Sun burned and Burned out.
In just about every sense
of the word, I'm fried.
Random something I really like about Guatemala: An appropriate response to the question “How are you?” is “I am here.” While it is not always true that I am the typical American response of “fine”, I am, in fact, always “here”.
Random something I’m not so fond of: Guatemalans do NOT know how to wait in line. It is something they just don’t do here. If you are in a public restroom, you literally have to stake out a stall. Seriously, it takes strategy. First you pick the stall you think might free up first (and, just like grocery store lines, without fail you will choose wrong). You then have to basically paste yourself to the door of said stall until you hear the lock start to slide from the other side. This is the tricky part. As the stall occupier exits, you must simultaneously squeeze into the stall, leaving absolutely no spaces between you, stall leaver, and door for any particularly swift stall stealer to sneak through. If you try to take the “high road” and politely stand in line in a public restroom in Guatemala, you WILL pee your pants.
Restroom related rants aside, it has been a pretty quiet month in the East…probably mostly due to the fact that it is just way too hot to even move, much less do anything. April was filled with a lot of normal daily life in my little town. Besides the complete lack of oxygen, air conditioning, or an outlet to plug in a fan, it was kind of nice to have some down time.
The most exciting event has been Semana Santa. Holy Week/Easter here is probably one of the biggest celebrations- I got a whole week off of work for it and everything. Some of the other PCVs and I decided to take a little trip to Semuc Champey, which are natural limestone pools near Cobán. The area is full of outdoorsy and water activities, and we took full advantage. First we did a cave tour by candlelight, which, as the girl in front of me said as we followed Elvis (our tour guide) into the damp, pitch-black cave, was “the perfect opening scene for a bad horror film”. It turned out to be very cool, but probably something I will never need to do again. We also tubed, swam, and explored the pools, which were absolutely beautiful. It was quite the nice little vacation, and the best part was coming home to pouringggg rain for the first time in a month! The true Seattle girl that I am, it was a very welcome sight.
Now it’s back to quiet small town life… at least until the next adventure =)
Semuc Champey:
