2 Months already!?

Random Pagoda found while jogging a 5K (note picture-perfect volcano in background)


Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving surrounded by loved ones. Our Thanksgiving was a little homesick but nice nonetheless. We spent the evening at the clinic director’s apartment gorging on traditional Thanksgiving menu items and a few less typical dishes. For example, I made cheesy bean dip and Bryce brought cheese pie. yes. cheese pie. He was told to bring apple pie or cheesecake. We couldn’t find either, but we did find an interesting crossbreed. For some reason I was determined to like the cheese pie. So I ate it until I felt ill (about 3 bites) and regretted my determination.

¡Feliz F $*%ing Navidad!

The Christmas season is in full swing all over the world I’m sure, but in particularly obnoxious (and sometimes endearing) ways here in Xela. There are beautiful decorations and lights hanging all over the city, which I love. It really gives me a cozy Christmas feeling in my heart. Then there are the all too familiar inflatable snowmen and santas everywhere, which bother me somewhat but are still cute enough. Finally, there is the music. Oh dear God. The music. We live above Central Park. There is some sort of party, concert, festival, corn men dance, you name it, going on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in Parque Central. I find this party atmosphere to be a very endearing part of Latin American culture. I remember the same atmosphere living in Mexico City as a kid. Always a party! But when you live above the constant party and it’s Christmas season...you’re going to want some earplugs. And when that doesn´t do the trick...lots of tequila. Imagine having Christmas songs blaring in the background all...day...long. And not just one at a time, but lots of different Christmas songs blending together. One speaker in front of the electronics store blares Feliz Navidad. A hardware store tries to compete with a repertoire of Spanglish tunes that feature the word ¨Navidad¨ set to various beats, emphasizing different syllables of the word (there are only 3 by the way). The party in Central Park has had marimba bands playing Christmas music all weekend, which can be beautiful but not for 72 consecutive hours. Today there was a toy drive in Central Park and different bands played throughout the day. I suppose I can tolerate the constant noise for a good cause. Plus, there was a handicrafts market set up next to the stage so I had no choice but to endure the pain (see ¨today´s purchases¨ at the bottom of this entry).

2 Months Already?!

This is a picture of us hiking the mountain near our house. We try to hike it at least twice a week. The sun was in our eyes.

Our friend Lisa. Yet another awkward sun-in-the-eyes shot!

I can’t believe we’ve been here two months already! That’s 25% of our stay here! We hope to start travelling to other parts of Guatemala soon, but there’s so much to do and see right here in Xela. Bryce has also been busy these past two weeks preparing for his medical school interview at the University of Iowa and tying up loose ends at the clinic before his week off. He left this morning and his interview is on Wednesday. So far, Bryce also has interviews at Georgetown in late January and Einstein in NYC in late February. He may be gone for up to a month and a half starting sometime in January. We’ll miss each other so much and it’s a stressful time for both of us as we wait to see where Bryce will be next year, but I know it will all pay off in the Spring when he gets accepted into a great medical school. GOOO BRYCE!!

Social Activism in Guatemala!

¡¡La Carrera!!

The weekend before last was the 5K in honor of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Voces de Cambio was in charge of registration and assigning numbers to the racers. Bryce and I decided to run just for fun and wound up playing cheerleaders for a 5 year old and his grandmother. He was the cutest little boy EVER and he won an award for being the youngest racer! The girls decided to have Voces de Cambio T-shirts made for the week of events (featured in the photo above).

cutest picture EVER!

Sign reads: Collective of Women from Quetzaltenango. Women can´t wait to live without violence. We seek Justice. Stop Femicide! (something close to that at least)

Registration for the race. Claudia (left) is the director/teacher of Voces de Cambio.

our 5 -year-old friend, his older brother (gotta love the hat), and their mommy
El ganador confundido! the confused champion! He arrive by police motorcycle just in time to receive his award. (Sshhh! It´s a secret that he didn´t really finish.)

¡¡La Marcha!!

Two days after the 5K was the march in honor of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Each participating organization had a theme they were supposed to convey during the march. Our organization’s theme was ¨the psychological effects of violence¨. The girls decorated Omar’s car (Omar is one of the co-founders/director of Voces) and marched alongside it with banners. I ran into our 5-year-old friend at the march and he remembered me, ¨de la carrera!¨ he said smiling and waving. Melted my heart. At the march I was able to collect a bunch of pamphlets and informational material for the clinic’s health education and women’s program. I love it when my interests intersect in interesting and useful ways!

HIV/AIDS awareness week was from November 29th-December 3rd and there were also a series of events for this. I was not directly involved in any of the HIV/AIDS awareness events but I did watch part of the march and was able to collect some more informational material for the clinic’s education program.

Clinic Updates

The clinic is gearing up for the inevitable rush in mid-January when school starts again. Bryce finished his pricing survey and has concluded that the clinic will save about 16% on its annual pharmacy budget by shopping at 4 different pharmacies as opposed to just one. This means 4 times the work for Bryce, but he’s just that kind of guy. The clinic is only open from 8:30-1:00 M-F but Bryce is putting in close to 40 hours with all the pharmacy runs and shopping for other things the clinic needs.

The clinic’s education curriculum is finalized so I’ve started making visuals and other materials to go along with each lesson. It´s a lot of coloring and block letters, but I don´t mind. It’s nice to feel useful. Soon I will have help. Health education volunteers start arriving as early as tomorrow, but most will be here in January just as school is starting.

Noche de Trivia!

The clinic’s monthly fundraiser was held this past Thursday at Ojala, a local bar. We hosted a Trivia Night. It was about $2/person to play 4 rounds of 10 questions, with the top 4 teams winning sweet prizes donated by local businesses. I was the designated bartender for the night. Bryce helped me. We made mojitos and no one bought them. The entry fee came with a free Cuba Libre. So I wound up serving a lot of Cuba Libres, and only six mojitos...unless you count the three I served to myself ;)...Oh well..the clinic still made a good profit and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Today´s Purchases

I paid about 75 cents for these gorgeous flowers! $2 for the candlesticks. I bought the tablecloth a couple weeks ago at the largest market in Central America.

dyed-cotton bags