My first week in Guatemala

Well, I'll start by saying that the weird void feeling that I had while I was in Atlanta passed. I found myself at the end of a long and amazing journey that had been 25 years in the making. I have experienced so many things, good and bad, and as I sat in the airports in Denver and Atlanta I felt an overwhelming feeling of not belonging. But, I have arrived and I feel at home.

I did take a nap after I posted last and it was great. I had some food, watched the sunrise, and rested. Then boarded the plane to Guatemala. When I arrived I made my way throught the new wing of the Guatemala airport to pick up my bags and go through customs and immigration. That all went smooth and I exited the airport to find my ride. I was met by a huge crowd of people, but alas they weren't there for me. Some Latin-American TV Host Laura Bosso? was arriving as well. I made my way through the crowd with my wide load (my bike box, not my head OR butt...) and met my driver Jaun Carlos. After an uneventful drive I was at the project by 2 PM and settled into my room. There was nothing scheduled for me until Monday so I got to do whatever I wanted. I went back and started working in the construction area with Mario, department manager, Felix, Pablo, and Narciso (Chicho). There was a short-term volunteer as well, Ingrid. She's from the states but has been living in Germany for 14 years. So, Thursday afternoon and Friday all day I worked with the construction crew. On Thursday night I made my way to the Foosball table and found that my Foosball skills are seriously lacking, it is a nightly thing for several of the Guatemalan staff including Mario and Felix.

When I arrived several of the staff from St. Paul were here for budgeting meetings. Shari Blindt, the executive director of Common Hope, and I had met a year ago when she and John Huebsch, co-founder and former exec. dir., came to Denver to speak at CUC. They stayed with Jody and I and we spent a lot of time together. Anyway, she invited me on Friday night to accompany her and her friend Suzan to Lake Atitlan. How could I say no. I got up Saturday morning and jumped in the van with them. It took a while to get there and we were impeded by construction which left us sitting on the road at a complete stop for about half an hour. Then once we started to move again we were almost crushed by both a chicken bus and a dump truck, very exciting. We did finally make it to Panajachel and met our guide for the day. We got in a Lancha, a small boat/ water taxi, and were off to tour Santa Catalina, San Antonio and Santiago Atitlan, our final destination. Our tour guide, Thomas, was a funny,as in strange, guy. He would walk us around and show us stuff and then take us to shops to see some cool things, but it was obviuos that the store owners were friends of his and we think he must have been getting a kick back for anything that we bought. It was great though and the lake is beautiful.

{side note: I want to post pictures,and there are a lot of them, but my computer is fighting with Kodak's web site right now..., I'll keep working on it and hopefully have them posted early this week.}

We stayed in a beautiful hotel, Posada de Santiago, and enjoyed some cocktails while watching the sun go down. The next morning we had breakfast and headed back across the lake to Panajachel. We shopped for a while, well Shari and Susan shopped, I walked and took pictures, then we got in our shuttle back to Antigua. This ride was a lot quicker as we didn't go on the same road. When we got back to the project I assembled my bike!! Showered and went to dinner with some volunteers from New Hope Village that were headed home, Scoti and Holli. Lacy, another volunteer from New Hope also joined us. When we were done with dinner we headed to La Sala, a bar that has Salsa dancing on Sunday Nights, for their despedida, going away party. Several of the other volunteers showed up and it was a great night of conversation and laughs. After the despedida, scoti gave me his cell phone so I didn't have to get a new one and he could no longer use it.

Monday began with my first step in the orientation process, my formal introduction to the whole staff. That entailed going around the entire project and saying hola and mucho gusto while forgetting all of there names. It was nice though, it was over in about an hour and I was off to work with the construction crew, mixing and pouring a foundation for a home that will be built in the coming weeks. Then back to the project for lunch. After lunch I hoped on a chicken bus with Lucia, Tamalyn's assistant, to Antigua so I could get set up and started with spanish school. I met my teacher, Luis Godoy, and started my first three hour lesson. We sit on top of the school, the roof is a patio, it's tough :) When I was done I got to move in with my family, Jorge and Catherine Velasquez. A very nice old couple who have been hosting students for 45 years. There's another youg lady staying in the house as well, Andrea is from Holland and here volunteering with Safe Passages. That night it rained as I was falling asleep, very nice.

Well, I've only made it through Monday and it's already really long, so I'll leave this post as is and do the rest in another one.


PICTURES: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8779&l=4f3e2&id=752630746