Dalama Adventures Tale of two corporate types ditching their jobs and traveling the world for 14 months... check out all photos, blogs & interesting tid bits at http://www.dalama.net

The streets were transformed this morning, into musical masses of young students marching through town with their school bands proudly displaying school flags and Guatemala country flags.  The streets are packed with marching bands, students dressed in official uniforms, and majorettes.  We have a great view, even through the crowd.  Girls twirl batons and dance for hours, while energetic drummers and trumpeters wave their instruments through the air mid stream in song.  Fireworks rip through the sky non-stop, it's an odd thing to see fireworks during the daylight.  There are men marching in the streets with firecracker housings with weird animal faces ontop, strapped over their heads and upper bodies, like they’ve been rigged up as a suicide bomber - a bit frightening, and we wonder how many people here have accidents from misuse of fireworks.

People here are proud and passionate about their country, and their Independence from Spain, and holidays are a time for family gatherings and eating.  It's not even 10 a.m. yet, and people are out in force eating ice cream.  I'm not actually sure it's really ice cream, as the vendors selling the cones, which look like chocolate coated soft serve treats covered in individual baggies, carry them for hours throughout the streets in the hot sun, and they don't seem to melt.  Probably some strange concoction of chemicals, or maybe they're just big marshmallows.

We sample more street vendor food, stalls of piping hot grills line the side of parque central; women grill up fresh corn tortillas while tending to the sizzling pollo and res.  We get those great tortillas again, the ones with cheese, beans and guacamole, a taste of heaven and an affordable meal for under $1.  We can see why many people here are overweight and why there's also such a problem with diabetes - the diet is not really well balanced, and if we ate like this every day, we'd leave here 20 lbs heavier.

The town here is amazingly beautiful.  The buildings lining the cobblestone streets are different colors... reds, yellows, oranges, greens and blues.  While there are quite a few tourists and expatriates here, we're still able to tuck away into little cafes and shops and speak Spanish with the owners.  We'll definitely be back here to visit - this quick weekend stop over was a quick taste of something really special.