John´s 30th Birthday and Christmas 2006

We finished our stay in Antigua by moving back into the Jungle Party Hostel from the host family and we´re glad we did. Prior to the move, our host family had a nice birthday dinner for me, and we finished up our 3 weeks of spanish school with a festive christmas party at La Escuela de la Fuente. A little salsa dancing, gift exchange and some good guatemalan food was an excellent way to start my birthday even though my salsa skills could use a little work. At the hostel, my 30th was more than I could have possibly asked for thanks to Stacy, our friend Amy, and the good people at the hostel. It started with a Piñata and everyone in the hostel singing Feliz Cumpleaños to me. Stacy arranged a glass of Johnnie Walker on the hostel to start me off and bought an excellent carrot cake from a local bakery to share with everyone. We played some games for free drinks and listened to some music while I opened a few gifts, and then headed off to the Rainbow Reading room, our staple restaurant in Antigua (and a highly recommended lonely planet suggestion) for some more cerveza´s and food with some friends. We finished the evening at the only local Irish pub in Antigua called Reillys for more drinks and conversation.
A few days later Christmas had it´s own special flavor. We organized a white elephant gift exchange with 12 other friends in the hostel for Christmas eve and then spent the night playing Mafia (a fun group card game) and had a late dinner at a local pub with the same group from the hostel--a real multicultural event with about 8-10 different countries from Mexico to Holland to Germany and Australia represented. We had the choice to stay for New Years, but feeling the need to travel a little and have a vacation from our vacation, headed off to a little island off the Caribbean coast of Belize called Caye Caulker.