The end...

I am leaving. I thought I might share a few of my favorite pictures. And just to shake it up a little bit, this morning at 2:30 there was a small earthquake, or tremor, whatever they call it in English. The epicenter was where we spent spring break. By the time I could figure out what was going on and get some pants on to go outside, it was over.

This girl loved to blow bubbles. I loved to take pictures.

This is Christian, by far my favorite English student. He is quite intelligent, but doesn´t try that hard and a full fledged goon.

Uh, this is me...maybe you can see why the full fledged goon in him appeals to me.

This is Javier, I just about kidnapped him. If I could support him I probably would have. He climbed on top of the tire pyramid and just kept saying ¨No me cayo,¨ ¨I don´t fall,¨ again and again for about ten minutes. He has the best disposition for a kid. Notice his boots. Half the time they are on the wrong feet. But he loves them.

And this is Ben. On the night we got stuck in the Basilica.


And here is what it is all about. Goodbye Esquipulas.

The playground is done & I slept in the Basilica

The playground is DONE! So relieved, stoked, enthused, and ready for it to be done. Since the wood contains arsenic, I decided on a mandatory painting, so that kids don´t become exposed to it. But don't freak out about the arsenic. I did my research. I contacted the EPA, read some studies on exposure, etc. After 2 years the levels diminish (which is how long I think the paint may last), and the problems come when kids touch the wood and lick their hands, they can´t touch the wood, but we are going to tell their caretakers it is important for them to wash their hands anyway. We bought bright paint. It looks like a party. It is a party.

There are a a few things I am really quite excited about. I love hammocks. So I put one in. Whoever is going to be supervising this needs a comfortable place to relax. This was stolen one night, so notice the chain at the end. The bench. I'd like to say I designed it, but really it was more like I had a rough idea, and improvised when I had all the parts. But the cool part is-this bench uses almost no new or usable materials. The tires were all bound for the dump. The wood slats are the extras when the wood is milled. So really it only uses 16 screws and a ten foot 3x3 taken from the lumber pile in the monastery yard (which is wood from their land). The crazy Italian director guy like the first one so much, he begged for another one yelling, ¨Bonito, que bonito.¨ I am a sucker for flattery. There are two.

All in all, 124 tires were used. In a place where often the tires are burned, that's good. It also cut down on cost of materials. But another thing I like is the sign. Phil wanted a sign. I said, let's find an acronym for BPR, (Brother Paul Richards)- sort of a facetious tribute. Who wouldn't want a park named after them? Eat your heart out, BPR.

I guess this thing kind of came about in a similar way as the bench. While talking with Molly in Antigua, her friend mentioned that he had a friend who built playgrounds with old tires. Enthralled, I got an email address and got a few pictures. I copied the design, but then had an extra half a used telephone pole- and your not going to not use a half an unused telephone pole, right? So I replicated the structure and threw an extra tire in the middle. BAM! Guatemalan climbing wall.


We went up to have an inauguration, break in the playground, day. The kids had a ball. The nuns gave us a special blessing with gusto, one got really into it putting a raspy growling into when she said, ¨They have such great big hearts.¨ It was nice, they sang us some national songs, and made us sing the national anthem.



I slept in the Basilica. Not by choice. Not because I lost a bet. Because it was a weekday.

When Liam came, he showed us we could go up to the bell tower at night and hang out. We came down at about 11:00. Ben (a fellow BVC Volunteer) and Jen (PC Volunteer in Hond.) came to visit and we wanted to do likewise. But, the Basilica closes at 9:00 on weekdays, and is locked from the inside. We talked to a guard through a window and no one has the keys except the people who come at 5:15 am. Smart system. So we slept inside, or rather slapped mosquitoes, played silly car games and wondered if this really was happening.

Ben and Jen are good people, and good free help too. Life is strange. Who would have thought a year ago that we (and Molly Roske too) would have been able to get together for a weekend in Guatemala. I love it.

In unrelated news- I heard on ¨Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me,¨that a small but fully alternative energy powered boat was sailing out in the Pacific and something went wrong and lost power. After several hours they were picked up...ironically by an oil tanker. Bummer.

Medical mission, Juana, filters, and the last 2 weeks

The medical mission was an experience, but I was ready for them to go. I am excited to go home. Things are great, but I am ready to go. The group was clicky, full of characters. Willie, a dentist, had his own practice, and dropped it to pursue a peace studies masters. Now he is starting a dental clinic in Viet Nam with a group of Quakers. We had lots of good conversations in the back of the truck on the way home. ¨He is a dude.¨ And then Alicia, an amazing person, provided physical therapy for Juana.

Juana has been heavy on my mind lately. I have been working with her for most of my time here. Now she can walk- without help. When she first went from one table to the next without holding my hand, I was awestruck, my heart smiled and cried at the same time.

But, someone from the medical mission saw her begging for money and here lies the predicament. He mother and her are codependent. She is 9 and needs her mom, her mom has no education and no skills, so she relies on the child to beg and make an income. Well now that it is time for the cycle of poverty to be broken by Juana going to school, the mother doesn't want her to go. Several things have been tried, and the last time I went to do her physical therapy with her she had left. I think that Eduardo is going to call social services on her. It just isn't fair for Juana to have to sit in front of the Basilica and beg for money for the rest of her life. In the back of my mind, I can't help think that I was a part of pulling this girl away from her mother. But it is what is best for her, and probably the mom too. Because 8 years down the road, the mom won´t be able to work and Juana (with an education) will be able to provide for her).

A lot of things came together for me. My roommate senior year wrote her thesis on water purification in poverty stricken places (thanks for that KP), so she gave me a nice set of background information. Then when I was in Coban visiting another volunteer, a crazy priest from the twin cities of all places told me where I could get the filters I was looking for and gave me the contact. We had the money set up and I just needed to work with the group here who knows the people of the village and organize the day. Big success. 22 families will now be able to purify enough water to drink and cook with each day. Water projects are one of the most needed things here, I wish we could have had more, gotten to know the people better, and worked with them to empower them to find their own solution instead of just showing up with gifts.

It is the rainy season! I am so excited, I can't express how good it feels to be not hot. Notice I didn't say cold. The only time I have been cold is when I jump in the walk in fridge just to remember what it feels like. I found a few people to goof around with in the rain with me.

tranquilate and the playground

I am having a low level freak out kind of day... it is near the end of my time here (with a month left) and I have no job when I return. Not really a problem since I want some time to spend with friends and family, but still I am finding all these incredible camps where I could goof around with kids, teach, canoe, do pottery, eat good food and live in a community of people my age- sounds perfect. But I need some time to adjust to being back in the US and won´t be returning until all these camps have started. Deal with it. Here exists a word for what I need to do- tranquilate- you need to be tranquil.

But the playground, the post long awaited with great anticipation. Our goal was to have the primary structure completed by the time the medical mission arrives and so it is. Here is a picture. Phil has been great with getting the plans drawn and knowing where to put things and I´d like to think I have been pretty good at trouble shooting- like what we should do when we realized we forgot to buy two essential 4x4 wood posts. Here is a picture of what we've done so far.

When the Italian who runs the thing saw the monkey bars he said "What are these for, to kill more kids?" Yep that´s the goal. He's crazy. So we have to add 2 wood swings, 1 tire swing, finish a small tire climbing wall, make a tire pyramid, and a tire pole. I think we can do it in the time we have and get it all painted. It warmed my heart to hear when we talked to the mom of one of the houses that the kids always ask when the swings are going to be done and when will Mateo and Felipe return to play?

On a minor note, we jumped the fence late at night to get back inside. The dogs weren't out yet (I think), but the boss was not too happy with us.

And I am helping translate for the dentists on the medical mission. I give out toothbrushes, fill out patient information sheets, and whatever else needs to be done. The best was when one kid who had a really rooted tooth pulled was finished, he jumped out of the chair and with a muffled voice and a brushing motion asked for toothpaste... he wasn't going through that again.
I also get to blow bubbles. Yeah.

Bay Islands, grandparents, and wriggle

Wriggle is a word, WTF? It means the same thing as wiggle. Why have two almost identical words that mean the same thing, and how did that slip through the cracks of my knowing until this week? It sounds funny, like when my g-pa adds a r to wash to make warsh. The whole thing really grinds my gears. Its cockamamie.

My dad, Sandy, Grandpa, and Mary came to visit. With my grandpa I had some very interesting conversations and I wonder how I came to be so drastically politically opposite.
Me ------------------------------------------------------------------------Al
And I found out that some of my favorite people in the world are creationist. Kind of depressing, considering the book I am reading right now is called- Evolution: The triumph of a Theory and am considering going to grad school for ecology and evolution. And the Texas textbook publishers are washing down there science books again with ID, or UID. If wriggle grinds my gears, this shatters my axle. God seems a lot smarter and cooler to me, having set up a system that changes without intervention than one who goes, Bam! New species every 4000 years. But differences aside we had a lot of fun playing cards.

And Utila was a high level of crazy!

Here is proof. Insane-fire-twirling guy with no shirt- (but a lonnnnng jacket-psych) and a 3 month long Ned Kelly beard.
And we rocked the Island with team Sweden, leading to times reminiscent of Montreal- spring break 2008- me chanting U-S-A! U-S-A! Because everybody abroad hates Americans (according to a drunk irishman). And the Swedes only went to C.A. because they couldn´t drink in the USA. Here is team Sweden, and some of my scuba instructors. At one of the coolest bars in C.A. The whole place was a giant mosaic. Check out the table.


But the real reason I needed that week of spring break was because there were people to meet, people who hang out at night (and being able to fully articulate myself helped too). So I impressed myself by going out until 1 and having to get up at 6:30 everyday and didn´t get sick or tired until I left. It was one of those experiences you can´t explain, but seemed like just what you needed at the time. And I am open water certified. So I got that going for me.

Maybe I will write about our pre-spring break vacation later, but we went to Santa Rosa de Copan and watched a soccer game there, they get so into it they paint their chicks (as in baby chickens, but some of the girls wear facepaint too). And I learned a really great game at the orphanage there.

And playground is looking a beautiful kind of fantastic. Has tuvo.

Right off, brother

Levi and Alisha came to explore the wonderful world of Guatemala. Alisha said they were doing pretty well- after two days they wanted to find some shade. It was hot. The trip was excellent, Levi really was able to immerse himself into new and strange situations and didn't care that he didn´t know the language. We asked for a cab ride to a waterfall and I was astounded, none of the taxi drivers wanted to take me...in fact they referred me to someone else who quoted me $125 which I walked away laughing at. We found a bus for $2 by chance. We kind of snuck in, saving us a lot of money-we think. It was all a little shady.


Levi ventured into the world of the strangest of the strange of street food. Meatpies from a bucket. But the hightlight was Rio Dulce. The water was perfect and so we took some time to kayak, swim and take funny pictures.

Amoung many stories was with a Belician who had some trouble at US imigration because he encountered some "high-level-bullshit," called the officer a "fool," and drove a "drug truck." Meaning it had tinted window and a stereo.

How´s it going? Well, we've got beautiful swimming pools, but we're wearing tenis shoes.

That is a Guatemalan phrase for we're screwed, but we're happy. I can't think of a equivalent English idiom, if you can-hit me up. Maybe we should adopt one with the economy, or in Fargo with the floods. Good luck back home, wish I could be there to sandbag.

This morning I was asked about the news with Obama. Bush came up and I shared a fact that he spent 2 years of his presidency on vacation. The reply came, ¨Oh good, three days screwing up the world, 1 day off.¨