2 weeks in country

I've been in Guatemala for 2 weeks.  So far I've only had one batch of illness which cleared up with cipro.  Ah, the miracle of modern antibiotics.  Work has been a little slow since it's the rainy season... I've been encerrada, because of both the rain and the lack of things for women to do in Tecpan.  But all is well.  Here's an update:

Week 1: Caught up with my ladies in the park in Antigua.  Readjusted to Guatemala.  Made the trip to Tecpan and got established in my apartment.  The apartment is good- no frills (by that I mean no kitchen), but I walk down the street and eat at the daughter/son-in-law's house to use their kitchen.  The apartment is on the road to the highway which means that buses drive by at all times of the day.  My Kaqchikel cram lessons also started and have been going along well.

Why I get up by 5 am every morning...

Week 2: More Kaqchikel and a near death experience with my electric shower head.  Despite the albañil coming to work on it, the shower never had much water pressure, but such is life.  So I tried to do my best and shampoo and condition as usual.  But the water was WAY too hot--a problem I've never experienced in Latin America.  Within seconds the water completely quit flowing- it was only steam!  I quickly wrapped up in a towel, got the water and electricity off, and got out of dodge.  As I looked back the PVC pipe connecting the shower head to the wall melted.  Then I got to go explain the situation to the house owner whose Spanish isn't perfect and my construction Kaqchikel needs more than a little work.
After a crazy and tiring week I went to Antigua for a little R&R.  It was a good trip.  I got to hang out with my friends in the park and eat some delicious food.  My schedule is busy enough that I won't be able to make it back to seem them or the city for at least a month.
But perhaps the best/funniest part of the trip was the bus ride back with AC (fellow anthro grad student).  We ended up on a bus to Xela not Tecpan.  These buses are notoriously fast, because the route is so long. So your "stop" comes up fast... but I was a little overly excited and got up a little too soon.  Only to have the ayudante take my bag (holding my new laptop) and start heaving it towards the front of the bus.  Luckily he didn't throw it from the bus, but in the madness we got off the bus too early- 1 mile too early.  So we had to walk, with all our bags 1 mile along the side of the Pan-American highway.

At the beginning of the walk