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Published: August 25th 2010
The School
Maria, Leigh and Benedicto in front of our language school.Our School
If there is one thing I learned in our second week in Guatemala it is that learning a new language is exhausting! I think it is fair to say that all of us have really good teachers! My teacher’s name is Elvira, Leigh’s teacher is Benedicto, my dad’s teacher is Maria, and my mom’s teacher is Fredie
The school is right on the lake with gravel walkways leading to the different classrooms. It is all outside with two buildings on the property. Both buildings have a little patio that has a cover so you can have class there. Also there are two little huts with wooden tables and stools that don’t have walls but have a straw roof. They are fun to learn in!
On my first day I reviewed the basics like the alphabet, greetings and numbers. The second day I started conjugating verbs, which is one of the hardest thing to learn I am told. By the end of the week I knew three main verbs and a lot more Spanish than I had hoped to learn in a week. One of the things I am most
The Classroom
Leigh with Benedicto in their own learning hut. proud of is that now I can understand at least half of what people are saying.
Joy The Town Santiago Atitlan is one of the largest communities surrounding Lake Atitlan. As we mentioned last week, it is rich in Mayan traditions including many residents who still dress in traditional Mayan clothing and speak Tz’tuhil, one of the 30 native Mayan dialects still spoken throughout Guatemala.
The terrain is mountainous and littered with coffee plants and avocado trees. Coconuts, peaches, papayas, pineapples, apples, strawberries, watermelons and many other beautiful vegetables grow in abundance and are sold each day in small stores, road side stands and out of small baskets attended by brightly dressed and tired-appearing women on the side of the road. This particular area is the center for avocado distribution.
On Fridays and Sundays, the market days, we wander into town to find street corners filled with mountains of avocados being placed into large duffel bag sized nets that are then sold and loaded onto flat-bed trucks. These will travel to be eaten throughout Central America. For us they are a staple of our diet. This week I bought 5 for
Los Maestros
Last Thursday, our teachers showed us around their town, San Juan de la Laguna. We hiked up a hill that overlooks the town. about $1. They are wonderfully ripe and delicious - oh my!
The Market On one of our first days, Rebecca (the hospital’s volunteer coordinator) took us on a tour of the town. She introduced us to various vendors that we now shop from several times a week for our fresh fruits and veggies, rice, pasta, pancake mix, powdered milk, and bread. There are many veggies we have yet to identify yet the new one for the week is one called wiskel. It is green like a zucchini, hard like a potato, shaped like a large pear. It’s delicious in a soup with carrots, onions, potatoes and squash.
Part of the central market is indoors and reminds me (Kiran) of similar markets in Asia. It is large, dark, crowded and packed with small stalls and tables all selling similar things. The vendors swat flies from their display and call out what they are selling as we snake our way through the crowded maze. Included is the fresh meat department (and we mean fresh), the bean area, the clothing area, thread shop, chilies of all shapes and sizes and tons of fruits and veggies. It’s basically the
Cafe
On a tour of the coffee cooperative in San Juan. Lucas, our guide, is showing us the two different kinds of coffee that are grown. All the coffee is certified organic. super Walmart of town without the walls and the friendly greeters.
Outside are small packed stores selling oils, eggs, soaps, soups, toilet paper, mixes, spices of various sorts and cold beverages that they will gladly pour from the glass bottle into a small sandwich bag, add a straw and off you go. Tortillas are made fresh all hours of the day. The sound of 4 or 5 women clapping as they press the cornmeal into perfect circles is easily heard on several corners in town. We buy 25 tortillas for about 60 US cents.
The Hospital I (Kiran) completed my first week of volunteer work at the hospital. They have an Emergency Room with 2 small beds that is staffed by one MD and one nurse who take 24 hour shifts. There are 2 inpatient hospital rooms and one labor room with 2 beds and a curtain. The clinics are open Monday- Friday from 8-12, then 2-5 or whenever they are done. Most staff go home for lunch and a midday rest. Each morning there are check-out rounds at 7:30 am for the on-call doc to report on events of the previous 24 hour
Santiago Atitlan
A view from a "lancha", the boats that take you to and from the many pueblos that surround the lake. shift and pass the care to the next provider. This pass off occurs on the upstairs open aired porch of the hospitalito underneath one of the lake’s volcanoes. The hospitalito is right on the lake and the morning views of the clouds slowly burning off have been spectacular.
For this first week, I sat in on these rounds to listen, take notes on words I do not know and get a feel for what can and cannot be done in this health center. This week they managed a stroke, severe diabetic ulcers, pediatric bronchiolitis, foot injuries (stepping on glass and nails is common when you don’t have shoes and trash is commonly thrown on the street). There have been two difficult trauma incidents. One young man fell from a roof. He eventually died. Another was a truck vs pedestrian accident which resulted in a badly damaged leg. This required a transfer to a larger center for an orthopedic surgeon. And then there were the more routine events - an infected miscarriage, chest pain, nose bleeds, the list goes on.
Besides one c-section, I have mainly worked in the clinic areas doing routine ultrasounds, GYN office visits and prenatal
Las Tejidas
The amazing weavings from the area cover the markets. appointments. I am being pushed in many good ways as the charting is all in Spanish. The abbreviations are foreign and notations are often illegible. Most patients barely speak Spanish. More common is a local dialect, 75% of which is not Spanish. And, I love it!
The nurses, doctors and support staff are incredibly gracious, generous and patient with all that I do not know. The patients are open with their concerns, honest about their hardships and grateful for whatever time and treatment I can offer.
I find myself talking a lot about nutrition as many of them ask for vitamins while I look around at all of the amazing fruit and veggies available at the market. I feel in many ways our family is eating much better than we do at home. The food seems healthier and fresher. Yet, as is true in the US, fresh fruits and veggies are often too expensive for the economically poor and here, tortillas are cheap and filling. I’m not sure if it’s a matter of income or knowledge. They often act as if information about nutrition is news. I fear that they really can’t afford the veggies rich diet I
The Front Desk
Febe, Juanita and Melina handle the front desk and provide Tz'utuhil to Spanish translation. recommend.
Kids look younger than their stated age because of their small size and adults often look much older. The women my age are worn and tired. Their lives are difficult here yet they are surrounded by generations of friends and family. When someone is in the hospital or in labor, it is not uncommon to see a small crowd of 5-30 people sitting together waiting.
The Weather The rainy season is well named. It has rained most days since we have arrived. The sun will usually make a brief and welcome appearance in the late morning before ducking behind a rain cloud for the rest of the day. We have had a few clear nights but most are cloudy with off and on drizzles. Today is the first day it has rained steady and hard. The air is cool and we sleep under blankets at night. We wash things by hand and it takes days to dry. Most of the time, the cool and wet feel quite nice.
Our Friends and Family Today (Saturday) we said goodbye to my cousin Fred’s daughter, Taylor (17) and the Berger Doane family (Michael,
Mirjam, Siler and Noah ) from Texas. It’s been an active week of juggling Spanish classes, new work schedules and the fun of playing with, eating with and living with (in the case of Taylor) friends and family from home. For the sake of ease, we’ve eaten out more than we will when it’s just the four of us. We’ve discovered some good places. We’ve also taken 2 day trips to different pueblos around the lake and enjoyed many rounds of Uno and hammock games. It has been great to have time with them all and we wish them all well as they return to life and new school years back in the US.
The Firsts of the Week Our first earthquake. It happened Thursday afternoon. Kiran was at the hospital where the sensation was quite obvious. Leigh said she felt the house shake but the rest of us attributed it to her active imagination. Shows you what we know.
Our first lizard in the house. Mark was gone but Nicolas, the caretaker, was nearby and able to scoop the 4 inch lizard into a yogurt container and return it to the great outdoors.
The New Site
Michael, Lyn and Kiran on a tour of the new hospital that is being built. The've worked hard to find a mud-slide free area (hopefully) and have raised thousands of dollars. What did we do before yogurt containers?
Our first traveller’s sickness. Joy fell prey to what I hope will not be too common in the year ahead. Hopefully the antibiotics she now has in her system will soon break the fever. Fortunately the vomiting and diarrhea were brief yet a potent reminder of the many new bugs that are new to our system.
Our first tuk-tuk rides. They are 3 wheeled motorscooter taxis (see photo) that can seat 1-4 people on a small covered bench. We found these a good way to get home from our friend’s hotel at night. All of these are driven by the young men of the town. Some of these rides can be crazier than others. I’ve heard tuk-tuk accidents are not uncommon events. We try to walk as much as we can!
In Closing We are continually grateful for the many friends and family that are with us on this journey of a lifetime and the opportunity to share our stories and adventures. Many thanks for the prayers and emails that help to sustain us.
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Missy Harris
non-member comment
Thanks for the great updates about your adventures. I hope Joy feels better soon. It is really nice to see pictures of the community. I was especially excited to see a partial glimpse of the hospitalito in the photo with Kiran, Michael and Lyn. I can't wait to see more. It's hard to believe that I was there clearing the land with MHC students just three years ago! Please give my best to all. Missy