The month of April… a good month, a short
month, a full month. It needed a longer-than-normal blog post.
In A Nutshell…
On
Monday, April 7th, I had just finished the day of school and was
sitting in my classroom talking to Profe Erick, when Zack Gingrich walked
through the door. His youth Pastor, Brian Zehr, came to Guatemala to visit his
friends that are named Steve. Zack was given the opportunity to come along, so
he did! He had visited El Chal with the Countryside School group a year ago,
and must have liked it. I had taught him many Spanish words such as “taxi”,
“maskin teip”, and “laptop.” He remembered most of the words! Very impressive.
I was a little busy with school for the three days he was in El Chal because we
were right in the middle of exams and report cards, so I got him to help me
with my school work. We didn’t do anything too exciting, but we did manage to
hit up Stephan’s pool a couple of times.
On
Saturday, I drove to the capital with five other people from El Chal in
Stephan’s truck. We arrived at about 7:30 that evening, and I went to bed ready
for my cousins to arrive the next day. They arrived in Guatemala at about noon
the next day. It was really good to see them again. We got back to the mission
and their suitcases were full of stuff for me! …Everything from flip-flops to
chocolate to shirts to colourful pencils to large brown envelopes. It was
great. That afternoon we attended a
church service in a home about a half hour away from the mission in the city.
Later that evening after some ping-pong and tetherball, I found them all asleep
in our dorm at eight o’clock. “Wimps,” I thought, but then I remembered that
they had been last twenty hours. I quickly forgave them.
On
Monday morning, after sleeping in and eating a hearty breakfast, we walked to
the nearby Wal-Mart to buy some supplies for the three days at the ocean. We
walked out of the store satisfied that we had everything we could possibly
need. We bought a soccer ball, a pump, stuff for sandwiches, cereal, a 3L
bottle of Coke, orange juice, and chips. What more could we have possibly needed?
At about 10:30 in the morning we headed for Monterrico, the town along the cost
where our hotel was. It took forever to get out of the city because of all the
traffic, but we finally arrived at our hotel at about one thirty. The hotel was
nice. It wasn’t extremely fancy, but our room had air-conditioning and there
was a large pool, so it was all good. After checking in, we grabbed our
baseball gloves and headed out to the beach to play catch. We soon discovered
that bare feet on the sand in the middle of the day just does not work. It
almost worked to “dig” down to where the sand was cooler and make a little spot
to stand. The throws had to be accurate, or else you had to move off of your “safe
zone,” and that just hurt. Pulling your first-baseman off the bag with a wild
throw didn’t cause an error, but it sure made for an angry first-baseman. We
soon discovered that if we played where the sand was wet from recent waves, it
didn’t hurt so much. Then we played some full body-contact five hundred. The
only rule was you couldn’t hold another player’s “glove arm.” Pushing? Yup.
Tackling? Pretty much. It was by far the most grueling and fun game of five
hundred I had ever played. After a little while we decided it was time to get
in the water. The waves were huge and breaking very close to shore. Because of
that and riptide warnings, we didn’t go out very far. As refreshing as swimming
in the ocean on a hot day might sound to someone who has never swum in the
ocean on a hot day, it’s actually not that refreshing. We walked back to the
hotel, covered in sand, eyes and noses burning from all the salt. We got some
of the sand off of ourselves using the showers outside the pool, but still
managed to bring a lot of it into our hotel room. That was a mistake, and we
learned from that mistake. In fact, each day we got better at not brining as
much sand back with us. Thankfully, the solution to the mistake we made on the
first day was simple. We just turned our shower into a sandbox. We swam for a
while in the big pool, and tried to see who could swim the whole length of the
pool under water. Trent forgot that the shortest distance between two points is
a straight line and swam right into the feet of a guy in the edge of the pool.
It was an awkward moment for Trent, but a very hilarious one for the rest of
us. Thankfully, the guy was really nice, and Trent was more careful from then
on. For supper that evening, we ate sandwiches. They were excellent. When we finished
eating, there was one piece of cheese left. No one wanted it. Not even Austin.
No one ate it, and no one is sure what exactly happened to it. For all we know,
there’s still a Mozzarella in Monterrico.
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| The four of us |
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| The large pool where Trent swam into a complete stranger. |
We had
decided on Monday night to wake up a bit early, and go to the beach when the
sun wasn’t so hot, and play some football. By the time we got up and out of our
room, it was already about 8:30. The breakfast area was full so we had to come
back later. By the time we finally got out to the beach it was after ten
o’clock. The sun was blazing and the sand was just as hot as the afternoon
before. So much for our brilliant idea. We still played football for awhile,
but soon Trent and I decided that the heat of the sand was just too much and it
was time to stop. The fact that we were up by a touchdown helped make the
decision easier. The waves weren’t quite as big as they were previous day, and
they were breaking farther out, so we were able to venture out farther. We
invented a game in which the four of us stood in a line and braced ourselves as
waves crashed. The last one standing was the winner. Usually there was a
definite winner, but every now and then, a wave would come that was so big it
would practically wash the four of us right up on shore. There’s nothing more
rewarding that being tossed and turned underneath the water for a few seconds,
then resurfacing thinking you’re eliminated, but then seeing the other three
guys resurfacing and gasping for air just like you are. I realize that if
you’re not a competitive Martin, you might not understand that particular
feeling of relief. Once again, the pool was wonderful after the ocean, and the
air-conditioned room even better. Later that evening, we played beach
volleyball with some other guys. They must play a lot, because they killed us.
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| Breakfast selfie! |
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| The four of us at the Pacific Ocean. We liked the whole "selfie" thing. |
On
Wednesday morning, we all felt a little tired and sunburned and dead
(naturally… we had been killed the evening before). Somehow, Anthony convinced
me to go running with him. We ran about four kilometers, and I almost died a
second time. Even thought we were tired, we decided to go to the beach again,
since you don’t wake up 100 meters from the ocean just every morning. It was
Wednesday that we invented maybe the coolest game yet. One guy would toss the
water-friendly football that Trent brought into the ocean. We would then wait
until it came in on a wave and try to “recover the fumble.” The person who came
up with the football got a point. It might sound easy, but it was not. Of
course, there was pushing and shoving from other players, but that wasn’t the
hardest part. On most waves, the front of the wave would hit you right before
the football arrived. There were a few times I was sure I had a beat on it, but
just like that, I was knocked down by the wave and the football was picked up
by someone fifteen feet behind me. The game was a lot of fun, and good for
building fumble recovery skills. I’m surprised that NFL teams don’t bring their
players to the beach for training camp to do ocean drills. That afternoon, we walked
around Monterrico looking for a place to eat. We bought chicken, and ended up
sitting on a curb to eat it. It was so hot and we were so sick and tired of
being in the sun, that we headed right back to the hotel. On the way back,
Anthony, Austin, and I secretly decided amongst ourselves without Trent knowing
to suddenly fake the urge to go right back to the beach. We played our roles
perfectly, but instead of convincing Trent to go back, he told us we could go
ahead, but he was going to the air-conditioning. He’s just too smart.
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| Which one does not belong? |
On
Thursday morning, we went to the ocean one last time before heading for the
city. The little town of Monterrico was getting pretty busy gearing up for
Semana Santa (Holy week) weekend. We had a bit of a problem getting out because
there were cars wanting to go both ways on a road big enough for only one car
at a time. We ate at a Pollo Campero for lunch, and made it back to the city in
pretty good time. We ate at the mall that’s close to the mission in the city,
and went to bed with plans to leave for El Chal early the next morning.
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| Traffic jam in Monterrico |
On
Friday, we made the trip back to El Chal. We arrived at about one o’clock, and
got some tacos for lunch. Not a whole lot happened that afternoon. We all were
pretty tired, and managed to fit a nap in somewhere. On Saturday, after a
breakfast of pancakes, flipped by Anthony, we went to Santa Elena to play
tennis. We brought some water along, but not nearly enough. After a couple of
hours of playing tennis under the hot sun, we started to feel chilled. “Not
good,” we thought, so we went to a nearby store to buy liquid. We then drove to
a town close by to swim in the lake for a while. However, because it was
Saturday of Semana Santa, the town was packed full of people. We turned around
and went back to Santa Elena, and decided to go to the marketplace. There
wasn’t much going on there at all, so we decided to just go back and play
tennis. After another hour and a half of tennis, we were really hungry. Pizza
Hut was the perfect solution to that problem. We ordered “cheesy pops” for an
appetizer and two large pizzas. Unexpectedly, the pizza arrived first. We were
over halfway through the pizza when the cheesy pops finally arrived. We
recommend eating the appetizer before the main course. After pizza, I was very
full, but someone spotted a Yogen Früz not far away. I went with
my brother’s
“you-can-eat-ice-cream-after-a-large-meal-and-be-okay-cause-it-doesn’t-actually-make-you-fuller-it-just-fills-in-the-cracks”
theory. I proved it wrong. I was very very full after the frozen yogurt. The
theory must only work for ice cream.
On
Monday, I took my cousins to Mopan, a nice swimming spot with large waterfall
about an hour away from El Chal. Kristina packed us an awesome lunch of
watermelon and hamburgers, and we made a fire and cooked the burgers right
there. We had fun swimming, too, and did many exciting things like trying to
pass the football to your friend on the way down to the water. It’s not as easy
as it looks. After a Temple Run 2 tournament and a soccer match (In which the
Canadians won) we finished the day of with some pool time at Stephan’s.
On
Tuesday morning, at ten forty-five, I waved good-bye to my good cousins. It was
definitely one of the best Semana Santas I’ve had since I’ve been down here. It
was a little bit of an adjustment to get back into school and a schedule again,
but the week was soon over. On Friday night, we had a staff meeting and a
little birthday party for me! There was even a cake and a piñata! Now, I’m a huge fan of hitting things. I think that hitting things is
fun. But… I must see whatever it is that I’m hitting. The blindfold isn’t
actually the worst part. The worst part is the 21 times they spin you around
because you’re turning 21. You have no sense of direction, no idea which way is
up and which way is down, and they want you to hit a relatively small bear full
of candy. What’s worse is everybody’s yelling “To your right!” and “To your
left!” and “Straight ahead!!” all at the same time. I decided to just take wild
swings… it didn’t matter if it was from the piñata or a
kid, I was going to get candy to come out of something. On about the third
swing I connected with something and heard candy falling. They sure don’t make
piñatas like they used to.
I
thought my birthday celebrations were over on Monday, but I was wrong. I was
just about to head to English class with 8th and 9th
grade when Profe Erick came and asked me if I’d walk to the church with the 7th
grade. I asked him why, and he told me that he wanted to take the students there,
and because it was away from school property and I was the homeroom teacher, I
had to go along. He said it would just be for a little bit. I told him that I needed to teach English,
and he said that he got Douglas to cover for me. I was still a little confused
about it, but I decided to not ask a whole bunch of questions in front of the
whole class, and said “yes.” I just figured it was another one of Profe Erick’s
“interesting” ideas. We got to the church and sat in a circle in the hut. I
didn’t catch on until then that it was for my birthday. They had a lunch
prepared and everything. Each one of my students had a few words for me. They
said some pretty nice things. It made me feel special. Then after we finished
eating, Profe Erick asked me if he could borrow my phone to make a call. I
should have seen it coming, but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Seconds
later I felt five gallons of cold water hit my neck. Guatemalans and their
crazy traditions… it was all right, though, because it really cooled me off. I told
Erick later that I’ll never believe anything he says ever again.
Twenty-one
years and still kicking… oh yeah.
Highlights…
>>The President coming. On April 26th, the president of Guatemala visited El
Chal. Apparently, he came just because it was my birthday. Douglas and I stood
in the hot sun for an hour just to hear him say a few words. It was worth it
because it was the first leader of a country that I had ever seen in real life…
other than Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin of course.
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| There he is… the guy with the white hair. Apparently not used to the Petén heat. |
>>The “Pollo Campero” joke. Right after picking the cousins up from the airport, we passed a
Pollo Campero. Not realizing that Pollo Camperos in Guatemala are like Tim
Horton’s in Canada, Trent asked me, “Is that the Pollo Campero that we ate at
three years ago with our class?” Every single Pollo Campero we saw after that
became the one we had eaten at three years ago. We would even make up stories
like, “Yeah, I remember it had a play place and it was right across from a
Burger King… had to be that one.” Trent got a little sick of the joke but
Anthony and I sure didn’t.
>>My birthday cake. Judy Lehman made it for me. I didn’t even ask her to make a
Bluejays cake. I asked her afterwards how she knew that I liked the Bluejays.
Apparently I had been singing the “Okay, Bluejays, Let’s play ball!” song one
time when we were playing volleyball.
Not so Highlights…
>>Night of the bees. One Wednesday evening, we were playing volleyball, while Benj and
Lucio were getting a huge beehive out of a nearby tree. The bees got angry and
decided to blame the volleyball players. My skill level goes down significantly
when there are bees flying down. I don’t like bees. One stung me and my arm got
all red and hot for three days.
>>Losing to those guys in beach
volleyball. It was a little hard on the pride. We got
skunked.
Top 5 Quotes…
*this special “cousins” edition includes extra quotes and a quote
from me!
“Dude, don’t try to make yourself look more
useful than you actually are.” – Trent
“I guess we thought we were amphibians or
something.” – Anthony (after we made the “ocean to hotel room” transition a
little too quickly)
“I wonder how people find their animals at the
end of the day” – Austin
“That insult would have been a lot more
effective without the stuttering.” – Anthony
“Oh no… Trent’s talking to the geckos again.” –
Ricky
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| Trent Martin: faster than the average gecko. |
“Wouldn’t
it be awesome to see a snowmobile in Guatemala?” – Trent
“Wow. We could survive in the wilderness as long as someone would pack us a lunch every day!” – Anthony
WOW from Ricky…
>>Sand is cooler at night.
>>Everyone should eat at least one fish
eyeball in their life. That way, they will be able to say “I’ve eaten a fish
eyeball” and also, they will know that there really is no difference between
fish eyeballs and the “bubbles” in bubble tea.
>>Never eat an entire piece of lime… skin
and all. Not even if Anthony offers you five Quetzales
>>Fish really is best served with the
bones and everything. Shrimp, on the other hand, is best served with the shells
removed.
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| The four of us before our seafood meal. Excellent fish and hard-to-eat shrimp. |
More to Add…
Just a
shout out to Trent, Anthony and Austin… Thanks for coming and making my Semana
Santa awesome. You’re the best of the best!
