by Keli Shipley
Intern at Porch de Salomon, Guatemala
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
What a wonderful way to enter into Pana. We first dropped off Lena at Joe and Kristen's house [two other missionaries in Pana] and then went to the Monroe's house, which is located in a gated residential area in Pana. They had an awesome room set up for me to stay in for the next couple of days, just to get acclimated to the area.
Pana is two hours different from good ole' chattanooga, so we arrived in Pana about 3:00 their time. Melanie, Lloyd, and I travelled around the city and they showed me all of the cool places to go in Pana, as well as the main places that I will need to take the groups to [there are different mission groups that come down during the summer and I will be a guide, of sorts. and for me to be a good guide, I should probably know my way around]
After that, we ate a Mexican restaurant [yes, mexican. & it was delicious] and then headed back to go to sleep. We took a "took-took" back to the house, which is a motorized vehicle on three wheels, kind of like a motorized carriage or like one of those bikes in central park. You can see the back of one of them in the picture below.
I got to sleep in, but ended up waking up around 9:00 [so 11:00 back home]. I went out by myself to explore the city and walked on the most popular street in Guatemala, known for it's shopping. I wish I could remember the name, something that starts with an "S" which I am sure I'll figure out tomorrow. You walk downhill for a while with the streets lined with all different kinds of vendors. The vendors sell anything and everything from jewelry, embroidered bags, masks to fried chicken, mangos, and freshly squeezed orange juice. If you walk far enough, you end up at Lake Atitlan, which is gorgeous.
I spend most of the day at the "porch" or the cafe that is run by the
Monroes. There are three women who work there [I am unsure how to spell
their names] and they are so welcoming, and help with my Spanish a lot.
Their names are Carmen, Mierna, and Bierma. There were mainly Americans
that passed in and out of the porch. Most of them help volunteer with
the projects that "porchdesalomon" leads. I met one man by the name of
Neil. He is from Indiana and is down in Guatemala helping out with many
things and in particular, leads AA for the locals and visitors. I have
really enjoyed meeting all these new people and because Pana is such a
small town, it's easy to run into everyone fairly often, as far as I can
gather.
I didn't realize how long this post would be, but I figured it was a good idea to lay the foundation for what Pana is like and what my trip is really about.
Things that I have learned thus far:
Tomorrow, I plan on moving out the Monroes and into a hotel [more
details to come], which should be an exciting adventure, to say the
least. You really do have to take Guatemala day be day because most
everything is very spontaneous [for instance, no reservations are needed
at many of the hotels, restaurants, etc.]. There is no real standard of
measurement or set prices for many things and everyone is very friends
[some males are a bit too friendly haha]. But this will be an
interesting experience. I was a bit nervous travelling here alone and it
would be nice to have a friend or two here,
but ultimately, everything will be fine. I think I have a little more
than 40 days down here and it's my goal to make all of them count. I
will have a fair amount of down time, which will be nice and much
different than life at Maryville, but once the teams start coming down
[first one is June 9th] then the pace will pick up. I have a lot of
freedom down here and as we all know, freedom and privilege come with
responsibility. I have a few main goals which include:
Intern at Porch de Salomon, Guatemala
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.
living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
taking, as He did, the sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it;
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him.
Forever in the next.
-Reinhold Niebuhr
This has always been one of my favorite prayers and is more or less the
foundation of the trip that I have chosen to go on. I focus on "living
one day at a time" because that is just about the only way you can in
Guatemala, or so I have learned.
First off, travelling yesterday wasn't too too bad. Took some medicine
[prescription for motion sickness] which made the trip less nauseating
but a bit more spacey haha. The flights weren't too long and it was nice
that I was able to meet up with the Monroe's [Melanie and Lloyd] as
well as Lena [another intern] at the Atlanta airport. This made the
transition very easy into Guatemala. Hector, one of the employees,
picked us up in the porch's van and we made the 3 hour long trip to Pana
from Guatemala City. We stopped along the way at a "pollo campero"
which is a mix between KFC and McDonald's.
It was nice to sit down and have a bite to eat [oh and did I mention I
ate Qdoba at the Atlanta airport at 10 a.m., thinking that was my last
chance to get "American" food.. little did I know...]
A misconception that I had was that I would probably get sick
immediately when eating for the first time in Guatemala. While this
still may happen due to the water and some of the fruits, I am doubting
that this fast food fried chicken will cause that to happen.
the vehicle that is smoking is one of the red city buses |
Since I was the newbie to Guatemala, everyone in the van was very
helpful in giving me advice on what to expect and explaining the
different things that we saw. The roads are rather hectic, to put it
lightly, and they are filled with people of all ages, motorcycles, vans,
trucks, buses, etc. There were these massive red buses everywhere, also
known as chicken buses [as shown to the right]. They are the cheapest
form of public transportation, but also the most dangerous.
As we traveled through the mountains, we ended up going downhill for a
while and saw the beautiful Lake Atitlan, and Pana is the lakeshore
city. It was raining, as it is the rainy season in Guatemala, and there
was a rainbow awaiting our arrival. Seems cliche, but it was beautiful.
What a wonderful way to enter into Pana. We first dropped off Lena at Joe and Kristen's house [two other missionaries in Pana] and then went to the Monroe's house, which is located in a gated residential area in Pana. They had an awesome room set up for me to stay in for the next couple of days, just to get acclimated to the area.
Pana is two hours different from good ole' chattanooga, so we arrived in Pana about 3:00 their time. Melanie, Lloyd, and I travelled around the city and they showed me all of the cool places to go in Pana, as well as the main places that I will need to take the groups to [there are different mission groups that come down during the summer and I will be a guide, of sorts. and for me to be a good guide, I should probably know my way around]
After that, we ate a Mexican restaurant [yes, mexican. & it was delicious] and then headed back to go to sleep. We took a "took-took" back to the house, which is a motorized vehicle on three wheels, kind of like a motorized carriage or like one of those bikes in central park. You can see the back of one of them in the picture below.
I got to sleep in, but ended up waking up around 9:00 [so 11:00 back home]. I went out by myself to explore the city and walked on the most popular street in Guatemala, known for it's shopping. I wish I could remember the name, something that starts with an "S" which I am sure I'll figure out tomorrow. You walk downhill for a while with the streets lined with all different kinds of vendors. The vendors sell anything and everything from jewelry, embroidered bags, masks to fried chicken, mangos, and freshly squeezed orange juice. If you walk far enough, you end up at Lake Atitlan, which is gorgeous.
tons of boats to rent. |
I didn't realize how long this post would be, but I figured it was a good idea to lay the foundation for what Pana is like and what my trip is really about.
Things that I have learned thus far:
- In regard to water, H= cold and C= hot (caliente). Learned that oen the hard way...
- Do not flush the toilet paper because it goes straight to the lake
- Do not drink the water, unless you wish to become ill
- Use bottled water to brush your teeth
- More people know English than you would think
- Everything is fairly inexpensive. 7.55 Quetzal (Q)= 1 American Dollar
- Today I spent 20 American dollars or 155 Q and bought
- Full breakfast, lunch, and dinner (including drinks)
- Licuado (fruit and milk, similar to a smoothie)
- Small change purse
- Minutes for my prepaid phone (enough for a month or so)
Breakfast: Cinnamon roll
from the streets & freshly squeezed orange juice 19 Q= $2.50 |
- Improving my Spanish
- Eating something new
- Not getting run over
- Not getting sick
Hope to update soon about my new living situation and getting further
acclimated with the city [as well as addressing the difficulties that
come with having a language barrier]. Until then, buenas noches!