Los Animalitos

San Lucas has been a blast so far, except for one thing: bedbugs.

I complained, hoping they would move me from Casa Blanca, where I was the only guest, to Hotel Icatiu, where all of the other volunteers at the parish are staying.  Instead, they just moved me to another room in the same lonely hotel.  At least my new room has a better shower head that provides hotter water at a higher pressure, and when I woke up this morning, I found no new bites on my body.

I still wish I were staying with all of the other volunteers, but I know I should look at it from a broader perspective: at least I don't have simultaneous malaria and dengue fever like one of the patients we saw in clinic yesterday.  That is some seriously bad luck.

El Primer Día

Whoa.  The clinic is crazy.  I'm working with Dr. Tun, and calling him an amazing physician would be a serious understatement.  I kid you not: his title is "internist and surgeon."  He is so smart!

Luckily for me, I got to shadow all of yesterday afternoon, which was a nice way to ease me into my work here this month.  I've already picked up on a lot of medical Spanish, but I'm glad to have a few days to figure out exactly how the clinic works before I start seeing patients on my own.

Also, I helped the overnight nurses deliver a baby at 1am this morning.  This place is out of control.

San Lucas Tolimán

This morning I received my Orientation to the town of San Lucas Tolimán and the various projects that are run by the local parish.  Its many ventures include a Women's Center, a coffee exportation project, a school, and of course, the clinic where I'll be working.  And all of it in a city that's warmly nestled beside the Lake Atitlán!

I was hoping today would be a "get-to-know-the-area" kind of day, but it turns out that I'll be starting in the clinic immediately after lunch.  Um, wish me luck???

El Lago de Atitlán

Wow, this weekend was a complete blur.  Since Steph has been at the lake for a week and Emi and I are starting work at Santiago and San Lucas respectively, we convinced a bunch of our friends to come hang out with us at Lake Atitlán (not that it was very hard to do).

On Friday we met up with Steph in Panajachel, where she has been working.  We took it easy that night because everyone was so tired, but we woke up refreshed and ready to visit the nearby nature reserve.  It featured a butterfly house and the chance to see some monkeys in their natural habitat!

In addition to hiking through the park, the girls also decided to do some zip-lining.  I had done it before, so instead I walked ahead and took pictures of them while they came through.  Judging by the amount of screaming, it sounded like they had a lot of fun, and I'm happy to report that each of them survived (much to Steph's relief).

When we finished up with the nature reserve, we took a lancha to San Pedro, another town on the Lake, where we met up with Evan and Sharon.  We did a walking tour of the town, which was undeniably beautiful.  I ate my first ice cream of the trip (I'd been waiting so long!) and met a dog named Cannabis (I kid you not).  Later, when we were hanging out in the park in front of the local cathedral, we ran into Cannabis again and he casually made his way into our group photo.

This morning we rented some kayaks and paddled around the town, and I made the wise decision to leave my camera at the hostel.  You'll just have to trust me that it was a beautiful day and we had a great time.

We finished off our trip with a trip to one of the local saunas.  They filled up the hot tub while we ate lunch, and I still can't figure out exactly where the hot water came from.  It supposedly came from a hose, but how did it get so hot??  There is no way it comes from the same water source as the rest of the utilities system in Guatemala, which is freezing cold.

Soon it was time for us to say our goodbyes: Emi and I boarded a lancha to head to Santiago, and everyone else went back to Panajachel, Steph to stay and the rest to return to Xela.  After taking Emi to her new house, I boarded a pickup truck to get to San Lucas.  Now I'm here, trying my best to settle in before my first day of work tomorrow.  And so begins the next leg of my journey in Guatemala!

La Fiesta

Ups!  So last night was Emi's and my last night in Xela.  We decided to party the night away at Pool and Beer, the only bar in town that serves microbrews.  I'm glad we went, because the stout there was pretty freaking awesome, and I won't say how much of it I had.

As always, we had a great time out together, although it was at the expense of my homework.  I feel so guilty!  I've always done all of my Spanish homework with much fervor, but last night, I simply had to celebrate the fact that I was out in Guatemala with a couple of my best friends.  I'll apologize to my maestro tomorrow that I didn't complete the essays on my opinions of abortion, euthanasia, HIV/AIDS, and the death penalty.

But seriously... my homework assignments are ridiculous.  I have a hard enough time discussing those subjects in English.  How am I supposed to accurately express my sentiments on extremely controversial topics in a language I barely speak??

La Fábrica y El Fútbol

I wasn't kidding when I said I was gonna make the most of my last few days in Xela.  Yesterday morning I played hookie (sort of) by going on a school trip during our classes to the glass factory.  I went with and paid for my teacher as well, so it's totally fair.

A guide explained the glass-making process in Spanish, and after she was done, the teachers asked me to translate into English what she had said to the rest of the group.  I would have gladly done so, except for the fact that I had been too busy taking pictures to listen to what she had been saying.  I can't help it; glass blowing is so cool!

After the tour, we played (aka spent a lot of money) in the factory gift shop.  I didn't buy anything, but I did find a sombrero-shaped glass product that fit my head perfectly.

After classes ended, I tried to do my homework as quickly as possible, because the Xela soccer team had a home game last night.  I took advantage of the opportunity to have my first taste of Guatemalan street food (no worries, I prophylaxed with Pepto Bismol).

Once inside the stadium, Evan and I went for the liter-sized Gallos.  It's crazy: between the ticket, dinner, and beer, I spent a total of Q52.50 (or about $7.50).

Unfortunately, the game ended in a disappointing tie.  I'm okay with it, though, because I got a Club Xelajú soccer jersey out of it, and I couldn't be prouder of my new team, the Superchivos!

El Baúl

It's already my last week in Xela, and I'm trying to make the most of every waking minute.  There were no scheduled activities with the school this afternoon, so I approached Kevin myself to ask if he would be willing to take a group to El Baúl, yet another local hike.  And, because he may actually be the greatest person alive, he eagerly agreed.

This time, instead of taking a camioneta, we took a microbus to our destination.  It's surprising how many people you can cram into a converted utility van.  The way there was surprisingly comfortable, but on the way back we had 19 people in the microbus, not counting the driver and the money collector.

The hike itself wasn't as strenuous as yesterday's rock scramble, but once again it afforded us some pretty cool vistas of Xela.  Also, we got some pretty good views of our bags and water bottles, which also made it into this otherwise picturesque photo.

There was a nice park at the top of the mountain with lots of cool features, but everything else paled in comparison to the giant concrete slides.  We all took turns going down them and even had a few races.  Obviously, my aerodynamic shape guaranteed an indisputable win.

That's it; I've decided: we need to build a giant playground for adults in Nameless Field.