteering with the organization from January to October 2011. AND, there is the potential for a small stipend if we commit to the entire school year (January-October). Santa Cruz is another village on Lake Atitlan, and it has a population of 6000 people (San Pedro, where we are living right now, has a population of 13,000). Apparently there is no telephone service and not too many businesses. Anyhow, nothing is solidified yet, but it gives us hope that we will be able to find some sort of job that will allow us to be here longer!

2. Because of the excessive rainy season and tropical storm Matthew, there is some major flooding going on in San Pedro. Each day it seems like another business or building goes underwater. Yesterday, in particular, our hotel building began to go underwater. The entrance to our hotel is on the lakeshore, and yesterday it rained enough to bring the lake right up to the steps. So, as of right now, it is impossible to get into or out of our living quarters without walking through six inches of water. We are thinking about tying a rope to our room, which is elevated and located above the outdoor kitchen, so that we can climb right up to our apartment...

So I guess that´s the recent news. We're still struggling with our Spanish, but we´re catching on more and more every day. Now if only we could master T´zutujil...