Let the rain fall down...

Rainy season has come in full force. I am listening to the rain batter our roof, hoping that the roof will hold the water out. There are a few leaks here and there, but luckily none over my bed (yet!). Mornings are beautiful, the sun shines, the sky is blue, and the volcanoes make their presence known in all their majesty. Around 2pm the sky starts to darken, and darken, and darken, then by 4pm the rain starts slowly… with a drop, then two drops, then a minute later it is as if the floodgates of heaven have broken open and the rain comes on down. Lately, it has stuck around for an hour or two then faded off, leaving everything cold and wet as night falls upon us. However, in the last week after the rains have left us for an hour or so around twilight, they have come back to lullaby us to sleep.

Raiders

Last night I apparently missed a lot of action at NPH. Feeling tired out still and needing a break, I took up one of my friend’s offers to come stay at their house in Antigua for the night. While I was enjoying a fun evening of games, talking, and dancing, NPH was being raided by locals trying to take our pigs! NPH has a pretty large pig farm with lots of pigs that we breed and butcher for internal use. Last night, approximately five local men somehow got onto the property and were trying to get to our pigs when someone saw them. Raising the alarm, NPH flung into action: the older boys from the boys house ran out of their houses yelling with the machetes they use for cutting the grass as well as big rocks which they flung at the intruders. The guard shot up a few bullets in the air to scare the intruders off, and the rest of the adults when running after the men with whatever they could find. After some action and excitement the intruders left without any of our precious pigs, the boys felt like warriors defending their own, and no one was hurt. Tonight the boys continue to patrol the grounds and every once in a while a reminder shot is fired into the air, but all is well. As I sit here in my house listening to the rain pouring on our roof I begin to think about the men trying to break in. What desperate times must they be going through to try to steal pigs from orphaned and abandoned children?

Challenges old and new

This past week was a challenging week. I had to inform my coworkers and friends that I will be leaving NPH and Guatemala in late June (I accepted a job as a High School English teacher at an international school in Managua where I will be starting at the end of July). As I have made some great friendships here it was difficult to inform them that I would be leaving them so soon. After emotional conversations – and a doubled workload as I must now prepare an extra month of classes for my two middle school classes when I leave as well as prepare a smooth transition for my job in the office as project coordinator – I was ready to go out to Antigua with my good friend Samantha on Thursday night. Samantha and I hopped from venue to venue enjoying a complimentary glass of wine at a pretty little restaurant called Las Palmas, a brownie at one of our favorite restaurants Pena del Sol (where they play live Andean music), and lots of rum and cokes in a variety of other bars. Samantha’s friend Will called us to come to hang out with him and his friends so we headed over and immediately requested that the bar play “colgando en tus manos” by Carlos Baute which we proceeded to sing. Then one of my Guatemalan friends called and we scuttled over to go out dancing with him at my favorite dance club where they play a mix of Salsa, Bachata, Reggaeton, Merengue, and Kumbia. Salsa here in Guatemala still trips me up a bit, as they do it a little differently than I have ever done it. Nonetheless, the dancing was incredibly fun and when the club closed at 1 (Guatemalan nights out end very early) we called our trusty cab driver Alfredo to take us back home to NPH. Alfredo is a wonderfully nice gentleman who is about 50-years-old who is taking English lessons from Samantha. Therefore, on the way home he was practicing and asking lots of questions. About one and a half of the five miles on the route home is a dark, uphill segment. Alfredo’s car is pretty old and the lights are very dim – I was half worried that we might have to get out and push the car up the hill or turn around and spend the night in Antigua, but by God’s grace we made it up the hill and back to NPH. Laughing about our adventures, Samantha and I walked to our house, knowing we would have to get up in a couple hours to work in the school. Thank goodness we don’t have classes on Fridays!

Cleaning House

Every Saturday morning of my childhood began with pancakes and a chore list.

This morning, though lacking in pancakes, was filled with chores. Living in a house with seven girls and lots of visitors makes for a pretty dirty living space. Therefore, when all the girls left this morning for grocery shopping, the lake, activities with the kids, etc., I took advantage of the situation and worked on making the house very clean.

Now, cleaning supplies are limited and the way things are done here at NPH took some getting used to. Nevertheless, armed with a 2 brooms, a few towels, vinegar, bleach, scrubbing pads, a bucket, and a squeegee I went to work. Our stove has apparently not been cleaned since it was bought, but after 3 scrubbing pads, two bottles of vinegar, and an hour or so of my time it looks good as new.

To clean the tiled floor, you must throw a mixture of bleach and water on the floor, then use the squeegee to wipe the water out, then finish off with a mop made of a broom covered by a towel. It is a long process, and lots of fun – especially when whisking out the water with the squeegee (the floor becomes like a skating rink!). When the floor is finished it shines and sparkles … if for only a hour or so.

And, after reading an article in Real Simple about using vinegar to clean teapots, I went to work on our shabby little teapot. After only 10 minutes of scrubbing, our beloved teapot is looking almost new! And, as the back of the stove was so gross with years of grease and dirt, I went on to attack it as well. Four hours after I started the house was finally clean.

Warmth has finally come to San Andrés Itzapa, and the afternoons have a pleasant glow as the sun shines over the volcanoes and valleys and our home in the middle of it all. The kids take advantage of the sunny days by biking, playing soccer, and just wandering around enjoying the afternoons. I am finally able to take off my jackets and don some of the warmer summer clothing. The evenings still have a comfortable chill that makes it perfect to snuggle under the covers with a good book. I have recently found a few classics that I somehow missed reading in high school, and so currently I am reading The Lord of the Flies.

This past Wednesday evening I returned from a short trip to Nicaragua. I left last week Friday, April 16, to visit friends (and take advantage of my rental car!). It was so wonderful to be back, to see everyone and all the changes that have taken place. Chureca was more smoky than I remembered, and houses have been moved and roads built as the Spanish plan moves forward. In Cedro and Chiquilistagua the changes are more slight – children are bigger, my students have new boyfriends or girlfriends, and other friends have found new jobs or begun to build additions to their homes. However some things don’t seem to change – the warmth of Lorena’s porch and the hospitality and friendship I have found there, Yescenia’s jokes and laugh as her children run around showing me new pets, and other friends’ insistence that I sing songs to them – and these are the things that I carry with me in my heart.


The Flores Family - My Home Away From Home

Returning to Guatemala has been a change, not only in the heat and altitude, but also in my own feelings. While I appreciate the beauty of the country and the deep warmth of the people I have met, I feel more of a stranger here than ever. I have obviously always been a tourist, a foreigner passing through; but I have never felt it so strongly. This is indeed a blessing, as it would be extremely difficult to move on when the time comes if I felt as strongly toward this country as I feel for others. Nevertheless, there are still months to enjoy the majesty of this magical country and take pleasure in the friendships I have made, and I look forward to the adventures that are to come.

Correction to previous entry!

I must admit that I was not fully informed before I wrote my last entry about the bus strikes. It was, in fact, much more complicated and frightening than my previous report of better wages, road conditions, etc. Unfortunately, the situation in the city buses in Guatemala is much more violent and corrupt.


Each month the city bus drivers of Guatemala city have to pay 1000 quetzales ($125.31) to the local gangs for "protection". If they refuse to pay, they are subject to assaults, and in many cases, death. The bus drivers were getting fed up with having to pay so much, especially because a bus ride costs 1 quetzal per passenger, and decided to go on strike. In solidarity with them, the rest of the bus drivers accross the country decided to go on strike, so as to bring immediate attention to the plight of the city bus drivers. The government is listening - for now - and there is now a larger police force tackling the problem. On almost every red City bus you can see a police officer or security gaurd riding right behind the bus driver. This has made the buses a bit safer for now, but it is unclear of how long assistance will be provided.

Yesterday I had to go to the Immigration office in the capital to renew my visa, which I must do after being here for 90 days (after the next 90 days I will have to leave the country for Belice, Mexico, or Costa Rica - as Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua have an international agreement on migration and travel). After a quick visit and passport pickup, the other volunteers wanted to hop on the red buses to go to a mall called Tikal Futuro. I, however, have heard too many tales of theft and assault on the buses, even with the increased security. City buses in Managua? No problem. City buses in the midst of a gang, transport, and police war? No, thank you.

Huelgas and Piojos

Living in Guatemala, there are some things that will inevitably happen. One, there will be strikes. One thing that other countries use much more often than the States are these strikes. They grab the attention of everyone, as most people can´t get to work because of the crowds in the streets, and the issues are brought to the attention of the public. So today the buses are striking about higher wages, less working hours, safer roads, etc. Thus, there was no school today, as many of the teachers could not arrive at work in the buses or get through the streets in their cars. So, there was no English class for my students today.

Secondly, there is something inevitable about working at NPH. The kids often have piojos - that is to say lice. Therefore, if one spends time with kids - hugging them, playing with them, sitting with them to do homework - there is a very likly chance that you TOO will get lice. It took me 2.5 months. First it began with a slight itch, this was Tuesday. Then, Wednesday, a little more."Dry scalp?" I think... no, not just a dry scalp. Yes, for the first time in my life I had lice. Luckily I caught it right away and went to war on them. I had to wash all my clothes and blankets and even my pillow. While they were in the washer and dryer I washed my own hair with special shampoo twice and left the shampoo in for a few hours with a plastic bag over my head. By Friday, I was happy to announce myself as Lice-Free. I used to think it was only for people who were very dirty and never bathed. But now, as a daily bather and hair-washer, I know that it can happen to anyone who comes into contact with it. And you know what? It was worth it to have it if that is the price for spending quality time with the kids.