Wow, it's been a while! Sorry about that. We've had a lot going on. Most of it in back in the states, unfortunately. Lisa's Grandfather passed away last weekend after living a long and successful life. The last few years were not his best, as he was ill. We were unable to make the trip back for his funeral, but we're happy he found peace.
We had to sign over our IRAs to a friends neighbor who wanted 10 zillion dollars for the emotional suffering caused when Chloe killed his prize Macao. I know he was upset because every time we called him he was playing golf. Poor fella.
Lastly, we have been STRUGGLING (if you can imagine that) to find a good volunteering position out here.
Anyway, now that we have no retirement plan, we're thinking of buying a tuk-tuk and living on the $1.25 fares we get for each fare. Tuk-tuks are kinda fun, if you aren't scared by that fact the the average pothole in Antigua is half the size of the tuk-tuk. Don't know what a tuk-tuk is? Well, it's not a 2nd liposuction. It's a 3-wheeled "vehicle", made in India, to cart people around quickly and cheaply. I left out comfortably. For a reason. Still, for $1.25 who can complain?
Our Spanish classes are coming along well. Lisa's doing so well she was invited to give a speech to the local women's shelter. Unfortunately, she thought the phrase for "welcome ladies" was "dirty whores". The speech was cut a bit short. I filled in with stories from my childhood. Turns out I didn't fare much better. The words I used for "I had a runny nose" translate to "may lions eat your breasts". Ah well, c'est la vie.
Seriously though, we're having some fun here. When we get out of town, that is. It is good to be learning Spanish, for sure, but there are so many gringos here it's kinda like Chicago with bad pavement. Only there's no jazz. Actually, we did hear some jazz last week. It wasn't bad. And it wasn't really good either. But the food looked good, so maybe we'll go back.
We had a fantastic and magical trip to an inaccessible place called Semuc Champey.
When I first heard someone saying Semuc Champey, I thought he was saying Smooshed Champagne, so of course we were interested. It was at the end of many miles of dirt roads made a 200 mile trip take 8 hours. We got to rent a 4WD so it was fun. Alan was going to rent a Geo, but Lisa insisted we get a 4x4. Glad one of us has some sense!
Anyway, this place is a bit like one might imagine the garden of eden to be: Steep ravine walls covered in lush vegetation, and a series of 5 or 6 pools of progressively bluer water. Actually, when we were there, there had been so much rain the night before they were all mud-colored. But still, the temperature was perfect, and we had a great time paddling around in them. There is a raging river that runs underneath these pools, coming out the other side in a torrential waterfall coming out of a large cave. Spectacular. We'll post pictures next time. We also saw a huge underground cave system (the story has it it stretches as far as Mexico, hundreds of miles to the north). This cave houses tens of thousands of bats. We stayed til sunset, when the bats fly out of the cave en masses, literally like a living cloud. Hundreds per second. I took a video of it, but doubt there was enough light. If so, I'll be posting that too.
Did we mention we gave up drinking when we left Belize? We have failed to honor this, but only twice. So far. It's good to be sober. Except when it rains all day. Which is often!
The weather is getting nicer. Lisa got a nasty cold just in time to enjoy the weather. We were supposed to go to Lake Atitlan tomorrow, but we don't think she'd have any fun in her state so it's set for next weekend. Stay tuned for details!
We both really like the family we're staying with. At each meal, we sit down and talk with them, as best we can, in our fledgling spanish. It's fun, and for whatever reason, "Mom" loves to laugh at our conversation. We're both finding it much easier to comprehend what others are saying than to form complete sentences ourselves. Imagine the dinner conversation:
Mom: What did you guys do today?
Alan: Me go to schoolplace, and put wife head under oven by chance.
Mom: HAHAHAHA!
Lisa: Me think me beefcake mean, "I went learnhouse and cofounded poor eating piss shot".
Mom: "HAHAHAHAHA, I am now pissing myself! Stop!
Alan: Thank off for food, and may lions eat your breasts.
You get the idea, we're really learning something here!
We're hoping that, by the time we leave (in one or two more weeks) we'll be able to mumble something without having to pay a civil fine.
We are FINALLY going to start our volunteering. It has been very frustrating to find something. Evidently, the world court has recently passed a law that every college age student in the entire world is required to spend two to four weeksn volunteering in Guatemala before they can graduate. So, we're learning that, even with a nursing background, getting a decent assignment ain't easy. It would have been nice if they'd told us they didn't need us before we completed the prequesities they gave us: wrote our resumes, bought clothes, had our teeth cleaned, got new haircuts, and leased a limo for the 3 month contract. We were seriously pissed. In my newfound Spanish, I tore them a new a-hole. Either that or I just bought a goat.
Yesterday, we stuffed envelopes at the office of our new employers. It's a non-residential NGO-sponsored orphanage. The children come from very very poor families, or have no parents at all, and stay with foster families at night. They get most of their funding from donations solicited by these mailings. They run a great operation. Lovely surroundings. Very clean. Lots of happy kids running around. Library. Classrooms. Basketball courts. Clinic (where Lisa will hopefully be working). A (non-denominational) church. Even a dentist!
The NGO is called the God's Child Project. The orphanage is called "Centro de Sonador". For more information, or to send a donation to the organization (from what we've seen so far, they use the money efficiently), see www. godschild.org.
Next Monday is our first real day of work. We're hoping to put in two weeks before we head on to Costa Rica. We're extending our stay an extra week to make it worthwhile to all involved. And to get in an extra week of Spanish.
In all seriousness, Lisa is starting to come into her own in speaking Spanish. I think we're both going to benefit from the opportunity to put our spoken Spanish into practice. We're also looking at another volunteer opportunity in Ayacucho, Peru (see crossculturalsolutions.org). If anyone has any other organizations they recommend highly, especially ones that need medical expertise, please shoot us an email. The orphanage, while a great start, is more urban, less desperate, and more well-organized than what Lisa originally had envisioned when we set out. So keep those letters coming.
Next time we write (probably tomorrow, as Lisa's sick so we're in town), we'll put up some pictures. So check back SOON!
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