First weekend

In the Houston Hilton -I got peppermint patties after all! They were expensive but delicious.
Zucchini does not keep well in a Ziploc bag in carry-on, fyi
My sexy uniform: scarf skirt, t-shirt and hiking boots . Hawt Guatemala airport that we thought would be scary was deserted and reeeeeally boring for 6 hours
Pabel and his son Christian giving a tour of the rainforest. Christian was poking a termite home so termites were running all over the place. Loooovely.

People are waiting for me so I don´t have time to update except to say that I´m much happier today than I have been. Things are getting a lot easier and work looks like it´s going to be good. Going to do a Spanish course next week, probably. Here are the updates I´ve had on my computer, waiting for the trip to get internet. My pictures are taking too long to upload so I´ll be putting more next time and explaining the ones I have up better. (The gross stuff in the Ziploc bag were my grilled zucchinis that I tried to take on the plane)

Day 1 – Warm Canadian welcome, complete with balloons

8:30 pm

Yup, I got balloons. I didn't have the heart to break it to Annie and Joanie, the two young French Canadian women who are here with CUSO as well, that balloons make me want to cry and hide in a corner. I managed to not touch them and avoided offering to take them. Which was probably totally rude but they didn't really seem to mind or notice...

We went to the grocery store where they had already bought four big boxes of food and left them there to pick up after they got me. Maybe so they wouldn't be out in the extreme heat? Not sure.

They both speak okay English. It would probably be easier for me if they just spoke French, but I'm so overwhelmed and tired that I didn't bother to propose it. Annie is 6 months pregnant and leaves July 1. We rode together in the truck while Joanie and a bunch of men from the cooperative who I wasn't introduced to sat on the back. When we got to the cooperative, which I can't really see because it's so dark (but they have streetlights! Pretty hardcore), they showed me my room. There are a few rooms in this building which share, get this, regular showers and a toilet with running water 24/7! This is temporary, but it's nice that I can ease in before I get a “dry toilet” as they call the outhouses here. “We don't go to the bathroom at night” Annie and her very French father told me. He's staying at her place where I went after I dumped my stuff in my room. She also has a dog, Coquette, that is cute, friendly and also pregnant (I'm assuming that's where the name comes from...).

Had a glass of water at Annie's and then came home. Joanie showed me the the bathroom where I washed my face. Not that there's much point since the sweat started pouring almost immediately after anyway. I'm covered from head to toe in sweat. It's disgusting. And I came at night, when it's ONLY 29 degrees. Apparently it was 38 today.

I'm sharing the building with some students from Canada. They just got here this week, so we'll be getting a full tour together tomorrow. Not sure how I feel about it. They're really loud and I don't really want to be known for hanging out with other English speaking Westerners.

Critter situation: I saw a massive toad (the size of like a kitten!) cross the road in front of the truck when we pulled into the cooperative. Other than that, I saw a Canadian-sized spider in the bathroom that didn't bother me at all. I asked Joanie what to do if I saw a tarantula (a Canadian guy could be heard screaming that there was a tarantula in his room) and she told me to shoo it. Shoo it?! I never really thought of tarantulas as shoo-able. Apparently squishing them is a risk because if it's got eggs inside it, hundreds of little tarantulas will go everywhere. Lovely. I'm tempted to pull a Tiana and shove towels under my bedroom door in the hopes that nothing will get in.

I'm very paranoid about the bugs. Annie and her father (she calls him the “Lizard Dundee” because he repeats the mantra “I am the Crocodile Dundee” every night to try to get over his fear of bugs/animals) were quite blunt that there are a lot of bugs and I WILL see them. Ugh. The mosquito net over my bed has pretty big holes but it's already up and I don't want to take it down to try to figure out how the heck to get mine up. It attaches in the middle at one point and the ceiling is really high. The one on my bed now has 4 corners that are tied to the walls.

I haven't seen a mosquito yet, but I swear I have bites already.

Other observations: the speedbumps at the very modern grocery store (½ an hour away-ish) were made out of big rocks, I saw someone throw a beer can out of their passenger side window while driving and there really are people with guns everywhere.

Going to put in some earplugs to try to block out these really loud students from Western...I doubt I'll be able to sleep because of the heat, but maybe I'll surprise myself.


Day 2 – No Amount of Training Could Prepare Me

11:20pm

The pain of the heat, exhaustion, loneliness and confusion is really tough. I didn't sleep at all last night due to bugs (only real bug that I saw: a moth the size of my palm which managed to get into my mosquito net), heat and noise from people, then monkeys, then roosters. It is so unbearably hot, I can't describe it. I haven't stopped sweating since I got here. Showers are only for getting rid of the old sweat, sunscreen and bug spray.

Took a tour of the rainforest and fish farming project with some nursing students from Western who are just here for one more day. Hung out with students from Western on hammocks and then went on a tour with them of the cooperative. Had dinner with Annie and Joanie, the other CUSO people, and Annie's father. They helped me set up my beautiful, huge mosquito net over my bed. Much better. The piece of mind I'll get from it not touching me and the Permethrin treatment is just amazing.

I have to decide where I want to live. I can stay in this “hotel” house until Annie leaves then take her place but will have to cook at Joanie's or figure something out. The Western students, who are here for a month, rotate families to cook for them, which was suggested. I really don't want to because of my allergies. I also have the option to rent a place in Santa Elena, which is where the internet is, or Flores, which is apparently a bit safer and nicer. I won't get money to travel from those areas, so I expect I will stay here. I don't know if I feel like harassing Joanie for her kitchen, two houses down, for a month and a half. We'll try it this week and see.

Although I did many things today that would be considered amazing, spending 6 hours walking through the forest, hearing about the guerilla struggle, learning about plants, and hearing about the start of this cooperative from nothing and its unique ability to thrive, I do not feel like I had a good day at all. I swear, I'm trying to have a good attitude, participating in group activities, smiling and talking about how I love my program so much, the discomfort is so extreme. I'm super paranoid about the bugs, which I know will pass (watching Joanie shove the corners of my mosquito net into the edge of the mattress without looking or anything made my stomach turn!), the language is killing me (Joanie and Annie are really going to bug CUSO to let me take language training. Apparently Mirko, a guy that works for CUSO in Latin America, thought that I was David -i.e. I have Colombian parents and can understand Spanish. Greaaaaaat. So we're hoping correcting that mistake this week will help my case to get language training), and the heat is the worst.

Turns out we're two weeks into what should be the rainy season, but it has yet to rain. It is hotter than normal.

Annie pointed out that if I plug in my fan, it works. I didn't even check and just saw it hanging on the wall, tried to turn it on, and when it didn't work, reported that it was broken. And the plug is pretty obvious, too. Painful.

I have to be at breakfast in 8 hours. Hopefully I can actually get some rest tonight.

Day 3 – Feeling Better

7:45 pm

Today was a lot less packed with activities. Although I don't regret tagging along on all of the excursions of the last couple of days, chilling out today was really good for my spirits. I had breakfast with my CUSO ladies and Jean Claude (le papa), which was very nice. My French is improving by the meal, haha. Seriously. They keep joking about me being trilingual when I get back, but it really isn't much of a stretch.

Went to a “conference” which was basically a talk primarily by Manuel, a former guerilla who is a member at the cooperative, with a bit of commentary by Tono, who took us on the tour of the cooperative yesterday. It was very interesting, but long. Having to wait for the translation by Salvan (who is the TA with the Western group) was tedious. He did a great job but everyone was pretty wiped by the end of it. There was a lot of interesting stuff about the American influence here politically and economically which might make for a thesis topic...stay tuned.

Lunch with my little French crew was nice, hosted by Joanie. I unpacked a bit, lay down and napped for a couple of hours in the afternoon. I feel very refreshed and able to handle things a lot better now that I'm rested. I finally don't feel tired for the first time this trip.

It's still extremely hot but not as bad as the past two days. I'm still sweating constantly, it just pours out less :P Dinner was awesome. Jean Claude spent 3 hours cooking tonight, making broccoli soup, stirfry with rice noodles (apparently the grocery store in Santa Elena just got an international food section last week -sweet! Just in time for me.) and rice pudding. It was really nice. My tummy's not so happy with me because of the broth cubes in the soup, but it was worth it. We talked about working on getting me Spanish lessons and me taking over Annie's place when she leaves. She's going to pass on the beautiful Coquette when she goes! I'm hoping the puppies come before then because I really don't want to have to deal with that. Apparently she's selling them and giving one to a boy in the cooperative. They go for 100Q, which is like $13. You can get an hour of phone time to Canada with that!

There's a little kitten trying to get me to adopt it. She's very cute, orange with stripes, and obviously hungry for milk. She was trying to suckle my armpits today :) It's a good thing she went for them after my shower because I probably would have killed the poor little thing before! Sexy, 'eh?

Going to bed early to try to be rested for work tomorrow. The work day is 8am to noon, then 2 to 5. As expected, it's very casual, though, without any strict timing or anything. People are coming and going. If you have errands or things to do, people don't really make a big deal about it. Having breakfast with the crew at 7am at Joanie's.

Things I wish I'd brought: more AA batteries, extension cord, TANK TOPS, summer dress, sarong, vegetable peeler.

I'm pretty happy with how I packed, though. A lot of advice I was given to bring things like cotton scarves, rechargeable batteries, hand sanitizer, ear plugs, baby wipes and a microphone head set were definitely helpful.