Twists and Turns

The end...

2009-05-28T18:36:00.000-07:00

I am leaving. I thought I might share a few of my favorite pictures. And just to shake it up a little bit, this morning at 2:30 there was a small earthquake, or tremor, whatever they call it in English. The epicenter was where we spent spring break. By the time I could figure out what was going on and get some pants on to go outside, it was over.

This girl loved to blow bubbles. I loved to take pictures.

This is Christian, by far my favorite English student. He is quite intelligent, but doesn´t try that hard and a full fledged goon.

Uh, this is me...maybe you can see why the full fledged goon in him appeals to me.

This is Javier, I just about kidnapped him. If I could support him I probably would have. He climbed on top of the tire pyramid and just kept saying ¨No me cayo,¨ ¨I don´t fall,¨ again and again for about ten minutes. He has the best disposition for a kid. Notice his boots. Half the time they are on the wrong feet. But he loves them.

And this is Ben. On the night we got stuck in the Basilica.

And here is what it is all about. Goodbye Esquipulas.

The playground is done & I slept in the Basilica

2009-05-24T15:29:00.000-07:00

The playground is DONE! So relieved, stoked, enthused, and ready for it to be done. Since the wood contains arsenic, I decided on a mandatory painting, so that kids don´t become exposed to it. But don't freak out about the arsenic. I did my research. I contacted the EPA, read some studies on exposure, etc. After 2 years the levels diminish (which is how long I think the paint may last), and the problems come when kids touch the wood and lick their hands, they can´t touch the wood, but we are going to tell their caretakers it is important for them to wash their hands anyway. We bought bright paint. It looks like a party. It is a party.

There are a a few things I am really quite excited about. I love hammocks. So I put one in. Whoever is going to be supervising this needs a comfortable place to relax. This was stolen one night, so notice the chain at the end. The bench. I'd like to say I designed it, but really it was more like I had a rough idea, and improvised when I had all the parts. But the cool part is-this bench uses almost no new or usable materials. The tires were all bound for the dump. The wood slats are the extras when the wood is milled. So really it only uses 16 screws and a ten foot 3x3 taken from the lumber pile in the monastery yard (which is wood from their land). The crazy Italian director guy like the first one so much, he begged for another one yelling, ¨Bonito, que bonito.¨ I am a sucker for flattery. There are two.

All in all, 124 tires were used. In a place where often the tires are burned, that's good. It also cut down on cost of materials. But another thing I like is the sign. Phil wanted a sign. I said, let's find an acronym for BPR, (Brother Paul Richards)- sort of a facetious tribute. Who wouldn't want a park named after them? Eat your heart out, BPR.

I guess this thing kind of came about in a similar way as the bench. While talking with Molly in Antigua, her friend mentioned that he had a friend who built playgrounds with old tires. Enthralled, I got an email address and got a few pictures. I copied the design, but then had an extra half a used telephone pole- and your not going to not use a half an unused telephone pole, right? So I replicated the structure and threw an extra tire in the middle. BAM! Guatemalan climbing wall.

We went up to have an inauguration, break in the playground, day. The kids had a ball. The nuns gave us a special blessing with gusto, one got really into it putting a raspy growling into when she said, ¨They have such great big hearts.¨ It was nice, they sang us some national songs, and made us sing the national anthem.

I slept in the Basilica. Not by choice. Not because I lost a bet. Because it was a weekday.

When Liam came, he showed us we could go up to the bell tower at night and hang out. We came down at about 11:00. Ben (a fellow BVC Volunteer) and Jen (PC Volunteer in Hond.) came to visit and we wanted to do likewise. But, the Basilica closes at 9:00 on weekdays, and is locked from the inside. We talked to a guard through a window and no one has the keys except the people who come at 5:15 am. Smart system. So we slept inside, or rather slapped mosquitoes, played silly car games and wondered if this really was happening.

Ben and Jen are good people, and good free help too. Life is strange. Who would have thought a year ago that we (and Molly Roske too) would have been able to get together for a weekend in Guatemala. I love it.

In unrelated news- I heard on ¨Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me,¨that a small but fully alternative energy powered boat was sailing out in the Pacific and something went wrong and lost power. After several hours they were picked up...ironically by an oil tanker. Bummer.

Medical mission, Juana, filters, and the last 2 weeks

2009-05-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-18T05:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-03-24T06:05:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-12T16:07:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-05T07:44:00.001-08:00

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.

City of Joy- real unadulterated joy

2009-02-17T18:33:00.000-08:00

I found this orphanage was appropriately named. Phil and I go once or twice a week to play with the kids and have been going for a few days in the mornings to work. We are building a patio with a thatched roof for the library. The guy didn't have a level and we were putting in posts. Thank god Phil and I were there cause it was going to be pretty slanted. We also bought welding gloves to protect our hands from blisters.

But, I was really happy, perhaps for the first time in a long time. And with all the sadness I went through in Jan.-I needed it. Uninhibited, laugh out loud, lose your cares and your age kind of happy (not that 22 is bad, but 6 is better). Raw blissful emotion came over me when I was playing the airplane game with a 4 year old, Javier, and his laugh became so hysterical that the drool spewed out freely. I laughed harder, mistakingly encouraging him. I barely evaded a saliva string long and thick enough to tie your shoes with. We also flew airplanes, read books (I unintentionally donated my book) and played war. You´d think these guys were the United States as they thought the rules of war didn´t apply to them. They were the biggest cheaters this side of Vegas.

And we are trying to raise money, with great suck-sess, meaning not raising any at all. Expect a letter soon asking for money so people can actually drink clean water and kids can learn how to read.

Crappy Jan. -Mid winter blues?

2009-02-06T14:34:00.000-08:00

My apologies for not blogging for a while. What a crappy January. I´ll try sum it up in bold, if you want the quick and dirty.

My family came to visit. Awesome to spend time with them. Highlights were kayaking in lago de Atitlan, supposedly one of the most beautiful lakes in the world and just getting to see my family, especially so close to Christmas when the need for family is amplified. I missed playing games with them and conversing about normal things. We traveled with a Phil´s family, so we had a big group, which ended up being really stressful. Mostly because...

We just about died on a volcano. The guide told us to keep going up, as we looked to our left at a group of tourists molten lava boulders came tumbling down at them- we were higher up and out of the way, so we figured we were fine. Again, our guide told us to climb up. I waited with my mom and sister. Then the guide came down a bit and said in Spanish- there are two rivers of lava coming, go down. We started going down, but didn´t realize we should have run-cause the boulders were coming. The group split in two and boulders fell in between us, spitting off lava every time it bounced. The guide didn´t count how many people there were, and Phil´s mom and brother were on the bad side. Phil´s brother and a Guatemalan kid dove opposite ways to evade a dishwasher sized boulder. One rock hit the kid in the foot, melting his shoe and burning his foot. So he helplessly laid on the ground yelling, help me help me. I didn´t know what to do. Feeling unsure and helpless, I froze. I wish I could have thought back to WFR and remembered that if the scene is not safe, you don´t go into the situation. Crazy.

Then we left Ellory in Xela, an excellent city, where she will be studying until May. She has a pretty great host family and her host mom makes her fresh squeezed orange juice every day. Lucky! And they have a great Indian food restaurant there. God I miss Indian food. I took mom back to the airport where I forgot to get my books and chacos back from her, bummer. Then I waited for Amber to come... 3 hours later.

I am single. Amber decided to come visit me even though she had started dating someone else a month ago, without telling me. Really messed up. I felt horrible because I felt like I had sacrificed a lot, especially over the summer, she did too a tiny bit, but monogamy was one of them. I guess I feel a great loss, because she used to be a really great person. It was really painful. But at least now the source of pain is gone, even though the residue persists. To make matters worse, while leaving her in Antigua, I laid down crying alone in the back of a truck and my wallet slipped out, so I lost $65. I went back to Xela to spend time with Ellory, which I needed. She is an amazing person who I am extremely lucky to have, not only in Guate, but in my life. I received lots of good advice-especially from my wise man-savant on the mountain-Rene McGraw. Thanks to everybody for being there.

Then Phil and I took a girl to Tegulcigelpa, Honduras for surgery. It was a lot of running around getting documents, blood work, and x-rays. We drove 12 hours to get there. Communication was pretty poor and partially because our phone didn´t work. We bought it a week ago. Dumb. Phil and I stayed in basically hospital overflow, with 40 beds in a room, a bottom sheet (who knows if it was changed or not), and people clearly saw the dollar sign tattooed to my forehead, but didn´t want our food when we offered it to them. So we left that after our most stressful day so we could have a place to get a beer and watch TV. The stressful day- during the surgery the mom sat outside. We watched the surgery, actually I watched 10 min. and felt lightheaded. When it was done, we told her everything went better than expected, she had a seizure. So now we have two patients. She peed on the floor while her body shut down and it took 20 minutes for anyone to clean it up, even though the hospital has 15 custodians with mops, constantly mopping the floor. the hospital didn´t have the personnel to care for seizures, so no one did anything. So we felt helpless again. Anyway the rest of the trip was fine, except when Phil and I were walking home, some random guy from the street ran up behind me and slapped me on the arm as hard as he could. WTF? And Jen Arnold, a friend of mine was there the day before we came, and was coming back the day after we left, bummer.

For the first time, it felt really really good to be back in Esquipulas.

Inaguration Day was awesome. I had the abbot make an announcement that the ¨gringos¨ would have a little celebration of their new president after lunch. We took the monks outside where we had two pinatas waiting. We told them that we are welcoming the new president but also booting out the old one. So we handed out shoes to throw at the Bush pinatas. Not only were the monks a better shot than I expected, but the abbot picked up the semi-imploded head from the ground and started kicking it wildly. Guess W. wasn´t too popular anywhere. The next day in the paper there was a editorial cartoon with Obama being sworn in on the left, and 5 shoes being thrown at Bush on the right. Perfect.

I´ ll do a better job of keeping this up- sorry.

Renewing the Visa

2008-12-21T17:37:00.000-08:00

Thankfully that doesn´t mean my credit card.

Its been 90 days. Maybe I should reflect in thirds, but right now- I am still trying to piece together my last week and 90 seems daunting. I traveled to Tikal, the Mayan ruins. All I really have to say is ¨Damn how´d they do that?¨ Answer: slaves. It was big, it was beautiful, it was hot. I missed the bus (felt like all 4 years of college flooded back to me in an instant) and walked around the small town trying to find it. I found the bus company and met two people who lived 10 miles from Phil. Weird. I spent the rest of the day with Karen, Dave, and Phil. Cool people, she traveled a lot and said I had her son´s spirit. So I got that going for me. We saw howler and spider monkeys. Both deserving of their name. A kid kept screaming at the howlers. Made my day.

It was really nice to sit on the roof of our hostal in hammock and eat avocados with my jalepeno cheesy bread. But we had to leave Tikal. On to San Ignacio. I got Indian food and watched tv. That is all. And I found a rope swing, on a wild goose chase to try find falls in Bullet Tree Falls, they have a river, no falls. WTF? My side still hurts from multiple belly whoppers.

Onto the better part of Belize. Placencia- a beach town with nothing to do. Word from our friends was we could find Bill and Lisa and camp on their beach. With terrible directions we walked about the whole island to find it was a camping place, not friends who would let us camp on their beach. We made friends with two Geographists from Vancouver, traveling by bike. They had good travel advice. I spent more or less the entire next day finishing my book- The Thunderbold Kid, swimming, and making a sandcaslte. We met some Brits on the way their, as naturally one would in a bus where people are prohibited beyond the white line in the US, but there you pack 7-10 people in front of the line. Capacities don´t exist here, only limits to your comfort. So we went out to get drinks and I had a Belizian long island with- get this 10 types of rum. Yum rhymes with rum for a reason. They speak Creole (lazy unrecognizable English) in Belize. Did you know rum also makes blood squishy and therefore it is easier to sleep on sand, but it doesn´t stop you from waking up to rain on your face.

We went on a nature hike the next day. I saw leaf cutter ants, some cool and really big trees, and one of the plants they think may help fight cancer. Then while tubing, I made friends with more Brits, a couple and 2 kids- Kye and Cici. They loved shakeface and my really bad elephant jokes. Cici (8) said with a confused face ¨You have funny jokes (meaning peculiar and not funny). Then we did some rock sliding on smooth rocks into ponds. the guide went first. After Kye went he said, ¨He made it look really fun, but it wasn´t! I miss kids, british accents too.

Then I renewed my faith in Gelato, and traveled for 12 hours home to Esquipulas. On the way home I read, The Jaguar Smile. It was good, but Salman Rushdie is a man of fiction. Merry Christmas. 4 days until I see my family. I love it.

I can live a normal life again

2008-12-05T17:31:00.001-08:00

I read The Pillars of the Earth this week... all week. It was all I did. Now if I weren´t in Guate and a frickin goon I could live a normal life. I´ll settle for whatever this is.

Best part of the week and maybe year was today before class. A girl, the most attractive girl in the class I might add (at 18), came up to me and asked me a question. ¨Que significa the palabra...¨ or what do the words mean (and with perfect pronunciation) ¨...do me.¨ Phil and I glanced at each other and I burst out laughing hysterically in front of the class. 5 min later when I regained a semblance of composure I explained that she meant dummy, not do me. I wrote do me on the board and the significance is the same in spanish. She shook her finger at me and said ¨Que malo¨ that´s bad. Class is fun. Only one week left.

I hate that I have the gene that allows me to smell the funny sent of urine after eating asparagus.

The basilica got some big award this week, so it became a bigger deal to go here now. It also won the nationwide contest, making it the number 1 marvel in Gautemala.

We started working on some bigger projects. Mostly the initial boring parts. I am looking for grants and am stoked that I might apply for the CAPTAIN PLANET grant. YES! Things I want to do- get books in the library, as well as solar panels and a computer. Also I want to get a water reservoir (basically swimming pool for drinking) built.

I got really into limericks after finding a book from 1961 in the library. They are dirtier than three whores in a chimney. I may or may not have stolen that from one of the limericks.

I found out that Fr. Don put my blog on the email that goes out to the all the alumni. He knows more people than a Wal-mart greeter. I can´t believe I write this crap- sorry mom.

Nothing happened this week

2008-11-24T17:33:00.001-08:00

So I´ll add the parts that I forgot to mention about last week. As I was the assistant pharmacist last week, I translated the directions on how to take medicine. I did well overall, but I made two mistakes. I didn´t want to confuse people so I didn´t want to say ¨take three pills a day,¨ where people have taken three at a time and had problems. So I told them to space them out. I mistakenly told one man to take one in the morning, one with lunch, and one with a movie (cine, not cena). That man will have to watch a movie a day if he wants to avoid backpain.
I told another man with an ear ache, to put his head in the shade, put in two drops, wait ten minutes and then flush it out with water. I meant to say, put your head to your shoulder. Whoops.

If you want to read the blog from the professionals and see a lot of pictures, go to- http://international.chwhealth.org/chw_medical_missions_blog/2008/11/index.html

Since it is Thanksgiving, I´d like to take the time to mention what I am thankful for-
As always top three are what make thanksgiving so great (and life)
1. Family
2. Friends (especially those who have been in touch, having people let me know they think about me makes life so much easier).
3. Food- I miss grandma´s onion dish right about now. But I am loving Sweet thai chilli sauce, avocados, and Gallo.
4. A new president -Give me a woo woo.
5. Practical jokes. I haven´t pulled many around here, but I screw around in the library a lot and really want to take a monk statue and put in somewhere conspicuous.
6. Mini squirtguns
7. Candy- m&mś this year
8. Traveling to random places and then not only picking up trash with some girl I just met, but then finding a bar with swings. I want to throw in handstands and doing whatever the heck I wanna do, gosh.
9. Crashing someone elses party on a party bus with doctors
10. When the cue ball actually rolls 200 degrees around another ball on the crooked pool table here, no wonder I can´t win.

Cashews, volcanoes, and an unlicensed pharmisist

2008-11-18T18:28:00.000-08:00

Steakhouse flavored Cashews. My mom sent them to me. I looked at the ingredients. #2 is crack, and 3 is MSG, so they are addicting and taste good. But I am out. Christmas presents?

Phil, a monk, a sister and I hiked up a volcano (Ipala). It was great. The scenery was good, the climb was nice and best part- a lake in the top that we could swim in. All the locals said it was dangerous because it was deep. I take that to mean ¨I can´t touch the bottom, so don´t go in.¨

A medical mission came to for a week. It was inexplicable, but here it goes. We traveled to the nearby aldegas and set up a mini hospital in the clinics or schools. By the end of the week we had served 14oo people. Several were people who just needed pain relievers because they work hard. But others seriously needed professional help. One girl´s feet were so disformed she was actually walking on what should be the tops of her feet. But the one that took the cake was while I was at lunch. Sorry about the bad selection of words, it isn´t a contest, but food fits in. So I went to the church to take a break and eat. It was so hot out the three block walk made me feel even more exhausted. I leave and of course get lost- it´s three blocks- wtf? I find my way and go back to the pharmacy. Janet, my surrogate mom for a week, says ¨Did you see it?¨ What am I in for? She takes me out into the hall where 8 people are gathered around a 9 inch long roundworm in a cup. Thank god the kid was 7 and probably didn´t understand everything going on, because I never want people to take pictures of what I throw up. I want to do a project with water quality so that doesn´t happen any more. Seems worthwhile.

Besides that, the mission was great. We went out every night to eat and drink, variety and beer was great. It made me forget my butt hurt from riding in the back of a truck for 2 hours with 6 other people following another truck by 15 feet down dusty roads. But the best part was I felt like I was directly helping people instead of the slow progress that comes with teaching English. I also got to play with kids and hand out glasses to old ladies. The doctors were fun and lively and left us M&M´s. For example, we went back with them to Guatemala City and we got on a Gallo Bus. Gallo is the beer here. They pack people in, the bus cruises around town slowly while you drink and dance. Most of the people were old enough to be my parents. I think I am going to invest in starting this in the US. Again, inexplicable- so I´m done trying.

Impecable TIming

2008-11-03T18:31:00.000-08:00

No words can really explain how I feel about this weekend. Refreshing, needed, perfect. We hit a 30 second window right away when the English teacher at the school allowed us to hitch a ride with him as we were heading to the bus station. He took us to the next stop and 2 buses later we made it to Copan. After getting a little hustled and played for hotels, (the only bad part of the weekend), we met up with Phil´s friend who is volunteering in Honduras. We went to the Ruins in Copan which are some of the most complete in central america. As awe inducing as they were, I just enjoyed the peace of the place. There is way to much noise in Esquipulas and just to have 3 hours of quite felt different.

I started talking to another gringo (thank god for the attraction to familiarity). He informed us that every year the Peace Corps volunteers overwhelm the city on halloween weekend. This weekend was pushed back 2 weeks (unknownly) and the timing was perfect. They needed the weekend as much as we did. To put it lightly, we went out. Live bands, swings at the bar, lots of costumes, and a makeshift ¨change you can believe in¨ sign. We met up with Phil´s friend´s friends randomly, again good timing.

I slept in...to the afternoon. After recouperating and watching a really bad movie on tv we decided to go to the waterfall. Some guy doing laundry wanted to do the waterfall trip and we met up with him- I don´t know how. We didn´t want to pay the 9 bucks each (highway robbery here) for the ride, so we decided to find it ourselves with public trans. Luckily the freinds from the night before were on their way home and knew the way, we would have never found it. No signs, nothing. Again amazing timing.

The falls were spectacular. No one else was there, the rocks were worn from the water. I felt like I found my paradise. We discovered the water treadmill, where you can simply swim in place against the current. I wish we would have had all day and picnic supplies.

To close a brief note about buses. At first I thought public trans. was terrible and unorganized. Now I love it. You don´t have to wait long (I have always waited longer in the US for buses), it is cheap because everyone uses it. BUT, everyone use it. That means in something larger than a minivan, but smaller than a 16 passenger we fit in (and out cause people hang out the open door) 32 people. When I get home I want to try fit in 9 in my car. Maybe that is why Guatemalans are small- so they can fit more in a bus?

Refreshed, alive, and needed.

Babes, bikes, brujos and students

2008-10-31T15:21:00.001-07:00

It´s been a while, sorry. The weeks seem to go by faster now that we are teaching English classes. We have about 15 students on top of teaching our old orange orchard boss and the guys in the library English. We play a lot of games but Hangman is great for the alphabet, Simon says for body parts vocab etc. We have one class from 2-3 and one from 3-4. It is fun.

The guys in the library like to goof around a lot, it is good for practicing and becoming confident in Spanish, but I don´t learn a lot of vocab. They are a couple years younger and good stuff. Definitely nice to have someone around the same age.

As for the babes, we saw that they was a bike race coming through Esquipulas last Thursday. Some of the promotion girls wanted their picture with us, we wanted to take some pictures with the girls. The main point of the whole thing was to send the pictures back to a kid volunteering in Central MN, and since we can´t go out much, we had to rub something in.

I missed pumpkin carving this weekend. But I did dress up in rainbow tights and brought cookies to class, those kids are going to have a screwy perception of what Halloween is. Phil bummed a monk´s habit. Brujo is the word for witch, which the monks call me when I play pool with them, really the table is so warped that you can make a shot from anywhere if you know how the ball rolls.

Some students were here this past weekend from the US (studying in El Salvador). A social justice orientated study abroad group. Quite the characters, I hope to visit them in late Nov. One kid, a camp couselour informed us that ¨aplostar¨ (a-plaw-star) is the verb to destroy, stick, and engulf in flames while intoxicated, actually it just means demolish, but it is a good word to know. You can also use it a vulgar way to say stick your butt down to the chair. Bombas is the word for butt too which I get a kick out of. I guess I am finally to the point where I can enjoy the language. Also with the students- who somehow knew more about the place than we did (maybe the fact that they actually got a tour helped)- we showed the monks how to play basketball; we actually only won by one point and it was incredibly intence. And we milked the cows.

We made cookies again- i think they turned out better.

Bikes, babes, baquettes (snacks)

2008-10-23T15:37:00.001-07:00

First a special thanks to all of you who have sent me packages (snacks is baquettes) or letters or emails that made me feel missed this week. You are awesome and make it easier to be away when I know that people at home say they want me there- it is a strange paradox -that being missed makes me feel better about being here, but it does.

We were invited to one of the brother´s homes in the Sopas (soups). After going on an adventure through the mountains which no vehicle should be made to endure, I still have no idea why they call it the soups. I think the views may have been a better name. They grow corn and beans on the marginal hill-mountian sides and coffee on the better land.

We started to teach class today- yesturday was a bit discouraging when we had one student, but they messed up the sign and put the wrong day. So we started today and had 4 in the first and 8 in the second. Once word gets out that the gringos are teaching it, we expect a few more. It is good for learning spanish and I feel like I am doing something. Yoga and running 6k every other day and thinking about things a little differently have made it seem easier here. I think I am finally able to not care about things and just accept where I am. Que Sera, sera.

We are going to Copan this weekend so that should be nice to get away. Ruins, Rum, and Rapids baby.

Oh! Tuesday there was a huge bike race here. We decided to get our picture taken with the promotional girls (all 5 sets of them), or rather they asked if they could have our picture with us, maybe I have a future in Guatemalan advertising? Anyway, I want to send them all to Weichman at SJU to prove that volunteering in Guat is better than in Central MN (i.e. say what is up now bitch?). Padre Serafin, kept giving me the thumbs up and his friend said that the ¨Taliban¨ (my new nickname because I have a beard) looked as good as the models. Anyway the race was cool and I got two free shirts - yes levi- you can steal one.

I´ll miss pumpkin carving this weekend, but plan to find something to carve even if it is a watermelon.

PS- I found PB, butter, and black pepper here, but it is nice to have my own supply.

Cookies and Tunes

2008-10-16T19:08:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday we went to Chatun with the jefe (boss) and his family. It is a park with a pool, a nature hike, a campground, food, and a clown with speakers so loud they have to clean the pool from all the bleeding ears. It was fun, but I got a little sunburned and felt drained. I finished one of the three books I am reading- A sunburned Country by Bill Bryson. Hilarious, also funny that I had a dream about traveling there with a friend who I haven´t seen since grad. and Austrailia was two islands. Wierd. Must be the malaria drugs.

We went to the school to find out more about teaching English. We start next Wed. and will have two classes for an hour each in the afternoon. In the mornings I plan to spend an hour each day studying spanish because I am tired of not knowing what other people say. At the same time, I really enjoy knowing that other people don´t know what I am saying when I speak English. Probably a bad habit to pick up. Especially because when no one knows what you are saying, swearing doesn´t matter- so a lot of times I ask Phil ¨What the hell did he say, I swear every f´ing time I tell this guy to talk slower and he just speeds up...crazy bastard.¨ Of course this is said in an endearing way because he the guy is a kind soul. Anyway, on the way out of the school I saw some guy playing guitar with kids. I asked him where I could get a guitar, not only did he go with me to get a good one, but bought me a really good kind of lemonaid they have here, and offered to give me lessons.

So things are good. Yoga, reading, guitar, learning spanish, and running-working out (they have a really strange weight lifting system where you use your own body wieght) should keep me busy for a while. Not to mention Phil and my side project (you´ll have to ask about this one cause I am not going to mention it). My i-pod broke, so I miss music.

Phil and I made monster cookies tonight (they don´t have reg. m&m´s so we used christmas mini´s- and I doubt they are from this coming christmas. Since they don´t have many good sweets the monks loved them. We made a double batch and they are gone now. Thieving monks snuck into the kitchen and grabbed bags and bags.

One last thing that I love- You can go up to most people, not just good friends (one monk who is about 55 says it every morning to me at breakfast) and say ¨Que putas?¨ which litterally means- What´s up prostitutes, (or bitches). Cool.

-i´ll put up a new picture or two soon

Green goo and the zoo

2008-10-09T18:47:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we were taken to a park by our boss and his wife. We waited for a bus for an hour and then decided to walk to a closer one. It included a zoo and I am quite sure they don´t have PETA here. We went in a handmade cave that clearly was not made for Americans (aka people over 5.1¨). Then we headed out to meet another friend. After a 20 minute truck bed ride we ended up at a place that grows and sells sugar cane. They boil the stuff in a big witches cauldron, it looks like boiling algae. Some guy who picked his nose and then stuck his foot in the brew skimmed off the foam which we ate with lemon leaves. The next course of cane juice was much better but that doesn´t say much. They also make candy there and grow coffee.

This week we went to the high school to tell students about books and find out about teaching English. While we were playing basketball some girl came up and told us she had a problem. She said some of us want to play basketball with you and some want a picture. This is not the first time we have been asked. If only girls in their 20´s were as excited as these 15-6 year olds. Naturally Phil and I didn´t let up and dominated them, as they cried their way back to the school we met up with the director. He led us around the school and we told the kids about the book drive we are putting on for the library the people before us built. I like doing the book drive because working in the orchard isn´t really helping with Spanish and if I get bit by one more frickin ant, well I am going to take a machete to their home. I haven´t decided which is worse the ants or the two guys that sit on top of the Basilica and bang pots and pans at 6, 12, 4:30 and 6.

Oranges and Goodbyes

2008-10-04T16:02:00.000-07:00

We started working in the orchards with Leonidis. At maybe five feet, it is fun to work next to him. We figured out today that 6 mandrin oranges sell for 1 quetzal. 7.5 quetzals is a dollar, figure that out and you get about 5 cents each. I see why I am considered a volunteer now.

I had a tough week. I felt a little homesick and didn´t sleep well. Then to make matters worse the slaves left yesturday for home. I felt like I lost two of my 4 good friends. Many of them will be attending semenary school in Quetalzenango in Nov. Huge bummer though, becuase they were one of the best ways not only to learn Spanish, but to goof around. They will be missed, but they will also be replaced with new kids, sometime.

But everything gets better. We had a little fiesta last night with Guac (yes I found where the avos are!), chips, cheap booze and copius amounts of lemons from the orchard. And we found the mystery folder that Liam and Michael (the 1st volunteers here) left for us. It gave us a lot of ideas and seems like we will have a purpose with too many things to do instead of nothing as I initially thought. Tomorrow we are going for a hike with Leonidis and in the afternoon doing something with the IT guy´s friend (I am not sure what, when you don´t understand the language usually the best answer is ¨Sí¨ and a lot of times that means you don´t know what the hell you are getting into).

And the economic bailout plan included the renewable energy tax credit!! I was thinking about staying here with how shitty everything sounds like it is in the US, but finally something went right so I will be home in June.

Anyway, stay in touch. If you want a letter- send me a email with your address to taeggermont@gmail.com.

Starting Work

2008-09-30T14:47:00.001-07:00

Things are looking up. I got over the travel flu in a day and my knee is maybe a day or two away from being able to play soccer again. We had a feast day last night. Which meant that we not only got a break from the typical food, which is getting as repetitive as me asking ¨Como se dice?¨-but we also took a shot of tequia with the abbot, after which he shook his head and went whoo! (Br. Paul I think our feast days may be better) He seems like a fun guy. The other day when we were playing volleyball with the slave children one kid missed the ball and said, ¨Shit!¨ He covered his mouth with both hands. Every one stopped and looked at the abbot (who was honestly dressed like a gangster). The abbot said, ¨Well at least your pronouciation was good.¨

We started work this morning and we started going to prayer at 6. Oye. Leonidis is our ¨jefe,¨he is about as tall as my chest. This morning we filled up 200 bags with dirt to plant orange trees in, then we went got a tour of the orchard complete with taste tests of mandrins and tangerines. I could get used to this job. Really I feel like the real work is trying to learn Spanish, but he speaks slowly and keeps up a converstation, so it will help. He also has a sweet tooth so I might bribe him to help me a little extra. We also tryed what I am pretty sure was a fresh cardomon pod. He said it was like a sweet, but it was a little strong. We also have orange trees, limes, lemons, in about 15 years avocados, and pomeloś that are honestly bigger than my head. I put up a picture cause we might use one for a soccer ball.

About a week in. . .

2008-09-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

And I still haven´t talked about food. We have black beans for every meal. I met Santiago, whose job it is to burn stuff all day long. I couldn´t understand most of what he said, but I think the grass next to the burn pile (that look like seedless corn) is for the cows that produce our milk, yogurt, and I think cheese (like a hard dry feta).

They make the juice for lunch and dinner, a really light sweet pinapple-y juice. Tortillas are more of a utensil than a food. They make their own ameal (honey). When I asked, ¨who makes the honey?¨ I got a 5 minute answer about how bees make honey. I just said, ¨oh¨ so Matia Roberto probably thinks that we don´t have bees in MN. I need to keep an eye out for avacados, I know they are here somewhere since the abbot gets one delivered to him every dinner. They don´t quite have the sweets we do, so Phil and I walked to the grocery store to pick up some cookies. I am still hoarding my supply of monster cookies mom sent with me- youŕe a lifesaver mom.

If you want to send me a letter- or monster cookies- my address is

Tello Eggermont
Abadia de Jesucristo Crucificado
20007 Esquipulas (Chiquimula)
Guatemala, C.A.

We have slaves

2008-09-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

That is right. Little boys pick up our dishes when we are done eating. They pour our juice, which is nice. They also play soccer with us. I can only assume that they are monks in training. But we are l-i-v-i-n it up here. They do our laundry. And is the first time I have had my own bathroom. Eat that Wiechman.

Esquipulas: the first days

2008-09-23T18:17:00.000-07:00

We took a charter bus from the 1950ś to Esquipulas. There was a guard with a huge shotgun at the station. I dont know if I feel safer that there is a guard, or less safe cause they need one? The trip took 4.5 hours. It was so new and beautiful that I couldn't sleep. People came and went and one guy stood by the door- often open and kept shouting to get more people to take the bus. When we arrived somebody lead us to the abbey, unbeknownst to us was connected to the basilica and is the highest and most visible thing there. Which brings me to language.

The security guard seems nice, he wants to learn english more. The housekeeping guy-Mario also would be a good guy to work on my spanish with- not because I can understand him better but because he smiles alot and that helps. The first two days I think everyone thought I was a little stupid because I just stared at people when they talked to me and then looked at Phil-who has a tough time, but can understand people way better. I can understand better now after 2 days and a 2 hour meeting in spanish with the Global Health people (from the US), but my vocab is lacking. We are going to be a communication link for the doctors (and yes maybe even some PTś Amber , and will get to go with them in Nov. and April to the small towns to do healthcare work. Nice to feel like we finally have a purpose. My brain hurts from all the attempting to listen and comprehend what people say. But as the wise John Smith said. Spanish is more than a spoken language- act it-bring it, and smile-that is perhaps the most important part.

Highlights- being invited to play soccer, feeling like I will do something that is improtant, when the women at the street market said something about los ojos de los gringo enfronte? As katie told me- they love blue eyes. When the kids around town stare and laugh when they see Phil and I, most likely for the same reason we were affectionately nicknamed the ¨midgets.¨ Also rolling a necessary 4 doubles in a row to make an astounding comeback in backgammon.

Arrival: Guatemala City

2008-09-20T18:09:00.000-07:00

We made it safely to Guatemala City with our luggage. The first song that came on the radio in our taxi was "it's like rain on your wedding day," and most of the movies are in english with spanish subtitles. No wonder everyone else's english is better than my spanish. The hostel is locked by a gate and the banks all have two guards. Phil and I went to the zoo and read the signs - between the two of us we could make out most of the words and meaning. The funny thing is most of our houseplants grow here outside year round. Spider plants, dragon palms, umbrella plants, and also flowering trees. The temp is nice here, apparently Esquipulas is hot and dry. We take the bus tomorrow, I think the fee for a 4.5 hour ride is as much as we paid for our pizza tonight (the only thing we could get delivered when we where hungry after dark). Holy shit do they pack people in cars and buses here. We saw at least 10 people in a sub compact car today, we'll have to try that back in the states.