Eureka! (or whatever the equivalent would be in the shower!) ~ 8 weeks to go

I think what I am having some difficulty getting used to is, that whilst I expect to have a great time in Guatemala and may end up staying many years, it might be, in actual fact, only a "stepping off" point.  I heard from the pension people that things are progressing as planned. I will be having an extended conversation with a representative of the charity at the end of the week in order to talk through possibilities and projects.  But in reality, I could actually do "nothing" except travel and explore, as my budget would be adequate.  I know that I want to do some work with my preferred charity (and yes I will reveal the name once all is agreed) but I literally have the whole of Central and Southern America at my feet, using the fact that Guatemala is the most northern of the Central American states.

My thinking to date is that I would spend part of each year travelling in Latin America, but the Eureka moment was when I realised that I could for instance spend a year in Guatemala, followed by a year in another country, and another country and another country and that after 10 years I would pretty much be in a position to say I knew Latin America quite well! This strikes me as an awesome possibility and appeals to the adventurous and intrepid part of me! What an opportunity!

(click picture to enlarge)

I know that the solution to these seemingly endless possibilities will only become clear once I am in situ  in Guatemala, but I am truly excited by the possibility of spending a decade travelling, volunteering, doing a little consultancy and maybe teaching some business English. And really walking the less trodden  paths of this amazing continent. What a privilege!

Planning continues at a pace, I have been e-baying like crazy, books, cds, dvds, an eye opening or (is it watering?) experience, people killing to own "footballers wives" and the West Wing (and no, I have nothing to say about why I had footballers wives in the first place!)

I have completed three out of the 11 sections of my TEFL advanced certification, and so far I am averaging around 85%, somewhere along the line I  must have confused my Past Participle  with a Past Perfect continuous although of course it might just have been a case of not defining my Transitive Inseparable Phrasal Verbs properly ~ I pity anybody trying to grapple with the English Grammar.  Did you know there are ten ways of pronouncing the letters "ough"  and what to do about Cholmondeley, Beauchamp, et al!

Enough for this week I think.  I leave you with two engaging pictures of the men's traditional costume from Todos Santos Cuchumatán, designed both for hard work and  mountainous cold conditions. I just love the trousers ~ can't wait to go native!

(click pictures to enlarge)