I'm Alive!

It was a beautiful drive from Guatemala City up and through the mountains to Huehuetenango with Ruban his father and brother. The many sights from volcanoes, valleys, streams, waterfalls, to forests that seemed to stretch up into the sky made the six-hour drive quite bearable. We road there with them to see a village in the mountain that they loved, and it was also very close to our next stop, Quezaltenango. Once there Ruban and his family began the long progress of buying some land. They went through many negotiations and actually measured it out by holding the ends of a rope, marking trees, and putting sticks in the ground. I would have liked to observe much more of this process, however, I spent most of the time resting in the car. I had become very ill.

I don’t think it was Acute Mountain Sickness, it may just been the change in climate. At this altitude the sun is hot, however, the breeze is still very chilly. It’s quite deceiving. I came down with a bad fever, headache, stomachache, and the like. I tried to just tough it out, but I eventually went to the hospital. The doctor prescribed some antibiotics and I’m feeling much better. Now what is left to overcome for both Angie and I, is the Revenge of Montezuma, a.k.a. traveler’s diarrhea.

Angie has been a real lifeline and having each other has made everything a little easier. She has been great about helping overcome my sickness, and even better about not getting annoyed at my random needs for translations. We laugh at the awkward and embarrassing situations our (illnesses) have put us in. I went though an entire doctors check up with my fly wide open, and everyone knew but me. She thought it was the funniest thing ever. And people…sometimes…you can’t trust a fart.

A traditional Guatemalan breakfasts consist of the fallowing, beans, rice, eggs, tortillas, fried plantains, and some sort of meat. Most Guatemalan meals also include eggs, tortillas, beans, and some sort of meat, so they seem to have a strict diet. There has been a lot of Americanization here. There lots of our fast food chains, McDonalds, Burger Kings, Subways, and so on.  However, out here those restaurants are more high end and refills don’t exist. We’ve been as selective as we can about what we’ve eaten, but in some areas options aren’t available. We have, until recently, been brushing our teeth with tap water, and that may have been where we contacted some strange bacteria.

When I thought about seeing more of the world, I didn’t really think about also meeting new parasites, bacteria, and viruses. I believe we’ll be fine, our immune systems are just learning new tricks. We are in Xela now, and I am super excited to be starting Spanish classes here. We’ll be staying with a family and I will receive a lot of one on one intense tutoring.  We will also begin our first volunteer project. Things are in motion and all is looking up. More coming soon…