Hola a todos!
Greetings from Xela, Guatemala!
One week in and all is well. In fact, I give Guatemala points over Switzerland, where I was 0-for-1 in finding a homestay with internet access. Guatemala so far is 2-for-2.
I’m living with 4 generations of women and a little boy, and so far it’s been a fantastic fit. Here’s a photo of me with the man of the house:


Look at his puppy dog slippers and Thomas the Tank Engine pj’s! Precious.

The house is three stories plus a roof, check out the view from the top:


I’m less than a 10-minute walk to the Parque Central, and it takes almost 20 minutes from my homestay to reach the bus stop to go to the clinic weekday mornings.

I don’t have any clinic pictures, but I’ll get some this coming week and post them in another entry. This week, the Education team (5 volunteers strong) presented basic nutrition and hygiene information to students visiting the clinic on class field trips, which turns out to be an ingenious way to reach children less likely to access health care regularly. Our lessons included important information such as don’t sneeze on your neighbor, remember to wash between your fingers when you wash your hands before eating, and that consuming too many potato chips and cookies is not a healthy lifestyle choice.

This coming week we will be splitting into 2 groups and hitting the road – each team will present age-appropriate health-related lessons to students in their schools. These topics will be a bit more touchy (puberty, domestic violence, self-esteem, for example) but Primeros Pasos has a wonderful reputation for providing sensitive, accurate information to school age children so we should have the full support of the teachers and school staff. I’ll let you know how it goes.
I arrived in Xela on Mardi Gras, and Carnaval here is kid-centered in contrast to the scene in New Orleans and/or Rio. The biggest hazard was to avoid little boys carrying paper-machéd eggs filled with confetti. I had success on that front. All through Lent though, Xela hosts markets and parades that shift from church to church each week. Here’s a picture of the extremely safe looking ferris wheel in the street fair:

The market has a mix of practical objects like pots, clothing, and shampoo, crafty objects like piggy banks and textiles, and delicious street food. I’m already a huge fan of the churros and gringas (a quesadilla/enchilada mix of deliciousness).

My only tourist excursion so far has been to Laguna de Chicabal, a crater lake in a former volcano. It was billed as a moderate hike, which I suppose might be true in the sense that no climbing equipment was required, but otherwise our group spent 2 hours walking straight uphill. The view was totally worth the effort though:



Chicabal is a sacred place for the Mam Maya (Xela is in the Quiche Maya region – about 45 minutes away by bus, the country becomes Mam). According to legend, there used to be a lake at the foot of the mountain that supplied drinking water, fish, and a place to do laundry for the area. One day it disappeared and threw the community into disarray. Someone figured out that the lake had moved up the mountain, into the crater of the volcano, and Chicabal became the center of the Mam Maya cosmovision. No one is allowed to fish or swim in the lake, and during certain traditional Maya festival days, no tourists are allowed to visit on account of the Mayan ceremonies going on. I took a few pictures of Mayan altars we passed by:



The lake also becomes covered with fog mysteriously every day, and is haunted by La Llorona, a Guatemalan ghost who you don’t want to see. If she shows you her face, she’s just taken your spirit and you’ll die shortly. The premise seems similar to the ghost in the Spanish Moss at Saint Simon’s Island, actually. Cross-Cultural Ghost Story Similarities for 200, please!
That’s all I’ve got for now, but I’ll try really hard to keep my blog updated, and please skype/gmail/facebook me as often as you want. If that doesn’t suffice, keep in mind that you have an open invitation to come visit anytime between now and August ☺ Besos!