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.