Life in San Lucas

Sometimes when you have been living in a place for a long period of time, it is easy to forget to stop and notice the beauty of the world around you.  This week I decided to stop and appreciate San Lucas, and share some pictures of my town.

I will start with my house.  We have a nice open living space and a “kitchen” with a sink and a coffee maker:

 

The house is surrounded by a beautiful garden as well, with rose bushes, a banana tree, and a pomegranate tree.

Behind our house is a big pila to wash our clothes on, and lines where we can hang our clothes in the sun.

Each day, as I walk to the parish for breakfast, I walk up to the top of a hill with a stunning view of the lake, as well as many other amazing views around town.

Sometimes in the morning, we climb on top of the church as the sun is coming up.  From this vantage point we have a beautiful view of the lake and of the entire city.

Not a lot of words to share today, just images, but sometimes is it just nice to sit back, look, and enjoy!

Diversions

            After such a long post about the work I do, I thought it would be nice to fill everyone in on the way I spend my (ample) free time.  After we are done for work at 4 each day, the rest of the day is open to spend how we please, and although as a group the volunteers tend to go to bed by ten at the latest, this is a lot of time to fill in a house with no TV, no kitchen, and limited games/puzzles, etc. 

Brains!

            We try to keep our brains working as much as possible, since most of us are in the middle of continuing our education.  In addition to the assigned readings that Chris and Madeleine give us, each of us is usually reading two other books at a time, one for pleasure and one related in some way to volunteerism or Guatemala.  I am currently about halfway through Cien Años de Soledad by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter.  

I have also found some videos that teach beginning guitar lessons, and I have been trying to teach myself how to play the guitar (the volunteer who just bailed left a guitar behind).  My lessons have to take a break for a while, however, because I managed to cut myself at work and had to get stitches on my finger.  

Bodies!

            Given the richness of the food we are served at the mission, we have decided that in order to avoid gaining a ton of weight, some kind of daily workout is in order.  We developed a little workout plan that goes like this:  Every other day we run up into the mountains (with mace, and very carefully) for about 6 K.  The other days we do a little circuit training that we developed in our back yard.  We made some weights by filling little plastic soccer balls with cement and connecting them with part of a broomstick, and we use this random metal rod we found to do squats with.  We also have a jumprope and pull out a mattress for situps, etc.  This circuit lasts for 45 minutes. 

Fun!

            As a group we have become quite obsessed with playing Scrabble and cards, especially Hearts.  Sometimes we download movies online to watch, and sometimes we just sit around and talk while we crotchet.  Sometimes I feel like I am living the life of a 70 year old, but it has been nice to slow down and enjoy the things that I have not had time to do in the past few years of school. 

Comings and Goings

Although my last blog post was about the monotony of daily working life here in San Lucas, I think it is important to mention that there are constantly changes going on in our personal lives and relationships with Gringos.

            Short-term groups are the first variable in our lives.  Since I have been here there have only been 6 or so, but they always interrupt our daily schedule for better or for worse.  Besides having to lead them on tours, orient them, and take them to their daily work, we often have to take days off of work to translate for medical groups.  Although I really like these groups and the variety that they provide, it can get taxing to have the same conversations with new people week after week, knowing that they will leave within a few days.  As we come into the holiday season, there will be weeks when the mission will be full with up to 7 groups—some 100 short-term volunteers. 

            Another variable is the time spent with long-term volunteers.  Because there is no set end date to the program and each volunteer stays anywhere from a month to a year, there are often volunteers moving in and out of the five-person volunteer house.  With people leaving comes moving for the other volunteers in the house, because there is a sort of “bedroom hierarchy” depending on how long each volunteer has lived at the house.  The rooms range from a tiny closet of a room without any storage (mine), to a large room with two beds, a closet, and a personal bathroom.  The first move came two weeks after my arrival, when Gus left, freeing up a spot for me to move from a separate hotel into the volunteer house’s newly vacated tiny closet room.  

My original group of roommates: Chris, Kelly, Katie and Lily.

            The second and third moves happened this week, and one was a surprise.  My male roommate, Chris, had gone home for Thanksgiving and was planning on returning Thursday of this week, but we received an email a couple of days ago saying that he had changed his mind and was not coming back.  It was disappointing because it was so sudden, but it is his prerogative in the end.  The one exciting part was that with Chris not returning, a nice room was freed up for me to move into for the remaining two weeks until I get my palace with a bathroom and internet.  The third move was planned, and very sad for the remaining roommates because we had to say goodbye to Kelly.  Luckily for me, I will be meeting up with Kelly in a month to vacation in Costa Rica together!

We will miss you, you goof.

            So now there are only three of us in the house, the remainder of the group of six that was here when I arrived almost two months ago.  In a week and a half, we will be saying another goodbye to Lily, who is returning to Colorado.  

Bring your Guate style back stateside!

 For two nights it will be only me and Katie in the house, and then on December 15^th, three more boys will be arriving, essentially turning life in the volunteer house on its head.  We will see how life turns out at the volunteer house without a team of four to play Hearts with for a while…