Sharing the Dream

27 June 2006

Imagine the worst road you know. Now, if it’s a gravel road in South Dakota, multiply that by 5. If it’s Kirby in Houston, multiply that by 25 and take away the asphalt. Now you’re getting close to the road I travel every day from Santiago Atitlan to San Antonio Chacaya. Some of it is asphalt and that’s okay to travel over but the majority of it is dirt and that’s kind of a pain. Today, as on many days, there were huge puddles that we had to drive through. I used to be afraid we’d get stuck but somehow we always make it though with only some splashes. It’s about 3.5 miles and a 25 or 30 minute drive depending on where we are picked up along the way and how many stops we have to make. Usually there are about five stops to let people on or off and today we were stopped by the police. They wanted to make sure that the driver had a license. Fortunately he did, so we were allowed to pass fairly quickly. That’s the first time that we’ve been stopped by police.

The “ambiente” or environment is absolutely beautiful. It’s always green and leafy. It definitely feels like we’re driving through the jungle everyday with a fabulous view of the lake. However, in some places along the drive, you can clearly see the devastation. For instance, in Panabaj, a pueblo about 10 minutes outside Santiago, there was a huge mudslide during Hurricane Stan last year. You can still see the damage. Many houses are still buried up to the windows (maybe 4 feet or so); all you can see is the top half, without a roof of course. At least a couple shops in town have been dug out, but now the floor of the shop is about 2 feet (or more) below ground level. Other houses have been built directly above where the old town used to lay. The road to school swerves just a bit differently everyday. There are minor rock or mudslides pretty often and their also doing work to the roads. Roselda tells me they’re going to put asphalt on part of the road that’s dirt right now.

Onto happier things. Saturday, I went to Panajachel again; this time in order in order to book my Tikal trip with Daniel and Angelica. For various reasons, we couldn’t do it that day but we did find a tienda that sold American candy. It was pretty expensive, but I bought a Twix anyway. Angelica bought M&Ms with peanuts and Daniel, plain M&Ms.

I bought some art supplies for school. I’m going to have the make cards for their parents just because. And write something in English. I can’t really complain about having to buy the supplies myself. If I can spend 16Q on a piece of cake, I can spend 6Q on 30 copies or two giant pieces of construction paper. Everything is so cheap here, I’ve still stayed within my budget (minus my trip to Tikal) even with buying school supplies.

I went to mass again on Sunday. Again, it was packed with people spilling outside. I assume it’s like that every Sunday. That never happens in the states. It only comes close on Christmas and Easter. Then I ate with Mercedes, Salvador, Chonita and a grandson, Jaime. I had never done that before because they always eat so late, but Sunday, Salvador had gone to work without breakfast so they ate around 1. We had a sort of soup with potatoes and pasta and chicken on the side. I was the only one that used anything besides a spoon. They all use tortillas to soak up their soup and a spoon to pull the meat off the bone, yet, it didn’t seem messy to me. Mercedes and Salvador share a bowl and a glass. That’s about as close to affectionate I see them come. It’s kind of cute, really.

There’s too much to learn and too much to do to get bored here. Even when I’m done preparing for the next day, I can always sit and talk with any of the family and practice my Spanish. I always learn something new when talking to them anyway. Even though I know I can if need be, I’d never cut my trip short simply because I’m homesick. Of course, I did feel that way when I was actually sick (though I’m much better now), but the family really helped me out. I know I can tell them anything and they’ll help me out.

Theresa

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