Emocionada (Emotional)

Well, I haven’t written on this in awhile because the Internet hasn’t been working a lot. Don’t worry, hurricanes are not hitting Guatemala right now – they’re just causing rain for 6 days straight. And we haven’t been affected by mudslides in this part of the country (but one of the other volunteers was on vacation with her dad and they got caught behind a mudslide and decided to WALK THROUGH IT! I couldn’t believe that story).

A lot has happened, both good and bad:

*Independence Day – Sept. 15. They celebrate with parades and partying, like we do in the states. They also have something called La Antorcha (the Torch), in which people take turns running with an actual torch. The one that NPH does is apparently 10 kilometers. Unfortunately, the country cancelled all of the running with the torches because the roads were really bad due to excessive rain and mudslides. So I didn’t get to see that. But I went to a parade with the kids in my section, which was fun.

We all had the day off on the actual Independence Day. Some of the volunteers and I went with some of the tíos to a place called Aguas Calientes, “Hot Water”. They’re pools warmed by natural hot springs, so that was a lot of fun. I was glad that we got to know some of the tíos. (Tía Rosa, the head nurse here, invited me and 3 other volunteers to a baptism this Sunday. I’m really excited to see it! It was really nice of her to invite me too because we barely know each other, but I’m really happy that she did.) The volunteers hang out a lot, but I want to make friends with some of the Guatemalans too. They were really nice and cooked us a great meal: steak, refried beans, and really good tortillas, salsa, and guacamole.

*Día del Niño (Day of the Child) (there are a lot of holidays here; there’s rarely a week in which we don’t have a day off, which is cool, but difficult to keep therapy/speech intervention schedules consistent): Yesterday, everyone who works here plus the 330 kids got into buses and went to a finca. It’s an outdoor park with pools. We all had a really good time! It was great to see the kids enjoying themselves. They went swimming and played some fun games. One of the preschool girls and I spent a lot of time together, which was really fun. I also hung out with the kids from my section, which was really fun. We jumped on the trampoline for a long time, and then I danced with one girl Pati for a really long time. And there wasn’t that much rain!

*Next weekend we have a volunteer outing to a place called Earth Lodge. It’s near the town of Antigua. I’m really excited to get away. Not that I don’t love the kids, but living on the orphanage is like living in a bubble, and I want to see more of the country. The following week we have a 3-day workshop for all the volunteers. We’re going to reflect on the experience, and we’re leaving for that time too, so that should be good.

And in January I have to leave the country to renew my Visa. I want to go to Cuernavaca, Mexico (where I studied for 2 weeks in high school) to visit my friend Jessie. But flights from Guatemala City to Mexico City are $554 at the cheapest right now! So I don’t know what will end up happening. We get 4 weeks total of vacation. I want to take one week for Mexico, 2 weeks to explore Central America (you have to take 2 weeks at a time once, but that should be good; my friend Donna is in the Peace Corp in Nicaragua so I figure that can be one of our stops), and possibly another week to go to Bolivia. One of our family friends from home is a doctor who goes to Bolivia every year. We always talk about me going, and this would be a good time …

So hopefully, I can somehow afford all of that.

I still miss everyone, but am feeling more content here, and more confident in my job. My family just bought their tickets to come visit me (Dec. 29 – Jan. 4), and I am super happy! Love and miss you all.