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.¨

Traveling tidbits

I am sick of traveling, I finally have an adequate workload and I now is when I have friends and family visiting, a visa to renew, and I am exhausted.

That being said, my director came to visit (which lead to another trip). Unexpectedly, I was invited to Coban to see the monastery there and visit Semuc Champey. Probably the most beautiful spot in Guatemala. A river traverses underground and flows out 200 meters later, meanwhile the aboveground part is covered with crystal blue pools of water exuded from the surrounding mts. I loved it and of course I was very mature the whole time.


I went to another spot and I don´t get to drink much here, so when an opportunity comes to have a beer, especially next a beautiful waterfall on a hot day, and just for kicks throw in the approval of not only my boss, but my monk boss (comically if you rearrange his initials, it makes pbr), it is hard to refuse.

And then there is Bernie. Fr. Bernie, is the grandpa you wish you had, the old man who could still make is wife laugh after 40 years of marrige (if he had one). He kind of roams free doing whatever he pleases here. I remember listening to Phil while Bernie was driving and telling a story to Br. Paul, and Phil paused, and said, "He told that same damn story ten minutes ago to Br. Paul. By the end I wasn´t sure to believe half the crap he said. He took us to the roadhouse café and we all had turkey soup- aparently with the blood poured on the top? We ate gizzard too. We stopped on the way to an aldea to look at the rubber trees? "What do they even use real rubber for?" I asked. "Falseys," he replied.


He had a repertoire of great lines and never seemed to let an opportunity to state the obvious or voice his opinion pass easily. Among my favorite lines where (as passing a corn field on the slope), "Oh, and here is where you can fall out of your corn field and break your leg," and "A good friend of mine used to live around her, good guy, but he got caught for trafficing cocaine and is hiding out in the woods somewhere..., and (while driving by the river late night for a place to eat), "this is where they put the bodies, and... wait where the hell are we?." But possibly my favorite moment (I like dark humor), was while having a drink we heard gunshots outside. A normal American would say, "maybe we shouldn´t go outside, he looked at his watch and in all seriousness said, "We should probably get going before it gets to late." That is how you know you live in Guatemala, when the gunshots signal it is getting a little late and you should go out now before the real danger starts.

So I got to jump off a bridge too. And little kids sold me some back-country chocolate. They don´t have cocoa butter here I assume. The cocoa tree is sacred here. They speak Ca´chi here (and Spanish too). So- funny monks, a crazy priest, waterfalls, cold beer, bridge jumping, late night domino´s pizza run, and a wii- I´d say it was a good weekend.

Please don´t stop the music

Every time I leave Esquipulas, a place I am now able to consider home, I come back feeling more confident in my Spanish. Leaving forces me just over my line of comfort to talk to talk to new people and I realize how able I am here.

But before I left, I was gifted with the presence of KP and Jen, two friends from csb sju. Jen works in a aldega of 600 in Honduras as a peace corps volunteer. She is working on agriculture and latrines and has a very different life than me. Showers in the sink, in by 6, and no one to speak English to. While speaking with her, I have realized how fortunate I am to be a male here. Traveleing is safer, the opposite sex doesn´t make advances (sometimes a disappointment, but overall for the better), and men (who she works with) are much more inclined to listen to and belive you. But perhaps most important is how I feel- safer.
KP one of my good friends was also able to come and visit from MN. She understands the culture and the people here more than most people I have talked to about C.A. With Phil and Jen, we went to the City of Joy. An orphanage that I will talk more about later. We played with the kids, and they loved the new visitors. Definately had the best games of go fish I´ve played and I learned how to make oragami frogs.

We parted ways with Jen and went to Antigua for the weekend. There was a procession. It was rediculously long. They started at 3 and went until 8 or so- while carrying and life-sized scene of Jesus carrying the cross.

Molly Roske is near Antigua and was able to spend a good deal of time with us. I realize I miss her more than I thought. She is also in the peace corps and will be working on eco tourism. Neat. Phil and I have been wanted to make a playground for the City of Joy and she gave me a contact who knows how to build playgrounds out of old tires-so stoked! And I was able to take a picture of her wearing the native dress-Smile for the camera and say-Blackmail!
Quick highlights from the b-day spectaculor.
- Popping pull party fireworks in hotels
- Taking a shot with a monk
-Getting blackmail material
-Sleeping in
- Seeing good people who care about more than themselves and being able to talk with them about where our lives are heading
-realizing BVC was a good program for me, I have questioned if peace corps would have been good, but I am happy where I am at, and PC seems like more rules, longer, and more difficult
-a newfound desire to learn idioms
-having a conversation about contraception with a cab driver
-Some woman made a noise (a high pitched whine) for go this way. The first woman I heard make this noise- well I thought she was crazy.
-Pumping out please don´t stop the music all weekend
-This comic- it makes me laugh.