Sickness

After watching the New England/Indinapolis game in a bar and having a Limonada that seemed more baking soda than Limon, I began to feel a little sick but will be damned if I was going to miss the end of it. So I stayed and was unable to get either excited or really to have much emotion at all without fear that my lunch at Pollo Campero would exit via a direction it was not meant to leave by. After Indi had sealed the deal I walked home and felt more and more like I should never have had that Limonada, but glad that I had seen the game. Upon reaching home it hit me less than 30 minutes later.... HARD. I wasn´t able to sleep most of the night for no more than an hour and found that anything that I had eaten recently was finding a way to the bottom of the toilet bowl through any means necessary. The morning found me unable to function really and Melissa after confirming with our teachers and CRISPAZ returned from school to spend the day with me at a clinic. By this time I didn´t have much left in my body but still felt more comfortable laying on a bench close to the bathroom in the back of the clinic. I couldn´t help but wonder if some Mayan mothers were purposely taking their children back to the bathroom to tell them they would have to stay with the sick gringo if they didn´t behave, for it was more quiet there. The doctor listened to my broken spanish patiently and after a lab sample confirmed that I had amoebas and prescribed some antibiotics that I would have to take for 10 days.

Upon returning I found that my appetite was regestering a big ¨0¨ and wasn´t able to consume much more than a bowl of soup and a few crackers during the next two days. Monday and Tuesday night weren´t much better for me either as I found myself waking up in the middle of the night with the inability to get back to sleep which Melissa must have appreciated greatly but only asked continuely what she could do for me (Bless her and her patience!). These past few days have been a little better for me as my stomach doesn´t hurt but often feels tight. I still have a small appetite which doesn´t help these meds which were made strong enough for a small army. Whoo, what great day it will be when I no longer have to take them!

Needless to say Melissa and I have decided to stay another week to study and let my sickness run its coarse (or the meds, I´m not sure which I find the greater struggle...). Nonetheless I find myself greatful for little things (like the times I am sleeping or not taking my meds), no seriously the times that Melissa and I find ourselves laughing with our family about my inability to congengate a verb or when she runs to the supermarket during our 30 minute break (about a 1/2 mile away) for yogut for me I am greatful. And also a little hesitant to get well as I know well these things come full circle. Also I find myself really wondering if these really are amoebas or if perhaps deep down I´m really a New England fan?

Our weekend in Chichi

This past weekend Tom and I ventured out of the city of Xela to the nearby town of Chichicastenango. Chichi is approximately 3 hours away from Xela and is well-known for their market on Sundays. Also, Tom´s aunt MaryAnn was going to be in Chichi for the week, so we thought we would venture out and go visit. On Friday we left for the ¨bus terminal¨ around 1:30pm, this was our first adventure to the ¨bus terminal¨ and it was definately not what we expected. We took a smaller bus to the terminal (I forget what this is called, but it´s basically a minivan). We arrived at the terminal which was basically the side of the street where many people gathered to catch a bus to their own destination. We stood for around 15 minutes waiting for buses...to our dismay there were none heading towards Chichi. We started aimlessly wandering towards other areas of the street in search for our bus....there continued to be none. Tom was able to ask a couple people where the buses were for Chichi and we were told they were in another area. We then walked towards where we thought the busses were, but once again none to Chichi. Tom once again asked one of the bus drivers and was told there is another area for buses....on the other side of the market. So, once again Tom and I took off in search of our bus....wandering through the market (which we never new was as big as it was) after walking through the market for a good 15 minutes we stumbled upon an open, noisy area with many, many busses and lots of people. We didn´t really need to look for a bus as there were people coming up to us and asking where we needed to go. So, after spending an hour searching we finally found our bus to Chichi and were ready for the 3 hour ride. Although I slept most of the way I also gained a friend (a teenage boy who was so tired he fell asleep on my shoudler), and Tom got a good chuckle out of that.

Once in Chichi we got a place to stay at a hotel for around 70 quetzales a night, which is around $10 in american. The room was not fancy by any means and the bathroom smelled pretty bad, but it had a gorgeous view of the city. Friday night was fairly uneventful, we explored the city a little, but it was dark so we were not terribly comfortable wandering around, so we more or less ate and went back to the hotel. Saturday we were wandering around the city by 9am, strolling down the main street where the market takes place. Tom and I had our sites on a restaurant that was recommend through a book...however, on our way to the restaurant we heard a familiar american voice ¨Tom, Melissa¨ Tom stopped immediately, however I was dead set on that breakfast and payed no attention. I eventually turned around to see that MaryAnn had found us. We spent some time hanging out with MaryAnn and made plans to go to Pascal Abaj, which is a ritualistic Mayan place of worship. MaryAnn went her seperate way as Tom and I went to Pascal Abaj. Once at Pascal Abaj Tom and I felt as though we were intruding, as there were ceremonies taking place, therefore we didn´t stay very long. (Although during the ceremony the leader (or bujo I believe) stepped away from the ceremony to take a call on his cell phone.)

Upon the walk back we stumbled upon a small artisian shop called Project Guggenheim, they actually have a website if you want to check it out. www.projectguggenheim.org This is a place where young children and teenagers are able to learn how to paint, sculpt and various other forms of art. There are several of them throughout the world. They had a lot of beautiful artwork!! Tom and I bought two smaller piece of art, we also brought MaryAnn back later in the day and she bought something as well. The rest of the weekend we spent doing some shopping and hanging out. Oh yeah and it´s hard to forget all of the people who would follow MaryAnn around and want her to buy whatever they were selling. One lady even followed us to MaryAnn´s hotel and then found us again later in the evening....no, MaryAnn did not buy anything from her, but she could´ve gotten the items at a really good price!! Sunday we took a little side trip to a nearby city, but to our dismay it was not what we expected...we left after spending a short amount of time there. Once we got back to Chichi it was time for Tom and I to head back to the city. Back on the bus and back to Xela.

Odds n´Ends

There are of things that I have been thinking about but haven´t had the chance to write about yet.

First, Pollo Campero...

Although I don´t have a picture of this fast food chain that could easily give KFC a run for their money (in fact KFC tried to bring some stores down here and Pollo Campero continued to take all their business). According to my maestro this business is native to Guatemala and actually the owners were origanially from the Xela area. For those of you in the states think of a KFC but tastier chicken and less grease as well. Great food and a lot of pride from nearly any Guatemalan when you ask about it and excitement too. However with all chains it has it´s downfalls, as the owners have not only a monopoly on the restaurantes that have dominated all over the central american countries (as well as within some areas in states), they also control all of the chicken supplied to the grocery stores and the feed for chickens too if any families buy that for chickens that they may be raising (like ours for example). Nonetheless it doesn´t feel as bad as going to McDonalds so I have justified it to myself thus far. In our two experiences of it we were amazed how fast we got our food, in fact my slogan for the place has been ¨Pollo Campero, where the food comes fast and the bill comes slow¨. It´s almost as though they don´t want us to pay... (I wish...)

The cemetary here has been BEAUTIFUL and peaceful as well. For me I have been able to use a place like this to reconnect, both to myself and to the world around me. There have been several of those places and things that often help when I´m feeling down or little homesick. Another was re-finding some ¨Jalopenos chips¨ that I origanally fell in love with when I visited Tim and Shirley (my brother and his wife) here over 11 years ago. I´ll spare you the stories of how I would buy 4 or more at a time (they are small one ounce bags) when I was only a lad of 14-15, but I will tell you that not much has changed. I still think when eating them all one´s problems seem to dift away... at least for me. Many times it´s been the small things that have allowed me to recenter and realize how blessed I have am to be able to experience this world around me. If I may add a personal note I would like say that it´s been great to have Melissa here as I couldn´t imagine the experiencing the difficulties without someone I care so much about. After all someone needs to eat the wiggly meat... (so if I have any Melissa´s plate may get larger when she´s not looking.... hey!)

-posted by Tom

Adventures in Xela

Life here in Xela continues with new adventures almost daily. This week has been busy with the activities that the school has arranged for students. On Tuesday Tom and I along with other students were able to get a free Salsa dance lesson. The lesson was one hour long and needless to say I was a little sweaty after and we both were yearning for more. Wednesday we ventured to Banos de Vahos, which was about a 20 minute bus ride from Xela and an hour walk up to this fantastic place. Banos de Vahos is basically a sauna, it is naturally heated by the hotsprings that are located underneath Banos de Vahos. It was very relaxing, refreshing (just what we needed) and had a wonderful aroma of Eucalyptus. Not to mention the view of the city during the walk back to the city, it was spectacular. Thursday we once again ventured out of the city to ¨COPAVIC¨, which is a company that makes glassware, anything from cups to vases to smaller glass trinkets, etc... Once we viewed all the glassware we were able to walk into the workshop, which is where all of the items are made by the men who work there. This was a very interesting process of making the glassware. I can´t describe how they do it very well, but we took lots of pictures. I was asked by one of the male workers if I wanted to give it a try (I think he saw the fascination in my eyes), how could I really turn this offer down!! So he handed me this metal rod that was probably 4 feet long with a very hot piece of liquid glass on the end. Carefully, I took the rod and with some assistance from him started turning the rod and simotaneously blowing in the end of the rod. At this time he was saying ¨suave, suave¨, luckily that is one of the spanish words I know, meaning smooth. After I got the hang of it he let me handle it by myself....after 15 seconds of blowing the small hot piece of liquid metal turned into a larger glass ball. It was very cool. We took pictures of the adventures this week and have them posted on an online gallery, those of you who are interested please leave a comment here on this blog page and we will send you an email with the gallery address.

Other than the activities we also continue with school and life with our host family. Tom´s spanish is getting rather good where I struggle to put a sentence together. But, with a little hope, serious studying and a good teacher hopefully I will start to improve. The meals here continue to be a struggle, however we get by the best we can. Tom was not feeling well the other day and told our host mom before lunch to let her know that he would not be eating much. Edna was ok with that however, proudly made Tom a drink that she was convinced that will cure his troubling stomach problems. She made up this elixer (that looked just as bad as the soup we were eating) and proudly gave it to Tom. Reluctantly, Tom gave the elixer a taste and over the course of 10 minutes was able to finish the glass. He was not able to tell me until we were in our room that the drink was ablsolutely horrible. He stated it was worse that the soup, I had a hard time believing that because the contents of the soup closely resembeld the water of a swamp in my parents back yard.
-posted by Melissa

Life is good (although sometimes not my stomach)

Although lunch today was a struggle for me, (it was a rice soup with a large chunk of meat that was more bone than meat for me) I tend to enjoy most of the meals. They are just an adjustment as much of the food are new to both Melissa and I. I may have to approach my Edna (mother) about the warm-hot-boiled milk that seems to be giving my stomach struggles. They are very nice, in fact I complemented them on the meal we had last night and I was told today that we are going to have it again! How nice! They could have just had leftovers however I still think it was a nice gesture. We had class again today to finish out our first week and both Melissa and I decided to have a half day so that we could tackle our landry and our room. We are so lucky our family has a washing-machine, we definately won´t be spoiled like this in El Salvador. I have really enjoyed my time with the family but often find myself tounge-tied with putting sentences together. I continue to try though and have found my spanish as good as it´s ever been thus far. Today in class I spent over two hours just talking with my maestro (like a teacher just a different name as well as degree from school) and was able to follow everything. In fact when I didn´t understand a word I was able to understand other explainations in spanish describing it. A fun day we talked about everything from musical likes-dislikes to both of our countries dependancy on petroleum. A far cry from were I was just one week ago, although I still have so much to learn.

Switching back to the family I have really enjoyed my time with Braulio, the father of our family. He enjoys a variety of music and especially American Music, often playing his guitar along to the Beatles, or other songs on the radio. The radio station that he listens to (loudly) has actually been a haven of 80s retro-classic rock for me. I think Melissa has liked it too but for those that know my musical tastes would say that this station has tapped into my brain. Tomorrow Melissa and I are going to the hot springs nearby Xela which should hopefully relax away those first week strains of study.
- posted by Tom

Our family and New Years

As mentioned in a previous post we have been blessed with a great host family. The family consists of mom (Edna), dad (Braulio), two sisters (Judith and Sintia), grandma (her name is still a mystery). Along with these people we share a life with 2 dogs, 2 ducks, 2 cats, 2 chickens, 2 roosters, 3 parrots, and 2 smaller birds, oh and we found a dead slug (which was as long and big as your index finger) in the bathroom this morning, tom was nice enough to clean it up but felt some unpleasent reguritation in his throat while doing so. The setting of the house is something we are not quiet used to, not to say it is bad, however it is very secluded. Even though there is seclusion we have plenty of time with our family during meal times. We also were able to spend time with them on New Years.....On the 31st we woke bright and early to help stuff the turkey. Stuffing a turkey here is Guatemala is quite different from the stuffed turkey that I am used to. This turkey was filled with mostly another kind of meat (not turkey), also mixed with almonds, prunes and I´m not sure what else. This turkey was raised in their backyard and was not more than a year old. When we finished stuffing the turkey we were told that we would eat around midnight.

Tom and I spent most of the day in our room (which is actually quite nice) playing cards, talking, etc.. As time rolled by we figured we would see what our family was doing so around 10pm we went out of our room, however the house was quiet as ever. We retreated back to our rooms, continuing this process with no success until around 11:10pm. We then were able to hang out, and attempted to talk to them. We drank some wine (and Egg nog, which tasted exactly the same (yum!)), listened to music, which turned into dancing, then the conga and before we knew it we were toasting the new year and eating turkey at midnight. We also listened to fireworks before the ones that lit up the sky went off just after midnight. This was definately a memorable, but short, New Years celebration.

Mystery meat

A couple days ago I was sitting down for lunch with my Guatemalan family. As some of you may know the largest meal of the day in Guatemala is lunch and typically alot of food is served (in our family anyways), also it can be seen as an insult not to finish your meal. No matter how many times I have told my family that I want small portions I continue to receive large portions. This particular day I sat down to eat and a plate of food was served to me. I was astonished not only by the size of the portions, but also by this massively large piece of meat (I still am not sure of what it was). This meat portion took up 1/4 of my plate....not only that but it wiggled and it had some form of black hair still attached to it. At first I thought, maybe most of this meat is not edible (wiggly parts mostly) and I could eat around it. As I thought this I looked over at my host mom, Edna, as she was winding this piece of fat around her fork like it was spaghetti and put it all in her mouth...I nearly gagged. Thankfully on this day I was blessed with having to attend Spanish class in the afternoon. Timing my meal just right I was able to dodge this mystery meat and claim that I did not have enough time to finish my plate. I hope I will not have to encounter this mystery meat again, for if I do may I be lucky enough to have a way out.
-posted by Melissa