Mom and Em's trip to Guatemala

Guatemalan Rule- There is ALWAYS more room on the bus. Just because there are no more seats, does not mean you won’t fit.

I had a good week for cooking. I made granola bars, turned out good but next time I will add peanut butter and then I made an awesome cream of broccoli soup with grandma’s phone help.

The Christmas Party- I hosted a Christmas party with a few other friends at my house and about 15 volunteers came. It was a TON of food. We had everything from fudge, deviled eggs, apple butter, cake, several different dips and potato pancakes. We had a gift exchange and I got a cutting board. That was really exciting (seriously).

Come Paint!- I invited my host family over to paint Christmas ornaments and I gave them each their clay disk to paint and I showed them that a little paint goes a long way. Must not of stuck. They would take the bottles, dump out enough paint for several ornaments, paint a little line, then go on to a different color. I would put the paint back into the bottles as they moved on from colors. Then they saw what I was doing and decided to help and starting pouring mixed colors back into the bottles. AHHHH!!! So I politely stopped that and they finished their ornaments. A JOYful afternoon J

I’m Starting To Forget Stuff..Awww..- For starters, can anyone believe I have been here two Halloweens, Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years and now almost two birthdays. I sure can’t believe it. Well, my mind is showing evidence of it. I am starting to forget stuff. I found a bunch of letters that I saved when I was in training and I was reading them and people made references to stuff I had completely forgotten about. Also my sister brought down clothes that I don’t remember being mine.

Mom and Em’s Trip to Guatemala! Em got in a week before Mom did so we traveled the eastern and northern parts of the country. Two weeks of story would make for a very very long blog so I am giving ya the highlights/fun moments.

# of hands of rummy played on the bus- Countless... I won but Em started to get good at the end
# of games of scrabble played- 3
# of haircuts from my sister- 1
# of tamales we helped make- 100
# of buses taken in total- 11 (few less for Em, half that for mom on the following numbers)

# of taxis- 4

# of shuttles- 5
Total number of hours spent moving around- 67hrs. AHH! (49 for Em and about 20 for mom)

-TIKAL- Mayan ruins discovered 100 years ago that are over 2000 years old. Located in north part of Guatemala where they filmed Survivor and also a few scenes from Star Wars Episode 4 (watch for green forest with temples sticking out of trees).

5am, we were sitting on top of a temple in Tikal and Emily says to me “Do you hear that?” and I said no. Then this guy said it’s a monkey. He showed us this picture of this monkey that liked very upset with its mouth wide open. Then I heard the sound, it was kinda like a deep growl. Then Em asked “Why does it make that sound?” and the guy said “To mark its territory and its also a matting call” and I said “Ah Em, that would be why you were the first to hear it”. Luckily she laughed.

Did you know that bug spray, when it touches your mouth, your lips go numb.

Did you also know that the same bug spray can be used as nail polish remover.

The Ultimate Bus Fare War!- Going from Peten to Coban was a 6hr bus ride. I asked our tour guide if he could tell us where to find those buses. He said “oh, this guy can drop you off at that station. It will be Q150.00 ($20.00) each.” I didn’t think much of it. So we had to stop by the bank on the way there which took an hour and the bus driver waited, very nice of him. So we got in the bus he was driving to go to the other bus station and I gave him the money for two tickets and we got on the bus. I asked another traveler how much they paid and they said only Q60. WHAT?!? So I couldn’t believe I paid Q300.00 for something that cost Q120.00. I got completely ripped off. So I happened to have gotten the business card from the tour guide and I called him. I originally told him that I was going to recommend him to other volunteers and so I called him and said “Luis, I thought you were a good guy (makes more sense in Spanish). Instead of recommending you to other volunteers, I am posting your name in the office and will say you scammed us out of our money” and he was very confused. He asked what but I was on and he said that we were at the wrong place and that the driver was suppose to take us somewhere else. So he told me to call him back in 2min. By then the bus I was on was leaving and so we started to drive off and I tried to get the driver to stop so I handed him the phone so he could talk to the tour guide and understand what was going on. Then the driver that scammed us walked up and I started arguing with him (my Spanish was awesome at this point) and I said that the bus costs Q120.00 not Q300.00 and that I wanted my money back. So about 3min later, after a lot of arguing and the rest of the bus staring at me wondering what was going on, I finally got my money back. Then the driver was complaining that he didn’t make any money today and so on. Yea, sorry you didn’t get to rip off the gringas like you had hoped.

-COBAN- Small city in central part of Guatemala that is very green because they get rain 210days a year. Beautiful waterfalls and other natural creations in the area.

Semuc Champey- This is a place that a natural spring of water (which is actually a giant amount of water) flows under rocks for 300meters and creates natural pools above the underground tunnel. We swam in the pools that had little fishies that like to peck ya. Em and I were on yet another bus waiting for it to leave and we were eating an orange and she saw that there was a worm in the orange. It was the exact color of the orange. Unfortunately that was our second orange we had eaten so that wasn’t so comforting. Did you know oranges even have worms?

Chamelco- We got invited by another volunteer to go to a traditional Christmas celebration in one of the villages. We were first offered coffee and bread and then we walked about 15min with a group of people who were banging on turtle shells for drums and whistling while carrying candles. They were also carrying this display thing that took two people to carry (picture a stretcher but on your shoulders) and it was kinda a Christmas shrine. So half way there, they stopped and asked Emily to carry it and Marsha (other volunteer) got on the other side. So we went to this gathering which was conducted in Q’eqchi and they would sing songs like Jingle bells in that language. Hope it was a good cultural experience for her.

-TEJUTLA- My village! (Picture is from host family picnic)
On Christmas Eve, Santa came to my host families house where we were eating dinner and he came in dressed in a somewhat wet felt suit (it was dry from its wash) and he was wearing plastic goggles. He brought Em and I coffee cups and mom got a jar. Very nice of Santa to remember us.

Christmas Day I was taking a picture of my host family with Santa in the town center and I looked over and a lady had put her kids with Mom and Em who were watching me to take a picture with them because supposedly they thought that they were from the North Pole and had come with Santa.

My mom decided to do some gardening on my patio to help me clean up unwanted branches and leaves and what not. Well, Em discovered my machete and she was really enjoying whacking everything that was able to be chopped off by the large knife.

Em befriended the chicken in my host families house and named it Frederick. It was soon to become dinner a week later. Sorry Em.

Mom brought me a hand held electric mixer for Christmas. No more serious arm workouts while baking. Em gave me some nice socks.

-PANAHACHEL- Hippie town located by Lake Attitlan which is surrounded by 3 giant volcanoes. Beautiful lake!
There are two types of coconuts. One is meant for eating the coconut fruit and the other is meant for drinking the liquid. We bought one of the liquid ones because she wanted to drink out of a coconut and ended up not liking it, so she handed it off to this little boy that was following us everywhere and he happily took it. The best part is, an hour later we saw him with the coconut but he had pulled it apart and was eating the inside.

On a boat ride there was this baby that was staring at Em for a very long time and we were laughing, so then the dad offered to let her hold the baby. So Em took the baby and as soon as she got to Em, she started crying

-ANTIGUA-
Climbing Volcano Pacaya- There are 3 active volcanoes in Guatemala out of the 3o something volcanoes in the country. We hiked the one about 1hr outside of Antigua and it took about 1 1/2hrs to get to where we could see lava. There had been a 7month eruption which ended last month so we were walking on hardened lava which in parts was still moltan underneath and was also VERY hot. The sound of cracking or moving rock under your feet was somewhat nervewracking but it provided an amazing view.

RANDOM TID-BITS

I beat my mom at scrabble. Finally!

My mom brought me sushi from the US! As well as an entire suitcase from a friend filled with enough sushi preparation materials (seaweed, rice…) to last me another 2 Peace Corps services.

Em was picking up a few Spanish phrases about half way through the trip, primarily useful in market/shopping environments. This old street lady came up to her and asked for money and instead of saying “I don’t have any money” she said “You don’t have money”

I have decided that buses on my side of the country are a lot more honest, friendly and leave on time compared to other parts of the country. I don’t mind the buses on my side of the country. They are very accommodating, to the best of their ability at least.

I have discovered that my sister is doing very well in her dental assistant classes because during the whole trip she would say things like “your (long dental term and another long dentral term) are covered in (another long dental term).” Or “Did you see that guys teeth! He definitely has (a very very long dental term)”

Mom, I like my angel.

My sister had this thing, she would talk to English to people that do not speak English. However, she thought that they would understand her if she talked slowly, and used a lot of hand motions. It gave me a good laugh. I think she was really excited when she found that one of our taxi drivers spoke some English. That was good, because she was in the back seat and of course, since he can’t see her hands he wouldn’t be able to understand her (j/k Em)