Our pink house
pink bedroom
kelly washing dishes in the pila in the back (pink) patio
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Our Little Pink House
After 5 months of living with host families we have finally moved into our own little casita!! Finding a place to live was a bit of a challenge as not much was available. This house is actually the only one that we found so it was easy to make a decision and besides the landlord lowered the rent to Q500/month (about $66) for us since we´re volunteers... A definite plus! It´s located a little bit outside Salcaja in the milpa (corn fields). It´s about a 20 minute walk to the center of town. It´s been fun and interesting buying and transporting all of our furniture and supplies up to the house. We´ve bought a bit of stuff in the market in Salcaja and then hired pickups to drive us up to our house. Here are some pictures and remember there´s plenty of room for anyone wanting to visit! And yes, the whole house is pink (inside and out), there are plans to paint in the future...
pink bedroom kelly washing dishes in the pila in the back (pink) patio
pink bedroom kelly washing dishes in the pila in the back (pink) patio
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Best Day Ever
A few days ago I went to bed feeling like hell. Apparently, when I get a fever I start acting strange and shivering speaking gibberishy Spanglish in my sleep. After a day of being kind of unconscious Kelly convinced me to go to the hospital to have a… well a poop sample analyzed.
Aside from having cramps, a head ache, fever and a mean case of the boom booms I was feeling fantastic! To make matters even better the microbus that we got on to go back home was jammed packed with people. Now for the average Guatemalan standing in a micro is no problem, but for giant gringos such as myself you have to be an armature contortion artist to fit. So there I was smushed between the huddle masses with my head crammed up against a handrail holding on to the sides of the seats trying not to fall over onto the other passengers.
I would like to say that I had my guard up and that security was the first thing on my mind, but it wasn’t. My true thoughts were probably closer to “Oh my god please stomach… Please cooperate!... Who smells like tamales… Please god let me find a restroom soon!!” So in all the hustle and bustle I barely noticed the group of guys get on the bus cramming in behind me. At the next stop the guys all got off the bus and I dove into a newly empty seat.
Then it dawned on me. Wallet! Crap! After checking I found I was right, the guys who got off lifted my wallet. Then the passenger next to me added insult to injury by saying “Those guys stole your wallet”. She said it like she was saying “Hey, can you pass the salt”? If I had the strength and the language ability I would have said something, but all that came out of my mouth was “yes they stole my wallet”.
Kelly was good enough to jump right up and cancel the bank cards and inform the officials. I made it home with an aching belly and a wounded ego excited to get back in bed, when the phone rang. The medical office informed me that I was feeling bad because I had a bacterial infection and not one but two types of amebas. So it was pretty much the best day ever.
Aside from having cramps, a head ache, fever and a mean case of the boom booms I was feeling fantastic! To make matters even better the microbus that we got on to go back home was jammed packed with people. Now for the average Guatemalan standing in a micro is no problem, but for giant gringos such as myself you have to be an armature contortion artist to fit. So there I was smushed between the huddle masses with my head crammed up against a handrail holding on to the sides of the seats trying not to fall over onto the other passengers.
I would like to say that I had my guard up and that security was the first thing on my mind, but it wasn’t. My true thoughts were probably closer to “Oh my god please stomach… Please cooperate!... Who smells like tamales… Please god let me find a restroom soon!!” So in all the hustle and bustle I barely noticed the group of guys get on the bus cramming in behind me. At the next stop the guys all got off the bus and I dove into a newly empty seat.
Then it dawned on me. Wallet! Crap! After checking I found I was right, the guys who got off lifted my wallet. Then the passenger next to me added insult to injury by saying “Those guys stole your wallet”. She said it like she was saying “Hey, can you pass the salt”? If I had the strength and the language ability I would have said something, but all that came out of my mouth was “yes they stole my wallet”.
Kelly was good enough to jump right up and cancel the bank cards and inform the officials. I made it home with an aching belly and a wounded ego excited to get back in bed, when the phone rang. The medical office informed me that I was feeling bad because I had a bacterial infection and not one but two types of amebas. So it was pretty much the best day ever.
First 45 Days
Sorry for the delay with the new posts. We have been “Adjusting” to life here in the Peace Corps. With so many new things surrounding our lives we have found it hard to find time to post.
We have been in site now for about 45 days. In this time we have been consolidated twice for Hurricane Dean and Felix. I would have written about them if they had been more exciting, but they did not really affect us up here in the Altoplano. These events turned into social gatherings where we had a great opportunity to meet our fellow Volunteers and spend some real quality time doing all the things that Volunteers love to do (I’ll leave that to your imagination).
In between consolidations we had an opportunity to go to Panajachel and see Lago Atitlan. It is one of the most breathtaking places that I have seen here in Guatemala. We meet up with casi everyone from our training group to celebrate Marissa Lopez’s birthday. For all those who want to come visit the Lake will have to be on your itinerary.
We have also started working in our jobs. Kelly is working for Coop San Luis. She has started with an inventory project and is working to help them improve their computer skills and systems. Kelly also has a secondary project. She along with the infamous Marissa (our casi site-mate/hija) are working with a women’s group and are going to start a medicinal garden project.
I have been working in INEBOA or National Basic (middle school) Institute with an Orientation in Agriculture. I have started to teach a class here and there, but I am trying to figure out how I can best help the school. I am also working in the administration trying to build a database. If anyone has ideas about projects, let me know.
Hopefully as we get to know more people and how things work around here we will have more to report. We will also post more photos soon.
We have been in site now for about 45 days. In this time we have been consolidated twice for Hurricane Dean and Felix. I would have written about them if they had been more exciting, but they did not really affect us up here in the Altoplano. These events turned into social gatherings where we had a great opportunity to meet our fellow Volunteers and spend some real quality time doing all the things that Volunteers love to do (I’ll leave that to your imagination).
In between consolidations we had an opportunity to go to Panajachel and see Lago Atitlan. It is one of the most breathtaking places that I have seen here in Guatemala. We meet up with casi everyone from our training group to celebrate Marissa Lopez’s birthday. For all those who want to come visit the Lake will have to be on your itinerary.
We have also started working in our jobs. Kelly is working for Coop San Luis. She has started with an inventory project and is working to help them improve their computer skills and systems. Kelly also has a secondary project. She along with the infamous Marissa (our casi site-mate/hija) are working with a women’s group and are going to start a medicinal garden project.
I have been working in INEBOA or National Basic (middle school) Institute with an Orientation in Agriculture. I have started to teach a class here and there, but I am trying to figure out how I can best help the school. I am also working in the administration trying to build a database. If anyone has ideas about projects, let me know.
Hopefully as we get to know more people and how things work around here we will have more to report. We will also post more photos soon.
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