l Ben Pitzen Visits Guatemala

Hello all, this is Tony writing again. I keep trying to get Danielle to post, but when you are pregnant you lose your blogging ability. (Who knew?) Well I had my first guest in Guatemala and it was my college roomate Ben Pitzen.
Ben was here for a very short time but he was able to have some truly Guatemalan experiences. I met Ben in Guatemala City on Friday the 7th. I was with one of my friends from Guatemala City and when he came in we met him and my friend Coco dropped us off at the bus station. We arrived in Xela at about 8:00PM and grabbed a bite to eat and introduced him to our friends.
On Saturday I took him to the volcanic baths where he got an authentic experience. We sat in the hot baths for a couple of hours and then decided that we had been there long enough. As we are walking out someone says, "Hey do you guys want a ride." It was a guy that I had made small talk with in the baths. I of course said yes because it is much cheaper to ride with someone down the mountain. He said just meet me in the parking lot in five minutes and we agreed to his terms. He comes out and we all pile in the car and his wife/sister/aunt/cousin whoever she was, still not sure how the family dynamic worked, said that our driver was going to stay in the parking lot for just a little bit and talk with a guy that he just met. I decided ok how long could it take. This "little bit" turned into a two hour tailgating affair, that involved food, drinks and dancing. It was the single weirdest thing that I have ever witnessed in Guatemala. So there we sat sipping on Coke, eating Cheetos and listening to the Latin American Idol Carlos Pena watching Guatemalans dance around. Hillarious!!! After that party the other guy that we met in the parking lot took us all the way back to our house, which was very nice. Later that night we went to a soccer game in Xela where my team tied 2-2. It was a good game and he got to see and hear how crazy the fans are for their team.

On Sunday we just kicked back and hung out around town, watched some football, and caught up with eachother. He had to get on the bus from Xela at 4:00 AM so he could make it to Guate in time for his flight. My friend in Guate picked him up and got him to the airport on time. It was great to have an old friend around again. I enjoyed his company and if anyone is planning a trip here let me know so that we can hook you up. That is all for now, we hope all is well back home!