School vacations have been pretty good so far. I miss my schools and kids, but have made up for it by running a mini-summer camp 3 mornings a week for the kids in my town. I was a bit worried I'd be overwhelmed, but so far the number of kids that show up has been ranging between 20 and 60ish, which has been more or less manageable. I've been teaching some basic English phrases, doing songs like the Itsy Bitsy spider in both English and Spanish, games like Simon Says and sharks and minnows, and American sports like kickball and capture the flag. Capture the flag seems to be the favorite activity. It was a bit crazy the first few days as the kids were learning the rules and there seemed to be quite a lot of cheating, but we had a great boys vs girls game yesterday morning with some real teamwork and strategy on both sides. I'm also trying to incorporate educational aspects into the activities, for example by talking about hand washing and teeth brushing, and also really emphasizing the kids not throwing the trash on the ground and having everyone pick up trash from the ground for a few minutes each day. Everyone seems to be having fun, which is the most important thing. I must admit, I am as well, especially when the kids get along and I can play the games too!

I've also been doing lots more longer bike trips now that I have more free time, exploring and checking out different places nearby. There are some really gorgeous places I'd never seen before, and I love the sense of freedom, adventure, and accomplishment of doing long bike rides, a joy I haven't had much of these last few years. I'm hoping the biking will be good cross training for the Xela half marathon, which I'm running next weekend with Oliver and Jamie.

Last weekend for Halloween, which is celebrated here in addition to the more important all saints day, I joined lots of my other Peace Corps friends high in the Cuchamatanes mountains, the highest range in Central America, for a famous celebration in the town of Todos Santos Cuchamatanes. The town is famous for the yearly horse races they run on the morning of November 1^st. After some Halloween partying the night before, we checked out the races the next morning, which were pretty interesting. Brightly dressed local men in varying states of intoxication raced their horses back and forth down a track, yelling and waving their arms. I asked but wasn't able to really determine the reason or history behind the tradition, but it was fun to watch anyway. The U.S. Ambassador also showed up as well—he's a really nice guy and has made a big effort to be involved with PC volunteers, and we enjoyed chatting with him. I jokingly asked him if he was jealous of all the excitement his counterpart in the Honduran embassy was getting these days (after the coup a few months ago.) I'm not sure if he appreciated the joke. The next morning we went to the cemetery, where people were making the yearly visit to deceased friends and relatives to leave food, light candles, and in some instances even play marimba music at the grave. I reflected on how the graveyard demonstrated a different Guatemalan attitude towards dying, where it is seen more as a natural part of life. Some people were definitely mourning very seriously, but the overall tone seemed to be more of celebration and honoring the dead. There were even vendors walking around selling ice cream and other snacks; not something you'd probably see in an American cemetery.