The city and the Lake (Lago Atitlan)

Hi guys,

Sorry for not keeping up with the blog the last couple of weeks. The internet refuses to load pictures, and I've been busy, so between the combination....no news!

When I told you I went to the city, I forgot I had taken a couple of pictures! We were wandering around, and here was this random statue of Romulus and Remus! Let's review...where was I again? Evidently one of the past presidents had a thing for Rome, so you are likely to find things like this all over Guatemala City. And of course...there's always time for a Coke!
Random statue in a random circle, but it looked cool so you guys can see it too!
Here comes the good part. Last weekend, I went to Lago Atitlan. It is a natural lake formed when a huge volcano colapsed on it self. The lake is approx 300 meters deep, and since it is on top of volcanic rock, it is crystal clear and a deep blue! It is really beautiful. It is surrounded by dormant volcanos, so it the scenery is gorgeous as well. Here is a shot of one of the volcanoes and the lake.

While we were there (I was on a tour with my school with a couple of other students), we stayed in a place called Panajachel. From there we took ferries, like those pictured below, to several other pueblos around the lake. There are 12 in all. Talk about the slow boat to China! The first was fast, but after that...chug...chug...chug. I'm going to go ahead and post this, and see if I can't start a new one that I can add more pictures to.

More later,
Earline

Musings

Today I was cranky. It happens...more often lately it seems. Seems everything was bothering me today...being by myself all the time...sleeping in possibly the worst bed ever...having very little music on my computer....feeling really isolated....yep, cranky! Then I got to class and had a blast. I make some really stupid mistakes. Today we were learning the imperative, and I told my teacher to "Share me!" when I really meant to say (HONEST!) "share with me!" Miguel is still my teacher, and he laughed for 5 minutes! I also learned how to say "bite me", which he didn't understand as funny until I explained my tatoo! He's not quite sure what to do with me, but we had a good time, and now I'm only marginally cranky.

One reason for the crankiness may be the weather. Today for the first time in weeks we had the sun in the morning, but by this afternoon it was raining again, and is raining still! Turns out I'm leaving just as the weather gets nice. I told one of my classmates I feel like a duck, growing webs!

I just barely brought warm enough clothes. I'm sitting here in long pants and a sweater. It is in the 60's here, especially on rainy nights! Glad I thought to throw in a sweater!

Enough about cranky...take care of yourselves. Love you,
Earline

The Chicken Bus

Hey there,
This has been a great weekend. I finally rode a Chicken Bus! Here in Guatemala there is a public transport system quite unlike that in Texas. Old school buses from the states are brought down, painted wildly, named (we rode on "Norma"), have big sound systems installed, and go from city to city. There is the driver, whose whole job is to drive this old school bus as fast as it will go on the roads here, and his assistant, whose job is to yell the destination out the door while hanging out on the last step, take your money, put your luggage on the top of the bus, and drag people in when the bus slows down (it doesn't actually stop very often, just slows down enough for someone to get on or off!) Martin and I decided to go into the city, so found someone yelling "GUATE, GUATE" and away we went! For a whole 25 cents, we rode into the city and back. While we were we wandered around the markets for a few hours. I bought toenail clippers and he bought jeans. We could have bought just about anything! It was a blast!

I'm being introspective this afternoon. Maybe it is having a relaxing weekend (yes, riding the chicken bus was relaxing!) or all the rain, but whatever. Today for lunch I went to a different section of Antigua than I've been before and it was beautiful! Think River Oaks with a spanish flair! I had one of those perfect moments...do you know those? Sometimes they happen so fast it's only later you recognize it for what it was, but sometimes, very rarely, you realize it while it is happening. I had eaten a wonderful brunch, and was sitting in a beautiful restaurant, with an absolutely PERFECT yellow rose on my table in full bloom. There was a pianist and a sax player playing, the rain was falling softly, and it was perfect! I was so grateful that I'm here, learning (slowly!!!) spanish, experiencing life in a way I haven't in a long time.

This is the first weekend I've stayed in Antigua since I moved into the hotel, so maybe I'm finlly settling down. I'm kind of debating staying here until after my birthday. I'm finally feeling "at home", have a couple of friends/acquaintences here, and I'm not sure I want to uproot just yet. I keep looking on line to find a trip I can afford to Argentina, but so far nada! I'd like to see the glaciers, and the Straights of Magellen, but we will see.

I talked to Nicole last night. Looks like I'm going to need to be in Wilmington a bit earlier to get a place to rent for the summer. She's going to look for me a condo on the beach, so you guys should plan your beach trip now! Take care of yourselves....
Earline

Belize with pictures

Hey there.

This weekend, I went to Belize, to go to the reef there. It was beautiful...but I went to Caye Caulker, and I think I found the end of the world. It is an island about 1 mile long and 3 streets wide. It was great! It took me a while to put up the pictures, but here they are! "Brother" John came, and we had a blast. One of the main highlights was eating lobster at every meal! I snorkeled on the reef and it was great.

John and I stayed in this great place called Iguana Reef. Here's a shot of John in his usual spot in the shade.....

We left on a tiny little plane. I was able to catch the shadow! I think I have flown on more small planes in the last year than I have since I was in high school!

If you guys have ever been to Barbados, there is a really famous hotel there called Sandy Lane. It even made it into 1000 places to go before you die! Well, this is the Caye Caulker version!

Here are some views of the island. The first is the main drag...Front street.


Then we have things to do on Front street!


And here is the beach on the island.


Transport on the island was pretty simple....


This is the view of Cay Caulker from the air. It's the back one.

Here are a couple more shots from the air. The ocean is incredible, so beautiful!!! The first is an island golf resort....the whole island!


This is just a picture of the reef from the air... and an island with one tiny house!

I told you guys last week that I decided to focus on my spanish lessons and stop working in the clinic. It is working much better. I'm going much faster, but then I study about 3 hours per day! I'm a bit homesick from time to time, but the time here is going so fast that now I'm just trying to do as much as I can while I'm here. One bit of good news, MY HOUSE IS RENTED! That was really starting to worry me for a couple of reasons. The first is obvious, making a house payment without a job is not really very much fun! The other reason is a bit more obscure, but renting the house from September to September meant I could have 2 full years on a lease and still come back almost directly into my house when I finish school. October to October means I'll be a bit off if I try to go back to work at TWU. Anywhere else it won't really matter, so I guess I'll just play it by ear. Like I'm doing anything else anyway!

Love you guys, see you in a couple of months.
Earline

Tikal and the Clinic

Hello again... I'm back in Antigua. I went to Tikal this weekend. It's the site of a huge Mayan temple complex. It was really interesting to get out of the city. I don't really have any pictures of the countryside, but think third world, with the pigs and the dogs grazing outside the houses. And lots of horses and motorcycles for trasport... We (the tour I was on) stayed at the Tikal Inn, pictured below.


The temples are located in an area which does not have enough rain to be called rain forest...it's called a high humidity temperate zone or something like that.,,but that means monkeys! We saw spider monkeys (see the one below) and heard the howler monkeys. We say lots of toucans, and not just on the fruit loops boxes!

Below is a picture of what a structure looks like before it is excavated. It is an amazing site. Probably only a third of it has been excavated. You walk down trails where you feel as if you are alone in the world except for the animals ...oh yeah...and the clouds of mesquitos!

We flew there on a prop plane that was small, but inside it was normal sized. On the way home, we flew in this plane that was probably 40 years old...no armrests, just a double bench seat on one side and a single on the other. There was no flight attendent. Instead, there was a bottle of water (or in our case 2 bottles...there were two seats after all!) It was TINY! But what a beautiful flight home. There was no way to take pictures, but think of the pictures of China where the mountains float out of the haze and the clouds, and you have an idea!

It's really hard to get a sense of how massive Tikal is. This is one view of the main temple square.
Here is a temple with some of the stellae in front. The Maya had one of the most accurate calendars in the world. It was a combination of 3 calendars, and using the combination, each year repeats once every 52 years. The stellae have stories on them that are still visible to some extent.
There is one temple you are allowed to climb. It's Temple 5, and from the top the other 4 temples are visible. Temple is 5 in the back of the park, about a 2,5 hour walk from our hotel. I did all the stairs, walk, etc. fine, but by the time we got there, and had a ladder we had to climb up and down, I ran out of gas. One of the guys on the tour took my camera to the top, and soooo, here is the best picture of the lot as seen by my camera!
Below is a shot of Lord Choco's temple.
All in all, it was a pretty amazing trip. The most amazing thing to me was my ability to do it!

The last two weeks I worked in a clinic. One day this week I took some pictures, and here they are. Below is the reception area....

one of the examining rooms....

La Doctora's office ..... La Farmacia.....
And the "trauma" and wound care room

I decided this week I'm going have to stop working in the clinic for a couple of weeks. They really didn't want me to start so soon. They were worried about my spanish, and they (the folks at school) were right. When I'm working in the mornings, then going to school in the afternoons, I really don't want to study at night. So I'm going to keep going to school in the afternoons and that will leave my mornings free to study. My priority is to learn spanish, so I really need to focus on that. I haven't made much progress in the last week, so I need arrange it so I will.

It was sort of an interesting week. I was so excited when I got back from Tikal. Walking, etc., had been so different from the last few years that I was estatic. Then I got home and was putting cream on my bug bites and realized....I CAN TOUCH MY TOES....EASILY!!!!! It has been years, and wow, I really didn't realize I was moving so much easier. Then....disaster....I fell really hard at school Monday afternoon. By yesterday I was really having problems with my knee hurting and being sore and was really bummed! When you've been hurting for so long, starting to hurt again is scarry, and you wonder if it will stop, or just keep on going like it used to. But today I'm fine, and marveling again at the difference 6 months and a new hip make.

Events of the week: Martin is now officially 32, after having a birthday Monday. A bunch of us went out and celebrated. Then tonight we had a "tour reunion" and Nick from DC and Grace from NYC and I went to dinner. We made a good group on the tour, and enjoyed ourselves again tonight. Tomorrow really early I head to Belize to snorkel on the second largest barrier reef in the world. John Watson (brother John to you who know the confusion) is meeting me there. It will be nice to see someone from home. Miss you guys and love you lots!

Earline

First week at "Work"

Hello again from Antigua!
This has been a much better week. I started working and am a lot more busy. I am a bit confused however. Everyone here says this city is very tranquil. Next to NYC, this city is the craziest place I have ever lived! Maybe it's my choice of living locations, but I am remembering how it is to live in a dorm...remember chaos?! Next door to my hotel is a club called Personnaje or Homeless in Spanish. This club has sandwiches named after the homeless people who live or have lived around the restaurant, and if you buy one, the homeless get a cut. Nice, huh? Well, it is also one of the most "happening" places in Antigua, shutting down around midnight most nights, 2-3am on Thurs, friday and Sat. When a Guatemalteco won Latin American Idol, the country, and oh yeah, the club next door, went NUTS!!!

Then there is the rooster. Did I mention THE ROOSTER??? The club shuts down at 2am, and the rooster, who evidently has no problem sleeping through the music, wakes up, and wants everyone else to wake up...at 4:30!!! I keep having this song run through my head...you may know a little different version..."Kill the roooooster, kill the roooooster, kill the roooooster!" I wasn't feeling good by the end of last weekend, had a bit of fever, sore throat, and REALLY needed to stay near the bathroom, so I was not in the mood for all of this fun. I just wanted to sleep. So....I called a cab, went to the city, and got a room on the 16th floor where there were no roosters or clubs. I literally slept all weekend, and was fine Sunday when I came home. (OK, not all weekend, there was a GREAT pool and hot tub)

This a scene from 5th ave. when I got back Sunday. This weekend was the weekend of the Dia de los Ninos, and there was all kind of stuff going on on the Ave. The lady in the center is dancing, and what you can't see is the crowd of locals cheering her on!


To tell you the truth, I don't know which church this is, but when I have a break at school, this is the kind of scenery I get to look at. This city has pockets of beauty everywhere.....

The other day I was wandering around (I do that regularly here!) and I found this absolutely beautiful Italian restaurant. It was straight out of the movies, with tables set around a beautiful courtyard. The food was great too, but wow! what a location. Hollywood NEEDS this place! Below is the courtyard....
Random picture here, but here are some of my classmates. I think this was after the salsa lesson. I have told them that I love to dance, but dancing does not love me! Actually, the truth is I'm awful at salsa....there are too many steps to make in too little time! The girl in the center at the end of the table pointing a pencil at her head is Hannah. She and I are both working at the God's Child project.

The rest of the pictures are from the school/clinic where Hannah and I are volunteering. It is an amazing place. There is a clinic, dental clinic, school, food and clothing distribution, all located on an city trash dump. When you see what they have created you will be amazed. The foundation, called in Guatemala " La Asociación Nuestros Ahijados" has a little different policy than most organizations. At this school, only one child per family is given free education. That child is paid, based on grades and scholastic accomplishments to stay in school. This gives the family the income that child could possibly bring in elsewhere, and gives them reason to support the child in school, since the better he/she does, the higher the pay. The theory is that the one successful child will then support the others, lifting the family out of what is, by any standard, abject poverty! Their graduation rate is good, and many of their students go on to university, something unheard of in the poor families here. When I say this used to be a garbage dump, look at the pictures below and see what can be created from nothing!!! The first is a walkwa from the front to the school. Beauty is everywhere. Everything is clean, neat, and gives those participating in this organization something to work toward, and an understanding that this is possible!

This is the main hall. It is so like the American school in Trinidad...

My first day was the school's celebration of La Dia de los Ninos. The hall was full of children, teachers and volunteers as we all lined up to play games (don't ask, just know that lots of mud was involved and I decided early on that "Grandma" was going to hold the watches, telephones and anything else that didn't need to crawl in the mud or climb a tree!) We also had pinatas, food and a great time!

A funky trash can! This is the school. Currently there are around 150 children in school here...

The entrance to the school...so pretty!

Artwork on the clinic building...

Just one of the pocket gardens around... The main offices where the clinics and the volunteer coordination are located...

The entrance to a small chapel. Even though this organization is primarily a Christian organization, the family and children's beliefs are respected...

My first week at work is going OK. It is frustrating not to be able to understand, but it gets a little better each day. The first day la doctora told me to go make a copy, and I just stood there having no clue what she said. She finally said it in English, but it is frustrating not to understand the instructions for something so simple. I get weights, BP's, and temps on people. The BP's are manual, good thing I taught it for so long or I wouldn't remember how! Today was a good day...I got to give a shot! Any day with a needle in it is a good day! On that note I'll close.

Love you all,

Earline