Short&Sweet

♥

I don't feel like I have too much to update on but we will see how this turns out!

Last night I discovered Draw Something on the iPhone and had way to much fun playing that not only with Lili but with people from back home too. Ashley really sucks at it but it's great entertainment. Other than that... I just slept. This weekend definitely took a toll on me.

This morning it was really hard to get out of bed! Lili and I have been sleeping until about 7:40 before getting out of bed... but still managing to be ready to go to work before everyone else. Impressive? Yes. So between the fact that I skipped out on coffee this morning and I was struggling to stay awake on the drive to work - I figured I was in for a long day.

There are a couple of new children in the unit (I think I have mentioned that) but today was one of the first days I really got to spend any time with them. Tuesdays are always very uneventful so it was very quiet around and I noticed that most of the mothers weren't around this morning. Normally this would be bad news because most of them are upset, but today everyone was staying pretty calm. It gave me a chance to really get to bond with them without their mothers around. The only reason I like this is because I feel like I can be more of myself, especially if I don't know the parents well yet.

One of the new little girls name is Ingrid. She was crying a lot this morning but once she realized that I was there to play with her she immediately turned her mood around. She wasn't liking the idea of sharing me with everyone today so that was really funny, but once her mother got back she decided I could go play with other people. She has a really great smile/laugh and she talks a lot more than most of the children I have been with. I think it will be fun to have her around for a bit! But since Brena wasn't there today I still don't know much about her burns or how long she will be around.

She liked the camera :)

Carlos is still as cute as ever and it was great to get to play with him for about an hour this morning while his mother was showering and taking a break. It's so awesome that he feels comfortable hanging out with me while she leaves instead of getting upset. He is now wearing a mask on his face to help with the healing but he is still as cute as ever, AND like I've been saying he has become so much more talkative and social recently. It's great!

He wanted to show off all of his toys.

On a less positive note: The little baby that has been hanging on still isn't doing well. I have come to realize the more I have been around the unit that a huge part of the problem is her family. Brena told me that when the baby was originally burned they waited 8 days to even take her to a hospital (a neighbor finally told services there was a baby in need of medical attention). The mom has been disappearing a lot for long periods at a time, which is not okay because this baby needs tons of attention and care. It is technically not the nurses job to watch the child that closely. So it's been sad and I've been trying to keep an eye on her a lot while I'm around, especially since the mother disappeared once again this morning.

When I talk to her she squeezes my finger :)

Isaias and I had a ton of fun today. I am loving how happy he is lately!! He has been getting out of bed so often and even walking around places on his own. It is a truly amazing turn around and I hope it continues on this path. I got a really cute video of me tickling him. So check it out!  

Christofer is still adorable, but he is definitely a momma's boy. He is very spoiled and can act like a brat a lot of the time but when he's happy... he's too cute and it's hard to hold that against him. His mom is great though and I'm sure I'd be spoiling my child the same way if they were going through so much pain, so whatever! He really loves taking pictures and then getting to look at how they turned out. He also likes taking pictures... he took this picture of his mom!

Christofer's Mother

Love this smile.

I bought some string on Monday because I have been trying to think of more things to keep the parents busy/ not so bored. I figured I could try and teach them how to make some bracelets or whatever they come up with. They are all so creative... it's crazy! Carlos' mother made a cell phone case out of the materials I brought last time. It was impressive.

Tomorrow they will probably all show me everything they made. I only got to see the beginning of the projects this morning. I left them one of my bracelets so they could try and figure out how it was made and I bet you they will!

So today was one of the better Tuesdays, which is always nice :). I was still exhausted after work though and after lunch I took about a 2 hour nap and it rocked. Then we had Spanish lessons and those went fine too. Still don't know much Spanish, though. After that was over usually we would get ready for dinner but Lili and I decided that we were craving Italian food and decided to head to Zone 10 to try and find some place we found online. It was called Jake's and it claimed it was the best Italian food in Guatemala City. Buttttt of course as soon as we make it to where it says it's located we can't find it anywhere! Go figure. So we end up walking around and find a Mexican Food restaurant and ended up JUST as happy ordering queso, flour tortillas, chips and salsa and enchiladas (Lili) and fajitas (me). Yum!

Tomorrow after work we are heading to a Coffee Plantation in Antigua! Woohoo! And I think she mentioned that there was a Mayan Music Museum attached.... maybe? Either way I'm really excited and I will take tons of pictures!

Here's one last picture of Carlos from today with his mask off. He got a hair cut recently and I think he looks very handsome!! These are his favorite fruit that his mother brings him, but I always forget what they are called. I'll find out.

Isn't he cute?

 ♥

Going with the 'River' flow...

Hi everyone! I'm back!

Me at the Zephyr River Lodge Hostel in Lanquin, Guatemala

I am ready to report back on the extremely interesting weekend we had. To sum it up really quickly: Nothing went as planned! But as we all know... sometimes those are the memories that you will never forget.

Public Bus: Friday after lunch we had Don Fransico drop us off at the public bus stop and we bought our tickets to Coban for Q65 (which is about 9 bucks). The bus was basically a normal charter bus you would see back home, but when we stepped on to the bus it was like 1000 degrees and no air flow at all. Once again... I hate being high maintenance but this is one of the things that truly gets to me. I can't do a hot, crowed, long and bumpy car ride... no thank you. So after I freaked out for a good 10 minutes I realized that the bus was finally cooling down. They had turned on a small amount of AC that was coming out by the window and at least it wasn't as stuffy anymore. Not perfect, but phew..... I was scared there for a bit. The bus ride took about 5 hours and the whole thing was extremely winding, curvy, bumpy and tons of road construction. We were definitely ready to get off once we made it to Coban.

Finding Casa Blanca: According to the map we had of the city we found the best place to get off the bus based on where we thought the hostel we were staying at was. The map seemed as if it would only be a 4 block walk. AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER - we were still looking for this dang hostel and we had basically walked throughout the entire town. I was starting to get really anxious and nervous because we were walking in some bad areas with all of our stuff and clearly looked lost. I had my pink pepper spray ready to go the whole time, haha. Finally we decide it would be worth it to ask a taxi to take us there (it's not usually a good idea to get into a random taxi) but we were desperate. The driver didn't exactly know where Casa Blanca hostel was so that was automatically frustrating but he ended up getting us there. We were extremely relieved to have FINALLY made it to where we were staying.

More trouble: So Clark's guide book had recommended that we stay at this hostel and we had made reservations over the phone for the three of us that past Thursday. Of course we are sure that they will have room for us based on the reservations. As soon as we get inside the girl at the front desk is having trouble communicating with us and we are originally thinking she just doesn't have our reservation. Okay, crap... so we try and make a new one. Well after some extreme confusion between the four of us, we realize that she is trying to tell us the hostel doesn't exist anymore and it is now just a travel agency called Casa Blanca. Uhhhh what? So we argue with her a bit wondering why they let us make a reservation and all that mess but the conversation was pointless. So we left...... on the road again.... with all of our crap!

Casa Luna to the rescue: During our travels around the whole city searching for Casa Blanca we had passed Casa Luna hostel a couple of times and had decided if we couldn't find Casa Blanca we would stop there. So that was our first decision after the bad luck at the last hostel and headed that way. Thankfully as soon as we arrived the man at the front desk told us there was plenty of room and took us into a 4 bedroom room and we had it to ourselves! He told us we could pay in the morning and recommended a nearby restaurant for us to eat at... and by this time we were starving!! We ate an amazing meal and were taught by the waiter how to do Tequila shots Coban, Guatemalan style. They do the usual salt/lime but chase them with tomato juice.... verryyy interesting.

Since it was still a little bit early we headed to a nearby store and grabbed a 6 pack of Gallo (Guatemalan equivalent to Keystone haha) and bought some playing cards off the store owner for Q25 and it was only a deck of 40 cards. Haha! Clark showed us how to play Golf and Lili kicked our butts over and over again. She gets lucky.

*Overall the night turned out to be a lot of fun even after the ridiculously long day!*

Semuc... or not!: Alright so, the whole reason we set off on this journey this weekend was to eventually make it Semuc Champey which is a giant natural swimming hole that is absolutely beautiful. The volunteer Matt that was here when we arrived showed us tons of pictures and we had decided we really wanted to check it out. So Saturday morning we were suppose to join a tour group (they had some leave from our hostel) but we didn't wake up early enough and we decided it wasn't a big deal and that we could just go by ourselves. Wrong. We had so much trouble finding a bus to Lanquin and probably almost got on a the wrong bus a couple of times. Finally we had someone help us find our way to a bus that was leaving in an hour to head to Lanquin. It was a small bus, with no AC, with a large amount of people on it. Someone told us if they seat sits 4 they will put 6.

This bus ride ended up taking about 2 hours and I was struggling the whole way. Finally with about 45 mins left I told Lili I was absolutely going to throw up. Yep. So thankfully we were in the very back seat and I just stuck my head out the window and did my business. Not a single person on the bus even noticed... and I felt so much better after that! I'm telling you... I don't do these car rides well at all.

We met a guy from Holland on the ride named Chris. Usually if someone speaks English we strike up a conversation with them just because we are excited to talk to people. I had no partake in this conversation though because I was too busy trying not to throw up half the ride. Lili and Clark made friends with him but he ended up telling us some bad news. It was too late to get a shuttle to Semuc from Lanquin and even if we got on one we would have about 45 mins at the park. Whhhatttt! So we immediately start planning for the next day because we don't want to have made this obnoxious trip for no reason. In the meanwhile we talked with Chris about where we could stay for the night in Lanquin. He fortunately worked at a hostel so he helped us out and even took us there once we finally arrived!

Where we were suppose to go... Semuc Champey.

What a beautiful mistake: So even though we weren't suppose to be staying at this hostel we were more than happy to find out what we were getting ourselves into!! It was absolutely beautiful. We checked in and got settled and got even more bad news that we wouldn't be able to do a Semuc trip on Sunday because the buses don't run at certain times and we had to catch the bus back to Guatemala City at 8am. So we took a deep breathe (once we realized we had drove all this way to stay in a hostel) and decided to take advantage of the beautiful scenery.

This hostel was called Zephyr Lodge and it was located right off a really cool river. Normally if you have enough time there they will take you to float the river, but we didn't get there early enough and it's too dangerous to go alone. Sigh! I really miss a good river float!!

The view on the walk up to the Hostel

This ended up being the first actual Hostel that I would be staying in where we shared a room with people I didn't know. I was a little nervous about this but immediately forgot and got excited once I picked out my bed it had cats on it, though! I didn't get a sketchy/unsafe vibe from any of the other guests. They were basically all Gringos just like us traveling around and most of them had been up at Semuc for the day. Anyways let me get to the point and show you how freaking cool this place was!

My bed for the night

The view from outside the window next to my bed

 

Looking out for the back of the Hostel

The River down below

The back of the Hostel/ the Bar area

The view from the open shower!

As you can tell this place was basically amazing. And yes we did get to shower in that... but we forgot towels and they didn't provide them so that made for another interesting story. Before we showered and got ready for a fun night at the hostel with all the really cool guests... we took a trip down to the river below the hostel (it's walking distance) and also a small trip into town. It was so hot so the freezing cold water was perfect... except for the little boys pointing and laughing at us (who knows what they were saying). In town we went on a mission to find Ice Cream which is usually really easy but everywhere we went they just tried to sale us frozen milk in bags. We passed on that.

 

 

After our adventures into town and down to the river we decided between all of that and the AC-less bus ride we probably needed to shower. We got ready and then went down to the restaurant/bar area for happy hour and to meet everyone. All the guests hung out in that area so it was really easy to get to know everyone... and fun because everyone has such a unique story. We had some drinks and made some friends and all together it was a great night!

 The next morning we had no choice but to be up by like 7:30am and get on a tiny crowded bus back to Guatemala City. It was about a 7-8 hour ride and ... it sucked! Lili and I were both sick for most of it and it seemed like it lasted forever. Once the driver finally got us back into the city he dropped us off about 40 blocks from our house and said, adios. So that really pissed us off and we ended up taking a taxi home because we were sick of walking after how much we did all weekend. It was so great to be home and we were extremely exhausted so we ate and slept and that was that! OH! I almost forgot...
New Roommates: Two new roommates arrived on Saturday while we were gone and unfortunately they had to meet us once we got home on Sunday when we were a mess, lol. The girl (Debbie) is 25 and she is a nurse/ grad student from Puerto Rico and she speaks fluent Spanish and English! The boy (Joe) is 18 from Cleveland and finished his high school credits early and has free time until Graduation. They will be here until we leave and I really think we are all going to get along great! The 18 year thinks he's super cool, but we decided that every 18 year usually does. ;)
Back to work: Today at work it was very, very weird feeling. Jose and Gembli are both gone and there are a couple of new children. It's almost like a whole new unit and it was really quiet. It was nice because Carlos has made friends with one of the new girls and they were having a lot of fun today. It was cool to see him so interactive and talkative because he usually isn't at all. It was a very laid back day.. Brena and I talked about some of the personal problems going on within the families in the unit... I colored with the new girl... and got to spend the rest of the afternoon with a really happy/smiley Isaias :) gotta love that!
The new little girl I was spending time with in the morning has only a little burn on her forehead. She came in this weekend and should be leaving by tomorrow so that was probably the only time I will be able to spend with her. She was very cute and we had fun coloring and playing with balloons. It's amazing how easily those two things will keep a child happy :)

This afternoon we had a really great guest speaker come in and talk to us about Holy Week in Guatemala. It is the 2nd biggest Holy Week celebration worldwide next to Seville, Spain. The best part about the lesson today is that everything we were learning about we are going to see first hand. Lili and I have already planned our trip to Antigua, Guatemala where a giant crowd from all over the world comes to celebrate Holy Week! I am super excited and can't believe I'm actually going to get to experience something so BIG and very special to this culture. Woohoo! That is going to be Wed-Fri during our last week in Guatemala.

So all together I had a great weekend...

* Officially stayed in my first hostels and survived

* Realized I still suck at long car rides

* Met some awesome people from all over the World

* Learned how to take a Guatemalan Tequila Shot 

* Made it home safely.

 But as for now... I feel a lot like this guy so I think I'm going to get some rest and enjoy this beautiful weather out on our terrace here in Guatemala City.

Adios ♥

Guatemalan Bliss! ⋆★

Nothing better than a perfect day with wonderful company! 

 Sabana Grande

Yesterday was a totally awesome day. Once again I wasn't exactly sure what we were doing... I just knew we had the day off of work and we were going swimming. I was picturing a public pool... and boy was I wrong. One of the coolest things about this trip was that the entire CCS staff was coming along for the day! One of the cooks that has been working here for 9 years is leaving at the end of March so it was kind of like her going away party/present.

Lili and I didn't set an alarm that morning because we weren't really sure when we were suppose to be up and didn't really want to wake up earlier than we had to for no reason. Around 8:45 Julietta came into our room asking if we were ready and told us we were leaving at 9 so we jumped out of bed and rushed to get ready. Why did we do this? Have we not learned that "time" in Guatemala is never what they say it is? We didn't even end up leaving until closer to 10.

It was about a hour and a half drive to our destination and the drive was really scenic. We got some great views of the bigger Volcanoes and also of the giant sugar cane crops all around. Virginia told us that the sugar cane production in Guatemala is the 3rd largest in the world. Another random thing that happened was that we stopped in the middle of the drive and our driver put the car into neutral and we were so confused what was going on. Later we found out that in that specific area there is an incline up hill, but when you put it in neutral you still roll up hill. It was pretty crazy and better on the way home when we did it again because we actually knew what we were doing that time. I'm pretty sure it's an optical illusion due the hills surrounding you but hey it was still really awesome!

The place we spent the day at was called Sabana Grande. It was in the middle of no where and we had to take a long, bumpy dirt road to get back there. As soon as we pulled up I knew I had pictured the area all wrong.. but it was a great surprise! It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. There is a in-ground pull in the front with really awesome landscaping all around it and then as you walk back there are cabins you can stay in, a big area to hold events, picnic tables, places to grill and then it leads down to a really awesome swimming area in the river!! The river reminded me so much of The Frio River and it really made me miss my best friends in San Angelo, but also was kind nice to feel a little at home for a bit. :)

Our Spanish teacher Rosario!

The river was really cold at first but after a splash attack by Virginia I was forced to get completely wet and the water felt great for the rest of the time! Clark and Enrique (our guard) went on a hike so Virginia, Lili and I got to hang out just girls and swim. It was fun! After the river and then laying out by the pool for a bit we were starving and we had some of the best BBQ ever! They grilled steaks and chicken, baked potatoes, tons of the best guacamole ever, and of course beans and tortillas. We stuffed our faces and then got to relax for a bit. Juan Carlos' daughter Annika (kiki for short) decided Lili and I were her best friends that day. She took turns taking us by the hand and forcing us to go on adventures around the area with her. I have been getting use to little kids liking me on this trip because usually I'm just not really a "kids person". So I guess that's another positive about this experience. She is so cute and was making me laugh the whole time.... a very adventurous little girl.

Once we were done with the Adventures of Kiki, Lili and I decided to head out on our own little adventure. Apparently there is an hour hike around this beautiful area but we just kind of did the amateur version of that and walked around until we decided to turn back. Even though the whole trail was so pretty and super cool... we were having a problem with bugs flying in our eyes (at one point we had to stop so I could pull 3 tiny bugs out of Lili's eye and it was very disturbing) and also the fact that I was getting paranoid that I was going to see a giant snake. No one told me there were snakes... it just seemed like if I were snake I'd be hanging out around this trail somewhere.

Once we returned from our hike we realized that everyone was packing up and it was about time to leave. We hung out with the dogs for a bit that were roaming around acting very pathetic (as usual) and waited on Clark and Enrique to return. We got a group pic of my entire Guatemala Family and OF COURSE my eyes were closed. Awesome. But it's still an awesome picture. We were all pretty exhausted from the afternoon so Lili and I got comfortable, shared her headphones and jammed to the bands 'Fun' and 'The Format' (same people) the whole drive home. Good times!

CCS Family (Enrique, Virginia, Clark, Mari, Julietta, Sonia, Rosario, Don Fransico, Me, Lili, Juan Carlos and Annika.

Later that night

Since it was Mari (the cook's) party she obviously didn't cook dinner for that night so we decided that we wanted to go out to eat for the night! Once we got home we were both showering off the day and I Brena chatted me asking me how my day was. We decided it would be fun to all meet up for Dinner and hang out for the night! The taxi ride was difficult as usual because we cannot communicate well with them. He was for sure there wasn't a TGIFridays in the area we told him to take us and once we got there there clearly was one... and he argued with us saying No that was "Friend's". We just agreed with him .... lol typical taxi ride. Brena brought her cousin and her best friend! It turned out to be a really fun dinner and I'm really glad we finally got to hang out outside of work, and that Lili and her finally met. It was funny because they both felt like they already knew each other because I talk about each of them to both of them. Sadly I didn't take any pictures to document this.

All together it was a fantastic day!! You've got to appreciate perfect days like that.

This morning

Alright so I went through the morning grind as usual and was on my way to work when I realized that the outside of the hospital was more crazy than it normally is. Once we got closer it became apparent that there was a giant protest going on and they were not allowing any cars to enter the area. So we had to turn around and Don Fransico ended up just taking me back home. I have no clue what the protest is about because I haven't been able to talk with anyone that speaks English today so I've just been hanging out really confused all day. I am really interested to hear what this is all about. I don't know if I have mentioned this but Roosevelt Hospital (where I work) provides all of their services for absolutely NO COST! I am still confused about how this is possible. Anyways, it was really weird and I will let you know once I find out what all this mess is about.

By the way: I am not happy about missing work because Brena messaged me and told me Jose was there today for a bit and it was also Carlos' birthday today. NOOOO! :( So once again I am upset for various reasons when it comes to work. Blah! But hey, I got to update my blog before the weekend so I guess that's a positive?

✓Protest Update: The protest is being held by some of the staff at the hospital (along with their family and friends) because they don't believe they are getting paid enough. I can only imagine since like I said... everything is free for the patients. And from what I've heard from Brena... the doctors/nurses don't get paid well at all. It isn't a profession that has a reputation for having a big salary (like it is in the U.S.) even though they have terrible hours and TONS of school. I'm not sure what this means for the healthcare here, but I was told it should be resolved over the weekend. Not the salary issue, but the blocking off so that we couldn't get in.

This weekend

Today immediately after lunch we are heading to the bus station and heading to Coban for the weekend. I don't know much about this place but I think I like it that way... I'm enjoying the surprise of my travels. Lili and I just told Clark to plan it all and we would join him haha. We are going a little more rugged than our last adventure around Guatemala. Public Bus for 4 hours vs. Private Van for 3 hours. Staying in a Hostel for about $6 a night vs. a Nice Hotel for $60 a night. I am really excited for this experience though and can't wait to tell you all about it!! I've got my camera and an open-mind packed and ready to go!

One last thing: Don Fransico (the driver) was wearing a shirt today with one of my absolute favorite quotes of all time (on the back) so I decided I should share it:

"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery,
None but ourselves can free our minds"

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! 

Song of the day