Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Wendy´s?
I don´t know if there is a connection but I ate at Wendy´s before I got sick. And now my teacher is sick after eating there (not as bad as me but still not great). Are those fast food places as safe as we think?
Pictures
The kids in my host family - only the baby I´m holding lives in our house, the rest are cousins. At least two are missing. The oldest is Juan Carlos (7 years, will be 8 the end of June)
Signs are optional!
Stop signs, one way signs, speed limits - who cares what the signs say! But the speed bumps, now those you take seriously if you want to survive!
You also want to keep a head´s up for cars coming behind and in front of you, and for the dog poop that is everywhere! And when walking at night on the sidewalk in sandals, watch out for the missing pieces of cement and stone. Last night I stubbed my toe at a corner on a piece of pipe sticking up out of the sidewalk near a corner - it was probably a sign once. And remember, some of the sidewalks are no more than one foot wide!
You also want to keep a head´s up for cars coming behind and in front of you, and for the dog poop that is everywhere! And when walking at night on the sidewalk in sandals, watch out for the missing pieces of cement and stone. Last night I stubbed my toe at a corner on a piece of pipe sticking up out of the sidewalk near a corner - it was probably a sign once. And remember, some of the sidewalks are no more than one foot wide!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
What I See Here
Hiking and camping on Volcan Pacaya - you can walk right up to the hot lava! But for an old guy like me is wasn´t easy even with Fernando (on the right) carrying mi machilo.
Tap Water Is Not for Drinking!
At least not for us gringos (white foreigners)who are used to everything being so super-clean. The tap water can do nasty things to you - just ask me! So for everything from brushing your teeth to washing your fruit to drinking, make sure "agua pura" (bottled water) is used. In Canada, most of the tap water is better than the bottled waterf you buy, because there are so many government rules and inspections for it, but bottled water is not supervised or controlled much. AND those plastic bottles it and other drinks come in may turn out to be not good for us at all. So in Canada, drink tap water. But here, you have to be "tonto" (silly, foolish) to do it.
The Paper Goes Where?
Yep, just ask anyone who has been in this part of the world. When you wipe, you do NOT put the paper in the toilet! The reason is that most of the pipes are very old, and made of short pieced of clay pipe with many joints. If you put paper in, it catches on the joints and clogs the pipe. So there is a reason why every bathroom has a waste basket right becide the toilet! Just hope they empty it every day! Up here high in the mountains it is not that hot for long in a day and there are not many flies or other bugs, so it isn´t so bad as it sounds. You soon get used to it, just like you get used to not brushing your teeth with tap water. Right?
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Puke Fountain!
Yep, that´s a big part of my diet now, mixed half and half with water according to doctor´s instructions! Appaarently I was very dehydrated. They think I had an amoeba, a parasite, and Typhoid Fever. I spent two nights in hospital after being really sick. I spent one night in the bathroom puking and crapping at the same time - a difficult feat and not much fun! My first blast of puke covered a good part of the bathroom, including some of the shower and some of my clothes! But I´m getting better now.
Again I have no new pics cause I forgot the card adaptor for my camera at the house. Maybe tomorrow, now that I feel better. Mi estomago (stomach) is better, and I´m ready to check out the senoritas!
I hope to meet more Cubs and Scouts on Saturday because most of the groups meet Saturday afternoon around 3 PM and I now know where three of them meet.
I have to keep my bedroom door shut when I´m not there because there are a couple of cats who come in looking for food. I don´t share!
Time for a quick stop at Xelapan (a great bakery with several locations in town) and then home for some rest and some studying maybe. Supper is about 8PM so I have lots of time. But first, Facebook! Hasta lluego.
Again I have no new pics cause I forgot the card adaptor for my camera at the house. Maybe tomorrow, now that I feel better. Mi estomago (stomach) is better, and I´m ready to check out the senoritas!
I hope to meet more Cubs and Scouts on Saturday because most of the groups meet Saturday afternoon around 3 PM and I now know where three of them meet.
I have to keep my bedroom door shut when I´m not there because there are a couple of cats who come in looking for food. I don´t share!
Time for a quick stop at Xelapan (a great bakery with several locations in town) and then home for some rest and some studying maybe. Supper is about 8PM so I have lots of time. But first, Facebook! Hasta lluego.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Hey, I Like the Food!
OK, I moved to a different family and house. So no dog now (a cat visits sometiems over the roof). I don´t have to wind my way through the clothes on the line, try to miss the dog caca, the dog toy, the empty washtub, the iron rods sticking out of the floor, or the slanting pole that held up the clothes lines that criss-crossed the whole patio! Now I have a big patio with a roof and a light to myself, a private bathroom with a good shower, and a room with a steel door and a lock. Luckily it has a small glass window, because the lock was not working, and the string I had to use to get it open broke Sunday night. In the end they had to break the glass to get into the room. The lock is fixed now! But not the broken glass yet.
This family are great: a young couple who treat me wonderfully and she feeds me excellent food. For breakfast so far I´ve had chololate rice crispies, pancakes (twice) and this morning french toast. I´ve been to a birthday party they had for their five year old nephew, and I can use their TV and living room anyt time I want - I can also use their computer but they have no internet. I can burn CD´s or DVD´s and put pics on my memory sticks, which I hope to do real soon. Sorry, no pics today cause I don´t heve my card adaptor with me.
School is great cause I have a great teacher - and cause I study more than some students he likes me. Its fun to learn another language, though sometimes its very hard, but my teacher is very patient. I am his only student so I get lots of attention. Today after break we all played a guessing game, where someone put the name of a well known character on your back and we had to ask questions - we got 5 questions each round but I never did guess that I was Garfield!
Just before the end of our time at the hot springs I got talking to one boy about 10, and then his older brother, and then about 3 more sisters and brothers. So I gave them some flags and tatoos and a badge, and they let me take their pic, then they called me back to take a pic of them and some more family members who were there. So that was fun even though I could not understand much of what they said. I gave their mother my card - they were suyper friendly after the older boy found out I am a Scout leader cause he is a Scout too. They live in the capital - I know you know its name!
Tomorrow I meet another student at the park for a visit - he is not st our school but he´s been thgere twice now. Thursday, there´s no school in the morning, but I start at 2 PM (a las dos), and at 5 or so we walk downtown to see a parade of children (something to do with Easter). Friday is a holiday too, so only one day of classes left this week, and only one more week of study probably. I might go to a lagood called Chikabel with soem friend here. I´m working ahrd but also ahv ing fun meeting people and learning lots of things. Hope you have a great Easer holiday!
This family are great: a young couple who treat me wonderfully and she feeds me excellent food. For breakfast so far I´ve had chololate rice crispies, pancakes (twice) and this morning french toast. I´ve been to a birthday party they had for their five year old nephew, and I can use their TV and living room anyt time I want - I can also use their computer but they have no internet. I can burn CD´s or DVD´s and put pics on my memory sticks, which I hope to do real soon. Sorry, no pics today cause I don´t heve my card adaptor with me.
School is great cause I have a great teacher - and cause I study more than some students he likes me. Its fun to learn another language, though sometimes its very hard, but my teacher is very patient. I am his only student so I get lots of attention. Today after break we all played a guessing game, where someone put the name of a well known character on your back and we had to ask questions - we got 5 questions each round but I never did guess that I was Garfield!
Just before the end of our time at the hot springs I got talking to one boy about 10, and then his older brother, and then about 3 more sisters and brothers. So I gave them some flags and tatoos and a badge, and they let me take their pic, then they called me back to take a pic of them and some more family members who were there. So that was fun even though I could not understand much of what they said. I gave their mother my card - they were suyper friendly after the older boy found out I am a Scout leader cause he is a Scout too. They live in the capital - I know you know its name!
Tomorrow I meet another student at the park for a visit - he is not st our school but he´s been thgere twice now. Thursday, there´s no school in the morning, but I start at 2 PM (a las dos), and at 5 or so we walk downtown to see a parade of children (something to do with Easter). Friday is a holiday too, so only one day of classes left this week, and only one more week of study probably. I might go to a lagood called Chikabel with soem friend here. I´m working ahrd but also ahv ing fun meeting people and learning lots of things. Hope you have a great Easer holiday!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Lost again!
How could I get lost when I had the address, phone number, and a map? Well, the map sucks, nobody was answering the phone, and there are more dead ends and cresents around this area than you 'd ever believe. Plus, half the streets are not marked with their names!
We got to Xela on Sunday evening and went touring Monday. My daughter and boyfriend left Teusday morning at 7AM. So I had my first day of Spanish lessons yesterday, and in the afternoon I set out walking to another aprt of the city where I used to go to see the Cubs and Scouts. I found the place, left a note, and had a cold root beer at a brand new Wendy`s (the music was rather loud). I forgot my camera today so I can`t send pics, but maybe tomorrow.
I had fun visiting with a boy about 9 or 10 years old at the hot springs on Monday and have some video of him. And Sunday at the nature reserve by Panajachel, a boy about 2 years old came and chatted to me, climbed up on the couch beside me, and later climbed up on my knee. Most of what he was saying I could not understand but he called me "papa" until his real Dad showed up! But at least I can talk to people a little bit now.
Monday we also went to a place where they blow glass into all sorts of things: glasses, bowls, light covers, etc. It was real interesting. And we saw lots of fields of vegetables in the mountains and in a village close to here.
There is a dog at the house where I stay, but I don`t know his name yet He is not too big, has kind of long hair, is grey, and I call him "mi amigo el perro". There are lots of stray dogs here, some of them sick and with leg injuries, probably hit by cars.
Today I go back to the school at 3:30 for a talk on Maya culture and religion. Supper happens around 7 PM here. Before then I have to find the laundry place again and get the clothes I left there this morning when my teacher led me there. It costs Q16 for one load washed, dried and folded (about 9 pounds). And Q5 is almost $1 Canadian.
Now it is 2:30 so I'd best get moving. ¡Hasta luego!
We got to Xela on Sunday evening and went touring Monday. My daughter and boyfriend left Teusday morning at 7AM. So I had my first day of Spanish lessons yesterday, and in the afternoon I set out walking to another aprt of the city where I used to go to see the Cubs and Scouts. I found the place, left a note, and had a cold root beer at a brand new Wendy`s (the music was rather loud). I forgot my camera today so I can`t send pics, but maybe tomorrow.
I had fun visiting with a boy about 9 or 10 years old at the hot springs on Monday and have some video of him. And Sunday at the nature reserve by Panajachel, a boy about 2 years old came and chatted to me, climbed up on the couch beside me, and later climbed up on my knee. Most of what he was saying I could not understand but he called me "papa" until his real Dad showed up! But at least I can talk to people a little bit now.
Monday we also went to a place where they blow glass into all sorts of things: glasses, bowls, light covers, etc. It was real interesting. And we saw lots of fields of vegetables in the mountains and in a village close to here.
There is a dog at the house where I stay, but I don`t know his name yet He is not too big, has kind of long hair, is grey, and I call him "mi amigo el perro". There are lots of stray dogs here, some of them sick and with leg injuries, probably hit by cars.
Today I go back to the school at 3:30 for a talk on Maya culture and religion. Supper happens around 7 PM here. Before then I have to find the laundry place again and get the clothes I left there this morning when my teacher led me there. It costs Q16 for one load washed, dried and folded (about 9 pounds). And Q5 is almost $1 Canadian.
Now it is 2:30 so I'd best get moving. ¡Hasta luego!
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