Now I´m the one far from home

This post is from Antigua, Guatemala, where I´m typing while watching the Cody Banks movie dubbed into Spanish and eating pupusas or appetizers - Salvadoran cornmeal pancakes filled with cheese, pork, mushrooms, chorizo, etc., and a cabbage salad that kicks ass.

When I´m done here, there´s music in the town square and I expect to find the other 11 crazy women who thought this would be a good way to spend February. They were soooo right!

This morning we had breakfast in the ruins of a convent (Santa Domingo) built by the Spanish in the sixteenth century. Beautiful young Mayan women drift about in garments that make nuns habits look like high fashion. The gardens glow against the massive stone walls and there are breathtaking art exhibits around several corners.

Of the women, I only know my cousin, and we haven´t spent more than two days together at a time since we were children. A week ago, my new best friends were strangers to me, but now I know details of their lives that would have taken years to learn in the real world. I have to say I was verrry apprehensive about subsuming myself to an estrogen borg, but I needn´t have bothered my pretty little head. If we have a fault, it´s that we bend over backward to accomodate one another. Weird, hunh?

Sorry I can´t upload any pictures. I´ve taken hundreds, but didn´t bring the cable. Later for that. And now I really have to go. I can hear the music over the TV and I hear there´s dancing in the streets.

My final note: these are the sweetest, most gentle people I´ve ever seen - the beggars, the street vendors, everyone one the street - with no exceptions. EVERYONE greets EVERYONE with a face-splitting smile, and now they are greeting us with hugs! It´s crazy and I love it.

Hasta luego, amigos . . .