I'm living in a Guatemalan house at the base of Agua Volcano. Dona Carolina and her husband host six or seven volunteers at a time here. Some are here for a few days, while others are here for multiple months. She provides a clean, secure environment that includes a private room, three meals a day, keys to the front door, amongst other hospitalities. All this for $10/day-- you can't get that in a hotel! Also, I was able to secure use of her WiFi for 25Q (about $3) for the week, as well as have her do my laundry for the same cost. The house has six bedrooms, three baths, an open-air atrium where I can literally watch and smell the rain fall down just steps away from my bedroom door- very tropical.
After breakfast this morning, the other girls in the house and I went downtown to secure our places on the zip line for tomorrow, as well my spot on the bus for the volcano hike on Friday at the travel agency. Of course we got sidetracked by beautiful markets with eager marketers. I was coached to begin the offer for the goods with half of what the marketeer quotes as the price to try to bring it down some. I used that suggestion, plus started lower because I figured if the tourists know to cut the price in half, the marketers most definitely know that secret too, so odds are they raise the originally quoted price-- follow me so far? Well, I started my bidding at about a third less than half-- and walked away with a beautifully colorful 450Q hand-woven wall hanging for 225Q ($30). Pretty good for a Spanglish speaking chica, I'd say!
At 1:45, I finally arrived at Casa Jackson for my second shift after experiencing tuk-tuk drivers on slow paced Guatemalan time since they were supposed to pick us up at 1:15 to have us there by 1:30. I was reminded by Carolina that in Guatemala 'on time' means "sometime within the hour".
There were quite a few volunteers (some scheduled, some just floated in) today which made it an opportune time to get to spend alot of one-on-one time with the babies. I spent the majority of my shift with Ana, an approx. 10 mo old baby who barely looks 3 months old. However, she is vibrant, funny, strong (pulls herself to a stand on the side of the crib), and a major cuddle-bug. I changed her, fed her, squeezed her, and giggled with her. She seems to be very mild mannered and content. A lovely baby.
It began raining at about 4:15 pm and is still pouring. Three of my housemates hiked the volcano this afternoon-- I hope they took raincoats with them.
Photos are of me and some statues at a fancy hotel & museum, and of me and Ana from Casa Jackson.
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Your pics are great! They are a perfect companion to your adventures! The babies are beautiful and lucky you are there for them even for a short time. Ultreia!
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