After lunch we went to San Antonio to their after-school program to drop off food. We were only there a few minutes, but the view of the lake was breath taking. Pictures don't do it justice.
That night, before we went to dinner, Rosalyn gave me a card. I thought it was from her. I ended up reading it as we walked to the resturant. It was from my parents. It had a Joel Osteen quote on the front--obviously picked out by my dad, who I get in fights with about Joel all the time--but it had Matthew 6:21 inside, where your treasure is, there your heart will also be, and a note from my mom, telling me she hoped I realized all my dreams. It was a really cool moment; almost like my parents saying, even though we don't completely understand what you want to do with you life, we love you and we support you, even if it's a little dangerous, or you won't be able to come home on the weekends, or you won't have much money, and that we love you, even when you're way over there.
Tuesday was San Antonio, at a little pre-school in a compound built by a Methodist minister. I brought side walk chalk, which was alot of fun, and gained a little shadow, Christain. We got to tour the little clinic, and it was unbelieveably exciting for me to see their pharmacy, with neat rows of anti-biotics next to over the counter pain killers, and kids' chewable vitamins. Everything was clean and bright. Afterwards, we spent the afternoon at the office, where my shadow showed up with his little brother, and I met Blanca, a wonderful 10 year old who I got to see around a few times throught the week.
My shadow ^^ vv
Here is a map I was looking at this morning, when I decided to finally do this post. If anyone is really interested, they can follow along with me and my travels. It's so weird, because this map is already familiar to me, I know it by heart like I do the farm, and so it's weird to think that you don't know it too. That delta is so clearly pana, with it's big gravely stream, and I've seen the place where the two mountains close in, almost touching across the water, from landscape view, and not just google-maps. I bought a painting at that balloon, and little kids chased our pick up at that one (San Pedro and Santa Catarina, respectively, if you're interested).
^Jessica (how bout them Norse?)
Tierra Linda had my favourite kids, but, heartbreakingly, it also had alot of sick kids. The majority of the students had internal parasites, with bloated little bellies and skinny arms and legs. And half of them had their shoes on the wrong feet, and I would take them off and fix them after we weiged them, putting their dirty sockless feet into the right shoe.
That afternoon, I helped Amy out at Mayan Families by sorting huge garbage bags full of medicines while she ran a table-top clinic and helped whoever was around to be helped. It was very cool.
Thursday morning we went to Tierra Linda again, this time to pass out clothes. Jessica's little sister, who had been terrified and sobbing the day before, finally smiled. Here she is, holding her old shoes. She wasn't happy to take them off, since they were sparkly and pink. Here she is:
As we drove away, I saw Oscar running out of his house. He had already changed into his new shirt. So cute.
After, we went to El Barranco, where they did traditional dances for us. If you look on facebook and see stuffed armadillos, that's why. I got bored watching and went inside to color with kiddos instead. They all kept coming to where I was sitting, proudly showing me their pictures, until I told them how beautiful they were. Afterwards, they passed out clothes to everyone while we ate lunch. Finally, we just hung out. I had a frisbee in my back pack, so I taught them how to throw it, and we played toss. Then we ended up teachign them how to play duck duck monkey--I couldn't remember how to
say goose :)
Friday, we headed back up to San Andres to meet sponsor students. Rosalyn's student's name is Rosa, and that is where hippo finally found a home. Her mom told us that she loves to go to school, and if she's sick, she'll say I'm better I'm better, hoping to be allowed to go. While we were waiting through Amy and Joe's visit, we passed out our remaining stuffed animals.
I plan on writing a seperate post about Olga. So, it will suffice to say, after lunch we visited Rosalyn friend Jody's sponsored student's house. Afterwards, there was a going away party for us and a big group, and Joe and Amy, and a temporary staff member Christina, slash triple birthday party for some random students/staffers. Here is the Mayan Families staff. Little Aleeya is on the far right.
Saturday morning we went out on a boat with all of our favourite voulenteers and visited two little lakeside villages. San Pedro was very artsy, with walk in textile shops, and lots of art galleries. Santa Cruz was quiet, with all the adults hidden away at business hours, and just about nothing for tourists. There was a beautiful little walk way back down to the lake from the city. I got too many beautiful pictures from Santa Cruz to put them all on here, but here are a few highlights.
^San Pedro
^Santa Cruz
Here are many of the friends we made on the trip. Laiken, my aunt, and Rita, an high school english teacher, the next row is Rosalyn, my dad's step-mom, and Ana, turned around. Ana's mom in the one in a grey shirt, this was their third trip to voulenteer with Mayan Families, and they were very sweet. Ana wants to be a doctor too. The last row is Joe and Amy, my very favourite people. Joe was easy-going, and quick to laugh. He teaches high school english, too, and teaches english to migrant workers during the summer. Amy is a nurse practicioner, and very much a mom. I absolutely studied the way she treated the students she examined, calling the girls princesses, and shaking all of their hands. Not pictured are Tan Mei (aka Tye Dye) who is a kindergarten teacher from Canada, and Patro (aka Pato, if you speak spanish, you know why that's funny) who is a wanderer/Rice university mathematician from Mexico and Soleil, a high schooler visiting Sharon's family from California, who looks just like Claire Danes.
After the boat, we said good bye to Sharon and Aleeya at the office, then rode back to Guatemala City. We stayed in a pretty but normal hotel, ate room service, and flew home in the morning. I thought it was ironic, I didn't get sick once while we were there, but as soon as I got to Atlanta, I felt like crap.
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