Last weekend I went to Panajachel, Lake Atitlan, and it was awesome!! There was a huge group of us that went. It only took about 2 hours to get there by bus, which is not bad at all. Panajachel is this little hippie town with artisan markets, cute little shops, and little hippie coffee shops and restaurants. Perfect for me! It is a pretty touristy location so of course there were a bunch of other gringos there, but I still love travelling and seeing different parts of Guatemala. It just makes me realize how much I love travelling… I might never come back to the states J Panajachel is situated right on the lake. The lake is beautiful even though it’s toxic because it’s full of cyanobacteria, but it still looks pretty! On Saturday we just walked around Pana and then that night we had an 80s themed dance party at one of the bars. It was a blast! Everyone thought we were super weird but who doesn’t love dressing up in 80s workout clothes and dancing all night?! You can check out some pics of our awesome outfits on facebook!
On Sunday we took a boat tour of the lake. The lake is surrounded by volcanoes and the water is so calm and pretty. We stopped at a couple little towns around the lake and got off to take pictures and walk around. The towns around the lake are so peaceful and the air is so refreshing unlike in my site or other cities where the air is so polluted and dirty. The lake is probably one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. It just amazes me that I could look out and see 3 different volcanoes, the lake, and beautiful houses and towns on the mountain sides. Some of the towns are only accessible by boat, which also blows my mind that people live there with no land access to their town. I think that’d be pretty neat to live there! I would love to have a little house on the lake and be able to wake up every morning with a view of volcanoes, a lake, and green mountains. Maybe someday! My parents are coming to visit the end of July, and we’re going to the lake…. I can’t wait for them to share in the experience!
This past week I was busy with school visits. I’m still doing surveys to see what each school needs. I give my first charla or presentation on Tuesday to parents and teachers at one of my schools. I’ll be talking about what the Healthy Schools programs is and what I’m trying to accomplish in the schools. I’m going to do a little trivia game about health and the type of illnesses that are most prevalent in Guatemala. I’ll also be talking about the “health corners” or rincones de salud that I’m trying to get every classroom to build. Every kid needs to bring their own toothbrush, toothpaste, towel, bar of soap, and palangana or little plastic bowl for water when they wash their hands. It seems easy enough because each of those things costs probably less than 5Q but it’s proving to be way harder than I thought. Everyone expects me to bring the materials or for Peace Corps to provide everything, but that’s not how it works. If we provided everything, there would be no sustainability in the community. We try and promote sustainability so that when I leave, what I teach will continue without me even being there.
So I think it’s important to talk to the parents as well as the teachers because like I tell all my schools, education and habits start in the house with the parents and then at school. I’ll also be talking about what a habit is and how to create healthy habits. Habits are extremely hard to change! It seems simple to wash your hands after going to the bathroom or brushing your teeth every day…. But that’s only because we’ve have been in the habit of doing that our whole lives. If no one ever told you to wash your hands before you eat then you probably never would have started the habit right? One thing that keeps popping into my head when I talk about healthy habits is the quote by Matthew Kelley that says “you change when your habits change,” and I think that has kind of become the focus of my work. If I can get people into a different routine and to change their habits then they will change and their lives will be changed. But it definitely takes a village and sometimes people aren’t willing to cooperate, so I need to focus on the people who are motivated and willing to learn instead of trying to change every single person in every single school. I have some really good schools with motivated teachers and parents, and then I have some other schools who could care less that I’m there. It just might take a little time for me to break their shell, so vamos a ver (we’ll see)! I keep telling myself I’m here for these kids, and I’m reassured every time I walk into a school or on the street and kids run up to me saying Seño Ela! Seño Ela! and grab my hand…. That makes everything so worth it.
Thank goodness I have the kids, my site mate, and all the support back home because right now things are pretty challenging. There is still no water in my town. The community doesn’t have enough money to pay to fix the water deposit so they are saying that we’re not going to have water for months. It has definitely made me appreciate water a little more. I never realized how much water I use in a day and all the things you can’t do if it’s not there. Think about all the things we use water for… cooking, cleaning, laundry, drinking, flushing the toilet, washing dishes, washing your hands, showering…. Yea so I quickly realized that 5 gallons of water doesn’t go very far especially when it takes about 2 gallons of water to flush a toilet. I started putting buckets of water on my roof to catch rain water to flush the toilet, and that worked out pretty well… it was enough water to flush my toilet once a day… and that’s only if it rains pretty hard.
So then I found out where the town well is and the other day I took my 2 gallon bucket and filled it up at the well. It was actually a pretty fun experience. There were all these other women at the well washing their clothes and getting their water for the day, so I ended up chatting with them and getting all the town gossip. This one old lady was just the cutest little thing, and she was just so amazed by me… I’m sure she was super confused at why this random white girl was getting water out of the well and wondering where in the heck I came from. She was laughing at me trying to get water out, and she asked me if I wanted to come wash my clothes with her haha. It was so cute! I told her I was going to carry the water back on my head like a Guatemalan woman, and she just laughed at me as I tried. These women carry everything from full buckets of water to bundles of firewood on their heads without even using their hands! It’s incredible! I successfully carried the water on my head but not without balancing it with my hands. I took 2 trips to the well and felt like I had just run a marathon. It was a lot of work! But it was awesome. Now I look forward to my trips to the well because I never know who I’ll meet there or what kind of conversations I’ll have. It’s the little things in life J So now I get a work out in and have access to water! Not too shabby!
I’m still thinking about moving though. I’m thinking about moving to the town over called Cajolá. 8 of my schools are in Cajolá and that’s also where my site mate lives. I found a house to live in which would be way cheaper than the one I’m living in now, and I wouldn’t have to worry about the water situation. Although I love all the challenges of truly living like the people of Guatemala, I want to come home at the end of the day and feel comfortable in my house. Right now I have to worry about the water, about my kitchen flooding, and mold on the walls, and if I lived in the other house I wouldn’t have to worry about any of that. But I keep asking myself do I want all the amenities of home like a fridge, a shower, a nice kitchen etc. or do I want to rough it and experience a different way of life during my service. It’s something I keep going back and forth between. Right now I don’t feel comfortable in my house… I always feel dirty and there’s always some problem to worry about. If I moved into the other house I would feel more comfortable but I’d also be living pretty much like I do in the states and I’m not sure if I want that. But I think it is important to feel comfortable in my house so that I can focus more on my work, rather than have to worry about a house that is falling apart. I’m going to think about it and pray about and see where God is calling me to go in the next month or so. For now I’m just making the best of it and embracing the challenges that some people face every day. If it doesn’t kill me it’ll only make me stronger right? J
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