Day 2 and 3

!Hola Hola!
Having just finished sweeping the apartment and helping with laundry, I have time now to update you all!

Wow, already so much has happened. Things are always changing and getting easier for me! Praise God!

Yesterday, I did a whole lot of nothing really, during the day at least. Visiting a little tienda (store) was the highlight of the day. Many more staff members came yesterday and they all tak so extremely fast! So for a while I was homesick and a bit overwhelmed with all of the Spanish. Last night, however, I ventured out with many of the staff members to the older, Spanish part of the city. I spent most of this time walking and talking with Jonathon who works with Markus, the director here. He is very friendly and speaks pretty good English. So, it was good to establish a connection with him as we help each other learn the other's native language.

What a perfectly breezy, cool night it was to walk downtown! Sorry about the massive pictures everywhere, but I haven't yet figured out how to make a gallery on the side of my blog, so here they are! :) Anyway, the first picture above is of the streets near el centro (the center). There are many tiny, old houses packed into these streets...a very poor area but beautiful! The second picture is of some sort of abolitionist church that helped house slaves...it was likely built in the 1600s some time.

Here is one of many pictures of the center area. The guys standing near the bottom left corner are police (la policia). They have these big bats or rods that they have attached to their belts--quite alarming I would say. They are literally everywhere too. We were often walking with them or passing by them the whole night.

This area attracts many tourists, mostly from Europe I think. So the restaurants and stores are very elegant.

Hahaha! This was funny...I was walking with Jonathon and I looked over at these statues. Now, you must understand that the city has many figures, looking similar to these ones, that are clearly not real. Well, I looked at them again and I was like, they almost look real, and then one blinked!! It was so surprising! Jonathon put a coin in his bucket and that's him holding his hand out to shake mine in the second picture...so great :)..

Okay, I'm officially in love with this city. You might be as well after seeing these pictures. It reminds me of Italy sort of. Jonathon was painting a mental picture for me of what it's like in these tiny streets during Christmas time: the streets and houses are decorated with lights. Everyone leaves their doors open and all of the adults and children and dogs and cats move in the streets like a big dancing party. Everyone is like one big family. I love it!

Well, that's all for now, I'll continue this later. Almuerzo esta listo. (lunch is ready) :))