Week 3: Another move!

Home Sweet Home...Finally!

So we've been in Xela for 3 weeks now and we have moved a total of 4 times. In two weeks it will be 5 moves in 5 weeks. wow!

On Sunday we moved into an apartment in a beautiful historical building called Pasaje Enriquez, right on Central Park. We have a shared balcony overlooking the city and with a great view of the mountains. We are in a very tiny room right now but in 2 weeks we will take over our neighbors' room which is very large and has its own small balcony for almost the same price!

As much as we wanted the authentic experience of living with a Guatemalan family, we are very happy to have some independence and flexibility in the food we eat and when we eat it. Yesterday we went to the market and bought all our own vegetables for veggie curry. I LOVE going to the markets. Such a rich sensory experience and unbelievably fresh and cheap. Our dinner cost me 1 dollar and Bryce 3 dollars!

Our new landlord is a very friendly, very hippy middle aged woman from Xela. She lives in the building as well with ther husband who is Mexican. Her husband makes beautiful jewelry and sells it from their home in the building. They are building a house in the mountains, and invited us to go with them to check it out this coming weekend. We can't wait! It is an hour hike straight up one of the surrounding mountains. They plan to move there fulltime eventually and open a retreat of sorts where tourists can take yoga and eat fresh organic food from their garden, etc.

Volunteering Updates

The clinic continues to be 2 mornings/week. Last Thursday a group of 3rd graders came to the clinic from a private school in Xela. The class raised money for the clinic by recycling their plastic and aluminum, and in return received a free tour. They were very cute and their teacher is from Harrisonburg, Virginia. Small world! Bryce did inventory by himself this week, and spent 2.5 hours on Friday morning, scouring the city for white cotton balls. Apparently they like their cotton balls in pretty colors here, but the lab manager doesn´t.

Last week I met with the team of 3Voces de Cambio volunteers. I was encouraged by how much of the meeting I was able to understand and discouraged by how little I felt I could contribute in preparing for the upcoming photography exhibit. I don't know the city as well as they do so most of the errands that need to be run in preparation for the exhibit are easier for them to do by themselves. I am going to help them publicize the event, however, by hanging flyers all over the city.

Weekend Fun!

Last weekend we took in some of the night life of Xela. We went to one of the many bars frequented by foreigners and saw a great band called Los Vigilantes del Funk. They do mostly classic rock and bluegrass covers which was a nice taste of home. They are all Americans and I'm told most of them are working for an engineering NGO that builds healthier stoves for local villages among other things. Very cool. Another night we went to a venue that is a cultural center by day and bar by night. Our friend was bartending there for a Madonna vs. Prince vs. Michael Jackson party. We don't plan to do all that much barhopping here, especially since the nightlife is dominated by foreigners and we want to spend more time speaking Spanish, but it was very fun and I think much needed. We will, however, be attending a Halloween benefit party for Nuevos Horizontes, a women's shelter in Xela.

New Photos!

I have a lot of photos to post once the internet stops being too slow to upload them.