In which Katy gets frustrated with blogger.com's formatting tools and only uploads 3 photos, leaving the text wacky as well...

Hola a todos! Though I really wish I could have participated in Beer Bike weekend at Rice, on the whole I think my week in Xela was exciting enough to hold its own.

Highlights include salsa lessons, sunburns at the beach, a Bake Shop visit, and figuring out how to French braid.

I realized I have some photos of Xela that I hadn’t posted yet, so without further ado, here they are:

The picture above is a view of the Parque Central. Check out the pronounced neo-classical influence! A former dictator had a thing for Roman art, so Xela’s central park has some columns and a rotunda, and the bus terminal has a Temple of Minerva, no joke. See below:

At the clinic this week, my work was all over the map. Since my education team partner left last weekend, I’m restricted in that I’m unable to travel to schools and present lessons alone. The plan, then, was for me to present the in-clinic lessons to students visiting Primeros Pasos as their school fieldtrip this week. Due to a scheduling mix-up, however, Monday was the only day a school group visited the clinic.

Tuesday, I learned how to register patients at the front desk and manage the queue to see the doctor. Wednesday, I accompanied the group in charge of distributing medications to students who had visited the clinic earlier and tested positive for parasites. We drove to the Llano del Pinal community school, divided the medicines by grade, and entered the appropriate classrooms to summon the students who needed medication. The process was definitely not in line with US doctor-patient privacy standards, but the kids seemed excited to receive their meds, even in front of their classmates. I was struck as well by how healthy most of the students appeared, despite more than 1/5 of them having parasites. I hadn’t realized the prevalence of parasites in the communities – the experience drove home the importance of the hygiene and sanitation lessons I’ve been teaching!

Thursday and Friday, I hung out at the clinic, chatting and planning and coloring a storybook about Mariquita, a little girl who, appropriately enough, gets a parasite because she doesn’t wash her hands or her fruit before eating it. All in all, a good week’s work with lots of variety, but I am looking forward to getting back to teaching Monday. The preschoolers are scheduled to visit the clinic this week, so my lessons should be entertaining if nothing else :)

Outside of the clinic, I was invited to a group salsa lesson Monday evening. Suffice it to say, it was clear that I dropped out of my salsa class at Rice. By the end of the lesson, I had at least some of the basic steps down…if not exactly in time with the music. Hopefully that will come with more practice. Luckily, Xela is full of salsa bars and restaurants so there are plenty of places to brush up on my steps if I feel inspired. Vamos a ver.

Also, Jazz month wrapped up this week in Xela, and I was able to score tickets to the two last shows. Both were very good. Thursday night’s show was an Italian trio who charmed the crowd by speaking Spanish (poorly) and playing Luna de Xelaju as their encore. The song is a point of pride for all Quetzaltecos, and the auditorium was on their feet applauding. I've included a youtube clip (complete with a Guatemalan slideshow!) of the song below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpCjimHGrxM

Friday’s show was the grand finale for a reason, I think, as the Mexican saxophone-guitar duo were easily my favorites of the three shows I attended. They played a world tour of sorts, choosing songs from South Africa, Peru, US, France, and of course, Mexico. They had a Mexican flag on stage with them, and I laughed because my Spanish teacher had vented to me about Mexican patriotism and its in-your-face attitude just last week. The relations between Mexico and Guatemala are sort of a sore subject in Xela, actually, as many Guatemalans feel not only that Mexicans have an overly jingoistic nationalism, but that Mexico has appropriated many aspects of Guatemalan identity (particularly Mayan heritage and the marimba) for use in the Mexican tourism industry. Having never previously thought about Guatemalan-Mexican rivalries before, it’s been some interesting food for thought.

Finally, I was able to travel again this weekend. I hadn’t initially planned on leaving Xela, but two medical volunteers at the clinic decided to go the Pacific coast and I tagged along. It still amazes me the huge variety in Guatemalan climate and topography – for such a small country, there’s a wealth of diversity. In three hours, we left the 50ish and cloudy mountains of Xela and arrived in the oh-so-hot and humid beach. The beach is named Tilapita, and the town has one hotel:

It’s very close to Mexico but pleasantly underdeveloped. It was exhausting to lay on the beach, walk along the water, frolic in the ocean, swing in a hammock, eat ceviche, drink beer, eat garlic grilled shrimp, drink a smoothie, and read in the sunshine all weekend, but I’m happy to say I made it back to Xela in one piece.

That wraps up week 5, but stay tuned for week 6 because it’s rumored I might make an appearance in a traditional Mayan traje for my host mother’s birthday celebration. Adios y hasta pronto!