In two hours I'll meet a Guatemalan family and move in with them. On Monday I start five days of pretty intense Spanish classes. Five hours a day. And part of it is a homestay with a local family. That way you're completely immersed in Spanish. Sink or swim, baby.

There are tons of Spanish schools here and you're supposed to shop around to find the best one. I didn't. Olga (I have no idea how to spell her name.) greeted me at the first one I walked into... and I really liked Olga. The price was right and I later discovered that her school is recommended in my Lonely Planet... so I'm excited to get started.

"Can't beat that."
You get five hours a day of one-one-one instruction, three meals a day with the family, and seven nights accommodations with them. The price? $125 US dollars. Can't beat that. Well, actually you can in some other places east of here, but I wanna be here in Quetzalenango.

And about Quetzaltenango. It's an actual city. My first in a while. Since New Year's in Merida, Mexico really. There's even... drumroll... a McDonalds. I'm not proud of it but I ate there last night. I'd spent a bit too long at the internet bar and all the other restaurants were closed. So I had a Quesobuergesa Doble, Papas Fritas and a McFlurry con Oreos. Except for the blaring television and armed guard I could have been at home.

"I always need my internet fix."
There is a ton of cheap internet places here, so I should be able to check in more often. I hear the Spanish thing pretty much dominates your time, but I always need my internet fix so I imagine I'll carve out some minutes for the web in the next week.

Oh, and my staff at the ThereGoesJohn store are excited. There're some new merchandise lines being introduced over the next little bit. Already there's a new tile coaster. And we're not sure yet, but we're in intense negotiations with a Malaysian exporter for a line of ThereGoesJohn panties. Keep an eye out for them by clicking on the ThereGoesJohn store under "What Else."