Patzicia!

Hola Estados Unidos!

After about two weeks of being in Patzicia I finally found time to write something! It’s been a whirlwind being here. I find it hard to believe sometimes that its already been 3 weeks! But in some ways I can believe it. After an amazing week in the beautiful city of Antigua, it took a little adjusting coming to a city like Patzicia. Life is completely different here than at home – here is a list of things I like and dislike about Guatemala so far:


Dana’s likes and dislikes about Guatemala

Dislikes

1. It’s filthy EVERWHERE – it’s almost impossible to stay clean. No matter what you do at the end of the day you’re covered with dirt. Oh well. It’s kind of what we signed up for - it just feels like we’re camping ALL the time. I like camping. It’s shocking looking around not understanding how the people live in dirt. They don’t notice that their houses smell.

2. Smog – smog checks do not exist here. It’s pretty awesome walking down the road and breathing in the black air. Once you get away from the roads it’s alright though.

3. Garbage- People just throw their garbage wherever the heck they want. It’s really sad. There is this creek past our school which is basically a dump. There is garbage EVERYWHERE. We either burn ours or pay to have someone pick is up.

4. The honking and whistling anytime a male sees us - seriously they NEVER fail - they will always do something to notice our existence. We get at least 15 honks on our way to school every day. It gets old…fast.

5. Bugs, rats and FLIES – Our first night in our house we killed 6 hug spiders next to our bed. We have a rat named Anthony that lives in our house too – we hear him every once in awhile. And Mom- even with your talent of killing flies you could NEVER kill the fleet of them that live in our house. I’ve lived in this house for about 2 weeks now and I’ve kind of gotten to them though. Thanks to Kylie’s dad we got this bug spray stuff that has lessened the spider problema.

6. We have to be SO CAUTIOUS with every little thing we eat and drink – so many people get sick. We call the curse “the BO”. I’ve been luck y so far, thankfully, in NOT getting it.

7. The water and electricity have minds of their own – every other morning we either don’t water or electricity. Sometimes they both decide not to come on. I’ve learned life still can function without them; it’s just a lot more work and obviously less convenient. We have learned to always be prepared with flashlights and water for our toilet.

8. BATHROOMS – are always dirty too, shocking right? When taking a shower there it is a tradeoff between hot water and water pressure – sometimes they both decide not to work. I can’t wait to but my toilet paper in the toilet! Haha OH and to see a white CLEAN bathroom again! BUT at least we have a shower in our cute little house right? We just shower in our flip flops.

9. The poverty - You could never get used to seeing how poor people are here. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing the kids crying because they’re hungry when they come to school. Or seeing the dirty little faces of the kids on our block. I will never get used to seeing the mothers that don’t know how to read or write. They work so hard that you can see the pain and worries in their faces. It’s all hard to see sometimes.

10. Communication skills – we’re still learning. I know it will all come with time, patience, and hours of studying. It’s just really hard not being able to say what you want when you want, and have the people around you understand you. It will all come with time – but it sucks sometimes.

11. Communication with the OUTSIDE WORLD – is kind of nonexistent sometimes. Calling can be expensive and there is only one small internet place in our little town that doesn’t work well. We use the internet at school but on overcast days it doesn’t like to work. I’m learning life can still function without internet and that calls/emails from home are a real treat.

12. NO LAWS- It’s dangerous here. We joke about how the copes get paid to stand there and watch the ground. The people tell us that if you called the cops (which by the way is a special number only certain people know) if they come the next day you’re lucky. We try not to go out late at night and we go everywhere in groups.

13. Transportation – because we’re tourists we get jipped on a lot of stuff….especially transportation. When we go places outside Patzicia on a chicken bus (which is our main mode of transportation besides our own two feet) they ALWAYS charge us more than everyone else on the bus. If we argue for awhile then we’ll usually get our way. OH MAN and just riding on these buses is a huge adventure. I think I could write an entire research paper on them. Haha Needless to say getting around Guatemala is never boring.



Likes

1. The fresh food - tastes AMAZING and is SO CHEAP. After a day at the market our fridge is filled with fresh fruit and vegetables. I love the market days here! Walking back from the market with all our groceries makes me very grateful for our American cars that carry our food home for us.

2. We eat much healthier here because of those market days. Candy, especially chocolate, is a MAJOR treat.

3. The food is SO GOOD – I absolutely LOVE Guatemalan food. They make the best tortillas here. Last night we went to the Stake President’s house for dinner and for 2 bucks we got a cooking class and an AMAZING meal. We eat at someone’s house about once a week for a nice meal – plus its so nice to eat with our new friends here. It’s going to be hard to leave some of these cute families.

4. CHEAP – It’s so cheap here. The food, the traveling, basically everything. Last week I found a pair of REAL gently used ugg boots for 15Q = 2 bucks! Pretty cool when you can go away for the weekend for only 50 bucks.

5. There are REAL salsa dancing places here – we’ll probably go back to Antigua and go dancing.

6. The people here are so kind and loving. If you ever need anything they are so willing to help. Like I was saying…there are so many families we know and love already! Even though they are so poor they would give us the shirt off their back.

7. The children love you instantly – and give you hugs even though they don’t even know you. It’s impossible not to feel their love.

8. We have hammocks in our backyard – three of them. We love it! The other day I came home from school SO TIRED and laid on a hammock outside reading a book. Seriously….I don’t know what could be more relaxing…

9. It’s so colorful here! The people paint their houses bright colors and they wear bright colors.

10. It’s beautiful here! The countryside is simply amazing. The views are amazing. I can’t wait to travel more and see more of this country. I have a list of places to go before I leave!

11. Laid back – the people are so laid back here. Some are obviously very stressed but most are so chill about things that would completely stress me out. Lol they change their minds at the drop of a hat about everything. Time is kind of just whenever you feel like it.

12. Cooking skills – I know. Me right? Cooking? Weird. I’ve learned to cook with very limited appliances, utensils, and food items.

13. Teaching and Learning – each day I realize even more what an opportunity this is. I’m learning the basics of different language. Through teaching English to these children and people here its like learning Spanish backwards. I’m learning to teach and control a class. By teaching I am the student learning new things each day.



I’m not going to lie – before I came I thought I was immune to culture shock. I was wrong. The first few days here were a little hard because it took more than 5 minutes to adjust to this completely different world. Patzicia is a little town that feels like it’s in the middle of nowhere. When we arrived the girls that lived in the house with us weren’t here to let us know what to do – but we’re now in a good routine. Going to school, working on projects for the community, playing with kids after school, taking care of the chores around our little house, cooking, exercising every day, and visiting the families we know. Our days are constantly busy with things going on.

It’s a privilege to help these children and the people here. The best part about this experience for me is the people. I am reminded everyday why I am here – to help them. I’ve learned to love this dirty place – it truly is beautiful. Sometimes it feels like we go back in time when we go to a different place on the road or go in someone’s house. Living this way and seeing the way the people in this little place live makes me SO GRATFUL for what I have at home. My troubles seem like NOTHING compared to these people who don’t have pluming, electricity, or water to their homes.

We work hard all week and get to play hard every weekend. Last weekend we went to one of the five most beautiful lakes in the world – Panajachel. I´ll have to post pictures when I´m patient enough to be on the computer more than 20 minutes. This weekend we’re going to visit Tikal!

Only bummer is I´ve had a really bad cold' slash flu bug for over a week and I´m really hoping I feel better by tomorrow morning. It´s hard to rest when there is always so much to do! There are so many amazing sites to see and people to meet here.

This is definitely an experience I will never forget. I can’t wait to do more.