away we go!

Hey all,

Its a bit surreal to sit in a climate-controlled airport hotel, patiently receiving girls from across the country while watching on the Weather Channel the "Colossal Storm" warnings and the radar pictures of the white fog of snow taking over. We have 12 of 13 (one is stranded in NYC until they reopen that airport) and are still due to fly out of Houston at 9am tomorrow morning and into Guatemala City!

Its been a flurry of activity since I left for Bozeman mid-January, and I've been reminded once again how important this community of women is in my life. To be still up and working at 12am when we need to be up again at 5am for an international flight and still laughing hysterically at whatever the joke of the moment is...I am grateful.

TTS has formed me. I would not be who I am today without it. I am so intensely grateful for this last semester in a new place, and for all of you who have read about my adventures, listened to my stories, taken me to the airport, been there when I got home, tolerated my absences, been impassioned by my thoughts, and basically just supported the last four years of ins and outs, and time away from home.

Tomorrow morning we fly to Guatemala City and will go straight outside the city to Antigua. From there, we'll travel over land to the Mayan ruins of Tikal, cross into Mexico into the province of Chiapas and visit Palenque and San Cristobal de las Casas. From there we return to Guatemala, to Lake Atitlan, to mountain communities, to a Spanish immersion program, to a backpacking trip...and then south to the coast, and across the border to El Salvador. We'll spend some time on the coast, then travel overland again, living with several communities through out the country, and then finally crossing to Honduras, Copan ruins, and finally ending in Roatan (with a PADI open water dive certification)!

This trip brings me full circle. My first real trip was to Guatemala City when I was 13. How could I ever have imagined that it would start me down this road? My second trip was to Honduras, painting a church and living with a small village outside of San Pedro sula. We'll return to both of these places, visit with the people I remember from when I was a teenager, whose faces and names ares still burned in my mind with the intensity of first travel experiences...and I return with my students, some of whom weren't even born when I took that first trip to Guatemala City, now teenagers, getting a chance to meet those communities.

All my love to all of you. I apologize if I haven't had a chance to connect with you in awhile...but know that I'm thinking about you!

Also, some people have asked about letters. We're not having an official mail stop this semester, but if you send a letter to Heather Foran c/o Traveling School PO Box 7058 Bozeman, MT 59771 it can come down with Jennifer when she brings the parent trip.

Much love,

Heather