(The ecotourism gang)
But let’s back up a few days. Thursday was Swear-In at the Ambassador’s house in the capital. It was huge and gorgeous with a gigantic lawn, a pool and a tennis court. And to top it all off, you can flush the toilet paper! I can barely even imagine that! So that was awesome. We all got dressed up in the “business casual” that Headquarters had insisted that we needed and got to shake hands or do the Guatemalan kiss on the cheek with Ambassador Durham. Then celebrations were had in Antigua over the weekend.
(With the ambassador; officially a volunteer!)
Saturday morning I parted ways with my friends, nearly all of whom will not be close enough for just a day trip. The group of us going to Alta Verapaz shared a microbus ride with a tour agency to Coban, then I headed out on my own to the far reaches of the country.
The driver dropped me off close to the mayor (Don Rudy)’s house since I was going to be staying with him until I found a more permanent home. He happens to live right by the only cantina (bar) in town, and thus my reception in town was from some bolos (drunkards) who asked me various somewhat rude questions in English, and when I didn’t respond yelled, “Kiss my ass mother fucker!” So the first thing I did in my site was cry a little bit. But don’t you fret, I got over it quickly. I knocked on the door of Don Rudy’s house. We relaxed in some hammocks and chatted, then he brought me to a Mayan ceremony mixed with some Catholicism to bless the children and the crops of a little aldea (village). It was really interesting and I felt very honored to be invited to it, but after traveling for 10 hours and being out the night before, I kept on falling asleep. But they gave us coffee…luckily I got the first cup because they reused the cups for everyone! Afterwards (at 1am) they served us dinner – chicken soup; once again, lucky to be served first.
Sunday, Don Rudy brought me to Las Conchas with some others from the muni (all men). We sat around, they shot the shit (I tried, but it’s a little difficult 1. being female, 2. not being a native speaker, and 3. not knowing the local gossip), we ate lunch, and then we went swimming. There’s a waterfall about 20 feet high that you can jump off of, and I wanted to do it, but each time I tried, Santiago, due to his machismo, wouldn’t let me. It’s because he was scared to do it and didn’t want me going first and showing him up. He never went, but by the time he finally let me go, I had waited so long because of him, that I had psyched myself out! Damn Guatemalan machismo. Next time.
Don Rudy also brought me to the house/lodge (Oasis Chiyu – its got a website) of a gringo that lives out at Las Conchas. We chatted for a bit and we’ll probably work together on some ecotourism things since he does tours and trekking trips and whatnot. It also may be a great place to stay when all of you come visit me!
Monday I found a home. I’m living in a family compound with a wonderful family. I get my own little house (the daughter it belongs to lives in the States now) but I eat with the family. Eventually I’ll get some gas for my stove and cook for myself, but for now, while I’m figuring things out and getting to know them, I’ll share meals with them too. There are plenty of little grandkids running around, which is wonderful yet a bit annoying. Two of the daughters are about my age and love to run and play sports, so it’s going to be perfect! The only problem is that I don’t have a bathroom in my house, which when I’m sick, as I was this week, it doesn’t work out too well. Their house is only 25 meters away, but I have to climb up a little hill, and in the middle of the night when I’m in a hurry, problems arise!
As I mentioned, I was sick this week… I think one of the juices I drank at a restaurant (or even in my own house) was made with tap water. For multiple days I had terrible diarrhea and was vomiting. But I am better now (let’s hope, because it was coming and going) and my family now makes special juice for me with pure water! This bout of sickness though, made me quite homesick for awhile and a little jealous of other volunteers who have site mates. But I’m over that now and am loving Chahal.
As far as work goes, I don’t have much yet. I’m mainly just formulating ideas. It’s a little frustrating working at the muni instead of with an association because ecotourism isn’t the muni’s only focus, so I haven’t received a lot of time from the mayor. But in the long run, this may be positive, because I can work more independently. However, right now, I’d like some time with the mayor to sit down and hash out what ideas he has so I can get some direction and share with him my ideas, but he doesn’t have time for me. Plus, he’s very strict as he’s ex-military (he was a colonel during the war in a very intense part of the fighting). On Wednesday, he was going to pick me up by the soccer field to bring me into town to work. We agreed on 7am. I was feeling really sick and thus was running a few minutes behind. I arrived at the field and he wasn’t there, so I walked up to his house to look for him. Not home. I called him:
“Hola, ¿dònde està?”
“I’m in the muni. You weren’t there so I left.”
“I was only 2 minutes late.”
“Well 7:02 isn’t 7:00. See you in the muni.”
Damn. I was expecting la hora chapina (Guatemalan time i.e. late). He at least could’ve called to say he was leaving, because I ended up missing other opportunities for rides and had to wait a half hour. Oh well, now I know. And I did mention better communication to him, on my part as well, when I saw him.
That day I helped out at a medical mission from the states that was doing surgical consultation, so I got to speak in English for the day and ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! It was amazing, especially with my upset stomach. At the end of the day, I asked for a ride home with the locals that work in the clinic, and I hit the jackpot. They took me swimming in the river and now I have a new group of friends! Que suerte.
I’m sure there’s much much more to share, but as I am dying of heat right now and really need to pee, I’m going to leave it at this. I hope you all are well, and feel free to leave comments or email me! I love hearing from you all.
p.s. I'll share pictures soon, but first I need to take some!
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