It’s crazy how time flies. It seems like just
two and a half weeks ago that I boarded a plane for Guatemala. Since then I
have had quite a few interesting experiences. Below are some of the experiences
I’ve had and observations I’ve made arranged in a completely random but
extremely organized way for you to enjoy.
In a Nutshell…
After I arrived in El Chal I basically just
joined the work crew from Woodlawn that was already here. Joining them doesn’t
just mean that I did the same work as they did. I worked with them, ate with
them, went swimming with them, and even slept in the same attic as them. School
started a week and two days from the day I arrived and there was much to be
done before then. The main projects that I helped with during the first week
were cementing and painting.
I helped paint most of the outside of the old
school.
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| Juddy and I painting |
I don’t know a whole lot about cementing, but I
do know that five pails of gravel get dumped into the mixer. Then a bag of
cement. Then four pails of sand. Oh yeah, and water gets added to that mixture
randomly. Then, after all that mixes for a little bit, it gets dumped into
wheelbarrows and taken to the pouring site. Then that process is repeated… and
then repeated again… and again… and again… and it’s hot… and the sun is
blazing. Basically, cementing is fun!
On Monday evening (Jan 14th) the work crew got on the night bus heading for the city. I definitely missed working with those guys. Those were some good dudes. But I did not mind getting the upstairs attic to myself.
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| Cementing is fun! |
On Monday evening (Jan 14th) the work crew got on the night bus heading for the city. I definitely missed working with those guys. Those were some good dudes. But I did not mind getting the upstairs attic to myself.
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| Top row: (left to right) Max, Me, Jay, Juddy Bottom row: (right to left) Jesse, Jason, Nick, Greg, Trevor |
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| My sleeping quarters for the first week |
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| My sleeping quarters for the second week |
Jason’s family and his Grandparents (Paul and
Fern Huber) were visiting Jason as well. They stayed in El Chal until Friday
morning. We spent that week finishing up a few jobs that needed to be done
before school for grades 1 to 6 started. Basico (grades 7-8) started a week
later. One thing about the second week that was very different from the first
week was the temperature. On Tuesday (Jan 15th) it rained really
hard for a good part of the afternoon. The next three days after were really
damp and cold. One night the temperature dropped all the way down to 17 degrees
Celsius. But trust me, it felt a lot colder than that because of the wind
chill. I actually had to dig out my sweater.
On Thursday a bunch of the staff went to a
restaurant in Flores called Villa del
Chef for Melanie Mummeret’s farewell. The evening was quite enjoyable as
well as the food. I had a chicken burrito with guacamole on the side. I’m
pretty sure I can get used to the food here in Guatemala.
On Saturday Stephan wondered if I’d go along
with him and his boys to Santa Elena. I said, “Sure!” Santa Elena is a city
about a half hour north of El Chal. Kevin and Chito have computer class there
every Saturday and Stephen needed to run a few errands. When we were about to
leave Stephan asked me if I wanted to drive. I didn’t, but I decided that if I
don’t ever start driving in Guatemala, I will never learn how to drive
Guatemalan style. So I drove… and I’m still alive. But I did learn a few things
about driving in Guatemala. For example, if the vehicle in front of you is
signaling left he most likely is not turning or switching lanes. He is probably
telling you that you can pass him on the left. He might be turning, you just
have to figure out what he’s doing based on the situation. Another thing I
learned involves roundabouts. In Canada, the vehicles inside the roundabout
have the right of way. In Guatemala, it’s the exact opposite. The vehicles
entering the roundabout have the right of way, which means you may have to come
to a complete stop inside the roundabout to let traffic enter. Not all
roundabouts are like this, however. You just have to know which ones are and
which ones aren’t. Stephan was on his phone when we entered a roundabout and he
didn’t explain the whole “right of way” thing. But he did mention afterwards
that the tuktuk driver that I totally went in front of probably had a few
choice words for me. But we asked God to help him be understanding. One day of
driving in Guatemala under my belt.
Jason and I spent the beginning of my third
week here finishing up some last minute projects before Basico started. We got
all of them done except for some painting and putting wooden frames on white
boards. School started on Thursday as planned so obviously we did our job.
Top 5 Highlights…
·
Swimming at Cotusa. It’s
this place way back in the middle of nowhere. You have to drive for twenty
minutes on a really bumpy road and then walk for another ten minutes to get
there, but it is totally worth it.
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| The tall waterfall we jumped off of |
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| It's just a nice place to swim |
·
Lunch at James and Sylvia’s one afternoon. Hamburgers. Enough said.
·
Going to the beach. The
work crew and Stephan’s went to a lake near San Jose one afternoon. After some
swimming, we had a nice supper on the beach. We even got to hear Jason, Trevor,
Greg, Max, and Jesse’s rendition of “I’m My Own Grandpa.” Lovely evening.
·
Learning how to weld. But only
because Stephan was teaching me. Stephan could probably even make something
like learning now to change a diaper fun.
·
Wednesday night volleyball. Every
Wednesday night Douglas gets a bunch of guys together from town to play
volleyball at the mission. Then, after volleyball we go out for coke, and you
know how I feel about coke!
Top 5 Quotes…
“You can land a helicopter on the new school.
But the old school… don’t you dare even ride your bicycle into it.” – Stephan
“When I get home, I’m going to flush an entire
roll of toilet paper down the toilet… just because I can.” – Nick Huber
“Well… I guess Kevin lost that battle.” – Paul
Huber (said when we were half way done pouring concrete after Stephan had been
pushing to get it done that day and Kevin was going to convince him to wait
until Monday)
“Hurry up Reekey! You are like molass in
January!” – Kevin
“It’s a great phone to have because it’s cheap.
Like, you can drop it in the lake and not even cry.” – Stephan
Spanish Vocabulary…
escoba (ehs KOH bah) – it means “broom”
Memory tool: picture Yunel Escobar playing
short stop with a broom and you will never forget this word. That worked for me
anyway.
Fun Facts…
In Guatemala…
·
You can arrive at an event
half an hour after it was supposed to start and still be on time.
·
You can be painting… in the
shade… in January… and still sweat buckets.
·
The pigs run free… the way it
should be.
·
You can ride on the back of a
pickup with the tailgate down whenever you want.
·
It is a tradition at
birthdays to convince the person with the birthday to take a bite of their
cake. Then, when they are about to take a bite, someone shoves the cake in
their face. I can hardly wait until my birthday.
·
You can drink more coke than
in Canada… because the coke in Guatemala is just better.
More to Add…
Two more things:
1. For some reason, it is a whole lot more fun
to say “Buenas nachos” instead of “Buenas noches.” Don’t ask me why.
2. I thought I’d let you all know that I’m
learning how to drive a motorbike here. I think I’m starting to get the hang of
it and I haven’t wiped out more than once.
Thank you everybody for your prayers! Buenos
Nachos!
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