Around Xela

Here are some more pics from day to day here in Xela. I´m sure people would rather look at pics than read anyway:

My trusty steed that I have rented for the month... Relampago (Lightning) is what I have named it. Its very convenient and barely functioning. But I appreciate it

This is Ana Laura in the garden at our house. She is the granddaughter of the people whose house I live in. She will be 5 in a few days and she is the sweetest little girl. I am going to the talent show at her elementary school tonight :)

Karla posing in front of the volcano that sits on the outskirts of Xela. I think its called Tacamulco and is sitting at about 4000 meters. This could be all false information. I´m not sure.

This is a sign on a house about 2 blocks from my house. It is translated to "Injections and IVs put in here." I know personally that I really prefer to get my IVs in hospitals. On second thought maybe it would be safer at this ramshackle joint where there is no indication that this person is qualified seeing as how the MRSA bugs are running rampant in the hospitals. I dunno. Not too many things shock me anymore but this did. Also for those of you not used to Central American security measures. Note the crushed glass bottles around the top of the wall. While they may be unsightly they are apparently effective at keeping intrudors from scaling the walls. Back to IVs, I have heard that IVs are used for everything. Hangnail, get an IV. A cold, get an IV. Flu, get an IV. Cough, get an IV. This person is clearly just taking advantage of the booming market.

This was not taken in Xela but in Lago de Atitlan where we spent the past weekend just relaxing. This was the view from the balcony of our hostel (for which we only paid about 3.50 per night and I think this view alone was worth it). Karla awoke me to check out this sunrise for which I am very grateful :)

And now some pictures from the school where I am teaching about oral health one hour a week for three weeks. I talked about it in the last blog. Today the kids were showing off their history projects and these were some of the more impressive ones! These kids are so bright and work so hard. They are a joy to work with!

Now on to the tooth stuff. Today was the debut of the "Super Cepillo" (Super Toothbrush) skit in the Prepa (kindergarten) class. I would say it was a big hit and I will continue with the 2nd and 3rd graders tomorrow :) We did skits like this in the US in elementary schools but I thought they would be much more fun if all the kids had costumes (if you consider a paper hat that says Diente on it to be a costume). Below I am featured with my Dientes (teeth) complete with paper hats. After that is a Kindergartener showing of the scary Microbio (microbe) costume complete with tin foil hat and green paper gloves.

They also liked it when I demonstrated how a Microbio should die after the Super cepillo brushes him or her. Note my legs sticking straight up and the kids bad fitting tin foil hat falling off.

AFter learning about what happens when we brush your teeth we went to do it for real. They already are brushing their teeth every day after snack which is great. I´m trying to get them the resources to be able to do this in pre-k through 6th grade

These children are just too precious. After you spend even a half an hour in their class they will come up to you and hold your hand at recess or attack you in a hug which eventually ends up with the whole class nearly knocking you over. I just feel really lucky to be able to have this opporunity to work with these kids who are just so excited to learn and really themselves are lucky to get the opportunity as there are so many Guatemalan children who are not offered the possibility.

For those people who wonder, maybe critically, why I come here to work with Guatemalan children when there are needy children just down my street in the US I refer you to the article written by my friend once again http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/14/1805/48246/627/551598

While it is undeniable that stark poverty exists even blocks from my own home in Minneapolis it is simply not on the same level as here; whats more we have the means (if that isn´t the biggest understatement of the day) in the US to correct the system. There is a way but there is simply a lack of will in our "great" country.

My school!

Hi there, one of my fellow volunteers wrote these articles about the school where I am volunteering. Its a pretty inspiring story and ambitious goal. Check it out! More about the kids and teaching soon!

Asturia´s Academy

Article 1
Article 2
Article 3

Transportation fun in Guate

I forgot to recount the harrowing tale of the emergency taxi ride. No worries. The emergency was only that I had to get the 60 pounds of toothpaste and toothbrushes that I left for safe keeping in a bus terminal in Guatemala City during the two weeks we were traveling in Honduras and El Salvador. The issue was that I only had 25 minutes to get there and back before our bus left. The dumb part was that Karla, Elizabeth, and I had just putzed away the whole morning in the city and were just casually waiting for the bus to leave. It may not sound like a big deal but it was! We had already bought our tickets ($10 each!!) and nonrefundable and the next bus wasn´t leaving until the next day. without any idea as to how far away this bus terminal was I jumped in a cab and told karla to wait for me. I didnt even ask how much it would cost because really it was no time for price haggling. He told me it would be 70 Q which is $10 and I thanked him for not taking advantage of me in my time of emergency. I had a number of panic attacks on the ride. One I realized the bus terminal may not have even been open as it was Sunday and many places are closed but a search for the phone number and a call found it open thankfully. We made what normally would have been a 20 minute trip in 12 minutes. At this point the time was 12:17 with ETD 12:30

Nothing runs on time in Central America except buses!!

When we arrived for the bag I must have looked like a real nut! The cab screeched in (actually it really didnt, he could have driven faster to tell you the truth) and then a crazy white girl flies in and comes back out dragging a suitcase 2/3 my size. We crammed it in the back of the cab taking up pretty much the whole trunk and back seat.

The best part was the return trip. We were scheduled to get in at 12:29 so I frantically called a number of numbers to try to get the bus terminal and notify Karla that I would make it. At 12:27 I called the bus terminal and said I would be there in 2 minutes and to tell the white girl that I was coming. He said the bus was leaving in 3.

He wasnt kidding. As the cab rolled up to the terminal Karla says the bus left literally 30 seconds ago. There was another American standing there looking very confused. She had gone to the bathroom while everyone was boarding the bus and they (and her luggage) left without her! So after confirming the buses intended route, the three of us piled into the cab (along with 3 other huge hiking bags, which must have been a sight) and proceeded to chase the bus down. Yes thats right chase the bus. Luckily the route was a straight shot to Xela so we caught it. I had visions of us hanging out the door and jumping from taxi to bus. But after we flagged the bus down they pulled over and we had our luggage and ourselves loaded safely onto the bus one minute later.

It took me an hour to calm down. I was pretty sure I was going to give myself a heart attack. A good story though ;)

Guate, El Salvador, and Honduras pics

For your viewing pleasure a few beautiful pics from Central America
Our first day together in CA:




We only killed one cockroach in that hostel. It also had two fans. Luxury.

















Karla´s form is impeccable on a ride through the Honduran countryside:



The gorgeous Honduran mountains:


Clearly a class joint in a Honduran beach town:



A nice dinner of licuados (milk shakes) and the driest peanut butter and banana sandwich known to humankind. Note the durability of the plastic knife at it bends at a rakish angle:



Intense hike through the jungle to the base of this incredible waterfall in Honduras. It would have taken two days to reach the top (note me being dwarfed at the base of the falls)


Going for a little boat ride with our new friend Kevin to the lake. its probably not at all unusual to see a pack of gringos walking down the street of this small Honduran town with oars.



What did we learn in Central America? Teamwork:


You learn to work with what you´ve got in Central America. We blame the rowing difficulty on the shoddy equipment. Note lack of hardware to attach oar to the boat.




Now in El Salvador. Our friend Ana´s grandmother. I wanted to take her home with me she was the cutest, sweetest lady! I miss my own grannie!



Salvadoran black sand beach pre surfing. Just heavenly!



One of Elizabeths many potential male suitors ordered her a serenade. Lucky!


Hiking the mighty Isalco, a Salvadoran volcano, about 2000 meters. This day we hiked about 8000 meters of volcanos.


How fun! The view made all the hard climing worth it.




Triumphant after conquering the 1300 stairs!!

Xela, the frigid and glorious

Hello loyal fans, I am back again. After 2 weeks of travel through Honduras and El Salvador I have finally arrived iin Guatemala where I will stay for the next 5 week!!! How exciting! Reference yikesbikes.blogger.com for more details about the last two weeks. Honduras was absoultely beautiful and I will add some pics when my cord turns up but El Salvador was super fantastico. We stayed with the family of our friend Ana, who is Salvadorena. We had an absoultely glorious time. I was sad to leave as it felt like home after just one week. The Salvadoran people were so so kind! I can´t say enough about it, just very helpful and welcoming. It was also an excellent educational experience as we learned about the bloody history of El Salvador. We were also heartened to hear about the progress that the leftist party, Frente Farabundo Marti Para Liberacion Nacional, FMLN, is making toward achieving the presidency in this highly corrupt country, which would hopefully go a long way to improving the bleak situation of the poor in this country.

After El Salvador, Eli, Karla and I made our way over the border into Guatemala City where we passed an uneventful evening in our luxury hotel room (50 Quetzals = 7 Dollars each) and by luxury I mean it had hot running water and a FREE bottle of water. It was also steps from our bus terminal and was pretty luxury for the neighborhood we were in.

My first daylight view of Guatemala City was pretty bleak and nearly jaded me to Guatemala City. I think the bus terminal was in one of the worse parts of the city (no worries though mommy as there we were triple locked into our room, one lock on the terminal gate, one on the hotel gate, and then one on our room). Oh boy we ventured out this morning to find pancakes for Elizabeths final meal in Central America. We did find pancakes but unfortunatley we also found people drinking at 9 on a Sunday morning who greeted us with heckling as we walked into what we thought was a restaurant... Very strange. With the drunk hecklers and the ridiculously loud music coming from the jukebox and the lack of decent morning beverage options we bailed out of there right quick. Unfortunately we never found more pancakes. We gave up our hunt for a decent place to sit down to a breakfast. I guess we have a hard time differentiating between bar and restaurant because they all seemed to be bars which was strange for 9 on Sunday morning.

Our standards were pretty unrealistic this morning for what we wanted to eat. We told the cab driver to take us out of that crappy neighborhood to a restaurant that served pancakes but wasn´t a chain, or an American restaurant where we could sit down to a meal and that was between our bus terminal and the airport... not too much to ask is it?

So we ended up in the Parque Central where we were just in time for the Catholic Procession complete with incense, marching bands, a flotilla of black and lace clad ladies, booming cannons, and the main attraction, the Virgin Mary float carried by at least 20 burly men who I must say didn´t look too thrilled about it. My inner Catholic was really intrigued by all this pomp and circumstance. It was a true Catholic spectacle. Pictures very soon! So this redeemed my impression of Guatemala City.

And then we bid adieu to our dearest Elizabeth after a panaderia (pastry shop) confection who is on her way back to the US as I write unfortunately. We had a good two weeks. Our lifelong dream of international travel together was finally realized and a fantastic time was had by all!

And then came the true spectacle of the day. We had bought our bus tickets and were sitting placidly in the bus station at 12:05 awaiting our 12:30 bus when I remembered... SHIT! My other suitcase! You see my HUGE suitcase the size of three toddlers and carrying over 50 poundds of toothpaste and toothpaste for the Xela tikes had been waiting in the bus terminal from which we departed two weeks earlier when I first arrived in Guatemala. They stored it for us there while we were travelling for 2 weeks. It was simply not an option to leave it as Xela is 4 hours from Guat City. So after quick deliberation and with 25 minutes before the bus left I left Karla at the bus station with all of our luggage (and nonrefundable tickets bought) and flew to a taxi. We sped through Guat City on what probably should have been a 20 minute ride in exactly 11 minutes. I can only imagine what the people at both bus stations were thinking when this crazy guera (white girl) came sprinting into the bus terminal looking for the big suitcase. I felt badly about being so rushed but crammed it in the back seat of the taxi (took up the whole back seat and trunk pretty much) and flew back to the bus terminal. I was frantically making phone calls to find the phone number for the bus terminal to tell them to wait. At 12:28 I said I would be there in 2 minutes and he said the bus was leaving in 3. Karla says I arrived approximately 20 seconds after the bus left. We all loaded into the taxi, along with a woman from DC who was apparently int he bathroom when the bus left without her (along with her luggage) and proceeded to chase the bus down on the highway and flag it down so we could board.

Nothing except the buses in Latin America run on time... strange.

Long story short we made it safe and sound. And more pronto. I´m off to eat Indian food in Guatemala. I love it! Ciao for now

Read the blog... of my friend

Hello delinquent blogger here. For a very comprehensive and excellent overview of our trip so far check out the blog of a friend I am travelling with because I am may be too lazy to write these days...

www.yikesbikes.blogspot.com

More later! Photos coming soon!

Hola!!

I'm packing. I'm excited. I'm going to Central America with two (and then three) of my favorite people in the world. Stay tuned!