Estamos aqui en Antiqua, Guatemala

Hi everyone,
Its been just about a year since I posted anything on this blog. But, here I am traveling again and I should include this journey.
I didn't get a chance to write about my trip to Finland and Estonia this summer, but perhaps I will put something up when I return from this soon to be incredible week.

About a year ago, when I started graduate school, I heard about a student from UC Berkeley who wanted to do apply for a research study through the Center of Occupational and Environmental Health on water sanitation and health in Guatemala. The condition of the application was that it had to be a joint venture between UC schools. So, being from UCSF and Andrew being from UCB, we decided to join forces to do a small study to determine if e. coli is present in water sources in this community in the rural highlands. We are going to sample the water from different sources as well as do surveys and GPS within the area.
This community is not new to research. There has been a smoke study done related to low birth weight called CRECER. They measured particulate matter within homes with the traditional cook stoves as well as made new cook stoves that have chimneys. Andrew has worked really hard and done so much work to make this research happen. Big thanks and kudos to him on all of this.
We finally arrived in Antigua after casi 17 hours de viajando. All the travel was pretty easy compared to past experiences of traveling in Cambodia or Tanzania. Everyone has been really nice and it is obvious that this town is all about tourism.
So, Antiqua was the old capital before an earthquake destroyed it, and then the city was moved to what is now known as Guatemala City.
The most shocking thing about Guatemala City is all of the Americanized food chain stores. I must have counted about 10 McDonalds, 7 Burger Kings, 2 Taco Bells, one KFC, and plenty of other familiar American brands.
It makes me a bit sad to see the ugly American side extended to places like this. Im sure there are enough health problems as is, without the cholestrol effects of fast food.
Anyway, Andrew and I checked in to a lovely hotel with lots and lots of paraphenalia all over the walls, rooms and floors. I will try to post photos tomorrow. There are so many Jesuses, or is that Jesi? All crucified and everything.
It's raining hard now, and its lovely to hear the rain outside our balcony.
Tomorrow we're going to check out the town, keep it chill and enjoy the free time before the real work begins.
We'll be here until Tuesday morning when we're off to San Lorenzo to collect water samples, surveys and map GPS locations.
Fun and learning all at the same time. I forgot how much I love speaking Spanish, and such a great place to practice!
Mucho amor!
Lisa