boiling

I am sitting here in Livingston, Guatemala...one of the number 1 caminos for drugs traveling to the states. It is a dirty, smelly town. But I kinda like it. The streets are only wide enough for a car or a few bikes, and the stores line the river. Dolly Parton just came on the radio so I am happy. I am boiling in the sun because we spent all day on the carribean. I fell asleep and it was wonderful. Now I resemble a beat.

Traveling is such a growing thing. The best part is the people you meet. I compiled a list of the people we have met and the things I have learned from each one. I think I will post it next week, as I have some free time before julia gets here. YAYYYY. Our vacation ends tomorrow, as we bus it back to Antigua so Dana and Char can fly out. July 3rd is the infamous Peace Corpes Independence day party, and julia comes in the 4th.

I cannot wait to mix family and traveling.

Last week was wonderful, but a bit tiring, and definitely tried our friendships. We started into Semuc Champey, which was literally in the middle of a jungle. We started by hiking and swimming in the turquoise pools....but my favorite part....and POSSIBLY light highlight. was CAVING!!!!!!!!!! As we entered into the cave the small mayan boy wearing briefs (guatemalan swim suit) handed me a candle and said ´´use one hand to hold the candle, and the other to swim¨....WHAT!!! so we entered the cave, welcomed by bats and water. Some parts we could stand but other parts we had to swim. There were ladders and ropes and everything that we should ahve signed liability forms for. It was amazing. I could not wipe the grin off my face.

From Semuc we went to Flores, which is the main jumping off point for the ruins at Tikal. We were exhausted from many nightmarish shuttle rides so we took a day off. We swam in the lake, shopped, and watched SPANGLISH at a tv cafe. The next morning at 4am we set off to the ruins, which did not disappoint. We also saw MONKEYS!!!!!!!!!!! And something called a Cuete...see below.

After our bad shuttles we splurged on a FIRST class shuttle to Rio Dulce. It was an old greyhound with PERSONAL seats and air conditioning....we felt like queens. There was also a toilet in the back which i hads to use. Funny story......i went back to sit on the toilet.....and realized there was a very untinted window next to the john. I tried to close it but it was definitely stuck. So as i sat there doing business all the sudden WE GOT STUCK IN TRAFFIC. actually a military check of the bus...so we slow to a stop, and i am sitting there peeing while waving nnochalantly at the armed army men.

Rio Dulce was incredible. I will explain it more later. I am off to dinner....our hostel here has family style sit down dinner every night. Very communal. Tata XOXOXOXO etc.

Porfa

My friends, especially those who pray, please think of me! I am so sick- sinusitis among other things- and it makes it hard to enjoy my life here. I am hoping to get better by the time we start are week long travels this friday. If you want to see where I am going google these things (Tikal, Semuc Champey, Rio Dulce...Guatemala).

My head is spinning because of the pressure but also with Spanish. My thoughts are entanged in Spanglish. I know its a blessing in disguise, but I rarely rest.

Within the darker times of studying abroad, here are the things you MUST perfect.
1. The spread method. Unidentified meat? Hot dog in your cereal? Unidentified veggie in fully identified mayo? You must spread your food around so it looks like you´ve eaten it. Which brings me to number two...

2. The cliff bar. Buy a box. When you are poor or stiffed dinner, you will eat them in your bed. Which brings me to the 3rd item.

3. The fake sleep. This especially pertains to little siblings in your host family. If they run in after getting home from school and see that your eyes are closed, you have a little more time to nap before playing tag.
4. Hydration. Do not LOVE water? I found a grocery store with ICED TEA PACKETS. Crystal light. I drink ALL DAY LONG.

5. The carbohydrate. Throw that diet out the window because there is NO way you won´t eat bread 5 times a day. Embrace the carbs.

6. Take control fo the plumbing. Often times you leave a present in the toilet but the water is not turned on. Take a bucket of water and put it in the back of the toilet, it should be enough to flush.

absolutely none of these are known from experience.

Vale la pena

This is an excerpt from an email I just sent Peter. It is sort of inner dialogue-esque so forgive the spelling.

first off, I WENT TO A WORLD COP QUALIFYING GAME YESTERDAY IN GUATEMALA CITY.

So...Carlos Columbi is the head of INLEX (the program) and his son is 26 so we decided to ask him if he wanted to take us to the game, in return for him taking a ticket. so he said yes, and he brought his friend Rodrigo who is 24. Between them we were gaurded by 2 guatemalan natives. Ish. Diego is technically argentine but whatevs. He would probably hate that i just said whatevs cause argentines are very particular. anyway they picked us up at the bus stop and took us into the city. which was scary. diego kept pointing at buses and saying ´the red ones are where people get killed´or ´there was a shooting yesterday on the blue one´etc. So we were VERY happy we were accompanied. Anyway we got to the game and were sufficiently felt up by security (they took my clif bar wahhhh) and entered the estadio. It was big around, but not very high. seats 25,000 which is less than the dean dome. so anyway we bought the cheapest tickets which were 100Q and so we were in the general admission place. AKA the guatemalan masses. Not the officials or travelers.....the plebes. So we walk in and instantly there are stares and pointing from all over. Thank the LORD i wore my guatemala jersey because i have such obvious blue eyes an dirty blonde hair. Soon after we entered the americans (about 50 of them, fenced off in a small section and guarded by 50 armed guards) started waving their american flags. Then, all the guatemalans all around us stood up, and collectively waved their arms and middle fingers and said words i cannot write on here SOOO LOUD. I literally thought we may be killed. We kept our head down and headed to our seats. They played the national anthem as i walked to the bathroom and i kept my head buried. I pretended not to sing the words or be excited- and i said as many canadian things as i could. There was one especially rambuncitous (?) guy who was saying terribly obscene things the who time, but thankfully he decided to call us the good gringa bitches. Which is a better alternative than the things he called the folks in the america section. Throughout the game i just clapped whenever guatemala did something and jumped up and down shrieking GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL when guatemala made their one goal.

In the end, an Impate was the best thing that could have happened. The guats thought they´d be whupped by the US but they managed a tie. Nobody was angry with us, and nobody wanted to take out anger on us. After the game ended i entered the mob that headed towards the parking lot. That was another time of spectacle, with people pointing and such. I saw about 2 gringos the whole time i was there. Char and Dana have dark brown hair, and they all 3 have brown eyes...so I swear I get a lot fo stares but i think i am imagining it. There was one point where this guy was completely turned around in his seat taking a video of us on his camera. Not very subtle at all. After we got to our cars we drove home and stopped at WENDYS !!!!!!!!!! which i could not afford so we ended up going to TACO BELL instead. taco bell is the most popular fast food her (besides pollo campero) which i think it HILARIOUS. so not real, but so good. then they dropped us off at home and it was the latest night i ahve ever had in guatemala: 12:30am. Seriously i am dead today. I usually go to bed at 9 or 930.

i got up at 8am today to go to the Puesto de Salud where CHarlotte and I have been working since Monday. I love it there. Monday I gave 25 vaccines, mostly to infants and children. It was so epic. I am learning a lot of medicinal words and getting to observe a lot. There are 2 NC State boys there who are cool, but take the ´rivalry´ a little too seriously. What rivalry!?!?!?!??!?!!!!!!!!! .

This weekend we are going to lay low in Antigua i think. Now that we actually have friends we may try to dancing scene a bit. Next weekend we start are big finale trip...up to Rio Dulce, Tikal, and Belize for a week.

I honestly am happy today. I woke up excited for what the day would bring. I feel happy about the work I do in the clinic, and I am loving hanging out with these girls My host family is incredibly kind and patient- and I have had TWO hot showers. I feel as though I live here and am not a tourist. I did not count down the days till i go home today!! Or the days till you get here!!! I actually want to stay here. I love Guatemala. I love that I have a favorite bread store, and I know what a good deal on a cocacola is. I love that we are regulars at a comedor, and I dream in Spanish. I love that I went to a soccer game and didnt sit with the americans. I love that I feel safe in my home, and sleep like a rock.

 I hate that i do not blink twice when i see automatic weapons in the street. I hate that poverty is started to appear normal. And malnutrition also seems to look pretty normal as well. Blehhhhhhhh.

Thanks for reading sweet friends. I feel your prayers, as I am way more at peace than I have been since I got here.

Fin de semana

Just got back from a weekend at Lago Atitlan. It was so rejuvenating and refreshing, and much needed girl time with everyone. I am so happy that these exact girls are here, and also sometimes shocked we are not tired of each other. I think the difficulty of the situation makes us cling to each other very closely, because we are all that is familiar.

The highlight of this weekend was creation and FOOD. The lake is incredible. We took a boat ride to 2 villages and then this morning we KAYAKED around the lake. Kayaking was my favorite. It felt bad ass. And outdoorsy. And I bought a new nose RING (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so i feel especially BA.

I have bought some gifts for people and for myself. Its nice to be less stressed about trips. Last time I spenta lot of time obsessing over costs, but its better this time. Thank you (x2384723874892374) Eve Carson Scholarship.

I am just very content today. Creation was amazing. I cannot wait to add pictures.

Times up- thanks for reading! Your comments make me feel so honored to be here. XOXOXOXO

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY RACHEL. wish i could be there.

Hospicio

Take two. Kelsey and I arrived at the hospicio today, introduced ourself to today's nurse, and greeted the patients. There are two currently, both of them have AIDS. There were 3 last week but one died. One of the patients look pretty young. She cannot read so I brought my Spanish Bible and read to her. Some psalms. ecclesiastes, and the book of Ruth. She is very religious. Most people ask if you are catolico or evangelico during their first conversation with you. I always say evangelico but it is difficult for Kelsey to explain her beliefs. Here there are only two choices!

After reading the Bible the occupational therapist came so we went to help with the other patient. We bathed him yesterday and today and changed him. He is depressed. He is unable to move his right side because of sequellae of a stroke (Brocas area mom, not Wernicke's. So he can understand but not talk!). He spontaneously starts crying a lot. (SO do I when i work with him)

The best part of the day was obviously something humorous. We were sitting there reading the Bible, me in a mask because I had a cough, Kelsey with her hands folded in her lap. The patients are slumped over, both weak from the havoc AIDS has wreaked on their bodies. The cleaning ladies are meticulously cleaning the floors and walls, and the nurse is sterilizing tongue depressors. These two patients are about as immunocompromised as it gets. If I cough on them, it could result in a respiratory infection that could kill them. ALL THE SUDDEN, it was not dramatic at all actually.....it was very lackdasical. In walks two ladies from the kitchen area, HOLDING A LIVE CHICKEN. No big deal. They were taking it outside to kill it for lunch, so they walked the fastest way- through the AIDS ward! Chickens have EVERYTHING DIRTY ON THEM. Was this serious???? My jaw dropped. I hit Kelsey until she looked up but she did not notice. Nobody said anything.

The most rewarding part of our day is working with the physical therapist. Courtney Reed would love it. For example, the older man who had the stroke does not move out of his wheelchair. In fact, he is tied to it with a sheet. So by now his muscles have atrophied everywhere. It is hard to watch the PT push and pulls his arms and legs as he cries. He stands on his hands and knees as the tears fall on the cushions. You know he is crying because he has not been out of his chair in days. I just found out he has lived there for two years. And then I had a flashback of him from last year, I saw him walking! He is going downhill so fast. He has seen so many patients die around him. All we know about himis that he was a guard and has no family and the other things i saw when I snuck a look at the chart. He cannot communicate much except for by eye movements and frantic cries. He lives in a room with white walls and white curtains. Blankets with holes in them cover his bed that is always in semi-folwers position. He is not allowed outside he just sits and watches a muted TV. His sunken eyes and boney face give him the look of a 100 year old, but his full head of raven black hair reveals that he si much younger. He is on a bland diet, probably because of the meds. But as we walk into his room we see him sipping something brown from a cup he found in the trash. I still don't know what it was. The whole room smells like urine, and when we change his sheets they are wet down to the core. Kelsey and I are afraid to ask if he gets changed once or....hopefully....twice per day.

Adaptation.

We have a poster in the school with the steps of culture shock. I am finally at the end, I am home!

Last night my family made a very American meal. Grilled chicken, green beans with ajo (garlic) and carrots sauteed in cebollas (onions). My breath smelled terrible but my stomach was so happy. Wasting here feels AWFUL so i delight in finished my plate.

 Again last night they gathered around as i stumbled through getting in. They think I have such power.

I am biting my nails BADLY. mama and Peter would be so mad at me. Nothing has changed from the US except for in Guat I wash my hands before I bite them. I think I am just worrying alot about everyone. Today Kelsey and I did patient simulations in Spanish. She wants to work as a SALSA volunteer in SHAC, which means translating medical Spanish. It seems out of reach but I want it BADLY.

I cannot hear much through my bedroom wall. And my lack of Spanish impedes my eaves dropping skills ALOT. But I can hear two things clearly: Laughter and crying. Sometimes they blur together as I fall asleep. Last night it was tears. Here is how my mind wanders.....Possibility 1: Joseline is crying because the internet didn't work and she had homework due. Option 2- it's Jilmar. She is Nely's sister who lives with us. There is something sad about her. I do not know her past at all. I wonder if she has always been single. My mind always wonders to the civil war.

I ALWAYS finish my plte when we have panqueques for breakfast. Con miel.

La compu

Yesterday my family asked me to help me with their computer. Ensenar is the word they used, meaning to teach or show. I said yes, sor 25 quetzales. It took me about 2 hours to figure out how it worked, but I h(5 of them) gathered around the computer hoping to see internet. They believed in me. I am white so I must know everything about computers. I helped them send emails to other vol them write facebook posts that needed to be in english. They would say something in spanish and i would translate it in real time to english. It felt so good.i I have a SKILL!!!!!!!! I felt helpful. It does not always feel glamorous but to speak two languages is to be a bridge builder. To connect. To reunite. They were ecstatic.

Today I saw a family of 5 use internet in their house for the first time. Cement floors. Cement floors. Stone sink, wood oven. 4 rooms. And internet!