Christmas in Guatemala

So Christmas wasn´t bad here in Santa Lucia. We went and stayed with a family of members of the church until 12:30am. The people with more money here buy fake trees for Christmas that look pretty much like they look in the States. They don´t really give too many gifts here either. Everyone makes tamales all day and then they eat them all night. So we ate A LOT of tamales, which was pretty cool! Then at midnight everyone sets off all of their fireworks at the same time and it just sounds like a war zone. It was crazy how many people were blowing up cheap little bombs they call fireworks.

At about 12:30am we walked back to our house, which was a little insane. We just put our heads down and walked fast without talking to anybody. Lots of people have the awesome tradition of getting rather drunk Christmas Eve, so we were trying to just get back without problems. It was pretty sweet! Then we got back up at 6am like usual and started our day super tired. Gotta say though, definitely feels like summer just never ends here, it doesn´t feel at all like the Christmas season.

Some of the people over here are kind of mad that the missionaries there will be using all these tools, like FaceBook and other social media. I think its great though. As long as you don´t get a bunch of chambon (Spanish for Awkward, clumsy) missionaries to mess it up and just play games and stuff, it will be a great tool for them.

As for your suggestion about carrying a $5 bill in case we’re mugged: Dealing with drunk people that want your money is a pretty common thing. I don´t even use a wallet, I just put the small change in one pocket, and if I have a lot of other money I put it in a different pocket. But if you gave somebody a 5 dollar bill here they would probably freak out-that’s like... a ton of money…and in American bills, they´d probably just rob you everyday J

 I don´t believe you that I have an accent. (We told him he had an accent after talking to him on Christmas- he does!!!)

That is cool Grandma is coming to Guatemala, but it is expressly stated that I cannot have any visitors during the mission. Besides, even if I could, the place I´m at isn´t really where the white people go to do humanitarian stuff. If Grandma wanted to take a box to the mission office, they can give it to me from there when I have changes, if ya´ll wanted to get me something J for my birthday or something JI did find some good pants my size in the thrift shop too, so I´ll be fine. (The pants we sent in his Christmas package never made it to him) I found some from Banana Republic for like 3 dollars.

Love ya, Collin Arroz