Umm, just so you know, there’s an active volcano that’s not too far from Antigua.  It’s called Volcán de Fuego.  And that f*cker is exploding all the time.  Seriously.  This morning there was a sort of rumbling sound and mi maestra said “el volcán!”  Naturally, half of the teachers and students got up to take a look at it.  I took the below picture on Saturday while the volcano spewed smoke into the air:

It looked pretty much the same this morning, except that it was white smoke.  Sometimes you can see the lava flow as well, so I’m hoping I’ll get a picture of that while I’m here.  Very cool.

Yesterday, I went to church!  Umm, yeah.  Church is not my thing so this was kind of a big deal.  It was my Antigua “parents'” 40th anniversary and the church celebrated them during mass.  I’m happy to report that the church didn’t burst into flames when I entered AND I even stayed for the entire service.

Go me.

The highlight of my Spanish lesson this morning was when the garden cat joined us!

He lives in a nearby home and visits the garden every once in a while.  He came over to say hi to me and I picked him up and put him on the table.  He got comfortable very quickly and he was not impressed with my Spanish skills.  I still took about 100 pictures of him.

This afternoon, I went on a tour of Antigua offered by my school.  It was included with my “tuition” so I thought it would be an interesting way to spend the afternoon.  As it turns out, I’ve seen most of Antigua, but we did go to one place that I was not familiar with:

The cemetery!  I thought it was very pretty.  All the crypts are white and the flowers look so bright against them.

Some flowers are real and some are plastic or foam.

And then there is a wall around the outside that has so many more tombs:

I don’t know. I thought it was interesting.  I told our guide that I just want to be cremated and thrown somewhere (hopefully not in the garbage, but I’ll be dead so I won’t know).  The guide laughed.  I’m not sure we’re friends.

So…tomorrow after my Spanish lesson, I’ll be going to a chocolate and wine factory!!!  Another student told me that she bought 12 pounds of chocolate when she went there so I’m pretty excited to see what it’s all about.  I’ll keep you posted.  It’s almost time for dinner here (my meals are at 7, 1:30, and 7 Monday through Saturday).  Living in a home stay is a lot like being a kid again.  It’s amazing.