My stay in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala

My final letter - to my Guatemalan family

2009-06-24T12:53:00.000-07:00

For my final post, I thought I would just share my final letter to my Guatemalan family, mostly to my 54-year-old “Mom” and 80-year-old grandma, Francisca, who took care of me everyday in Quetzaltenango and invited me into their own family through food, invitations to family occasions, but most of all, through sharing their thoughts, perspectives, and feelings with me little by little each day. I will start with the Spanish I wrote and gave to them the morning before I left but I’ll put an English translation below…

Querida Antonietta y Francisca, y la familia Sum,

No puedo explicarles en palabras lo que esta experiencia ha significado para mí. Su amistad, compasión, optimismo y amor es una inspiración. Antes, nunca había tenido una experiencia sintiéndome como parte de una nueva familia. Desde el primer día, de mi viaje, ustedes se han relacionado conmigo con tanto amor. Ustedes son mis maestras no sólo de español sino también de su cultura tan especial y su estilo de vida que ustedes han desarrollado durante una vida llena de alegría y también, de desafíos. Cuando me han compartido sus pensamientos y perspectivas, me han dado una vista importante del mundo. Somos de lugares y orígenes diferentes pero podemos compartir nuestras perspectivas de la vida y esto es una cosa buenísima.

Especialmente, he disfrutado platicando con ustedes sobre nuestras diferentes religiones. Ustedes tienen una pasión linda por Dios y al final, una pasión para pasar su vida dando amor a otras personas. A través de sus bendiciones, oraciones, enseñanzas, y acciones generosas, sus amigos se pueden sentir más satisfechos con sus alrededores. Lo bonito es que podemos apoyarnos por medio de nuestras diferentes experiencias.

También, quisiera decirles que su cuidado diario para mí – la comida, las invitaciones a sus eventos y su atención tierna - ha hecho mi estancia acá muy agradable. A veces, es muy difícil para los estudiantes extranjeros acostumbrarse por el idioma y la cultura diferente en Guatemala. No obstante, yo tengo suerte de haber vivido en su casa. Gracias por siempre platicar conmigo durante las comidas y por frecuentemente preguntarme de mis preferencias. Son estas cosas pequeñas que han hecho mi experiencia acá tan especial. Yo puedo ver que ustedes tienen mucha experiencia cuidado tiernamente a estudiantes, y por eso, yo he tenido una estancia perfecta acá en Xela.

Voy a extrañarles toda mi vida y nunca voy a olvidarles. Ojalá que yo pudiera visitarles en junio o en julio que viene cuando tenga una vacación de la facultad. Por supuesto, voy a llamarles por teléfono cuando yo tenga planes. También, tenemos que mantener contacto. Yo quisiera escribirles cartas a menudo y ustedes siempre pueden llamarme por teléfono.

Además, siempre les espero a ustedes, a sus parientes, y a sus amigos en Houston. Cuando cualquiera de estas personas estén en la ciudad, ¡POR FAVOR de llámenme y yo puedo recoger a estas personas para ayudarlos en una cuidad extranjera. Me encantaría visitar y platicar con sus familiares en cualquier momento.

¡Qué les vaya bien y que vivan más años repletos de alegría, diversión, amor, platica, y por supuesto, un pocito de descanso!

Con mucho amor,
Sarah Beth Christine

~

Dear Antonietta and Francisca and the family Sum,

I cannot explain in worlds what this experience has meant to me. Your friendship, compassion, optimism and love are an inspiration. Before, I had not had an experience feeling like part of a new family. From the first day of my trip, you related with me with so much love. You are my teachers not just of Spanish but also of your very special culture and your way of life that you have developed during a life full of happiness and also, of challenges. When you shared your thoughts and perspectives, you gave me an important view of the world. We are from different places and different origins but we can share our perspectives of life and this is a very beautiful thing.

Especially, I have enjoyed talking with you about our different religions. You have a beautiful passion for God and all-in-all, a passion to live your life giving love to others. Through your prayers, services, teachings, and generous actions, your friends can feel more satisfied with their surroundings. What is beautiful is that we can support each other through our different experiences.

Also, I would like to tell you that your daily care of me – the food, the invitations to your events, and your tender care – has made my stay here so pleasant. At times, it is very difficult for foreign students to accustom themselves because of the different language and culture here in Guatemala. Nonetheless, I have had luck having lived en your house. Thank you for always talking with me during meals and for frequently asking me about my preferences. It is these small things that have made my experience here so special. I can see that you have a lot of experience taking good care of students, and for this, I have had a perfect stay here in Xela.

I am going to miss you all my life and I will never forget you. Hopefully I can visit in June or July of next year when I have a vacation. Of course, I will call you when I have plans. Also, we must keep in touch. I would like to write you cards often, and you can always call me.

Furthermore, I always welcome you, your relatives, and your friends in Houston. When any of these people are in the city, PLEASE call me and I can pick them up to help them in a foreign city! I would love to visit and talk with your friends in any moment.

I hope all goes well and that you live more years full of happiness, fun, love, talk, and of course, a bit of rest!

With much love,
Sarah Beth Christine

My final project - research about the access to laboratories in Guatemala and the relationship of that access to treatment of common infections

2009-06-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

Academically, we wrapped up the trip when everyone in the group wrote a research project on a topic related to health in Latin America. There were such interesting topics, including the economic effects of Latin American immigrants in the U.S., homosexuality in Quetzaltenango, the importance of HPV screening/education in Guatemala, the advantages of legalizing abortion, remittances, cardiovascular disease and nutrition, a traveler’s guide to Xela, the present health issues of contaminated water, and the issues with processed food and agriculture in the country. When we presented these projects to each other the second-to-last day of the program, I definitely learned a lot!

I got the idea for my paper from working in the social clinic I.C.A. A lot of children and adults come in with infections every day – food poisoning in their intestines, bacterial infections in their lungs and throat, and lots of improperly treated viral colds. They do not have a lot of access to medication (the only place to get free medication is in the hospital) and the same lack of access applies to laboratory tests (for instance to test their feces or sputum for bacteria/virus/parasites). I actually got a bacterial infection from street food back in February, and the first thing I did was get a lab test to make sure it was in fact bacterial (rather than just viral or from parasites) to make sure that taking an antibiotic was the right thing. Most people in Xela do not have that luxury.

Therefore my thesis statement consisted of the following – “The improper treatment of throat, lung, and intestinal infections and the resistance to antibiotics are serious problems in Latin America and Guatemala, and we need to improve this as soon as possible. An important way to do this is increase access to laboratories for the general Guatemalan population.”

Or in Spanish –
“El tratamiento equivocado de las infecciones de la garganta, de los pulmones, y de los intestinos y la resistencia a los antibióticos son problemas serios en América Latina y Guatemala, y necesitamos mejorarlo lo antes que podamos. Un medio importante para hacerlo es aumentar el acceso a los laboratorios.”

My report had a lot of background information related to the incidence of infection in Latin America, the history or antibiotic resistance in Latin American countries, and a few interviews with doctors in the United Status (thank you to everyone who took time to help me out!) about the prevalence of antibiotic resistance and the relative importance of the clinical history and laboratory tests in diagnosing the causes of common infections. We need a lot of things in Guatemala the improve the treatment of infections – more doctors, more facilities, education, and of course more laboratory tests, but I also looked at the financial tangibility of the government (or maybe international donors) providing more services – one of my points is that giving free lab tests to people who need them is cheaper than hiring a doctor to give free consults.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me with this paper (if you want to read it I can e-mail it to you, just be aware it’s in Spanish right now). I really enjoyed writing it, and actually I still want to make a lot of modifications and submit it for a possible research grant to go back to Guatemala and possibly visit Honduras/Nicaragua next summer. We’ll see what happens :)

Multiple Goodbyes

2009-06-24T08:41:00.001-07:00

Because of a few of the groupies leaving Guatemala for personal events and work, we actually had our goodbye dinner the first week in June at “Sabor de la India,” a surprisingly great Indian restaurant in Xela! Dinners with the group are never dull, complete with a homemade music video, a slide show, superlatives, and of course, awesome speeches.

The starts of our “Boyz 2 Men in Guatemala” video…

And some speeches,

"Somos Hermanos" Diplomas!

And the Tuesday morning of our last week (the morning before Raquel left for TFA!), Judy prepared us all a delicious banana-pancake breakfast and we had our official graduation from Spanish class at the school!

Making pancakes!

And Maya gave out the beautiful friendship bracelets she made for everyone :)

The graduation in the backyard of the school with the group, our teachers, and my Guatemalan family even came!
Maya and Raquel sang a song for entertainment in true SH tradition...

One of the teacher's Johanna making some nice comments about one of her favorite students, Ricardo,

Receiving my diploma from my teacher from the last week, Claudia,

Antonietta (aka my Guatemalan "mom") came,

We made speeches too :)...

Last 4 Weeks in Xela and a "Christmas" Party!

2009-06-24T08:36:00.001-07:00

When I got back to Xela after dropping off my UPenn girls back at the airport, I was sadly faced with my final four weeks in Guatemala, studying, conferencing, and writing my thesis. But all these things are such great projects, and I got to face it all hanging out with my all of the awesome “Somos Hermanos crew!” y tenemos que aprovechar (we have to seize the day)! And after these four weeks, I definitely think we did take advantage of our rapidly passing 6 months.

For the last four weeks, we no longer have volunteer projects, but instead focus on our Spanish back in private tutoring Monday-Friday for 4 hours every morning. The program is definitely designed well, giving us time to solidify the Spanish we’ve learned and tie up all the culture things we’ve been exposed to in our theses.

But despite the hard work, our group definitely found the time to have a lot of fun.

Example = “Navidad en Junio (Christmas in June)" party hosted by Judy and Raquel
Note – the awesome costumes and decorations :)
The hosts…

Doña Santa Claus and her awesome cookies (Jess, master baker)

Scrooge and the little drummer girl (Brooke and Rekha)

THE SOMOS HERMANOS GUATEMALAN CHRISTMAS CREW!
Note – 5/11 of us are Jewish :)

Roles include (from bottom to top, left to right)
Jesus = Ricky
A present = Sharon
~
Doña (Mrs.) Santa Claus = Jess
The happy hosts = Judy and Raquel
Christmas caroler = Maya
~
Excited Christmas kid = Miguel
“Christmas Nice…” = me
Scrooge = Brooke
Drummer girl = Rekha
Storm = Hang

Jammin’ to the Christmas tunes

Jen, Jackie, and Ainsley Visit!!

2009-06-24T08:35:00.001-07:00

Thanks to a great Expedia deal, a few of my UPenn roommates came to visit me right after my trip to El Salvador! They were good sports, because adjusting to the discomforts of Guatemala is a bit of a challenge, but with only 5 days off from work (over the weekend for Memorial Day), I think we saw some great sites of Guatemala and had some fun times.

I loved showing my girls the beautiful parts of Guatemala that I’ve already seen, and it was wonderful catching up after months of being apart. From the airport on Friday, we went straight to San Pedro, a fun village on the beautiful “Lake Atitlan.” We went kayaking, where Jen and Ains unfortunately got horrible sun burns, but it was good exercise and the view was beautiful. San Pedro is also known for its shopping, awesome food (Israeli and French food included!), and interesting back packing crowd.

Lunch at a cafe on the lake…

Dinner at “Zoola” – our hotel and taste of Israeli food in Guatemala

Sunday I got to take them to Chichistenango (my first time too!) – the biggest artisan market in Guatemala (with two big days each week, conveniently for us on Tuesday and Sunday)

With our awesome buys :)

We finished the trip back in Antigua, the old colonial capital close to Guatemala City. We took it easy taking in the beauty of the city and checking out some churches and museums on the way.

In Central Park,

And around more of Antigua...

Catching up - a Tour of El Salvador

2009-06-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

One of the main parts of the Somos Hermanos program is a 10-day political/social/cultural tour of El Salvador, where we learned about the history of the country, visited rural communities, and conferenced/discussed the current political situation. The trip was a life changing experience, especially sleeping in the one-room houses in two of the rural communities. Like Guatemala, the tiny country of El Salvador was overwhelmed by a 12-year (started in 1980) civil war. But even worse than Guatemala (mostly because of the small size of the country), the entire indigenous population was wiped out (or lost their culture). In El Salvador today, you do not see any traditional clothing or indigenous cultural traditions.

During our tour, we were based at a guest house in San Salvador, the capital. Our trip was organized by a great non-profit organization there, called “Centro de Intercambio y Solaridad (Center of Exchange and Solidarity)” and we had a guide named Christie (www.cis-elsalvador.org). She was born in El Salvador and so nice and intelligent. She spoke great English but of course spoke none of that to us so we could practice our Spanish :) San Salvador is a very busy, crowded city (a lot like Guatemala City in some ways), but there was a lot to learn too. In 1980, when the army started massacring many of the indigenous populations to take their land (and also out of pure racism as well), the Catholic archbishop, Óscar Romero, stood up in protest against the army. Before and after his assassination by the army, he was a huge inspiration to the poor population – you see paintings and statues dedicated to him everywhere. Much of the history we learned focused around him. You can see a statue dedicated to him in one of the main churches in San Salvador…

Another highlight of this trip was definitely the food. At guest house in San Salvador, a lady named Carmencita made all our meals – complete with thick and fresh corn tortillas, fresh veggies and fruit, and of course, black beans! El Salvador is also famous for “pupusas” – thick, hand-made corn biscuit-like flat bread (made using masa de maíz, a maize flour dough used in a lot of Latin America) that is stuffed with one or more of the following beans, meat, or beans and cheese that actually are not a tradition of indigenous communities but rather just developed into something popular in recent years. Below you can see the ladies grilling tons of pupusas outside a great “pupusería” we visited for dinner.

Pupusas!

Hanging out after dinner at the guest house…

As I said before, one of the most emotionally charged parts of the trip was the visits (two of which were overnight) to the rural communities. We brought lots of piñatas for the kids and were lucky enough to sit and listen to their stories of economic and emotional hardship throughout the civil war and recent years. In a community called San Antonio, the community is fortunately semi-self-sustaining with a new bakery and a small association of people who give prescriptions to people who are sick, but they do not have the capacity to change their status much more. The family we stayed with for the night had 6 people (2 young children included) living in one room filled with their four beds and a small kitchen attached. Raquel and I sat with the family for a couple hours that night in their house (everyone stayed with different families in pairs), and the father told us about how the community has the capacity to grow food and sell it, but in El Salvador today, there are not any buyers. Most of the rest of the rural population is similarly struggling to self-sustain their own communities and are not going to buy goods from the others.

A couple pictures of one of the houses in a rural community (called “Cinquera”) where we stayed for the night –

…In this room, there are 3 beds are on the other side of the room and you can see one of their babies sleeping on the floor.

And unfortunately, there is not much government relief for these communities but rather more challenges. In the first community we visited the community leaders told us about their recent struggles just to keep their land. The government wants to charge them inordinate amounts of taxes (basically to take their land away). What is even more unjust is that the taxes that they might charge to big international companies is much lower – there is a lot of government corruption related to business and personal interests mixed. But despite all these depressing issues, I was very touched by the optimism, compassion, and wonderful personality these people had. We had so much fun breaking piñatas, eating traditional lunches, exploring the country side, playing games, and just talking casually to all these people.

A short hike in one of the first communities we visited –

And afterward chilling by a waterfall

¡PIÑATA FUN!

…he has his candy in his shirt, :)

The people of “La Loma” put on a show for us…

Then we played “duck-duck-goose” or “pato-pato-ganso…”

At one of the communities where they sustain themselves by dying and designing clothes with indigo dye, we got to learn how they make the designs – they sew the white cloth before dying it to produce some beautiful patterns.

The original sewing…

And the final product

All-in-all, my experience in El Salvador was a very special one. We finished off the trip by meeting with the leftist political party, FMLN that gratefully, just got the presidency a few weeks ago! It was so interesting to hear from the FMLN advisors about their possible plans to extend health care and education. Hopefully, little by little, this is a step in the right direction to helping stop corruption in government and redistribute the resources to the poorer populations.

On the very last day of the trip, we had a conference at a Jesuit private university, “Universidad Centroamericana” in San Salvador with Dean Brackley, a professor originally from the United States who has been working in El Salvador for many years. He has a really great perspective of the history and current problems facing the majority of the population in El Salvador. If you want to read one of his famous articles, it’s called “Ruined for Life.” We talked to him about the trials with the Catholic church during the war, immigration (In Central America, El Salvador has the HIGHEST percentage of its population living in the United States, sending remittances back to the country), and we had the opportunity to reflect on having saw such depressing poverty. It was tough seeing all these kids living in such tough conditions. It depresses you about the state of the world, but at the same time, it motivates you to do more in your life. I have definitely changed my feelings about what specialty I may choose in medical school – I’m thinking of choosing a specialty more related to the third world. I never thought about it much before, but some specialties are not as applicable in the third world – countries like this do not really need advanced cancer therapy research, but rather, they just need basic surgery and primary care of their daily colds and infections. Anyway, we’ll see what happens in the future. It all depends on how I decide to focus my career.

Anyway, Dean Brackley helped us tie up our thoughts and impressions of the trip up well. Reflecting on the experience of facing poverty he told us one of his famous quotes, “It’s the great gift of the poor to break your heart and make you fall in love and return you ruined for life.”

Seeing Mayan Ruins - Tikal and Belize

2009-05-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

In my time between our main group trips to Oaxaca and then our 10-day tour of El Salvador, Jess, Maya, and I (2 other girls from our group) traveled in 4 days to Tikal to see one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of Mayans and to San Ignacio, Belize to climb through a cave with stalagmite, Mayan pottery, and even intact Mayan skeletons!

Our trip was a fun challenge at times: after a four hour bus ride from Xela to Guatemala City, our 9-hour planned overnight bus ride to the North of Guatemala turned out to take 15 hours and 45 min. because of multiple standstill traffic jams throughout the night. When we finally got to the city of Flores, we decided to see the Tikal pyramids with fresh energy. So, we checked into a cute little backpackers' hostel and took it easy for the rest of the day.

At 4:30 the next morning we headed to Tikal to catch an early morning tour. We drove into the official park property at 6am, the moment the park opened. The early morning tour was definitely a great idea - without the strong sun, we were able to see spider monkeys, toucans, and other birds and get glimpses of little mammals - one was called a "pizote"

We climbed up the pyramids, sometimes up stone steps and other times up steep, wooden ladders. Temple V was a highlight...apparently, they used the area to film plane races from "Return of the Jedi." At around noon we headed bak to the hostel, had lunch, and shared a yummy homemade brownie and ice cream, and headed to the Belizean border.

On top of Temple V! ->

We were worried about the border closing before we crossed that night b/c the cab ride from Flores took almost 2 hours but we had no problems. In the first minutes driving in from the border, we noticed so many differences between Guatemala and Belize. Most of the houses had beautiful finishes (felt a lot more "USA" style), there was cut grass and "Century 21" signs, and a lot fewer pot holes. It was weird to have a bit of a "culture shock" during a 10-minute drive from one Central American country to another. In reality, Belize still has significant poverty and corruption in government like in Guatemala, but the wealth seems a bit more spread than in Guatemala. When we got to San Ignacio, we found a cute little family-owned hotel in San Ignacio, Belize. The next morning at 8am we got ready for our tour to swim in and explore the ATM cave!

The travel rush to Belize was definitely worth it when we swam into the cave to see thousand-year-old natural formations, in tact Mayan pots, and even an intact skeleton of a young Mayan woman fro around 900 AD! The tour group we were with included our guide who had been going into the cave for 10 years, one girl from San Ignacio, 2 girls studying finance from Toronto, an Australian insurance worker, and another couple. It was fun exchanging travel stories during the tour.

The skeleton of the Mayan young woman!

Outside the entrance to the ATM cave -

That night after the cave we picked up a pizza and rushed back to the Guatemalan border in time to pick up an 9pm bus straight from the border to Guatemala City over the night. Then we were able to relax all day in Maya's friend's apartment where we showed, slept, and took a long visit to the high-class Guatemalan City mall...a great end to our little adventure before El Salvador!

Meeting a Guatemalan Midwife

2009-05-05T11:38:00.000-07:00

For our weekly group conference, we got the pleasure of hearing from a Guatemalan woman named Berta who has been delivering babies in Xela for 24 years. This conference was particularly interesting because she told us about the therapy, plants, bathing rituals, and massages that she uses to take care of the mother, the delivery, and her newborn baby afterward. Midwives are particularly important in Guatemala because of the less than satisfactory treatment of pregnant women in hospitals. The hospitals in Guatemala (if there is even access) are overwhelmed with pregnant women and therefore, 80% of all deliveries happen in the home.

Berta and other midwives are so involved with the women in their community. They consult with women when they have irregular menstruation, when women think they may be pregnant and of course throughout a woman’s pregnancy (if it’s a normal pregnancy, every month). Berta has very interesting methods. She observes the woman laying down (her breasts, vagina, eyes, etc.) to determine the pregnancy. She also makes teas out of plants like chamomile to alleviate intestinal gas, corn “hair” to cure vaginal infections, “pimpinella” to strengthen contractions (has a natural form of oxytocin, the contraction hormone), and “milenrama” to prevent hemorrhages.

Another important part of a Guatemalan midwife’s treatment is massages and bathes. She massages every part of a woman (her arms, breasts, stomach, legs, etc.) after the pregnancy to relax the woman and help with the discharge of the placenta. She even did a demonstration of this massage with Judy (a girl in my group).

I learned a lot by listening to Berta talk. What’s wonderful about her is that she gives very complete care to the woman and her baby. Berta always looks out for more serious medical problems in pregnancy (like ectopic pregnancy or a baby in the wrong position in utero) but sadly, she is not allowed into the hospital with the mother. Hopefully someday, doctors and midwives can work together (which in limited cases they do) both in Guatemala and the States, because together, I think the care of a pregnant woman is much more complete and safer.

Hike up Santa Maria and the Earthquake!

2009-05-03T17:58:00.000-07:00

This morning at 4am after returning from our wonderful "quarantine," Sharon, Maya, and I climbed Santa Maria, an active volcano, a half hour outside of Xela. Our friend, Steve, here in Xela, who has climbed the volcano two times before was nice enough to be our awesome guide.

On our way to the base of Santa Maria -

The climb up (including these slightly cute stray dogs who accompanied us up) -

I'm falling in love with these hikes in Guatemala. The views are beautiful and the air is so fresh (especially compared to Xela). Although it was tough getting out of our beds before the sunrise, it felt great to get moving. Around 7am, the clouds moved in really fast and I expected a pretty normal time on top of the summit eating our peanut butter and honey sandwiches, but there were a lot more surprises! The clouds moved away in time for some great pictures.

After some picture taking, we sat close to warm up and waited for San Aguito to erupt (the active part of the volcano along side the summit of Santa Maria). As we sat there, the ground started to move! We were on top of a volcano to feel at 36-second, 6.1 grade earthquake!!! I've never felt an earthquake that strong before, and we found out later that the entire city of Xela felt the quake too. It felt like we were on a moving building on top of the volcano. It was scary (we later found out an earthquake like that can actually cause a huge cave-in of the summit) but pretty fun especially in retrospect.

20 minutes later, after recovering from the earthquake, we were still waiting to see San Aguito erupt and as we gave up and started to walk away from our viewpoint, I heard Sharon calling, "It's erupting!" It was an amazing site and experience We couldn't have had any better luck with choosing to go up the volcano today.

Trip to Oaxaca, Mexico and the Swine Flu Scare

2009-05-02T17:55:00.001-07:00

The group in the afternoon during our first sunny day in Oaxaca,

One of the main parts of the "Somos Hermanos" program is learning the culture and language of Latin America, and in addition to our months studying in Guatemala, we take a week long trip to Oaxaca, Mexico to live with a family, learn about their culture, and take class with Mexican teachers to learn Mexican-Spanish. This is such an important part of our program to ensure that we can learn how to be better health care providers for immigrant populations in the U.S.

The family we stayed with in Oaxaca was a wonderful family. I lived with my friend Rekha from the program in a beautiful little house with a sweet Oaxacan woman named Conchita. Rekha and I felt exceptionally lucky with this nice family who lovingly picked is up at the bus station with a little, handwritten sign when we arrived Sunday morning in Oaxaca. Conchita and her husband, Luis drove us to their house and served us fresh fruit, yogurt, and homemade granola. It wasn't long until we learned that Conchita takes care of the house and many students as well as teaches Oaxacan cooking classes! Between the Oaxacan cheese, homemade mole sauce, fresh tamales (otherwise known here and in Guatemalan and Oaxaca as "tamalitos") we definitely got the heavenly Oaxacan food experience!

It was also great living with Conchita and her family because the family could give us even more information about the prideful and rich Oaxacan culture. Conchita's family had lived in her beautiful house for over 3 generations before. Also, just by eating our three meals at home, we noticed the different ways Mexicans would speak Spanish. Guatemalan's always say "vaya" when they're agreeing, but Conchita was constantly saying "andale." It was great to get a bit more familiar with other speaking patterns in Central America.

Our Spanish classes in the mornings in Oaxaca helped with this learning process too. We had a great, exciting teacher named Octavio who went through all the history of Mexican community (mainly their community values like respect for elders and even fiestas!), and he defined lots of vocabulary that you can't find in the dictionary, for example "Toda la madre!" = Perfect!

A picture at border control on the Guatemalan side on our day long bus trip to Chiapas, Mexico -

Maya and I on the Mexican side (with the "Welcome to Chiapas" sign in the background, which is the southernmost region of Mexico)

Trying out the famous Oaxacan "nieve" (water-ice),

Unfortunately, after a day in Oaxaca, the cases of swine flu in Mexico City (200 miles north of Oaxaca) began to rise, and anxiety abut the flu rose as well. Our group, "Somos Hermanos" immediately began investigating the flu and our risk of being exposed to the disease. We searched out some Tamiflu and monitored the news closely, and after about a day, we decided to leave Oaxaca early to avoid any risk of contracting the disease, and more importantly avoid problems at the border (there were rumors of the Mexican-Guatemalan border closing and of possible quarantines there). With all this anxiety, we were all pretty bummed, but in the afternoon we had left, we had a little time for a few jokes...

Wearing our newly bought masks that supposedly prevented the air transmission of swine flu. (However, after my own research, I don't think that these masks make a huge difference on exposure to the flu although the government distributed them for free probably more to calm the general population, and even more, there were hardly any cases in Oaxaca.)

The swine flu unfortunately cut out Oaxacan study trip short, but in the two days we were there, we definitely took advantage of a lot of the wonderful things to do in Oaxaca.

Oaxaca is a very old city with so much history, culture, and beauty. The city is so clean and elegant, full of markets, stores, and beautiful architecture. The first afternoon (after sleeping all morning to recover from the overnight bus ride), we wandered around the city to the main square, called the "Zocalo," where we tried a Oaxacan delicacy called "chapulines" or fried grasshopper (they didn't taste like much of anything except crunch) and wandered around the market to look at clothing, little art toys, and artwork.

Monday afternoon after our first Mexican-Spanish group class, we were fortunate enough to have our trip to Monte Alban, home of the ruins of the Zapotecs (a really strong and intelligent indigenous population before the Aztecs around 500 B.C.). The afternoon was hot but clear, and it was amazing to see and even climb the pyramids that these people had built so long ago.

A bit more of our "quarantine" pictures in Monte Alban... we're "flu fugitives" :)

The famous "Danzante" stone artwork in "Monte Alban." This stone below is probably a depiction of a pregnant women having the baby. These depictions may have been religious or possibly, just an outlet of creativity, but I found the stones very beautiful. And even more exciting was the fact that so many of these stone depictions are still in tact after all this time!

The second (and unfortunately last afternoon) in Oaxaca, we wandered around getting in some last minute shopping and wandered into the beautiful Santo Domingo cathedral, with its baroque architecture from 1572 -

That night we went all out with a heavenly Oaxacan dinner downtown before our quick escape from Oaxaca...the mole sauce, Oaxacan cheese (and even cheesecake), and sangria were divine!

As we made our way back to Guatemala that night after dinner (an overnight bus ride again to Chiapas) we were informed that we would not be going directly back to our houses in Xela as to not put anyone else in risk of getting the swine flu from us. Although none of us showed any symptoms of flu, we decided to spend two days at a government resort in Reu, 45 minutes outside of Xela. Despite being "quarantined" for 72 hours, our group had tons of fun at this resort - it was beautiful with its tennis courts, large pool complete with water slides, a badminton and mini-golf court. We felt like we were on a cruise ship on land.

There were even huge amounts of peacocks wandering the resort!

After two days, we headed back to our coordinator Liz's house in Xela to spend one last night before returning to our families. We ordered Domino's and watched movies all night, and I think the group definitely had a great time being "quarantined." In fact, we were a bit sad to leave each other after spending the whole week traveling together. The whole experience makes us even more excited for our 10 day trip to El Salvador in about a week.

Also, thanks to everyone for their concern. I know that with the media-craziness and general uncertainty a lot of you were very worried about my proximity to the swine flu pandemic in Mexico City. I'm sorry you were so worried, but now I am safe and sound (and healthy) back in Xela, and I miss you all and hope for the best for everyone.

Love,
Sarah

Local Salsa Benefit

2009-04-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

Last night, my friend Melissa organized this awesome salsa benefit for "Seguras Perspectivas" a school for young children here in Xela. It was so fun and a great success! There were a ton of people who came, bought raffle tickets, and danced throughout the night. I won an hour at the gym here in Xela, haha. The exhibition was amazing too! It was one of the first times in a long time that all the salsa schools came to the same event to support a great cause. And for those of you who are my UPenn friends, the exhibition was just like "Onda Latina" all over again - I had a great time!

A weekend trip to natural hot springs, "Fuentes Georginas"

2009-04-20T11:33:00.000-07:00

Miguel and I trying out the hot springs...

This past weekend, we took things rather easy which is good because in a week, we'll be heading to Oaxaca, Mexico to study Mexican Spanish for a week. On Sunday morning, we visited "Fuentes Georginas" a natural hot spring about an hour outside Xela.

On our way in Hugo's pickup...

The hot spring was fun! Like a sauna but natural, and it was a great little activity for relaxation. We just sat around the sauna all morning, talking and swimming. We also brought lots of food with us to barbecue hamburgers and chicken. Liz's (our coordinator) boyfriend, Hugo, made us some awesome special hamburgers with his own personal sauce.

Maya eating her first hamburger in 3.5 months b/c she finally got kosher meat from a chabad rabbi in Guatemala City!

Hearing a story of illegal immigration

2009-04-15T19:58:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had a conference on immigration with a man who told his story about immigrating from Guatemala to Los Angeles when he was a teenager. I've read a couple books (like "Enrique's Journey") and watched movies ("El Norte") about illegal immigration, but it was very different hearing the story in person. The man told us he immigrated from Cajola, Guatemala through Mexico and Houston in 1996 with a group of other young men. They had no idea about where they were going, calling it "El Norte" just like the movie, and suffered a lot on their way. They paid the guides a lot of money and had a few failed attempts when they first tried to get through Mexico because the guide did not have much idea of where to go either. At times, they had no money and slept in the mountains with just a little piece of bread. Once through the border (only some of the group) they lied and said they were Mexican as to not get deported all the way back to Guatemala. When he got to Houston, he said that many immigrants were assaulted at gunpoint(women and children too), but that finally when he got to Los Angeles to visit some of his family, he could finally find work and build more of a life. He stayed in Los Angeles for 10 years.

After he told his story, another woman (half American, half Guatemalan) shared her experiences from Morristown, New Jersey, helping immigrants find work. She told us about conflicting laws in the U.S. that say that immigrants who marry U.S. citizens can become legal citizens, but if they were caught as illegal immigrants in the past, they are disqualified from this right.

I'm glad we're starting to talk about immigration, and it was great to hear the firsthand perspective of both these people. While I was back in the states last week looking for an apartment, I visited relatives (a niece and her husband and two daughters) of my family here in Guatemala, and they were so warm! We had a great conversation, but it was also shocking going into this neighborhood 20 minutes from my house which was like a little Mexico/Guatemala. Everyone in the apartment complex spoke Spanish. I was also shocked to learn that their two daughters (age 6 and 7) hardly speak a word of English after living practically their whole lives in Houston. There are so many Spanish speakers in the public school where they study that they only have English lessons once a day and for the rest of the time, speak in Spanish. It's sad that these young girls do not have the resources to learn English in the U.S. because that's what they need to change their economic status in the future.

The Hispanic population in the U.S. is so much bigger than I've realized in the past and there are so many issues - immigration rights, education rights, access to health, etc. I'm really thankful that I've gotten the chance to learn so much more about these issues and perhaps do something about it in the future.

Trip to a Coffee and Macadamia Nut Farm

2009-03-30T12:44:00.000-07:00

On our hike outside the plantation –

Our last weekend trip before my week trip back to Houston (I’ll be back next Saturday) was to an organic, cooperatively owned farm called “Nueva Alianza.” It was a nice, tranquil weekend near the coast of Guatemala where we got to drink coffee, play games, and learn about the history of this plantation.

We arrived at the plantation Saturday afternoon in time to enjoy a yummy white bean and rice lunch. We then got to tour the surrounding area on an easy hike where a guide described to us a lot of the plants that the community had used in the past for both food and natural medicine, especially when they were struggling without pay from their owner in the late 1990s. It was interesting to see and hear about plants like the “Flor de Campaña” (Flower of a tent) that they used for insomnia and other leaves that they would use to clean their intestines or stop hunger for a couple of days. Natural medicine like this is very common in a lot of Latin American countries including Guatemala, and I always like to learn more about the plants and herbs people believe in and still use.

“Flor de Campaña”

Macadamia nuts! - the green ones are at an earlier stage and the brown shelled ones are at a later stage in ripeness

We also learned about the general history of the plantation along with their ways of making coffee, purifying water and oil from the surrounding community, and preparing macadamia nuts to sell. Otherwise, we just took it easy lounging on the patio overlooking the jungle.

The view from the patio!

On Sunday morning we took another short hike to visit a pretty waterfall where practically the whole group climbed a few rocks to take in the view and of course, take some pictures. Overall, it was a fun, relaxing weekend.

Cross-country Hike from Xela to Lago Atitlan

2009-03-23T19:18:00.001-07:00

Me on top of the cliff "La Nariz" (means, "The Nose") overlooking Lake Atitlan the last day -

My second big hike here in Guatemala was an amazing experience. Walking through forests, villages, over mountains, and finally to the sacred Lake Atitlan, I got to see so much more of the country. I did this hike with the nonprofit hike group, "Quetzaltrekkers" again and it was just as good of an experience as my last two day hike with them up the volcano "Tajamulco."

However,this hike was much more of an endurance run. We were on our feet almost all day Saturday and Sunday, and it was tough, my feet are covered in blisters now, but like the hike in Tajamulco, it was an amazing challenge (especially at the end!). I loved seeing the post-card like scenes from the top of the mountains and it was a great experience to see the rural villages. The kids would just sit on the side of their houses and wave to our group...so cute!

Description of the hike - http://www.quetzaltrekkers.com/guatlake.html

As is traditional with "Quetzaltrekker" hikes, there were two Guatemalan kids with us on the hike. For this hike, two 13-year-old boys named Henry and Alvaro. The "Quetzaltrekkers" organization supports a clinic, a school, and a shelter here in Xela with their funds, and they also bring along 1-2 kids on all their hikes. Henry and Alvaro were definitely hyperactive, but great kids! It was fun to get to know them. Unfortunately I found out that Henry was abused as a child and ran away to live in the shelter (after living with a couple other families on the way), and now even at age 13, he wants to be a hike guide someday. He was always in the front of our line, telling us things about the hike. :)

The last day of the hike Monday was a lot of fun (and thankfully much shorter). As a highlight to the trip, we got up at 4 am and climbed a cliff for 20 minutes to watch the sunrise over the sacred Lake Atitlan. It was gorgeous and then we ate some yummy oatmeal on top of the mountain. We then went down the mountain to the lake and got to swim before heading home in a bus. I'm so glad I got the opportunity to do this hike. I don't know if I'll have time to hike much more b/c I'll be traveling a lot next month (to El Salvador and Oaxaca Mexico with the group), but I'm looking forward to hiking the volcano, Santa Maria with my group as well. Now to bed, because I'm exhausted, but miss you all! <3

The view of the lake before the sun came up Monday morning -

Henry and Alvaro curled up in a sleeping bag watching the sunrise -

Coffee beans!

Swimming in the beach at Lake Atitlan...

Observing Consultations at a Rural Clinic – “Salud Y Paz”

2009-03-17T18:12:00.000-07:00

Today, Tuesday, I got the chance to observe at a rural clinic outside the village of Camanchaj. At this point, I have gotten the chance to watch medical consults at a number of different clinics, and at each clinic I have learned so much about medicine and also noticed some interesting differences in the clinics. As I have mentioned before, the Guatemalan health system is technically public and free for citizens, but because of the lack of resources, the system, especially based in the large regional hospitals, is hardly sufficient. For this reason, these private, social clinics (Like Salud y Paz in Camanchaj and the ICA clinic I shadow in regularly) are a great resource for people with little money

Salud y Paz is very different from the ICA clinic however. It was started by a Texas Methodist pastor and now run by a committee of the national Methodist church of Guatemala. Salud y Paz charges for consults and medicines, but at a very discounted price while consults at ICA are totally free.

Salud y Paz also has a lot of resources that the ICA clinic (started by a Spanish school in the city of Quetzaltenango) does not. Luckily, they have a laboratory, surgical rooms (they don’t do surgeries regularly, but rather only every few months when teams of surgeons, usually foreign, visit for about a week. Last week a lot of my friends got the chance to observe hysterectomies, cyst removals and other related surgeries done by a team of Canadian surgeons), and a dental office. I found that the consults could be very thorough for patients with diabetes and other stomach/lung infections because of the lab/pharmacy resources they had right inside the same building. Patients could get their blood sugar checked the same day they had their appointment with their doctor.

The clinic definitely has its limits though, and many patients are forced to go to the regional hospital for surgeries, biopsies, and other serious organ complications. You can tell easily how hesitant most people are to go to the busy, disorganized hospitals. I can understand their hesitance because my friend Sharon told me that when she visited the regional hospital with her Guatemalan Mom who had a serious lung infection that the medical residents there barely spent time with patients and hastily wrote their medical notes on scraps of paper which they often lost moments after.

However, Salud y Paz really impressed me with the care they gave. I observed the medical consults of Dr. Freddy, who spent a good amount of time explaining to his patients the importance of diet and mental health to as many patients as possible. In a country where preventative medicine is rare and difficult to access, the work of Dr. Freddy is very special.

Entertaining kids in a rural community outside Huehuetenango and Other Celebrations

2009-03-16T19:04:00.000-07:00

Our group in front of the mural on the school...

Our weekend trip during these past few days was a bit different. The group went to visit a rural community to play soccer, hit a piñata with some kids, and paint a mural on a recently constructed school. It was great experience to spend time with a different kind of community – they live in a very isolated area, they don’t have a lot of resources, and everyone was there was so friendly and warm. The kids were so well-behaved too! Eight of us from our group attempted to entertain about 20 kids for about a day, but with the kids’ enthusiasm and good behavior, it wasn’t too hard.

We arrived around lunch time on Saturday and were welcomed by a lot of the community. As soon as we arrived, we were served a tasty stew with a heaping stack of homemade corn tortillas for lunch. We were then introduced to all the kids in their small school which consisted of 3 rooms and then started to play soccer and volleyball. The kids had so much energy. They tired us out after three hours, and after eating an amazing veggie soup for dinner, the entire group passed out before 10 o’clock.

On Sunday, we finished painting the mural with the kids (see pictures). and let the kids take their shots at the fish-shaped piñata. I was so amazed that the kids did not pick up one piece of candy until every one had a turn – so well-behaved! After the piñata, we said our goodbye’s and headed back to Xela in the back of a pick-up truck.

This past week was also great and busy – I’m continuing shadowing with the doctor in the social clinic. Dr. Sim (I normally just call him Javier) is letting me participate in the interviews and the physical exams. I usually start the interviews with a casual “How can we help you?” to start it off. I ask the basic questions about the patient’s symptoms and other basics about the medicines they are taking etc. and when I can’t think of any more questions, Javier takes over. I’m learning more and more medical vocabulary every day and getting great practice before being a translator next year back in the States.

The rest of the past week was interesting as well, complete with a Hamantashin party (Jewish cookies) for the Jewish holiday of Purim and a Shabbat dinner on Friday night, both of which were prepared by my American friends here, Jessica and Maya along with help of some of the other students in my group. And on Thursday night, we headed to downtown Xela for karaoke for my friend, Hang’s, 23rd birthday. For Purim, we even acted out the Purim story. I played the role of the wise old Mordecai. It’s funny because 5 out of 11 of the students in my program are Jewish (just by chance)…which makes for some awesome foody occasions.

The purim party...Ricky as King Ahasuerus, Raquel as Queen Esther, and Miguel as our very own (very enthusiastic) Haman!

My first Guatemalan Shabbat dinner - Maya lighting the candles, the food!, and Hang blowing out her birthday candles...

Hope everyone is doing well. Miss you! ¡Hasta pronto!

Shadowing in a social clinic

2009-03-03T12:24:00.000-08:00

This Monday, I started what will hopefully be a six-week experience shadowing a doctor in a free clinic. The office is funded by a Spanish school here in Xela, and is open to anyone in the mornings Monday-Friday. Dr. Javier Sim, the doctor who works there, seems really nice. I went for the first time Monday morning to observe his consults. Just listening to his interviews with patients was useful as I want to work as a translator in Houston next year. Being a translator will help me keep up my Spanish next year, and I’ve heard there’s a big need for translators too.

There were a lot of patients coming in Monday morning, many with stomach infections, serious colds, etc. The free clinic seems like a great idea, because without it, many Guatemalans in the area probably would not even see a doctor. However, there are definitely limits to the clinic. Javier told me that he only gets medicines (which are free to patients when possible) from the school once a month, so he does not always have resources to fill necessary prescriptions. Also, he does not have resources to do extensive tests. One older woman (in her 60s) came in complaining of severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, and she had also lost a lot of weight. Javier did a physical exam and prescribed her an antibiotic. Afterwords, he told me that her chronic stomach issues and especially her extreme loss of weight can be indicative of a more serious immune disorder like HIV. So, I asked him if she needed a blood test to test for the diseases, but Javier did not even mention it to the woman because he knew she could not afford the expensive blood test. This consult was obviously a bit depressing, but I think that Javier does a lot of good for many people as well.

Javier also told me that he wants me to participate more. He asked me to read about general clinical examinations as homework, and eventually, he wants to conduct a few of these exams and some of the interviews. I’m nervous about actually interacting with the patients in Spanish, but I’m hopeful for a great experience over the next couple of months.

Weekend trip to Antigua and "Earth Lodge"

2009-03-02T16:43:00.000-08:00

The group on Saturday at "Earth Lodge" outside of Antigua...

This past weekend, the group took a weekend trip to Antigua, the old colonial capital of Guatemala. The Spanish declared Antigua the capital in 1543 after a disastrous mudslide in the capital city before. In the early afternoon on Friday, we arrived in Antigua by bus and got the chance to wander and explore the city. We ate bagels for lunch in the central park with its fountains and beautiful trees (pictures included) and a cathedral in the background. Then, we walked around to see a few of the old churches and visited an old convent. The convent, named "La Capuchinas" was a convent built in 1736 and run by nuns from Madrid. Destroyed repeatedly by earthquakes it is now a museum reflecting religious colonial life. Also, the city had a lot of tourists (much more than Xela), but the air was fresh and seeing the beautiful buildings was nice.

Pictured below - Rachel and I in the central park, the old Capuchinas Convent in Antigua

On Saturday morning we drove out of the city to a hotel called, “Earth Lodge.” We spent the day doing easy hikes around the area, playing games like darts and “bananagrams,” and relaxing in hammocks. The hotel is a pretty cool place because it’s one of the few places that are environmentally friendly in Guatemala. Also, they donate a lot of their funds to help local kids get through school.

The view during the drive from Antigua to the Earth Lodge -

Pictured below, the sign welcoming us to Earth Lodge and a few of us on our little hike near the hotel

Teaching my first womens´ health class

2009-03-02T16:36:00.000-08:00

The Guatemalan women of our weekly general health class on the first day...

Rachel, Judy, Sharon, and I preparing for our first class, making our (suggestion/question/comment) box!

One of my main community service projects here in Guatemala is teaching (along with three other girls from my group) a womens’ health class in Spanish every week. This past week was our first class on Thursday night, which was mainly an introduction – we will be deciding on what health topics we’ll teach based on what the ladies want to learn. We each introduced ourselves individually (name, where we’re from, and of course our favorite food!), and then the women introduced themselves. I’m looking forward to getting to know these women. They are all so positive about life, and they seemed so excited to learn, especially so they can bring the lessons they learn back to their families and neighborhoods.

After the introductions, we did a short trivia quiz about various health topics, and that got the conversation going. The ladies are not hesitant to make comments and ask questions, creating a great learning environment. They were already debating with us about the existence of a law that declares health as universal right in Guatemala (the law exists in the 96’ Peace Accords but it’s not enforced). In the last half hour of the class, we talked more about health topics for classes in the future. Our next classes will probably include nutrition (how to be nutritious in an economic way), infectious diseases, and cancer.

Shadowing in a rural community, Santa Rita

2009-02-24T11:57:00.000-08:00

This morning, Rachel (another student in the Somos Hermanos group) and I visited the health center in Santa Rita, a small, rural community located about 30 minutes by bus from Xela. The people of this community were very warm, and we learned so much. I may go back there again depending on my other opportunities for shadowing.

We visited a small "Puesto de Salud" where they have medicines for the community and the doctor, Jose Manuel, comes in to do consults every Tuesday morning. He also works the rest of the week in another community, called Esperanza. There, he works in the public clinic in the morning and his private clinic in the afternoons.

Rachel and I both got the opportunity to sit in on some of his consults. Jose was so wonderful, because after each consult, he sat with us individually for a bit to answer our questions. The first consult I observed was with a women and her five year old son. The son had a flu and the women had inflammation in her stomach/intestines. I learned a lot of useful vocabulary simply by listening. It was also interesting hearing the doctor´s advice to the woman - she needed to avoid acidic foods like coffee, beans, and acidic fruits and focus more on oatmeal (a common breakfast here in Guatemala nicknamed ¨mosh.¨) For me, hearing simple advice like this is so informative, because lifestyle has profound effects on health, and the diet of a Latino is very different from other diets around the world. By living here I am learning a lot about the culture and lifestyle of Guatemalans and other Latinos.

The second consult I observed was with a 34 year old woman with similar stomach problems. However, the origin of her sickness was more serious. Half way through the consult, she started to cry, talking about the abuse she suffered from her father as a child. The doctor was very patient, listening to her, and confirming her thoughts that the trauma she still suffers in her mind may be related to her painful stomach problems. After the consult, Jose Manuel talked with me privately about how, unfortunately, problems with abuse (especially of women) are common in Guatemala, and often, it´s a big part of health problems for the people here.

Throughout the morning, Rachel and I also talked with the health promoter , named Sarinda,(she´s the one who manages the health center all week) along with her two daughters. Later in the morning, we went to visit the school down the road to watch the kids celebrate "Carnival" (the beginning of Lent) with a costume contest and confetti-filled eggs. The whole morning was a wonderful experience, and I´m glad I got the chance to visit this little community.

Hike up Tajamulco

2009-02-23T11:34:00.000-08:00

This weekend I got the chance to do a day and a half hike up the dormant volcano, Tajamulco, the highest point in Central America at 4220 meters above sea level. I did the hike with Brooke and Jessica (two girls in my group) guided by a nonprofit trekker group here in Xela, called “Quetzaltrekkers.”

Saturday morning the Tajamulco group met up at 4:45am to make our way by bus to the base of the volcano. We grabbed a great breakfast at a comedor (a small restaurant) and then started our walk uphill until lunch. The food during the hike was great too! We shared four different types of salads and homemade peanut butter and bread for lunch, had pasta for dinner, and oatmeal for breakfast (along with spices like basil, powdered milk, cinnamon, etc). The food was definitely not bland on the volcano!

I’m not in very good shape, so it was pretty hard for me to climb the 2000 meters up to the peak, but we took the hike slowly, and the view on the way and on top made the exhaustion totally worth it. The “Quetzaltrekkers” were great guides too. Not only are they part of a nonprofit group who uses the funds from their guided hikes to help a school for underprivileged Guatemalan kids, but they are also really caring guides – patient with my slow pace and always concerned about our physical and emotional state. The four guides were always asking me how I was, making sure no one injured themselves or became sick from the elevation gain.

We made it finally to our base camp around 3pm (where we set up our tents and make-shift kitchen), and around 5, hiked up another 100 meters to a peak to watch the sunset (pictures included!). The next Sunday morning we woke up at 4:30am to hike up the 100 meters again to see the sunrise. It was freeezing up top, but we brought our sleeping bags to lay and watch the sun come up from under the horizon. It was beautiful!

The description of the trek - http://www.quetzaltrekkers.com/guattajumulco.html

On top of the summit Sunday morning waiting for the sunrise!

The sunrise!

On the way down we saw a volcano in the distance called "San Aguito" blow smoke out the top!

On the bus ride home, there was a bit of a fight between drivers...transportation in Guatemala is always an adventure :)

Buena Vista Social Club Concert

2009-02-20T12:19:00.000-08:00

Last night we went to a cover band concert in Xela for the Buena Vista Social club. Buena Vista Social club was a really famous members club in Havana with traditional Cuban music. It was pretty fun especially because the music sounded great and we got the chance to practice our salsa skills.

Tomorrow morning (Saturday) I leave for a day and a half hike up a volcano called Tajamulco. Wish me luck! I'm sure I'll have lots to blog about when I get back. Feliz fin de semana! (Happy weekend!)

Our first trip to “Little Israel,” otherwise known as “Lago (Lake) Atitlan”

2009-02-17T11:56:00.000-08:00

On "El Día de Cariño" (Valentine's Day)...

This past weekend we got the chance to visit “Lago Atitlan,” one of the most beautiful lakes in Guatemala. It was a very appropriate trip for Valentine’s Day weekend. The lake is huge with several villages around it. We arrived Friday afternoon at the lake, and we had enough time to shop, eat fajitas and burritos by the water (picture of dinner included), and visit a club or two that night. The village there is pretty touristy, but that means the view and the shopping were great! And to your benefit, I was able to get some great gifts there!

Saturday in the afternoon, we took a boat ride to San Pedro (another village on the lake). The ride was gorgeous, although we did not anticipate getting splashed so much, so we were pretty cold and soaked for the last half of the trip. But after an hour, we made it onto dry land, moved into a beautiful hotel and started our little “Día de Cariño” (Valentine’s Day) gift exchange. I have to brag about my group, because between the rap songs, homemade coupons and cookies (gluten free for Ricky!), poems (sometimes in Spanish, sometimes in Spanglish), there were some awesomely creative and thoughtful gifts. Who needs a boyfriend on Valentine’s Day when you’ve got “Somos Hermanos!” (That’s our group name, and it means, “our brothers.”)

We soon discovered that San Pedro was “Little Israel” in Guatemala. You could hear students speaking Hebrew everywhere. Saturday night we went to a restaurant called “Zoola” where my Jewish/Israeli friends in the group confirmed that the food was authentically Israeli. Sunday afternoon, after a crowded 3 hour bus ride back through the mountains and a ride from one of our Guatemalan friends back the school, we made it home safely. Let’s just say transportation in Guatemala is an integral (and sometimes adventurous) part of the culture (see picture).

This Monday and Tuesday, we had a full time workshop on general health (all in Spanish of course) with an organization here called “Alas (Wings).” The workshop has been a great experience because I’ve learned a ton of useful vocabulary (that I’m sure will come in handy during the women's health classes I’ll be helping to manage very soon) as well as getting great ideas for making health classes dynamic. Who doesn’t like pretending to get married with a paper ring and having five children in the span of six years (it was our introduction to the topic of family planning)?

I hope everyone had a great weekend and a good, relaxing President’s Day. ¡Feliz dia de cariño!

Pictures posted below - at dinner Friday night on the water (first picture is of me with my loaded purse..it's a running joke at this point), Sharon and I on the boat to San Pedro (the second village on the lake), our gift exchange outside the hotel along with pictures of people reciting their raps/poems, and a few pics of the crowded bus ride home

Time with the family

2009-02-10T06:24:00.000-08:00

Last night after dinner, Antonietta (my “Mom” here) invited me to participate in a religious ceremony where neighbors delivered an “imagen” (sort of like an idol, but not really). They brought over a statue of the Virgin Mary, named here "the virgin full of pain" or "La Virgen Dolorosa", and conducted a little service. It was nice to spend time with more people from the family (at least 10 of the members of the family came over to the living room to receive the blessing). A man from the neighborhood made a speech, mostly talking about caring for the sick and having faith in God in order to live a positive life. Through these types of events, many Catholic Guatemalans seem to maintain their optimism and happiness in daily life, and it was nice to sit and listen to his warm speech. His visit was also very personal. Not only are many Guatemalan’s so warm to their own family, but they are warm to their neighbors as well. And after the ceremony, they served everyone homemade chicken empanadas. Needless to say, I didn’t go to bed hungry.

Visit to the hospital

2009-02-10T06:22:00.000-08:00

On Monday afternoon after lunch (yesterday), I went with the other students in my group to visit the public hospital in Xela, called “Regional Occidente.” It was interesting to see the extensive capacity and as well as the limitations of the main public provider of health care in Xela and the surrounding area.

Occidente provides consults for a good amount of medical specialties: general medicine, surgery (general/plastics/neuro), hematology, dermatology, among others. However, they do not have oncology/radiology. Patients with cancer have to go to Guatemala City to get treatment.

The Guatemalan government, since the mid 1990s, provides public health care, and in theory, all medical care is free (the government pays the salaries of the staff), but in reality there is not enough money to support the size of the population, medicine, and equipment. Occidente has the only trauma center in the area surrounding Xela, and the center gets over 100 patients each day. Patients can get free consults in the morning, but in many cases, they have to pay for certain (sometimes very expensive) aspects of their treatment like laboratory tests.

The tour was very eye-opening in general. I was surprised at how nice the nurses were (two different nurses were our guides, leading us throughout patient rooms and constantly answering our questions (sometimes in quite broken Spanish). I hope to learn more about the health system here when I start my own volunteer work in a hospital next week (possibly the Tuberculosis/AIDS specialty hospital here in Xela). Seeing a health system so different from the U.S. is really helping me broaden my perspective of medicine, and I hope that this will help me later in my career.

The first "futbol" game

2009-02-08T11:31:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday night was the first “futbol” (soccer) game in Xela. Practically all of the students went to support our team, the “Super Chivos” of “Xelaju.” Complete with fireworks, sulfur sticks, pineapple tea, and dominoes pizza in the stands, the game was quite an experience, and I have a feeling that we’ll go back to as many more games as we can. I don’t know much about soccer, but my friends tell me that the guys on the teams are pretty good, except it seems like the players focus a lot more on individual tricks (handling the ball themselves for a long time) rather than passing. Nevertheless, we were ecstatic that “Xelaju” pulled it off in the end, 2-1.

Pictures and videos below – some of the crew at the outdoor stadium (wearing our awesome red Xelaju jerseys!) and a picture of the fireworks at the beginning of the game.

Also, I took a video of the fireworks and confetti thrown as the “Super Chivos” entered the stadium before the game. There is also a short video of the “halftime show” with this little kid wearing a cute costume and singing his heart out.

To the beach and the one month mark!

2009-02-03T12:27:00.000-08:00

This rest of this past week has been great. It’s hard to believe I’ve officially been here for four weeks. This past weekend, the entire group took a trip to the Southeast coast to a beach called Tilapita (there are pictures of the 4 hour bus ride to the beach as well). The beach was practically deserted when we arrived. Having the entire beach to ourselves was so fun! We all shared a little house about forty feet from the shore and spent the whole day Saturday sunbathing, swimming, reading, and relaxing…couldn’t ask for a more relaxing weekend.

The food was great too. There was a family who owned the house and a little restaurant right next door. For breakfast we got eggs and beans with tortillas, for lunch, a huge fruit salad (I even have a picture of the beautiful fruit), and for dinner, a choice of grilled/fried fish, shrimp, and of course a vegetarian option. The fish was amazing! Both nights after dinner we built our own bonfire on the beach and roasted marshmallows to make s’mores. I’m pretty sure everyone in the group had an amazing time.

This week is pretty normal as well. We're working out our volunteer projects as well that we will start in two weeks. I will probably be working on a health class for young women as well as working a bit in the Tuberculosis/AIDS hospital in Xela, however, I'm not sure exactly yet, but I'll keep you updated. The women's class, especially, will be a lot of work (we make up the lesson plan/activities ourselves), but I'm so excited. So far, I've had some great experiences talking to Guatemalans, whether in my house or on the bus. I have high hopes for the volunteer work.

Last night we had a conference on the public health system in Guatemala and some of its issues (in short, the government does not have enough money to support the system). Tonight we're watching a film on the Cuban music group, Buena Vista, and there's more salsa later in the week too!

Hasta pronto!

Pictured below - the group piled into a truck on the way to the bus station (that's the way you travel in Guatemala! so fun!), on the four hour bus ride, the house we shared overnight on Friday and Saturday a few paces from the beach, the fruit for lunch, the sunset on Saturday night on the beach, and a few of us on the little boat that took us to the beach

Thoughts on the Guatemalan Armed Conflict

2009-01-28T18:32:00.000-08:00

To continue with my happy posts, I have to say that my stay here in Guatemala has been like camp plus intellectual stimulation. Im learning a ton, having so much fun with friends and my "Guatemalan family," and I feel so relaxed all the time.

This past week, there was one particularly poignant lecture for our group (during our first six weeks here we always have one or two lectures and a movie in the afternoons after class). Last Tuesday afternoon, a man who fought as part of the guerillas in the 1980s came to tell us about his experiences. I have been reading about this harsh 36 year long armed conflict for a while, but hearing about the atrocities in person was very moving. By the way, the guerillas, although they were not always completely just, fought against the government controlled armies on behalf of civilians during the civil war (it ended in 1996 officially).

The lecturer, named Vincent, talked about his time in the mountains, when for one month, they had no access to food at all and had to eat meat without salt...he talked about this for awhile, trying to convey how terrible it really was to try to fight with no sustenance. He also talked about a day when his troop fought against a special army troop called the "Kaiwiles" who were specially trained in torture (trained by the US military by the way...this is a whole other story). He described to us his fear as they retreated from the Kaiwiles for hours. It was quite emotional. He also talked about how hard it was for him to recover after the war, suffering from both epilepsy and insomnia.

Like I said before, Ive read about atrocities like this before, but hearing it from this man standing 5 feet in front of me was very poignant. Most Guatemalans do not talk about their experiences during the armed conflict, since it was so recent and horrific at points. But in the end of his talk, Vincent conveyed a lot of peace of mind to us. He talked about how he now has his own business based on natural medicine, which he uses to help people with similar medical problems that he had after the armed conflict. He talked about how its important to not look back on your problems in the past and stay positive in order to enjoy the life you have ahead of you. Coming from a man who had suffered so much, his message was particularly strong.

A Guatemalan Wedding and a Bit More

2009-01-25T11:38:00.001-08:00

Antonietta (my Mom) and los novios (the wedding couple) at the reception -

The highlight of this weekend (along with some great salsa dancing and time with friends) was the "Boda" (wedding) of the niece of Antonietta (my mom here). We drove to Guatemala City at 4am in the morning to arrive at the mass and ceremony at 11am. Like I said before, I am so honored that I was invited (it's not required by my living with Antonietta). Also, I loved getting to know the rest of Antonietta's extended family. My grandma, Francisca (mother of Antonietta), came along with her four other sisters as well as a few other aunts and three of the younger girls. (There's a picture of the five ladies at breaksfast on the way there). Everyone in the family is so sweet, and although it was hard for me to understand them, when they talked to me directly, I could have a few nice conversations.

The family love in Guatemala amazes me everyday. All these ladies are so fun, always laughing and always so sweet (even when the little bus we rode in was hot, crowded, and bumpy). There is so little complaining in Guatemala for the most part. The optimism of the people here is very inspiring.

The wedding itself was beautiful (pictures are posted). I loved being there to watch a Catholic mass, and the party was so fun! The food was great (choice of chicken or pork, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and of course cake) and the site of the reception was beautiful. The party was held at a beautiful sugar cane farm 45 minutes outside of Guatemala city. There was also a very cool dance the women of my family did - it's a calm, traditional dance from Xela, called "Son" (a movie and picture of the dance is posted). The dance was very cool to watch along with other traditions (some of which were pretty similar to any other wedding) like having confetti-filled eggs, the bride throwing the bouquet, cutting the cake, and father-daughter/mother-son dancing. Otherwise, things have been going well here.

Last Thursday afternoon, me and the other students in my USC group had a little scavenger hunt in the market. In addition to exploring the market, we learned a few more Spanish words, and after buying the food, we prepared it - homemade guacamole, hot chocolate, fruit salad, and lots of other goodies! Our mid-week party was great fun (there are a couple pictures posted). I also did two extra salsa lessons at the end of last week, and it's still amazing. I even got lifted by one of the guys there! I bought 4 more classes (and it's pretty cheap too...each group class is about $4 American dollars). I love getting better at salsa, and then we went to "La Rumba" again, one of the great clubs that has salsa night on Fridays. I even danced salsa that night with a couple Guatemalan boys!

So today (Sunday) I am taking it easy and doing a bit of studying. I have a Spanish exam on the third level tomorrow morning. Hopefully, it will go fine. This rest of the week is pretty normal - class in the morning, a few conferences and movies, etc. I'll update soon. Love, Sarah

Pictured below - the farm for the reception, the mass at a church in Guatemala City, the bride getting dressed at home, me and Antonietta on the roof at the bride's home before the wedding, the five older women at my family at a rest stop the morning of the wedding, and the group´s midweek party/scavenger hunt (making guacamole!)

A movie of the traditional Mayan dance -

My first full week

2009-01-16T12:34:00.001-08:00

The group at the school (our welcome party!)

Things continue to be going great here in Xela. Last Friday night we had a really fun welcome party in the school. There was great food including some delicious tamales. Part of the party was also our first group salsa class. I´ve taken some salsa classes at Penn in the past but they´re nothing like this! The salsa steps they teach us are really hard, but so fun! Later that night we went to a salsa club called "La Rumba" in center city and it was amazing. All the kids there were so fun and we got to practice what we had learned! I also spent half the time sitting mezmorized at the Guatemalans dancing. They´re amazing! Even better than ¨So You Think You Can Dance¨on TV. This will definitely be a great highlight of the trip...we get a group salsa lesson every Thursday night from now on!

Last Saturday morning we went on a group hike up "Baul," a mountain right next to the city. It was a tough hike actually, but challenging in a great way (especially after all the awesome food Ive been eating at home), and the view from the top was amazing! There were also a few monuments up top that two of the girls climbed (I have pictures)! The monument must have been at least 50 ft. tall. But the best part of our trip to Baul was the amazing slide! We definitely dont have slides like this in the US. The first time I went down the slide, I wiped out at the bottom, but it was so fun that after, I slid down at least two more times :)

This week has also been great. Jose Carlos continues to be an awesome teacher. We also had more conferences to learn more about Guatemalan history, especially the Mayan religion and culture. A lot of that has been wiped out over the years after the colonial era and the civil war in the 1980s but there are movements now to reteach Mayan history and culture.

Also, Tuesday, the students in my group hosted a birthday party at the school (two girls turned 24), and we had a pinata, a bonfire, marshmallows and music. It was so fun that we are already planning our next party for Valentine´s Day.

Lastly, a week from this Saturday, I´m going to a wedding with my homestay family. It´s the wedding of Antonietta´s (my homestay Mom) niece. I am so honored that Antonietta invited me because she didn´t have to. Truthfully, that makes me feel even better about my homestay. Antonietta has been so sweet this past week but after this gesture, I really feel like I may become part of their family during these six months. Plus, I´m so excited to see a Guatemalan wedding! I feel like it´s a once in a lifetime experience.

This weekend has also been great. We visited Momaztenango, a city near Xela, where they make clothes by hand from lamb´s wool. I learned a lot and it was fun because we got to try help them with their weaving (lots of pictures of this). On Sunday we did an AMAZING hike to Laguna Chicabal. It took us all morning to hike up the mountain then go down the steps into the lake (the mountain used to be a volcano but now the inside was the lake). We had lunch right next to the (sacred) lake and had a great time.

Buenas tardes! Keep me updated on all your lives! <3

Pictured below - the welcome party and our first salsa class, the hike up Baul (and the big slide), the Rumba - the club with salsa downtown, and our trip to Momaztenango to learn about weaving

Exploring the city

2009-01-08T11:49:00.000-08:00

I am pretty much loving Xela as a city. Yesterday in the afternoon the group walked through Zone 3 in the north of the city. Theres a huge market there with lots of cheap fruit, meats, clothing (great for gifts, yay!) and there´s even a supermarket owned by Walmart. So not only is their great shopping and wonderful people, there´s plenty of conveniences here in the city as well. In fact, Im in a really nice internet cafe as well. Some of the pictures here are of the market. There´s also pictures of the ¨central park¨ which has some great stores, restaurants, the house of the mayor ¨the municipality¨and a beautiful church. The other students and I meet here often already to walk around. It´s only a ten minute walk from most of our houses.

The other great part of this program is how much we´re learning. Im learning a ton of Spanish with a private tutor for four hours a day. He´s so funny too! His name is Jose Carlos and he´s the husband of the program´s director. In addition to a ton of vocabulary and grammar, he teaches me useful phrases like to make a poo poo and to fart (tocarse el pedo), haha. His teaching is so fun and it´s an amazing learning experience as well.

Our group also has a lot of afternoon activities. Tuesday we watched an amazing movie about the dumpster in Guatemala city called ¨Recycled Life.¨ It was so eye opening to the environmental issues in Latin America and frankly, in the rest of the world. The issues are just more obvious in Latin America. Tonight we have a seminar with the group on the basic history of Guatemala and a discussion about being a culturally sensitive doctor. We read some great articles and I´m looking forward to talking to everyone about our initial impressions of Guatemala.

Hasta luego. ¡Que tenga un buen dia! (See you later, I hope you have a good day)

Pictures below...the market in the north part of the city, the city cemetary, an old theater where there are a lot of cultural events that still go on. I´m planning on going to some later during my stay.

You also see some of the market in the north part of the city and the central park. Last is the municipality (building for the office of the mayor inside and out). Enjoy!

Second day in Xela

2009-01-05T10:17:00.000-08:00

Hi all, my first stop My first stop in Guatemala was Guatemala City. I stayed at a hostel with a few other of the students in the program and it was wonderful. They had hot showers, a computer, and served us breakfast in the morning. But the best part was talking to the other students for the first time and getting to know them. Ironically we all ordered pizza and talked until we were too tired from our respective travelling journeys, and it was great and everyone had great stories to tell!

The hostel, "Los Volcanes,"

I arrived in Xela Sunday and today (Monday) is our orientation day at the Spanish school. The school is wonderful with a beautiful backyard, computers for us, and they even serve us snacks. Today we had a delicious tortilla with beans and cheese. It is a family run school with a mother Gladys, her daughter Helga and son with his wife, and a crazy old uncle named Tio Lionel. I am amazed at how friendly everyone is and the school, which is only two blocks from my homestay house!

Yesterday I also met my wonderful family Im staying with. Antonietta is my mama who is in her forties and also in the house is her mother Francisca and Franciscas sister Consuelo. There will also be two other students living right next door to me who are studying at the University. The two boys, one who is studying to be an engineer and one who is studying to be a dentist, are from different parts of Guatemala. Im looking forward to when they return the Antoniettas house. Right now both of them are at home for their vacation.

Antonietta and her mother and aunt are so welcoming. The food is great and Antonietta seems very excited to cook for all the students she has. She told me that it really fulfills her when students like her cooking, so I made sure to mention multiple times how delicious everything was. Last night I had chicken, cauliflower and chicken soup and this morning she made pancakes. It was great.

Just in case you were wondering I do have my own room with a full size bed and shelves and everything. It was a little cold last night but I just layered. I think after I buy an extra pillow I will be very comfortable there.

I miss everyone a lot but Im excited for the trips and activities to come. Tomorrow I start formal spanish tutoring and I am loving speaking Spanish with everyone already! Thanks for reading my post. Adios y hasta luego.

Preparing for the trip

2009-01-01T12:26:00.001-08:00

Today, Thursday, I am continuing to prepare for my flight to Guatemala Saturday morning. My room is a mess :) with a large pile of stuff in the corner which includes everything from anti-malarial medication, a Spanish textbook, sunscreen, and a flash light. I'm trying to be extra prepared for my trip so that everything goes as smoothly as possible.

The whole prospect of the trip is very exciting and nerve racking at the same time! I'm glad the time is here, but I can't believe I have only a couple nights to spend with family and friends in Houston. I'm just going to try and make the best of it!

I am planning to continue to publish to this blog (hopefully with awesome pictures as well) so that any friends/family interested can check in with me. I will make sure to post here again as soon as I can when I arrive safe in Quetzaltenango, otherwise known as Xela on Sunday morning after spending Saturday night in Guatemala City.

Thanks for checking in with me!

<3
Sarah