On Friday we all graduated from PLQ. The graduations at PLQ are quite the deal. We have food and drink, all of the teachers come, we sing songs, and the graduates have some sort of presentation. After graduation we went out. It was a fun night but there isn't much to say about it.
Saturday I woke up as Margarita along with my host family knocked on my door and gave me hugs a kisses goodbye telling me to visit when I return on Thursday. We met at the school, got on the bus, and ride to Santa Anita. There, we settled into our house and then took a hike around the land. It was absolutely gorgeous. Santa Anita is a community that harvests bananas and coffee. They live in what I would call a tropical jungle with fruit plants, coffee plants, waterfalls, and other natural wonders. It was the most beautiful thing I may have ever seen. Later, we watched a bunch of movies because we are from the United States and will forever be addicted to media. We also heard from a man from Santa Anita about the community. On Sunday we spend most of the morning in Santa Anita and then sprinted through the rain to the buses. We were on our way to our rural home in the mountains.
We rode in the muggy buses to Xela, and went from there in the backs of trucks to Chuitziribal (chew-eets-eerie-ball). I am finally getting the real Guatemala experience I have wanted. Miguel and I were put with the Tax family. The family has a 5 year old girl, Victoria, and two boys who are 10 and 12, Ronni and Willie. The bathroom is a whole in the ground under the shelter of a tiny tin shack and we are nestled in the middle of a cornfield. We have to walk through the cornfields to get to the church for school. It's awesome except for the dogs who might attack you.
That night we spent settling in, walking around the community, and eating with Ronni and Willie. After dinner, they followed us to our room to look at pictures, listen to music, and play cards. We had a lot of fun with them and this ended up being a nightly occurrence.
Monday morning I got up after essentially no sleep, got ready for school, woke Miguel up, had breakfast, and walked through the fields to school. Doris was super excited to see me and we had a great time hiking through the village and talking about what ever we felt like.
Later that afternoon, our host brothers came to visit again. They helped me with my homework and hung out for a really long time. They're new favorite thing was Photo Booth on my computer.
Tuesday morning we had breakfast and walked along the dirt roads through the cornfields to class…as usual. During class, I noticed a group of students and teachers going for a little walk, so I asked Doris if she wanted to take a short stroll with them. This short stroll turned into an hour long walk up a mountain, down through a green valley with an old man and his two grazing cattle, and to the river. This whole time I was twisting Doris' arm trying to get her to go further. When we finally got to the water, I took off my shoes and waded through the cool mountain water, squishing the cold mud in between my toes. The teachers were going crazy over the rocks in the river that scrape callouses away. Giant boulders suck out on either side of the river and upstream was a foggy, vibrant green mountain side eerily lit by the sun. On the way back, Doris grabbed my hand and I basically had to carry her to the church.
After school and lunch, the group took a trip down the mountain to the hot baths. CGE paid for each of us to have our own private bath. I spent the next hour sitting in a hot pool of water, drinking beer, singing to myself, and bathing. It was heaven. On the way back to Chuitziribal it began pouring rain, so we rode back in the pickups under tarps and ended up having to walk a good portion of the way back up.
Before dinner our host brothers and host sister came crawling under the wall from the kitchen into our rooms. Victoria would not stop staring and smiling at me. It was pretty adorable. I took pictures with her with Photo Booth and then we drew pictures together. I tried teaching her how to draw stars…that didn't work out so well.
That night I felt so sick I thought I my head was going to explode. I woke up numerous times throughout the night sneezing, blowing my nose, and coughing.
Early Wednesday morning I was having a horrible dream about a cat howling at me. That's when I woke up and noticed that a cat was staring into my soul and howling at what it saw. It was not the best way to wake up. I shooed it away and it wouldn't leave, so I threw a shoe in it's general direction, but accidentally nailed it in the head.
We had class for part of the afternoon, then went to visit a glass blowing factory. This factory is part of a cooperative that pays their workers well and uses recycled glass to make their pieces. The front of the factory is filled with beautiful pitchers, cups, figurines, etc. Next, is a room full of piles of broken glass waiting to be melted down. In the back of the factory is the room where they make the pieces. It is a hot semi-chaotic room with gelatinous glass being molded, cut, and blown. One man could make a good sized pitcher in 1-2 minutes. It was amazing.
When we got back home I took a bath. This bath is different from those we are used to. My family heated a bucket of water and put it in a small room that filled with steam. I poured the water over myself with a bowl as I washed. It was one of the best bathing experiences I have ever had.
That night we had a party at the school for our families. From the moment we left the house, Victoria did not leave my side and rarely let go of my hand. We looked for marshmallow sticks, hit a butterfly piñata, grabbed as much candy as we could, and then roasted marshmallows. After Victoria was on a sugar high, we played tag, some sort of cat and mouse game, hide and seek, and other games that involve a lot of running around that is great for a five-year-old on a sugar high but not so great for a 20 year old with a cold in a high altitude.
At the end of the party we noticed that our host mom had left us with the 3 kids, so we took them back to an empty home and watched them until everyone came home. This didn't bother me, but it was strange that they would trust their kids with two foreign strangers.
This morning (Thursday), we had "class." My class consisted of the five of us in the 311 course and our teachers walking to a green hill where we took pictures, told stories, and dirty jokes. The story was popcorn-style of a fable about our 311 group. The three boys were toads, the teachers were princesses, and Kristin and I were queens. After our innocent, but funny story, the teachers began telling some of the most disturbing dirty jokes I have ever heard in my life. I'm going to miss them.
After class I had to say goodbye to Doris. This may have been the hardest thing I have ever done. Even though I knew I would see her again this afternoon, we both cried a little and made plans to write, talk, and visit in the future. She has impacted my life so much.
Before we left, Miguel and I took pictures with our family. Ronni was acting uncharacteristically shy because he was upset we were leaving. It was really sad. Victoria and the women of the family walked us back to the school and gave us hugs and kisses goodbye. It was hard leaving that beautiful community.
My camera was lost this entire time, so I don't have pictures right now, but I will steal them from other people.
Tomorrow we leave for Antigua for two nights, then it's off to El Salvador! We're about 1/3 of the way through the program...that is hard for me to believe.
No comments:
Post a Comment