I can´t believe it´s June already!

DON'T FORGET TO CHANGE YOUR CALENDARS TO JUNIO! AND THOSE OF YOU AT UTSC, PLEASE CHANGE ANY ACCESSIBLE CALENDARS FOR ME SINCE I CAN'T DO IT MYSELF. >end OCD rant<

Day 16 – May 31

It's been a week since I've updated and the week flew by so quickly I can't believe it.

Venturing into Santa Elena, Solo
Last Saturday was my adventure to Santa Elena by myself. I wanted to get to know the city a bit better on my own so I can know where things are. Just following people around doesn't help me at all (random fact: when I first learned how to drive, I'd been dating James for two years. I had no idea how to drive to his house because I just sat in cars being driven there and back, not paying attention!) and the lack of street signs mean that the map in my guide book is essentially useless.

The bus was surprisingly empty for once (i.e. People weren't sitting on each other or standing in the van). Good start to the day. I walked around for a while, finding the post office, store that has school supplies/envelopes, local grocery store and the internet cafe. I spent some time in the cafe but the internet wasn't really cooperating that day, so I left after 40 minutes of having it freeze over and over again while trying to get pictures off my CD. I made my way over to the market. There are a lot of stalls with fruits and veggies. I went back to the largest one where I had been with Joanie that week. I bought a week's worth of veggies (i.e. A big ass bagful) for 17Q ($2!!). Very exciting.

Then there was a dust storm. I'm sure I was quite a sight with my skirt flying everywhere, trying desperately to hold it down. Most people were running to shelter, while I pathetically stood on the side of the street, covered from head to toe in dirt (which stuck wonderfully to all of the sweat that I'd been covered in 24/7 for the first week I was here), hoping for a bus to come by. Mercifully, one pulled up and I yelled out “Nuevo Horizonte?” and the driver nodded, pulling me into the front seat. I was grateful for the front seat because then I have a seatbelt (to make it really obvious that I'm a foreigner). The driver was really nice and patient, dealing with my broken Spanish and asking me about Canada. After a while, I realized we were back exactly where he'd picked me up. He had been picking people up and dropping them off in this circle.

It was totally sketch -the front windshield was so cracked I couldn't believe it didn't cave in and he had to pull over at one point because he ran out of gas and filled the tank with gas from an Orange Crush bottle that had been rolling around the floor at my feet. While the van was running. Yeah. After like 15 minutes, he pulled over and asked where Nuevo Horizonte was. I had no idea what he meant since it's a common place on the route from Poptun to Santa Elena. No one had asked in my 4 other trips on buses where it is. I wrote down the address and explained that it was in Santa Ana. He looked at me quizzically. I tried calling Annie a few times but her phone was off. He started driving around again, picking up more people and dropping them off within Santa Elena.

Finally, I got a hold of Annie who talked to him. Apparently, beyond the tuk tuk little taxis, there are also vans (one row of seats smaller than the mini-buses but otherwise looking exactly the same) which are taxis, NOT minibuses. He offered to drive me to the cooperative for 160Q (vs the 10 that it costs to take the bus) and Annie emphasized to me on the phone to be assertive and not let him take me anywhere except the terminal and to not be pushed around about how much to pay him. He wanted to debate with me but, now over half an hour into this ridiculous trip, I just kept saying “terminal, terminal, terminal, terminal” and he took me straight there. I paid him 10Q, double what the trip would have cost if he just taxied me there. I didn't really lose him any money on the trip since he was picking people up along the way but I didn't feel right giving him 5Q after being in his van for 40 minutes. Joanie confirmed when I vented to her that night that she thought 10Q was the perfect amount to keep him happy but not be ripped off. He seemed happy with the whole arrangement, anyway.

We crossed paths with the microbus as we pulled in. The guy working on the bus (there's a driver and a guy/boy that leans out the window yelling the bus route, opens and closes the side door and collects fares) helped me out of the van-taxi and into the bus. Maybe thirty seconds later, I realized I'd left all of my groceries on the floor of the van-taxi.

So what did I achieve last Saturday? Buying a Super Lime-Lemon (cheap Sprite) was basically the only thing that I did that was “productive” and it cost more than it would have at the cooperative. No regrets, of course, since it provided entertainment to the group from Western, Jeffrey (well maybe not entertainment to him because I called him from the bus on my way back when I was all bummed about it and not finding it funny yet), and now hopefully you.

Las Catteratas
Sunday was my favourite day here so far. The Western group was taking youth from the community to las catteratas (waterfalls) that are a little over an hour away so I tagged along. It was exactly what I needed in a number of ways. Mainly, the relief from the heat was great. I even jumped off a crude diving board that I normally would be too scared to jump off of. I didn't attempt jumping off the top of the waterfall. (Tom mentioned to me later that there was big rock a foot away from where he landed when he jumped -i.e. He could have broken his legs if he didn't push off enough- so I'm happy with my decision.) The water was the exact perfect temperature for me, although the Guatemalans were finding it too chilly for their liking.

After swimming, I helped prepare lunch for a bit, having really basic conversations with some of the people in Spanish, translating a few things for a couple of the Western people. I actually had cucumbers taken away from me since my peeling skills with knives have not improved since I was in the Dominican 4 years ago...The woman was sweet about it, asking me to chop them instead, but it was pretty obvious she was trying to get me to stop butchering our salad. Dane, one of the Western guys, has worked at a lot of restaurants, so she was enjoying his knife skills and I was relegated to his assistant. Worked for me! Eventually, it was obvious that my help wasn't needed anymore, so I went with some of the other girls to hang out with some of the Guatemalan guys at a table. By end of the week, my Spanish had improved a lot and I got to use my new skills doing a bit of translating and trying to figure out this card game called “Ears” that they were trying to teach us. We sort of figured it out except the part about how you win, which is probably pretty important. I still managed to win, even though based on our logic we were pretty sure Monique had won...It was fun anyway and I got to practice a bunch of my Spanish.

I got the hockey update from Ron Hodgins, trash talked the Penguins fans for a while and had a Gallo (Guatemalan beer that I think tastes like water but most of the Canadians and Americans I've met like it). Lunch was delicious BBQed chicken, salad and tortillas. It started to pour rain during lunch so instead of staying for another few hours, we headed back. We had rented a van and a truck, so most people piled into the van. I wanted fresh air for my lungs (asthma + rainforest = uncomfortable to say the least) so I sat on the bed of the truck with Tom, Spencer (Western guys) and half a dozen youth. It was pretty chilly but Spencer and I were digging the change in temperature. Tom and the Guatemalans were shivering like crazy. I did have goosebumps but I definitely wasn't shivering, basking in finally feeling cold! It was awesome. I busted out my sweater for the first time and got to wear my jeans again.

Week 2
This past week has been great. I've been doing the hour and 45 minute commute to San Andres every day for Spanish lessons, which is a bit of a ride but I don't mind it. San Andres isn't as hot because it's on the lake and I'm really enjoying that. Plus, there are no mosquitoes! I like coming home to Santa Ana, especially since San Andres has so many volunteers that are the stereotypical American volunteers that think they're being just so helpful by constructing a school. Okay, I'm being cynical –they do bring in a lot of money to help the economy and having schools is better than not having schools. But the ones that I've spoken to, generally, are very self involved and pleased with themselves for sacrificing so much to be here for two weeks moving bricks. One volunteer that I met on Monday actually had the audacity to say, “It's like they're not even TRYING to speak out language” only a breath after saying that she knew no Spanish and hadn't learned any before she came. Fortunately my microbus pulled up right after she said that and I escaped to Santa Elena.

Development Tourists
Being in San Andres and Nuevo Horizonte has given me an opportunity to witness a lot of the “development tourist” behaviour that we (IDS-ers) hear so much about. A lot of the volunteers walk around in their bikinis with towels wrapped around their waists in town, which the locals find totally disrespectful. I'm torn myself about whether the economic benefits they get from them (yeah, I know I'm not really exempt from this...humour me) is really worth it. Beer drinking, for instance, makes the tienda (convenience store) owners happy since they make a lot of money off it. But I don't know how I feel about spending as much as people make in a week every couple of days on beer. When people are here to “live like locals” and learn from them about their reality, getting drunk all the time, wearing mini shorts, listening to your iPod and spending a lot of money...I don't know. Just something that's been on my mind lately. At the same time, I do have my digital camera, laptop and a headlamp (the children find it very entertaining). I buy meat and fruit. My Canadian passport and salary obviously set me apart, just trying to draw lines for my comfort zone at the moment. I won't be supporting the community with my beer drinking habits, anyway! Annie told me about the disapproval in the community when a group from the States came and the girls were known to get drunk all the time. I'll have the odd Gallo but really trying to avoid the borracha reputation...

Blending In
Okay, a couple more updates to end this now 3 page long entry! (I think I'm beating Leslie for blog entry length!) I've become a little skinny-mini in just two weeks. I checked out of curiosity and my hips and waist are both an inch smaller than when I left. I walk so much my calves bulge and hurt (it's awesome), was sweating like crazy and haven't eaten cheese or peppermint patties since I got here, which I think explains that. The sweating has pretty much stopped altogether this week, though. I've been hot maybe twice this past week and it was only really because I was speed walking. Because of the rains, it's cooled down a lot. I've been sporting my sweater and jeans for the past few days! Thursday was funny because I was the only person in a sweater and the only woman in long pants that I saw -and I'm the Canadian!!

I've been mistaken for a Guatemalan pretty frequently this past week. I'm more tanned but more importantly (I think), I walk with the confidence that comes from commuting everyday, I've managed to get my serious “I'm-ignoring-all-of-you” face down when I walk through the bustling market with aggressive vendors everyday in Santa Elena and I'm not sweating! Strangely enough, foreigners can tell I'm a foreigner but Guatemalans (at least in Santa Elena and Santa Ana where there aren't many tourists/volunteers) assume that I'm one of them. My features, being half Filipino and European/Canadian, are very similar to those of the ladino population (mixed indigenous and European descent who make up around half of the population) so I blend in quite nicely. I usually see a few ladinos everyday that are actually whiter than I am! One of the girls at the coop that has some European ancestry has blond streaks that just naturally grow in her hair. It's pretty cool. As long as I don't talk, I blend! Although it isn't a guarantee of security, it does make me feel safer.

Poor Me
My external harddrive was killed by the TSA after they moved things in my luggage so I have no movies except the V for Vendetta Jeffrey talked me into throwing into my bag. Joanie had a bunch of movies she didn't want anymore, so I got a few, some in English, some in Spanish. (She also gave me all of her English books since I've motored through almost all of mine. She rocks!!) If you care to illegally copy some of your DVDs/burn downloads, please mail them to me marked “for educational purposes”. (P.S. For people that want to send me mail, and I hope there are some of you, don't bother paying for faster mailing or whatever since, I've been told, it doesn't make a difference.) I also lost the vast majority of my music, but Salvan (TA with Western) gave me his MP3 player to charge so I'm stealing lots that way :)

Now that I've hit page 4, I should probably wrap it up. It's been raining for the last 48 straight, basically. Most of the time it's been pouring like crazy. This sucks because I haven't been able to do laundry since it's been raining in the evenings when I get back from school. Everything is damp because of the humidity –my towel from last night is still wet, even though it's been hanging inside for almost 24 hours. I'm hoping the rain lets up soon mostly so I can just have clean clothes! Jeffrey suggested I put things in the dryer. Thanks, baybah.

Graduation Party Complete with Frogs
Stayed in San Andres Thursday night for the “graduation party” for the people finishing Spanish classes this week. The people at the school are really cool. There's a guy who did relief work in Sudan for the last couple of years but now wants to switch to doing development work in Latin America, a woman who is going to work with migrant workers in Belize, Americans who want to become “bilingual” (I love how bilingual to them is English and Spanish) and a guy from St Catharines (who hasn't been to Welland, sorry T) who I hung out with most of the week. Everyone except Kate, a teacher from Wisconsin, Amanda, who is going to Belize and is a PhD student at the University of South Florida and I were leaving.

Everyone else was having dinner with their host families before the party, so I walked to San Jose, 20 minutes there and about 40 minutes back because the path was so steep, to get cash. It started to downpour on my way back, so I thought the party might be cancelled. I waited at the corner where you have to go to get to the restaurant, my clothing completely soaked with sweat and rain, my backpack with my Spanish notes and clothing getting rained on and cheap rubber flipflops full of mud. I waited for maybe 15 minutes and when no one walked by, I walked down the very steep path 20 minutes to get to the house where I was supposed to be staying. No one was home. So I walked up the almost vertical hill in my soaked flipflops with hundreds, no exaggeration, of frogs everywhere. I had to watch that I didn't step on them because they were everywhere. It was like something out of the Bible.

When I made it to the bar, it turned out two of the guys were early and then everyone else got there just after me, so I barely missed everyone. One of the guys got me a towel since I was completely drenched. Fortunately, my MEC daybag that came attached to my big ass backpack didn't let in any water! I couldn't believe it since the material on the outside was totally saturated. Woot! Thanks Mom!

The party was nice, just hanging out and talking with the other students. I know it's probably not the best situation for my Spanish but speaking to other people about what I'm doing here has been really therapeutic. I was just hanging out with Steph, one of the girls from Western, talking for over 3 hours. I'm fortunate to have people here I can compare experiences with and discuss different parts of development and culture shock with. Talking to Steph about the community, which she's been much more familiar with than me since the group has been here a lot more than I have and have been eating with families here for most of the their meals, has given me a different perspective and opened my eyes to things I haven't been aware of. Hopefully once my Spanish improves I can make friends in the community but with girls here having children in their early teens and people who know that I'm just another temporary worker, it could be rough. We'll see! Annie and Joanie are less social than I am, I think, so I'm hoping with my personality I'll be able to hang out with people here :)

Congratulations if you made it to the end of these 4 long pages! It's hard to update now that I feel like this is my life and I'm just kind of living it. I've sucked at keeping my journal because now I'm keeping myself busy studying and reading. But once I get started, I guess I can't stop! Thanks so much to everyone who's keeping up on my adventure. It really means a lot that people care enough to read about what I'm doing. Love, Ange.