Lucy's Locale: “A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead and dreams of a faraway place. A traveler on the plane sees the farmhouse… and thinks of home.”

Hola a Todos!
Hello to All!
I arrived safely and uneventfully in Antigua, Guatemala late Thursday night. My total flying time was only about 4 hours, which was wonderful compared to my 12 hour flight to Europe one way. I will be in Guatemala until November 21. I will be in Antigua for most of my time here and I am taking Spanish and two other courses while here. I will be in the rural town of Magdalena for four weeks where I will be doing an internship with a Non-Profit Micro-Finance Organization that provides micro loans to low socioeconomic families. I get class credit for my internship, so in total I will complete 18 credits of classes while I am here. I am staying with a delightfully kind, funny, and patient host family who have made me feel right at home from the moment I walked through their door. The city of Antigua only has about 18,000 people, and the "main" part of town that we are staying in is geographically fairly small and compact (only about eight by nine city blocks). Antigua is ringed by three active volcanos, Agua, Fuego (which was spewing smoke yesterday), and Acatenango, which are sweepingly majestic and and ominous at the same time. Do not fret, though, they are closely monitored and have not had "true" eruptions that posed any danger to populations in several years. The city is so colorful and vibrant. There are stunningly beautiful flowers growing on every building and from every crack and crevice and the buildings put rainbows to shame. I love it here and cannot wait to explore and learn about it further. I send you all my best wishes and love!!