by Keli Shipley,
Intern at Porch de Salomon, Guatemala
"Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens." -J.R.R. Tolkein
Also, there is a man who walks
around with his goats saying "leche" in the hopes of selling the goat's
milk. If you wish to purchase milk, he will milk the goats right then
& there; talk about some fresh milk. There are tons of people who
walk around trying to make a living off of selling things such as
fabrics, bracelets, earrings, and cashews. It is difficult to walk
through the streets because tons of locals will come up asking for you
to purchase what they have made or grown. Some of them are rather pushy
and sometimes you have to just ignore them, which can be very difficult.
It breaks my heart sometimes to walk through the streets and have to
say no to these precious old ladies, young kids trying to make money for
school, and the families who have all their children trying to sell
things. Today, while Lindsey, Lena, and I were eating breakfast at El
Patio, these boys came up asking for some kind of food. They were given
leftovers and went over to the side to divide up the food equally
amongst the three of them. Their jobs are to carry around the supplies
to shine shoes and hope to get enough business to give money to their
families. The picture to the left shows them... yes, it may seem like a
creepy picture, but I really wanted to show people what these kids go
through.
Intern at Porch de Salomon, Guatemala
"Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens." -J.R.R. Tolkein
The past few days haven't been too fast paced, but after today, things
should pick up. The group from Element 3 church in Tallahassee, FL.
Anyways, one of the more interesting adventures was getting my laundry
done at la lavanderia (laundromat, more or less). You go and they weigh
all the clothing that you have brought. You pay per pound (I paid 22Q
for about 5.5 lbs) and then they wash, dry, and fold your laundry within
one day.
Also, there is a man who walks
around with his goats saying "leche" in the hopes of selling the goat's
milk. If you wish to purchase milk, he will milk the goats right then
& there; talk about some fresh milk. There are tons of people who
walk around trying to make a living off of selling things such as
fabrics, bracelets, earrings, and cashews. It is difficult to walk
through the streets because tons of locals will come up asking for you
to purchase what they have made or grown. Some of them are rather pushy
and sometimes you have to just ignore them, which can be very difficult.
It breaks my heart sometimes to walk through the streets and have to
say no to these precious old ladies, young kids trying to make money for
school, and the families who have all their children trying to sell
things. Today, while Lindsey, Lena, and I were eating breakfast at El
Patio, these boys came up asking for some kind of food. They were given
leftovers and went over to the side to divide up the food equally
amongst the three of them. Their jobs are to carry around the supplies
to shine shoes and hope to get enough business to give money to their
families. The picture to the left shows them... yes, it may seem like a
creepy picture, but I really wanted to show people what these kids go
through.
Over the past few days, the town has been celebrating Corpus Cristi,
which is a festival where everyone dresses up and dances around (mainly
around the Catholic Church) but also parade through the city and down
Santander, the main street. The purpose of this celebration is to
"proclaim and increase the faith of the Catholics in the real presence
of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament" (according to Wikipedia which gives a
good summary of what the locals have told me about).
 |
| catholic church in Pana |
 |
| parade down santander. the kids are divided by age groups |
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| precious kids dressed in el tipico |
A fantastic discovery at Cafe La Parada is the croissant with nutella.
For about 2 dollars, you can purchase one of these delicious treats for
breakfast or just a snack. While I have been cautious with the food I
eat down here, you can never go wrong with nutella.
As pictured below, Lena, Lindsey, and I went to a construction site in
Pana. It is about a 10 minute walk from the porch. Until the job is
finished, workers are attempting to construct a ceiling over the
stairwell to the roof which would prevent the rain from washing into the
house during this rainy season. Our jobs were to sand away the cement
that were on these boards and Lena had to wrap wire and sift through
sand and what not. Many of the locals came to see these Americans
females working on the top of the roof haha. It was quite the experience
and super hot. Because we are so much closer to the equator, the sun is
so much stronger than it is in the states. As you can see by the
picture of Lindsey, we were for sure working hard.
Last night was a lot of fun because a few of the girls from various
programs went out to eat at Chinese restaurant for Asia's 23rd birthday
(she is from the NC state program). We then went "bar-hopping" so to
speak, so it was really interesting to go around and see the night life
in Pana. Most of us are used to being back to our home-stays fairly
early, so this was a new experience. While we were all tired, it was
nice to get out on the weekend. Fridays & Saturdays turn into very
loud nights on Santander. Since La Primavera (my hotel) is on Santander,
it gets really loud until very late at night, making it difficult to
sleep. The cars zoom by and as Lindsey explained, it's like "fast &
the furious" outside my window. Sometimes, I'll wake up thinking that
the trucks are driving right into my room haha. Since there is no air
conditioning, I have to keep my windows open which allows the sound to
echo throughout my room. While at dinner and at the bars, all of us
talked about how much we take for granted back in the states. I have it
fairly well off, living in a hotel; but not being able to drink the tap
water, having no air conditioning, brushing our teeth with bottles of
water, and not being able to flush the toilet paper are all things that
we are given in the US, but forget to remember how grateful we really
should be for these things. A lot of us are becoming used to being in
Guatemala and adapting to these different things that make Guatemala so
different from America. As Betty said before, you come to Guatemala and
leave with very different perceptions of everything in your life. I can
only imagine how things will end up being after a few more weeks down
here. We get to meet the team tonight and have a week filled with
construction, medical clinics, and bible school. Prayers for all to go
well and prayers that things will become more clear for we three interns
down here.