Life is in your face

I just ended dinner with Gary and Ann (the founders of Avivara) and my second full day here in Guatemala. I bought a sweet pineapple at the market for less than a dollar, which I cut up as part of dinner. The door bell rang during dinner and Ann talked to a woman for quite some time. Apparently, 3 of the children that she has in her afterschool program have a dad whose liver is failing and he is barely 30, a result of too much drinking and pesticide exposure. Without money to go into town for dialysis, he will die. No one has the resources so basically he will die in the near future leaving behind 3 young kids and their mother. Everyone here seems to have a similar story. Birth, life, and death are much more apparent here. Gary walked me through the cemetario yesterday where there were mounds of dirt were little ones had been buried. Families just stick little wood crosses in the ground where their children have died. It is just a part of life. The death rate for children in Guatemala is 8 times higher do to malnutrition, unsanitary conditions, and a lack of health care.
One major difference here is that I see young children everywhere. It seems like half the women here are carrying a baby in cloth on their back or are pregnant. Ann told me that if I was in their culture I’d have 5 kids by now.
I love watching life here. Women are holding their babies and washing their clothes in the center of town. Kids are running about and helping parents carry firewood (which they all do on their heads). The days and nights are full of sounds… the truck selling oil for homes which is done over a loudspeaker, firecrackers that frequently go off, dogs barking, motor bikes honking in order to sell goat milk and eggs, roosters crowing and a particular type of bird that makes a really loud shrieking sound. Also, here everyone greets each other. Every person you walk by, and people are always on the streets, you must greet with a “buenos dias” or a “buenos tardes.” The sense of community is very strong.
Although we have pretty much all of the amenities we need here, Gary and Ann are considered “the rich” and that isn’t typical. Many don’t have running water. Gary and Ann are one of the few in this village that has an oven. I can’t get over the fact that so many still live like people did hundreds of years ago.
Tomorrow I move in with my host family. I met the mom, Teresa, this morning and she seems very kind. Half of the building is outside and half is inside (typical for Guatemala.) I will pay her $55 per week for a room and 3 meals a day except Sundays. I will also have a Spanish teacher for a few weeks. We will spend 4 hours a day together in the mornings wondering the city and learning Spanish. He charges $60 a week for 20 hours. That’s about $3 an hour. For this country, that is a great wage.
Today I worked in the after school program with Ann and a little with Gustavo. I loved meeting the kids and my Spanish was just about at their level so I was learning too. I really liked it and I look forward to more of these days.
As we speak, it is raining really hard and thundering. Part of this house is open to the elements so it is really neat to see the rain fall through the middle of the house.

My schedule once I move in with my host family will be:
• 7:00 am- Eat breakfast provided by my host mom
• 8:00am- 12pm Meet with my Spanish teacher for lessons for the first 3 weeks
• 12 pm- Eat with my host family
• After lunch- Take a ½ hour bus ride to the town Gary and Ann are in to work on nonprofit related things, help at the afterschool learning center, or go out to villages with Ann and Gustavo
• 7 pm- Be back in time to have dinner with my host family
• 8 pm- Journal, work on nonprofit stuff, or relax and talk to the locals, and salsa dancing possibly!