The final chapter: Lakes, oceans and mosquito bites.

Lago de Atitlan Parte Dos

Miriam and I headed out of rainy Antigua on a Friday morning excited for a second chance at the lake. I was especially glad to have returned because this time around, the weather was amazing (no tormentas) and I was with superior company. After a sleepy couple of hours we arrived at dusk to the curvy, tree-lined pathways (read dark and creepy) of San Marcos. Add the spooky background noises of an evangelical church sermon being spoken over loud speakers, and walking by crouching Indigenous women chanting in the aforementioned pathways, and you've got yourself a creeped out Sarah. We found available beds at El Unicornio and looked for a place to eat. 

There aren't a lot of restaurants in San Marcos (two were open), so the decision was somewhat easy. Immediately after we sat down the rain started pouring down and we prepared to settle in for a while. I am not sure what impression we gave, but out of all of the people in the restaurant (and it was relatively full, maybe 10-15 people) they gave us free shots of tequila. It definitely made the meal a bit more interesting. We headed back to the hotel in the rain, where I tried to sleep despite having seen a bug on my pillow (no, not a bedbug, more of the beetle type). In the morning Miriam showed me around a bit more and I became less spooked, though not exactly enchanted. San Marcos is known for its mysticism, which seems to translate into a bunch of old expat hippies charging too much for yoga retreats and "sun/moon" courses. Needless to say, that is really not my scene and we headed out of San Marcos after only one night. 

Our next destination was San Pedro where we planned to meet three friends from Xela, Monique (the birthday chica), Nick and Robbie. We stayed at Casa Elena, not to be confused with Casa Maria Elena or Hotel Helena, for $3-ish per night. The nice thing about San Pedro is its economy. The hotels, restaurants, bars and activities are the cheapest on the lake. For example, we found a good tres por diez taco joint (that is a little over $1 for three tacos) where we ate two nights in a row and we went kayaking for 10Q an hour (also a little over $1). Basically, deals aplenty. We were able to celebrate Monique's 24th birthday adequately as well, with drinks and a pinata, making our couple of days in San Pedro well worth it. After the birthday festivities, us chicas decided to bid farewell to the boys and headed across the lake to Santa Cruz. 

Mosquito Note: this is where my mosquito troubles began. I was eaten up in San Pedro, and since I have an allergic reaction to bug bites, one of my ankles swelled up to elephant man proportions. This is when I started taking antihistamines and am pretty much still taking them daily.   

Santa Cruz is very small, but definitely one of my favorite places on the lake. There is a great hostel there called La Iguana Perdida that is very expat-ie but the food and environment are awesome and refreshing. There is a community dinner every night, reasonably comfortable dorm beds, nighttime campfires and several activity rooms (the town itself is super small). The dinner, though semi expensive for my Guatemalan standards (50Q=$6), has huge portions and is really quite delicious food. Another plus, is that the community atmosphere helps facilitate meeting the other people staying at the hostel. I met a couple of awesome Brits from the OG Jersery and taught bottle hockey to a Swede and a German. All in all, very summer campy. Though we enjoyed our time, once Monique headed back to Xela, Miriam and I felt the urge to move on as well. In a last minute decision we decided to cut our lake trip short and head to the coast for a couple days.

Mosquito Note: After being told that the mosquitoes "aren't really that bad here" I managed to get an awesome bite on my forehead. This swelled up with a hint of Neanderthal and I spent an afternoon icing it so my eye would open properly. I must admit, I still managed to be called a "pretty lady" that night so it must have not been too Neanderthal-ie. However, maybe I am not made to be in tropical climates.

Olas Grandes: Monterrico

Monterrico is a small beach town on the southern coast of Guatemala. It is supposed to be one of the nicest black sand beaches in the country and it is a popular destination for tourists and locals alike. We checked into Johnny's Place in the late morning, and I was already feeling the change in climate. It was SUPER hot and muggy in Monterrico, as well as crazy windy in the afternoons. This would all be fine if you could swim in the beautiful ocean that the hotel looks out to, however, there is a really strong undertow and amazingly large waves so swimming isn't exactly an option. We braved the fierce waters a couple of times (meaning standing where the tide comes in trying to not get sucked in) and I am still finding sand in my hair. At night all of the wind dies down and the heat comes back full force. 

I chose a bed with a mosquito net to try and avoid further issues, which ended up being sort of a double edged sword. The room was sweltering so they tried to combat this with a ceiling fan. If I had the mosquito net around me the net prevented me from feeling the breeze of the fan. If I left the net off, I was attacked. Unfortunately, I had a sleepless night and eventually rose around 6:00AM. I slept in a hammock by the beach for a a couple more hours and was determined to leave the sticky hotness that is Monterrico after that. Luckily (sort of), Miriam had spent an equally sleepless night and we made arrangements to leave for Antigua that afternoon. We took one final "swim" a bit further up the beach where the waves were a bit less daunting, ate lunch, and I finished my book just in time to go. 

Mosquito Note: Monterrico is a mosquito haven but at least the wind during the day keeps them relatively at bay. I didn't really have many new mosquito troubles there, so that is a bonus.

I felt a great relief when we arrived in Antigua. We decided to stay at Hotel Jacarinda for the rest of our days in Guatemala. It is a nice hotel with a good mix of Guatemalans and extranjeros, and we are paying 40Q ($5) per night with breakfast included. Not too shabby for the end of a trip where budgets are the tightest. I am enjoying the comfort and ease of Antigua and its looking to be a sunny last day.

Mosquito Note: Yes, they are here in Antigua as well...I am starting to think they are following me. I got another one on my face around my left eye, which has finally stopped looking like a punch in the face. I guess this is the price you pay for having sangre dulce. In reality, this happens to me everywhere mosquitoes roam, so I just load up on the deet, benadryl and calamine lotion.

El Ultimo Dia

I am still processing this whole experience and despite some of the issues (injuries, mosquito bites, machismo etc) I am feeling fairly positive in my final hours (that sounds unintentionally morbid). I have accomplished what I came here for, which was studying and practicing Spanish, meeting amazing people, learning about Guatemalan culture, breaking out of my comfort zone and figuring out my next direction in life. I am thankful for these experiences and all the support I have had from everyone back home.

Where one adventure ends, another begins. I am flying into New York tomorrow and making my way through Boston, Chicago, Portland and Sacramento before my return to San Francisco in August. Again, I thank you all for following along, and I hope to have many more adventures to share with you in the future. 

Over and Out, 

Sarah

On the Road, Semuc Champey

Miriam and I departed from Xela at 4AM after a night of debauchery with our Xela crew. I'll admit, it was difficult to rally under the circumstances, but we made it to the bus on time and due to the exhaustion “slept” our way to Guatemala city (4 hours transit). We were lucky in that the bus depot we needed to change over to was only two blocks away and we spent very little time in the peligroso ciudad. We headed to Coban around 8:30AM on a nice only semi-sketchy pullman bus. It was nice to see more of the countryside and it was a good reminder that Guatemala is indeed beautiful and green and not as smoggy and congested as the cities. We arrived in Coban around one in the afternoon and decided to take a break. Coban really doesn't have a lot to see and is generally used as a resting stop for travelers headed north. We ate disappointing meals, napped and made arrangements to leave for Semuc Champey the following morning.

After a windy rough ride, we arrived in Semuc Champey at El Portal Hostel in the late morning and decided to take it easy for the day. We settled in, ate bad tourist food, drank a beer and booked our tours for the following day. Our tour began with Semuc Champey, a beautiful natural limestone bridge with pools of water on top and the Cahabon River flowing underneath. To get there you hike through an awesome jungle-y wild life reserve. The hike is only about thirty minutes but it is considered dificil. It is hot and muggy and a constant upward climb. At the top you have a great view of the Semuc Champey pools and the surrounding mountains. Que bonita! After the vista we headed down to swim in the pools which are a welcome refreshment after the hike. The pools flow into one another and provide excellent swimming and lounging areas. Our guide really stretched my limits of adventuring by encouraging jumping off several rocks into unknown depths of water, sliding down the smooth/slippery rocks, and getting massaged by mini waterfalls. This was fun and all, however, a bit dangerous. I say this because I am still nursing a broken finger (okay it might just be a jam but it is painfully bruised, swollen and stiff) and scraped bruised bottom. Also, I found out the next day a girl was jumping from the rocks (with the same guide), didn't go out far enough and cut up her entire right side resulting in a visit to the hospital. The guide is suspended for six months so at least there is some accountability.

After Semuc, we headed back to our hostel to pick up tubes for floating down the Cahabon River. This was quiet and relaxing and a nice way to prepare for lunch. After eating and RICE-ing my finger we moved on to the caves of Kan'Ba. I will preface this story with, they would never let you do this in los estados unidos. The caves are filled with pools, waterfalls, stalactites and stalagmites. They are super dark (duh, caves) so the guide gives you a candle to light your way. I had a head lamp (thanks to someone's excellent suggestion) and didn't have to try to navigate the cave with a broken finger and a candle occupied hand. We swam, climbed up and over rocks, and made leaps of faith into the darkness. It was really scary in parts but I enjoyed it. About half way through I scraped my foot pretty badly while climbing up onto a rock from a dark pool. It was quite a bleeder and is currently nicely bruised. I limped my way through the rest of the cave sustaining no further injury. It was definitely worth it despite the questionableness of the situation. After this exhausting day we headed back to our hostel for a much deserved beer and a bit of relaxation.

We left Semuc Champey on Tuesday morning for Antigua (where I am currently composing this posting). Antigua is a beautiful city however, expensive and mega touristy. I am enjoying a touch of class but getting frustrated with people responding to my Spanish with English and paying higher prices for just about everything. Miriam and I are planning a week at Lago de Atitlan to get away from the city for a bit and reunite with our Xela amiga Monique. Just under two weeks left and back to los estados unidos and mi vida. Well, sort of.

Trials and Errors When Volunteering in a Developing Country

I have now been in Xela, Guatemala for five weeks and have only just started volunteering regularly. I came on this trip thinking I would be volunteering at least a few hours each day. However, I quickly discovered that the school I attend had been somewhat misleading with the availability of volunteering positions and their connection to them. When I began to look on my own, there were several other problems I encountered in my volunteering quest. Initially, my level of Spanish was an issue because many of the medical clinics prefer you to have an intermediate understanding of Spanish. My availability is somewhat limited as well, because I have class in the mornings which is when a lot of things are available as well. Also, they often want you to commit to a minimum of two months. I plan to spend the last two weeks traveling and couldn't commit to that much time. Finally, my low level of self-starter-ness played a big role. I am not quite up for the challenge of organizing and coordinating the disorganized Guatemalan non-profits. It makes sense to me now knowing more about Guatemalan culture and realizing the difficulty of organizing a non-profit, and I was admittedly naïve about the navigability of the volunteering situation here. Through my trials and errors over the weeks I have at the very least come away with several interesting cultural experiences.

Prisión de Mujeres
Through the school, I visited the womens prison last week for the first time. In my registration process I thought I had signed up for this “volunteering opportunity”. It turns out the school visits the prison maybe once a month, and if you want to start a an activity with the women you have to come up with all the materials, organize the whole thing and get a teacher to accompany you. This is not something I wanted to do and didn't visit the prison until last week with a group of students. The experience was interesting, however, anticlimactic.

We stood outside a fairly nondescript building for a few minutes waiting to be let in. The security turned out to be very minimum. It is basically a two door system. From the first door we walked into a foie of sorts while we were processed for entry. The processing involves giving a guard your passport and getting two stamps on your are to distinguish from the prisoners. There were zero pat downs and definitely no metal detectors. I am not suggesting there needs to be, but it was just different than what I thought it would be like. Upon receiving our stamps we were allowed in the second door which led to an open courtyard where many of the women were milling about. There are about thirty women and a few of their young children. There are only a few rooms to the prison and really, no bars except for the door. There are no windows either, but it isn't exactly a lock down.

We started by playing a couple of games with the women to “break the ice”. After that, the plan was somewhat loose. Some of us sat around and spoke with a few of the women to exchange stories (I was among this group). Others started playing basketball in the courtyard. Speaking to the women was definitely interesting and worth it for us, but I just didn't think it was exactly helpful for them. Through these conversations, we found out a bit about the legal process in Guatemala. Initially, the women are held for a maximum of three months while the investigation and trail occurs. They can be sentenced up to one year at the prison in Xela. Another, much larger prison, is located in Guatemala city. That seems to be where the more hardened criminals are.

We left after approximately two hours. The school brought medical supplies, but that was about as close as it came to really doing anything for the women. I want to emphasize that I found it to be an interesting cultural experience, but it was definitely disappointing as far as "volunteering" goes.

Entremundos
Due to the difficulty of finding volunteering work through the school, I decided to head to Entremundos, an organization that helps set up volunteering jobs for travelers for Q25 ($3 ish). They try to make the experience of volunteering easier and they have set up a database of organizations with information about possible time commitments, different activities of interest and level of Spanish. Through this database, I picked out a few possibilities and Entremundos helped me contact the other organizations. The two I felt most interesting were Ama: Asociacion de Amigos de los Animales and Manos de Colores.

Ama: Asociacion de Amigos de los Animales
This is a brand new organization with the mission of helping rescue street animals and providing medical care and housing for the rescued dogs until they get adopted. The real problem I had with this organization is that it just started and nothing is set up yet. I met with the director one afternoon in his pickup truck and listened to him talk (in a higher level of Spanish than I really  understand) about what the organizations mission is, the difficulties of getting people to adopt the animals due to certain laws in Guatemala, and where to house the animals they rescue. We went to the location of where they want to put the animals in the future.

Right now, there is only one dog living there (the others are staying with people throughout the city). The dog was pretty timid and minus an arm. We were there to feed him and let him run through the rabid rat infested yard (seriously, according to the guy the rats had rabies and he told me not to walk in the grass). We waited for the dog to have his twenty minutes of exercise and he offered to drive me home, he just needed to make a couple stops. We were pretty far away, and I didn't have a lot to do so I accepted the offer. After that, I spent the next two and a half hours running errands with him that were totally unrelated to the organization all the while he kept telling me just one more stop and I can take you home. It was all very weird, not exactly dangerous I don't think, but ultimately an unsatisfying experience and a waste of my time. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt in that they are just getting started, but after that afternoon, I was done.

El Nahual: Manos de Colores
I was fairly discouraged from my previous experiences and before heading to Manos de Colores, I had determined this would be my last attempt at volunteering. Manos de Colores is an after school program under the blanket of El Nahual which acts as sort of community center type thing. It is sort of far from my house (25 minute walk) and in a sort of rural area, but the facility is very nice and well kept. There are a few teachers and volunteers (pretty much all expats) who do activities and English lessons with the kids from 3pm to 5pm every weekday. The kids range from ages four to twelve and all have different levels of English comprehension. The organization also has a few on-site after school programs (I have yet to visit any of these).

Initially, I wasn't sure about volunteering with kids, but I have really been enjoying it. They are all pretty cute and some of them really impress me. The other day a four year old named Bebe (the youngest one I have met) schooled the other kids when learning the animals. He would shout each name with the certainty and enthusiasm of a native speaker. I don't even think his Spanish is all that great.

I have been acting as a teachers assistant, and next week I will help do some lesson planning.  All in all, it was incredibly refreshing to find a solid organization to work with and I am glad that it has finally worked out.
 

Here comes the story of the Hurricane

We students went to Lago de Atitlán this weekend hoping for a nice time by the beautiful lake. Unknown to us, we were headed straight into the center of a hurricane/tropical storm. Sure, there were rivers in the streets and it had been raining non stop for two days but our tour guide (Miguel Perro, a teacher from the school) seemed relatively confidant the trip would go on as planned. As we departed Xela the street lamp exploding next to the minibus into the wet street seemed to me an accurate sign of what our future would hold, that is, disaster.


The drive to Panajachel left me worried, irritated and car sick. The rain pressed on, seeming never to lose force while we dodged newly formed water falls and landslides on the curvy highway. There were fifteen of us in total (mostly undergrad students from the University of Dayton) and we were packed in as tightly as possible (sin seat belt por supuesto!). After the two hour drive, nothing in the town was open and the street in front of the hotel had begun to flood. We hurried into the hotel to put our things down and to see if “any boat would take us on the water”. I was thinking no, who would go out in the water, in Guatemala on a day like this (still not knowing the magnitude of the storm), but was surprised to find that one boat had agreed to take us to Santa Catarina, San Antonio and Santiago despite the weather. Apparently the only other boats out were for evacuation purposes and even with this theory, I saw no other boats on the choppy, rainy water. It was this boat ride where I determined our group leader, Perro (yes his nickname is dog), really had little to no understanding of safety.


Lago de Atitlán is one of the larger attractions in the highland areas of Guatemala, and seeing it from the perspective of a boat is supposed to be amazing. The only thing I  could see on this boat ride were the gray rainy skies and eventually, just my knees as I crouched down trying to keep from vomiting. Our first destination was Santa Catarina where students were encouraged to swim in the hot spring. Most of us declined, however, two brave/naive young ladies gave it a go (who would have though we would all be just as soaked later on that day). When we arrived at out second destination (San Antonio) we were taken up a very muddy and wet hill to a weaving shop. The owners opened just for us and we got to take a break from the rain while admiring their handwork. The next stop was a tourist restaurant in Santiago where I had a decent however overpriced chicken noodle soup. At this point, we all decided against taking a tuk-tuk to see San Simón (a wooden figure where offerings of cigarettes and alcohol are made) which probably would have been cool had it not been storming. Instead we headed to the first church in the area (founded in 1540, muy viejo). That alone was reason enough to visit, but more recently during the Guatemalan Civil War the church was used as a refuge during a massacre in Santiago. It was quite moving to read the description and interesting to see the statues and woodcarvings dressed in colorful tunics.


This was our last stop, (my pants were 100% soaked at this point and the wetness was creeping) and we headed back toward Panajachel. The boat started to run out of gas maybe ten minutes into our hour and a half return trip. We watched as the driver siphoned gas into another container (I think the original one had a leak because the whole boat smelled like gas) while simultaneously bailing out the puddle of  water forming in the boat from the downpour. It was difficult to help in this situation because the boat was rather small and I wasn't really prepared for the elements the driver was braving. The boat ran much slower after that, but we made it back to Panajachel which was all that really mattered.


On our walk back to the hotel the street that had been a little flooded before had turned into rushing river of at least a foot deep of water. We made it back to the hotel fairly well soaked and ready to find out if this was just “normal rainy season” activity or what. Turns out a hurricane/tropical storm by the name of Agatha was making its way through Guatemala and one of the worst hit places was the area surrounding Lago de Atitlán. As our clothes were drying, we were considering the real possibility of being stranded in Panajachel for a few days. Thankfully, by the next morning the sun was shining and we were set to brave the roads to Chichicastenango and eventually head back to Xela.


The drive was somewhat treacherous as the minibus bobbed and weaved around pile after pile of rocks from previous landslides, but we made it to Chichicastenango. Chicken buses were not running, so though usually Chichi is a big marketplace, it was somewhat limited due to the very understandable vendors transportation issues. We spent a couple hours scavenging the marketplace (I bought a much needed belt!) and returned to Xela relatively problem free. Along the ride we saw many houses devastated by the effects of the storm and much of the road was closed off due to landslides.


Getting back to Xela and back to my apartment was a great feeling. Though I was only gone for two days, the hurricane/tropical storm made the whole experience feel much longer. The only “injury” I had from the trip was a sunburn on my shoulders. I am glad to be safe, and I hope the many people who were injured and have lost homes are able to repair and come out of this okay. As it is now, I have survived intestinal issues, a volcanic eruption and hurricane/tropical storm. I can safely say this is not at all what I expected but I am still glad to be here.

I love the passing of time

My three weeks in a homestay have come to an end. I really enjoyed my Guate-familia but I am excited and ready for the change. On Friday I moved to a long term hostel type situation. The building is attached to a Spanish school, not the one I attend but I have been practice my Spanish with the owners. There are two apartments with four bedrooms each and right now all the bedrooms are full. My apartment is filled entirely with people who speak English, an Australian friend from my school named Monique, a fellow from SF and a couple due to move in today or tomorrow said to be from Australia as well. This does limit my Spanish speaking at home, but living there allows me other cultural/linguistic experiences that I find important. I have been shopping at the local markets and grocery stores (more about this later) and preparing my own food (I made refried black beans from scratch for the first time yesterday). Another bonus is that I actually feel comfortable using the common areas in the apartment and we had our first dinner party last night! (You know how I love to entertain.) I will be in the apartment and continue to take classes for the next three weeks and then start some traveling for my final two and a half weeks in Guatemala.


The activities have been good and plentiful so far this week. I went to Las Fuentes Georginas (a hot springs in the mountains) on Tuesday afternoon. It was a beautiful and magical place with lots of greenery and mist. There are three pools of water that have graduated levels of heat. The hottest of the three is a direct flow from the Zunil Volcano which spills into each of the other pools. This was my second experience at a hot springs (the first was in Northern California last January) and I will say this was definitely better than the first because no newts were harmed and the water was really really hot.


On Wednesday we went to a local Fabrica de Chocolate which makes delicious drinking chocolate (I will bringing some home if I don't drink it all before I get back). They are a relatively small operation, but they are pretty well known here. The chocolate factory is owned by the family of one of the teachers from my school. They showed step by step how the chocolate is made (by the way, all activities put on by the school are completely in Spanish). From what I remember, they start with roasting the cocoa beans, then grind them up in a machine, then add the flavor (sugar, vanilla and cinnamon), and finally make it into bricks which are chilled and portioned out into squares. All of the ingredients are natural and there are no added chemicals or preservatives. In my opinion, all the makings for an excellent cup of cocoa!


The night after the tour a few of us went to a benefit for los perros de la calle (this means dogs of the street, of which there are many) put on by a bunch of high school students. A couple of bands played and there were tons of people (pretty much all Guatemalan). Several people were dancing salsa and some were quite impressive despite their young appearance. The most entertaining was this older couple that disproved the stereotype that all Latino people can dance. Well I guess the guy could have been trying to do the robot or something. Basically, a good time, and an inspiration for me to learn salsa.


This weekend I haven't been up to too much (I am still feeling a bit parasite-ie unfortunately) but I did make it to the market and the large grocery store at the Mont Blanc mall. The market is an amazing experience similar to a flea market/swap meet sort of thing. There are tons of fruit and vegetable vendors (which is what I usually buy there) and anything else you could want in electronics, clothing and housewares. The prices are good, but the quality isn't guaranteed (I am now on my second set of headphones purchased in Guatemala). The colorful market is a stark contrast to the somewhat sterile grocery store but they both have their purposes. I  found myself entranced by all of the options the grocery store provided, though I didn't end up buying that much. I was definitely tempted by the Q30 cheese (that is roughly $4) but declined thinking about how cheap the fruits and veggies are at the market: Q20-25 ($3) for eight bananas, two delicious mangoes, three onions, three limes, three huge avocados, and one bell pepper. For my tortillas I buy direct from the tortilleros for the amazing low price of Q2 ($0.25) for eight fresh off the grill tortillas! All in all, I greatly enjoy my new found food purchasing power.


That pretty much concludes my week. I may end up posting late next weekend because I am going to lago de Atitlán with the school on Saturday. I sort of slacked on the photos this week (only 30 uploaded to FB) but I am trying to take more now and I am going to try to get more of myself. Oh and if you didn't catch on to the various titles this week, I have been listening to a lot of Talking Heads on this trip. 


I miss you all and will update soon!


Te Amo,


Sarah


  

El Chicken bús and why it sometimes sucks to be a gringa in Guatemala

I took my first ride on a chicken bus last weekend, well actually several chicken buses. The school organized a trip to Momostenango (a small pueblo outside of Xela). The whole thing was sort of ill planned (por supuesto es Guatemala!) and some unknown fellow met us at the school as our guide. The six of us (all ladies y gringas) followed along to the main bus terminal which is full of beautifully colored repurposed school buses. There were a couple of buses headed to Momos but we had to catch one that takes a specific path in order to drop us in the right place. This proved to be a quite difficult request and even when we got on the bus we had to wait in line with the other buses before we even got out of the bus terminal. While we waited, several people came aboard to peddle everything from pens to evangelism. An hour and a half from our start we were finally on our way!

Once en route the bus quickly became quite crowded. Initially I was sitting next to just Miriam (a new school friend) but since there were so many people it turned into a three to a seat situation. The first person to sit next to me was an indígina woman. She had an infant slung across her back and its head kept bobbing gently on my shoulder. I like babies well enough, and this whole situation, though cramped, worked out fine. Eventually she got off and I, trying to be accommodating, kept the seat “open”.

The next person to find the seat next to me was a young-ish fellow who seemed relatively harmless at first. The trouble began with a sharp elbow resting on my hip. It was sort of subtle and the seats are really meant for two people so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. As the ride progressed however, his hand began to slowly creep toward my leg. I had my backpack on my lap so at first it was a little difficult to realize what was going on but when I moved my leg and bag away he seemed a bit put off (or so I hoped). The battle for space continued with elbow jabs and partial leg touching with some discomfort to me, but not as much as what I was in store for. I will preface this with the fact that it was extremely hot on this bus. I, as others, was wearing a tank top. The man would occasionally lean over, as if to adjust, and try to kiss my bare shoulder. When I really started to get what was going on I gave him a terrible stare and he sort of stopped in the moment but would continue when I was looking forward. Miriam leaned over and said that it was perfectly fine to say no gracias! From there on out, I tried to avoid his advances and give him dirty looks. The tour guide was doing the same and he sort of stopped. Not too long after this he got off the bus, much to my relief. The whole situation was a very uncomfortable 20 minutes.

I guess now I know what to do in the future, but that is not a future I want to have. I am not saying I am not going to ride a chicken bus again, but it is just really uncomfortable. It would be different if this was an isolated incident of harassment (like in SF with the creepy guy who rubs up on people on MUNI) but it is all over Guatemala. There is no time that I can walk down the street without cat calls and leering stares. I can't, and don't walk by myself after dark here. Obviously, that is a good idea in general, but shit gets real very quickly here. I am really not digging the “machismo” here and I miss my freedom of movement and the comfort of being able to walk down a street without being yelled at or riding the bus without a creeper.
 
The rest of the Momos trip was quite enjoyable. We visited the house of a weaving artisan. He showed us how they make the traditional rugs and blankets sold all over here. They are beautifully colored (all natural dyes) and the process was quite interesting. I even had a go at the machine and spinning wool. It turned out that our guide was the son of the artisan man and had been coerced into showing us around. They served us a simple almuerzo (lunch) of tortillas, beans and picante. We ate in their dark, smoky, mud-brick kitchen with baby chickens running around our feet. The hospitality was warmly welcomed especially after the “excitement” of the bus.

We visited the town of Momos for an hour or so. It is a small pueblo and the market was closing up so we headed back to Xela on the bus. On the way home, I sat next to the window.


A rundown of the week just passed:

I started to feel really terrible on Sunday night, I began to have sharp stabbing pains in my stomach which made it quite difficult to sleep and the ever frequent trips to the bathroom didn't help. On Monday morning I went to school still feeling pretty terrible suspecting the commonly diagnosed problem of parasites. My teacher suggested that I go to the clinic at the school. The doctor listened to my symptoms and my stomach which determined that yes, yo tuve los parásitos. 

He gave me a prescription which involved taking four pills that day all at once and the following day two in the morning and two in the evening. The next couple of days were equally terrible. I couldn't really eat anything and for those in the know, I tend to have a bad reaction to medicines. This was no different. I was barely able to go to class and while there, I was very dizzy and disorientated. I slept in the hours after school, or rather, tried to. I don't know what I ate that contained los parásitos, apparently this is “parasite season” because of the change in weather (we are coming into the rainy season now). Several people have been sick both at school and at home. I have decided my best defense for the future lies in a bottle of whisky. I plan to take a drink at the days end to “clean” things out. Sure this may be an old wives tale, but the whisky is called “old friend” (that is not a translation) and I never want parasites again so I am going with it. A night cap a day will keep the parasite away.

Other than the parasites fiasco, I have been following the Xelaju (pronounced shay-la-who) soccer team. They are in the championships with the municipal team Los Rojos. I watched Xelaju lose the first half of the championships on Thursday night at a Mexican style restaurant appropriately called La Taqueria (it was kind of pricey, who would have thought?). The two teams will play the second half on Saturday night here in Xela and I hope for a win because it is really interesting to watch everyone get excited and there are a lot of fireworks when they win (also if they lose people get angry, in a bad way).

Te amo mucho!

Mi Primero Semana (my first week)

Tomorrow will officially mark my one week anniversary here in Xela, Guatemala. It has been a mostly good and definitely interesting several days.

I will begin at the beginning:

On May 1st I took a red eye flight from San Francisco to El Salvador and then an hour flight from El Salvador to Guatemala Ciudad. I arrived in Guatemala Ciudad in one piece, though thoroughly exhausted. Gilda (the contact person for the school) met me at the airport. I was a bit worried because I only had 30 minutes to catch the bus and I had to go to the bank to get Quetzales in order to ride said bus. Gilda kindly explained to me "now I am in Guatemala and it is time to relax". As she said, so it was. Well, mostly. 


It is a four hour (mas o menos) bus ride (sans chickens) to Xela from Guatemala Ciudad. I attempted to look at the sites, but ended up falling asleep for most of it. When I arrived in Xela, Gilda had instructed me to use the pay phone at the bus station, a somewhat daunting task. I was to call the school and say  "estoy aqui, soy Sarah" so they could pick me up and take me to my host family. It was all a bit awkward because it was loud at the bus station and I could not hear or totally understand the response very well, but I said "si" and hung up hoping for the best. Thankfully, Julie (one of the directors of the school) picked me up shortly thereafter and took me to my host family. This process was, in my opinion, somewhat rushed and confusing. Introductions went as follows: "Sarah, Lulu es tu mama" and that was it. Thankfully again, Lulu is a very nice and welcoming Guate-mama.


My Guate-familia:


Is comprised of Lulu, her husband Rudolfo, her three kids (who are more or less adults) named Sandra, Michelle, and David, la esposa de David (who happens to have a bun in the oven and I saw her vomit in the street last night), and Rupie the dog (also called el nino by Lulu). The house is a lot bigger than I imagined. There are three floors, relatively large common areas and multiple patios. Also, Lulu owns and operates a Lavanderia attached to the house (which makes doing my laundry a lot easier). There are always people coming and going but not in a sketchy way, more like a Lulu has a lot of friends way.


In the beginning, I was worried about the food because the first couple of meals were very limited. Since then however, there has been a different thing served for almost every meal. One thing I find interesting is that with EVERY meal tortillas are served. This includes occasions when the meal is pasta or potatoes. They are delicious corn tortillas so I have no problem with it. Also, they serve picante with most meals (this can mean many things). One is like a basic red salsa but another is a sort of pickled spicy thing with onions and carrots and peppers. The later gives me the hiccups but I like it. Breakfast is pretty basic (eggs and beans or cereal), but the lunches (served around 1:30PM) tend to be VERY large and the whole family comes home to eat together. I am usually starving by the time dinner comes around (8-9PM) and unfortunately it is not a big production. I am still trying to get used to the schedule here. 


Lulu is a good cook and I am pleasantly surprised with each meal, my only complaint is with the beverage options. Apparently kool-aid is a good idea in Guatemala. Also, most Guatemalans drink instant coffee. Agua pura for me thanks. Also, I have yet to get full born parasites (well I don't think so anyway) but my stomach never really feels 100% and one of the most frequent topics among the students is food  poisoning/parasites.


La Escuela: 


Has gone well this week. Right now there are only approximately 15 people but apparently at the end of May there will be a couple of groups coming (summer is the hot time to learn Spanish apparently). Through the school I have met several awesome people and have established an ever changing social group of sorts. At the school each teacher has one student at a time for 5 hours a day. Each week my teacher will change unless I specifically request one. 


This week I had Jeft. Yes J-e-f-t, a not very Guatemalan name. Something about his mother being Belgian or something. Not only is Jeft a great teacher (he speaks very clearly and coaches me well), but he is my age and we have similar interests which makes conversation easier/more interesting. Though the classes are helping, I end up spending several hours after school studying in addition to the 5 hours of class. There are lots of activities through the school (eg this week I went to a coffee plantation, the beach and learned merengue) so that keeps me busy too. One negative thing about language immersion has been the headaches and mental as well as physical exhaustion. I am just starting to be able to last through the day without taking a nap and I usually go to bed at the latest by 11PM.   


So far, I have yet to volunteer. There are two reasons for this. One, quite simply, I am still adjusting to the place. Two, the way I thought volunteering with the school would be, is not so. I still intend to do some kind of volunteering, but it is not very organized, as are, I suppose, most things here. I am sure I will figure something out though. 


In conclusion to this very long post, I am enjoying Xela, my schooling, and life. Thanks to everyone for their support. I miss you all and I will keep posting approximately once a week or so. Let me know how things are going with you!


xoxo,


Sarah