A beautiful country

     While the doctors were here I asked one of the nurses what she thought of Guatemala, fully expecting the typical "it's a really pretty country, lots of cool people etc." but her answer to the question made me step back and look at my situation here.  In response to my question, she said only one word: "Depressing."  Over the next few days I struggled to convince her that Guatemala is really an amazing place, presenting her arguments like a toddler trying to impress a teacher, but she continually shut me down.

"What about the mountains? Those are really pretty."
    "We have those in California"
"What about the weather, it's nice literally ALL THE TIME"
    "It's nice all the time in California too"
"Fresh fruit everyday"
    "... fresh fruit in California too"
"Well, what about the people, they are an amazing people with beautiful traditions"
    "They are starving to death and have no access to even the most basic necessities."

     Eventually, right when I was about to give up and call it a lost cause, I hit a breakthrough.  Yes, the people are unbelievably poor, but they have an incredible sense of community because of that.  A friend related the story of interviewing a local woman for a catholic article and asking her whether or not she did charity work.  She said no.  As the conversation progressed it became evident that every day, her family shared their lunch for their poor neighbor and every evening, their other neighbors shared their dinner with her.  Thinking that she was on a breakthrough for a front page article, my friend asked her if she did this because Jesus said to do things like this.  No, the lady replied, I do it because she could be my sister.  Her sense of community was so strong, that she looked upon all of her neighbors as brothers and sisters.
     Guatemala also offers an opportunity to see the better side of humanity.  Yes, it is sad to see such poverty, and the corruption and greed that leads to that poverty is depressing, but because of that poverty, one has the opportunity to see people doing great things to help people.  I have seen such generosity from people who give their time and money just to help the poor down here that it really makes me feel good about humanity.
 
     Although I found an acceptable answer to what makes Guatemala beautiful, that question has still been in the back of my mind for the past few days.  In this quest to see the beauty of the country, William  and I climbed to the antennas, which are located at the highest point in the region.  The climb was somewhat difficult, on the way there it was about 12.5 Km all uphill, by the time we reached the top, my feet had ceased being covered in blisters and had converted to one big blister, and my hip flexers were crying for mercy.  Joe Vardas would be so disappointed at the state I've let myself fall into.  On the upside, I learned how to say the word blister, "ampolla," and the entire was was absolutely gorgeous.

     About 7 Km into the walk we passed the "piedra de los compadres."  The legend has it that a woman and her godfather were visiting the "cristo negro." On the trip back home they stopped here to rest for the night.  During the night they were overcome by carnal desires and gave into them.  Because two people who share such a close spiritual connexion shouldn't have sex, they were turned to stone, hence the design of the one stone on top of the other.  While we were walking, there was a group doing some kind of ritual that was described to me as witchcraft.  Apparently they often sacrifice chickens at this place. Interesting to know that Esquipulas is home not only to a Catholic pilgrim site, but also others.

 Though it was a cloudy day, the hike was beautiful.  From about halfway up, we began to see the country side all around us open up revealing rolling mountains, coffee, banana, and other fruit plantations, and lots and lots of volcanoes.

 Here, Willy is showing where we are headed to.  The antennas are quite a way above the cloud line.

      The view from the top was incredible, we could see both Esquipulas (on the left) and Quetzaltepeque (on the right), one of the oldest cities in the region. 

 

Just over my left shoulder is the city of Esquipulas.  If you have a high resolution monitor you might be able to zoom in and barely see the basilica.  Below is a zoomed in picture. The larger than normal white blob is the bacilica where I live. 

     I find Latin American cemeteries fascinating.  This one, which was just off the side of the road, separated from houses by barbed wire, shows the typical above ground burial plots adorned with real and plastic flowers as well as tinsel whatever else is on hand (used coke bottles are popular).

      My last reason why Guatemala is such a beautiful country. PETA would love it.

AWkward Foreign Language Experience.  Having to translate emails one of the novices has been receiving from aspiring Russian brides.  Some website somehow got his email, and he has been receiving messages and pictures from Russian women who want to marry him and move to Guatemala.  Except, they are in english.  He has me translate every lurid detail (and there are quite a few) and thinks it is hilarious to watch me try to come up with all the words in spanish.

Catholic Healthcare West

     Last week the doctors from Catholic Healthcare West came down to Esquipulas to give free care to the people of the Chiquimula region who, because of money and distance, cannot see a doctor here in Guatemala.  While this meant free medical consulting and medicine to the people of Chiquimula and a chance to do a really good thing for the doctors, this also helped ease me into being alone here at the monastery after Kenan's departure.  It was a fast paced week of working in the clinic, traveling, and enjoying the opportunity to pretend I'm back home by speaking English and drinking beer with some really cool people.  However, this was not my greatest week in terms of taking pictures.  I guess I clam up when everyone in the group is taking the same picture I was thinking about taking, so this blog will be completely without pictures until the doctors have a chance to send me theirs.
     Our first day with the doctors was spent with a trip to Horcones and Timushán, two Aldeas about  a 1.5 hour, or 50 Km drive from Esquipulas.  My group went to Timushán, about 2 Km from the Honduras border.  After the adventure of getting there (we rode in the back of a pickup over "roads" that barely resemble mountain bike courses), we began setting up and some of us realized that we were in over our heads.  Some people struggled with spanish, some with seeing the great disparities between what we have and consider normal and what these people have and consider normal, I struggled with having to realize my Mom's dream for me.  5 years after I almost went to pharmacy school, I spent one week working as a pharmacy technician in Guatemala and realized the bullet I dodged all those years ago.  At first I struggled with drug names and reading the doctors writing, I eventually got the hang of it.  By the end of the week, I was cruizing along, and only struggling with the doctors' writing.  Seriously, what looks like the number 2?  Nothing.  Why, then, do doctors see the need to write ii with a line over it?  I see that and I think "the second time derivative of pi." That is zero. That makes no sense.
     Anyways, the first day was quite an adventure, we saw a lot of people, gave out a lot of drugs, and ended the day having done a good thing, feeling good about ourselves, and worn out.
     The rest of the week kind basically followed that pattern, and fell into a rhythm from there.  The pharmacists I was working with, Liz, and I spent all of our time at the Centro de Salud in Esquipulas.  It was a busy week, the doctors estimate that they saw 125 people per clinic per day.  Sick people need medicine, so that meant that Liz and I were busy behind the pharmacy counter.  It was also a fun time; like I said, I enjoyed speaking English and it was really fun to show some new people the place that has become my home over the last 2 months. 
     The week did have its share of bumps in the road.  From health promoters charging the people for telling them about the free clinic and denying them access if they couldn't pay (that operation was shut down as soon as we found out about it) to someone forgetting to alert the people in the aldeas that the doctors were in town (and the subsequent radio advertisement for free medical aid to cover the mistake) we met each hurdle and were able to get over it.  However, near the end of the week there was one problem that proved too much even for all the doctors who still wanted to stay and help the people.
     Because I generally lack the soft touch and even handedness that accompanies politically correctness, I will defer to the doctors' blog to describe the incident.  From http://missionsblog.chwhealth.org/.

Though our goal is to serve as many patients as possible on these missions, the safety of our team members is the foundation upon which all our work is built. As our mission progressed we encountered a few disheartening thefts from our rooms at the basilica. The monks graciously refunded us what we lost. We were of one mind about continuing the mission and set about setting up our clinics the next day.

But when it was discovered that the spare keys to our rooms had gone missing, and that re-keying all the locks was impossible on such short notice, we felt we had to make the difficult decision to bring everyone home early in order to ensure their safety.

We are heartbroken that we could not finish our last two clinic days, but are confident that the basilica will take steps to ensure that future guests are well cared for. This is a set-back, but we are resolute in our mission of caring for those in need and we do believe we'll be back in Esquipulas next year.
     Thus ended the adventures of the Catholic Healthcare West in Esquipulas.  Who knows, maybe in 20 years I'll be laying on a psychiatrists bed and the abandonment issues from Kenan and the Doctors will surface.  For now, even though they had to leave under unhappy circumstances, I am comforted by thinking about all the great things that we did while they were here.  From the people who benefited from the peace of mind of seeing a doctor, to the malnourished children who were put back on the right path with dietary supplements (plumpy nut!) and anti worm pills, all the way to the chronic patients who were left enough medicine to last them until the next group of doctors arrive, the impact of this visit was very positive in Esquipulas.  And not only for the sick, but for the people who received counseling ranging from what foods to eat/avoid all the way to just boiling water, and for the nurses who sat in on lectures given by the doctors, and for the med students who got real experience working alongside the doctors.  These doctors made a positive impact here in Esquipulas, even though their trip can't be remembered without thinking of the sadder circumstances, I am made happy by thinking of the happier ones.

... And then there was one

     Last Thursday Kenan left Guatemala, giving me the dubious honor of being possibly the only non-monk gringo left in Esquipulas.  He must have been jonesing for some flag football and meals not centered around black beans and rice, because after making the decision to leave, he wasted no time in booking his flight as soon as possible.  While his timing was good (I had to return to Esquipulas on Saturday) the week leading up to our trip to Guatemala City was a bit rushed with finding transportation and lodging, but despite all the stress, Kenan did find time to do all the things he would miss one last time.

Here he was caught in the act losing his last game of Guatemalan Hearts.  

     Kenan's flight left around midday Thursday, which meant that I was able to stretch my trip to drop him off at the airport into a three day vacation from the monastery, which was very needed after more than a month of being cooped up here.  A friend of mine who used to work at the library named Dulio decided to tag along with us gringos, giving me a travel partner back to Esquipuas after dropping Kenan off.  We left Esquipulas ready for a wild vacation on the town, but after the 5.5 hour boiling hot bus ride, plans had changed a bit.

I snapped this picture of Dulio comfy in bed around 7:00 pm.

    

     Finally Thursday came, and I couldn't delay it any longer.  Kenan said his last goodbyes as I wept gently to myself, and promised that he'd think of me when he took his first nice, long, hot shower, slept well in a soft bed, and enjoyed drinking tap water, all things that I have another 9 months without.

 
     Now alone in Guatemala, I decided to see the sights with the help of my more than capable tour guide, Dulio.

      Or so I thought.  

     Luckily this was the only dead end freeway we ended up walking down during our all day walk from the airport back to the hotel.  Guatemala City turned out to be very similar to most big cities except for the overwhelming smell of urine, but we did see some interesting things.  We were able to tour both the bank museum, chronicling the history of Guatemalan currency and the Railroad museum, with it's history of money, corruption, and politics, all at the hands of the railroad authorities.

   There is also some spectacular architecture in Guatemala City, what really interested me was the aqueducts dating to the first European cities in the area.  I've made a few jokes about Guatemalan infrastructure in the past, but in all honesty, some of the old bridges really astounded me.  This one was built in 1894!

As a reference, the 35W bridge was built in 1967 and survived a total of 0 earthquakes.

   While I would have loved to stay and experience more of the big city, the doctors from Catholic Healthcare West arrived in Esquipulas on Friday, and I had to return to meet them.  While it was nice to escape the monastery for awhile, it I'm actually looking foward to returning to non-street food and a little routine.

     My AWkward Foreign Language Experience of the week (AWFLE) came upon my return to working in the library.  I was sitting behind the counter as Willy was helping some very cute girls.  At one point, one of the girls looks at me, cocks her head to the side and says "que chulo sus ojos" (you have pretty eyes).  The mixture of me not expecting her to talk (I was thinking in english) and the fact that "chulo" means either "tacky" or "ugly" in Chile left me staring at her like a complete idiot.  She looked at Willy and said "oh, he doesn't understand spanish?" as Willy broke down laughing.  I sat there flabbergasted, trying to trying to regain a foothold in the conversation, but by the time I actually figured out she was complementing me, the only spanish I was able to spit out was "gracias" as she was leaving the library.  I guess I can chalk that one up to experience.

Inevitabilities

This week has been a week of inevitable happenings.  I'm not talking about my first bout of Montezuma's revenge (that happened about a week in, and as a result I lost about 10 pounds in just under 8 hours...) I'm talking about things that I have been putting off/expecting/dreading for quite a while. 
     The first of these inevitabilities was my first attempt at a conversation about physics.  While I'm generally not horribly opposed to touting what little physics knowledge $90,000+ worth of college degree has given me, it turns out that is much harder in spanish than in English.  This particular morning we somehow got on the topic of freefall, and whether or not two different objects would fall at the same rate on the moon.   I'm not sure if they learned the truth or not, but I did learn some interesting Spanish facts. 
1. Apparently monks aren't knowledgeable about everything after all.
2. Masa= "mass" AND "dough," so when I thought the conversation had turned to cooking on the moon (see left)  I was actually quite mistaken. 
3. Peso="money" AND "wieght." Same idea, I thought the conversation had taken a drastic turn to moon currency... it hadn't. 
     The second inevitability we experienced this week was the monastery's kitchen's attempt at pizza (possibly worse than Katie's gluten free pizza) and subsequently a trip to the "Pizza Burger Diner" a veritable institution in Esquipulas.  We enjoyed the night with REAL pizza, and some Gallo beer, definitely a needed escape from the monastery.

     The third major happening this week, though not inevitable, was Kenan's decision to depart from Guatemala. The lifestyle down here is very different, and that added to the fact that he came with less Spanish experience than me took its toll, until he decided that he had had enough.  While I understand his decision and appreciate that he has to do what he has to do, I do worry about spending the next 9 months as the only gringo in Esquipulas.  I guess asi es la vida.
     Yesterday, I scored my inevitable first goal in Guatemalan soccer (and then my second).  I don't say it's inevitable because I have any particular skill in soccer, but because soccer here basically consists of the Guatemalans telling me to play forward (I think to keep me from accidentally scoring on our own goal) and then feeding me the ball in front of the net.  Actually it's embarrassing that I have gone this long without a goal.  The best part is that the high school was on recess, so I had a cheering fan section of 16 year old Guatemalan girls to witness my first triumphant goal!
     They say "When in Rome, do as the Romans do,"  and that is the theme of the fourth event of the week.  En route to Chatun, the water park/campsite/adventure park/tourist center of Esquipulas, we found that we were without a ride.  While my American sensibilities suggest that seat-belts are necessary for extended car rides, I'm in Guatemala now.  When in Guate, ride like the Chapínes.

   
     We took that trip to Chatun with the same Leonidas that I had mentioned working with earlier, which brings up the last inevitability of the week:

I don't see how it could have gone differently.

Hurricane Matthew

    Two weeks ago Hurricane Matthew hit Guatemala with unbelievable force.  Producing heavy wind, and torrential downpour, I personally find it unbelievable that we are all still alive.

Above are pictures of the widespread flooding caused by this tropical storm, and on both sides are pictures of Esquipulas during the storm.




     While non of that acutually happened (the flooding pictures are just super close ups of a puddle and a river), Hurricane Matthew did hit Guatemala, and produced 2 weeks of nothing but clouds and mist.  Today the sun finally made its first brief appearance and I took the opportunity to take a tour of all the different types of fruit here on the monastery grounds.  I counted eight, including avocado, starfruit (which apparently makes you go blind if you eat too much), oranges, cacao, and four other ones that I can't remember.
     This last week, in addition to bringing the sun, has also brought finals week for the students here.  While back in MN, finals week means some monster cramming in the library, I can count on both hands the number of people that have been in the library this week.  With students on vacation for the next three months, I can't imagine the library being a very popular spot, so I am beginning to consider spending my mornings out in the orchard working with the supervisor, who happens to be named Leonidas.

I imagine it will go something like this.

     A funny thing happened this week, which really highlights how far from home I still am here in Guatemala, even though I am beginning to feel more and more comfortable.  However, to tell it effectively, some background is needed.  A few weeks ago, during the Guatemalan independence day I took a motorcycle ride with a friend of a friend of one of the guys working at the library (hey, when you are new in a foreign country, you can't be too picky).  The original idea was that I would film an event for him while he drove the motorcycle.  It turns out the event was not until later in the day, so he just took me on a tour of Esquipulas.  Pretty good deal. Long story short, he likes gringos because he used to work as a clown in Utah, that is until la migra caught up with him.

     Anyways, on this particular day, I was on my way to the City of Happiness for my first algebra lesson with the nuns (surprisingly difficult to teach math in spanish).  The monks here all have a strange distrust of taximoto (taxi tricycles) drivers, so they made me call a driver "de confianza" to pick me up in front of the monastery.  Apparently the phone conversation didn't go as well as I thought or he wasn't as "de confianza" as they thought, and 8:30 rolled around to find me standing on the steps of the basilica desperately fending off the taximoto drivers who were swooping around me like vultures.  Eventually I gave up the hope that my driver would come, and hailed an unknown taximoto.  At the orphanage, I found out that the taximotos are cheaper than one would expect, and the 20 quetzales bill (about $2.50) i had was too big to pay him with.  When I tried to give him the bill and have him come back to get me after the lesson, he wouldn't take the bill, but did promise to come get me.  11:30 rolled around and, once again, this little gringo was left waiting for a driver.  However, fear not! for down the road I began to see a clown on a motorcycle!  It must have been my lucky day after all!  It was "el día de los niños" and my friend from earlier was arriving to put on a show for the kids.  It apparently wasn't his lucky day though, because, once again, the show wasn't until later.  In conclusion to my story, I'd like to offer a riddle: IF one gringo walking the streets=people stopping their car/motorcycle/moped over to get a batter look, what would a gringo riding on the back of a motorcycle driven by a clown cause?
complete.
utter.
chaos.
(I'm not sure if the kids realized that there wasn't two clowns on the bike)

The lessons that can I learned from this story are as follows.
1. The idea of punctuality/responsibility that we have in the USA does not              translate well to Guatemalan taximoto drivers (actually, most Guatemalans for that matter)
2. Apparently neither does our concept of schedules for events
3. Things (taxis in particular) are either way to expensive in the USA, or too cheap here
4. While clowns riding motorcycles are almost always to be avoided at all cost, getting a ride always beats walking 2.5 km home

Ciudad de Felicidad

       

     A few times so far, we have visited an orphanage called the "Ciudad de Felicidad"  (city of happiness) high in the hills in the outskirts of Esquipulas.  In 2006, the benedictine community here in Esquipulas donated 24 hectares of land to the religious community of Martha and Maria.  With the extraordinary work of a lay Italian brother named Andres, the sisters of Martha and Maria, and the work of past Benedictine Volunteer Corps Volunteers, they have built the beginnings of an actual City of Happiness.  

 

     In itself the orphanage is an impressive place.  The Mountains surrounding the area give a real sense of connection with the nature of the area. The fact that the orphanage is only still in its infancy and therefore quite rustic help further this wilderness sense.  The beautiful views of the sorrounding mountains and towns, tropical forest vegetation, and surrounding farms give the place a sense of isolation while the close knit groups of houses really give a sense of community to the place.  It's not hard to imagine an actual city springing up here eventually!

     15 hectares of the land has been designated to grow coffee beans and bananas.  These are being grown so that eventually the rphanage will be able to afford some nicer things for the children.  Right now, the operating costs are payed for completely by donations. As a side note, Guatemalan coffee is regularly rated as some of the best in the world, and Esquipulas is considered a perfect microclimate for coffee growing (and I can attest, the coffee here is wonderful!)

     In Central America, adolescent street gangs are a growing problem coupled with malnutrition and drug use/trade.  The idea of the City of Happiness is to take these children off of the streets and give them a family-like environment as opposed to the typical orphanage experience here in Guatemala.  Each of the houses is home to 9-12 children, and has one "house mother," a nun.  The children
sleep in bunk beds, and each house has a kitchen and dining room where everyone eats as a family.  Below is a picture of the "City" as it is now used, taken from the chapel.  32 kids live there now, and they are just finishing building 4 more houses, but don't have enough nuns to fill them.

The last three groups of volunteers to come to Esquipulas have all worked extensively with the Ciudad de Felicidad, both in just spending time playing with the kids, and in helping with projects at the orphanage.  The picture on the left is a library that a group a few years ago built using old pop bottles filled with trash as an insulating material in the walls.


The next year, the volunteers made this play set for the kids in the community.

     Kenan and I have decided to attempt a project as well.  Partially because we are a little bored here, and partially because we came to do something good, and have finally found something worth our time.  Hopefully mostly because of the last reason.  Aside from algebra lessons every Friday with one of the nuns, we have decided to help start the building of a health center that will serve not only the children, but also the poor members of the local community.  The city of Esquipulas does not have a hospital, and the nearest one is an hour away (when the roads are operational).  Because of the cost of seeing a doctor and the inconvenience of going to the nearest hospital in Chiquimula, most people never see a doctor, and can some even die without ever knowing why. 
     Twice every year, a group from Doctors Without Borders comes to Esquipulas to help the people here.  The idea is that they could split their work between their current site and the new health center while they are in town.  While they are not around, two of the nuns, who are nurses, could work at the health center.  While the government would almost definitely not give any funding, one of the doctors who comes every year told Andrés that if the health center is built, a group he is a part of would be able to donate old medical equipment, and medicine would be donated by Caritas International.  All told, the health center would be operated almost completely by donations, and free of charge to the people.  What little cost there would be (electricity, water, etc.) would be payed for by people buying medicines, but the cost of those medicines would be kept as low as possible.

The potential site of the health center. 

     The problem I have is that the work for the health center is almost all just fundraising.  While I don't mind working with my hands, the idea of asking people for money makes me uncomfortable.  I've been trying to avoid it by looking for grants from companies and foundations, but apparently there's some sort of financial crisis back in the USA?  Who knew? Because of this financial crisis, a lot of organizations have stopped or slowed there charitable giving to a snails pace, and I haven't had any luck yet. 

 

     One quick story before I go.  I was at the City of God giving a little math lesson to one of the nuns, and began playing with some of the kids once we finished.  I asked one of the kids to show me the chapel, and he gladly obliged, making sure everyone we saw along the way knew that he was giving me a tour.   When we got closer to the chapel, he told me that that's where Jesus lives.  We got next to the chapel and he peeked inside the window and got all excited because he could see Jesus!  (it was a crucifix).  On the hill we could see the basilica where I am staying, and I asked him if he knew who lived there.  He replied "Big Jesus!"  I didn't have the heart to tell him that the answer I was thinking of was "me."