Why is our bus beeping?

On Sunday afternoon, we returned from our first weekend trip. We loaded the bus Friday morning and stopped for lunch at Iximche Mayan Ruins. It was nice to actually see some history in person, and it is amazing how the structures still stand after so many years. There were some Mayan people holding a small ceremony so we were able to watch part of that as well. The bus ride was interesting to say the least. Our bus was smoking, beeping and crawling along the road. We also went the wrong way on a way one way street that was already tiny to begin with! Thankfully, our bus driver was great and our bus held up so we made it to Chichicastenango safely. In Chichi, we stayed at the Ruth and Naomi Methodist Project. During all meals, we were only allowed to speak Spanish and if we spoke English, we had to pay 1 Quetzal. I only spoke English once, and all I said was ¨yes¨...what a waste of a word! :P We definitely laughed a lot during meals! On Saturday, we went to Chontola Women´s Cooperative, a place where women struggling with poverty weave various crafts. Most of them are left in poverty and widowed because of the previous war in Guatemala. Everything they made was colourful and beautiful. Seeing the pride and joy on their faces as they pointed out what they made themselves was incredible. In the evening, we talked with a Catholic priest and in the morning we attended mass at his church. The service was a mix of traditional indigenous religious practices and Catholicism. A good example of this was the giant marimba that was played by 4 men and accompanied all of their songs. After church, we were free to roam around at the market that was spread out in a major section of the city. If you don´t like crowds pushing, people yelling or bargaining prices, the market is not for you. I had a lot of fun finding various treasures and I´m not very good at bargaining, but I tried. I think overall, the group enjoyed  our trip a lot and everyone had some good bonding time! :) We all were definitely glad to be back ¨home¨ in our own houses with our host families again. Buenos dias!