After the conclusion of Semana Santa and 9 days of vacation last Sunday, it was nice to get back to the clinic. I was the only volunteer health educator working in clinic this week, so I got a taste for leading the education classes all by myself. Fortunately, it was not a disaster. There were a couple of minor mishaps registering the kids (for example, five students arrived late on Wednesday, and I had already printed off the attendance sheets), but nothing catastrophic. All in all, the first graders were receptive and attentive enough to the importance of hand washing, healthy snacks, and regular checkups with the doctor.
The clinic also got a new batch of Guatemalan medical students this week, and they all seem nice and friendly. It was a bit surreal to realize that I knew more about the clinic's day to day operations than they did. I felt like protesting 'but I'm a volunteer! I can't explain how things work!', but actually, I managed quite capably when asked to explain the intricacies of the front desk. It was empowering to be introduced and treated as a clinic veteran :)
I was not very active photographically this week, but getting back into my regular routine did not provide nearly as many picture-taking opportunities as Semana Santa parades. Yoga classes, afternoon jogs, Spanish lessons, and hours logged in sun-lit cafes with wireless internet access are nice and all, but they just don't beg to be photographed. My project for the week (clearly necessitating hours and hours of drinking coffee and licuados in cafes) consisted of revising and translating the Primeros Pasos Annual Report into Spanish, a task I undertook on behalf of the clinic's Development Director as a way to help out on the non-medical side of the organization. Though challenging, it was an overall pleasant and illuminating experience. Next up: mastering Salesforce.com and compiling an accurate report of clinic donations. Salesforce is an Oracle spin-off (shout out to you, Brad Miller) that is apparently the newest 'it' tool in the non-profit world. The Development Director pitched it to me as a useful resume-building tool - we'll see how that goes.
The week did present one spectacular photo opportunity, however, more than making up for the less photogenic aspects of my normal routine. Friday night/Saturday morning, five of us left Xela at 12:30 am to summit a volcano at sunrise. My American homestay brother, the two medical students I went to the beach with (an Española and a Quebecoise), and an Irish backpacker set out with a guide on a four-hour hike to the top of Santa Maria. It was very dark and very cold, as expected, but exhilarating. This picture was taken a little after 5 in the morning, just as the sun started to think about rising. We had been hiking since 1 am and reached a point half-an-hour below the summit just about 4:30. I took the coldest nap of my life, because there wasn't anything else to do in the dark on the side of the mountain at that hour of night. None of us really had any energy for small talk.
Once we saw dawn's rosy fingers, we hoofed it to the top to catch the sun break over the horizon. When we reached the summit, we met a dog named Killer who had beat us to the top. I'd never seen a volcano pup before, but decided we should be friends:
This is a view from the top of Santa Maria looking over toward Antigua and Lake Atitlan. This photo is also my new desktop picture on my laptop, replacing a sunset over the Ponte Vecchio in Florence from two summers ago:
Here I am, wearing knit pants under hiking pants, and a tanktop, thermal henley, t-shirt, sweater, fleece jacket and my raincoat/windbreaker. I'm also sporting gloves and earbands. Brrrr! The mountain in the background is on the Mexican border and is the highest point in all of Central America. Possibly an excursion for another weekend, but right now, simply a beautiful
backdrop.
And finally, Santa Maria overlooks Santiaguito, an active volcano that erupts every three hours or so. We had been at the top for maybe fifteen minutes before it gave us a show. Great timing on our parts, though completely inadvertent.
I have plans to upload the rest of my volcano pictures to shutterfly.com by the end of the weekend, possibly while working with Salesforce.com this afternoon and sipping strawberry smoothies in a wi-fi cafe. Tomorrow, I'm taking a first class bus to Guatemala City to meet my boyfriend in the airport, and we'll be spending three days in Antigua with my homestay family from last summer before returning to Xela for four months together. Hooray! Expect some photos from Antigua and environs next week. Until then, besos!
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