How to Get Sick (and Recover) in Guatemala

WARNING: This blog post contains medical information, including humorous descriptions of symptoms from a real medical disorder. Reader discretion is advised. The post is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent illness. Although, if it does - awesome! 

So, we all had a new experience this last week - amoebic dysentery. (Ok, it wasn't quite to the point of technically being dysentery, but it was close.) And, while it doesn't rate high on my list of things I'd recommend that you experience when you visit Guatemala, I think it will at least be one of the more memorable 'firsts' that we've encountered. So, in case you'd like to repeat the experience (or, maybe in case you DON'T want to repeat it), I've decided to include a step-by-step set of instructions. Without further ado, I present:

Amoebas 101

1.) Eat something. Or, drink something. Or, don't, and just touch stuff that someone else has touched. Really, there are no guarantees on this step of the process. Ameobas are very, very, very common here - both in the food and water, and on people's hands. The life cycle of amoebas makes them very easy to transmit from person-to-person. Even with the best of preventative measures (cooking things thoroughly, being careful what you drink, washing hands often) you might still end up with amoebas. Think of it as a little surprise gift from Xela to you! (How thoughtful, right?)

2.) Start feeling symptoms. Or, think you're starting to feel symptoms, but you're not sure. Or, don't, and just harbor these little suckers in your gut with you apparent side effects. Any of these are possibilities. In our case, it's likely a mix of all three. We've all struggled with <ahem> loose stools since our arrival. It's likely that we picked up amoebas sometime in the past month or two, had only a few symptoms, and managed to pass the first life cycle fairly easily. (When I speak of life cycles, by the way, let's just say it's possible to diagnose how long the amoebas have been in your gut by the presence or absence of their various manifestations. The word 'cysts' might have been thrown around in the lab report.)

Once the amoebas do start to cause symptoms, they are not pleasant ones. Severe diarrhea (up to 10 times per day), stomach cramping and aching, gas, high fever, and terrible headaches are all common... and that's just if the amoebas don't penetrate the lining the of your intestines, get into your bloodstream, and colonize in your liver. (Or BRAIN! Ewwwwwwwwww....)

3.)  Go to the doctor to get a diagnosis. This is an especially challenging thing if you don't know where to go, or what to say, since you don't speak the language. ("Un examen de heces, por favor," by the way - in case you're wondering.) This is where I am, once again, grateful to be in the embrace of a wonderful group of people who are very kind and take very good care of us. I was driven to the private hospital here in town, where I had the distinct privilege of paying 30Q (approx. $4) to give a stool sample in a urine specimen cup! I'll let the realities of that challenge remain unwritten and up to your imagination. Later the same day two other people from our family got to repeat the process. (I'm thinking this is a skill we should all include on our resumes.)

4.) Pray. (This really helped with the duration and severity of our cases!) Get medication. Again - this can be a challenge if you don't know what to say or where to go. Because lab results get emailed to you (in Spanish, of course), and there are no actual paper prescriptions, you'll once again either have to rely on the kindness of those around you, or dumb luck. (I would highly recommend the former!) Medication, though over-the-counter, is still not cheap. You should expect to pay between $50 and $75 per person for a full course of treatment. Thankfully, this is not a case where the cure is worse than the disease. The pills themselves aren't terrible, and only have to be taken three times per day for ten days. I've been told that (like most medications) it is of the utmost importance to complete a full treatment. It's bad enough to think about amoebas living in your intestines. I can't imagine having mutated amoebas to boot!

5.) Like the instructions given on shampoo bottles - lather, rinse, repeat. (Although, if you think about it, that means that we'd all be stuck in the shower forever if we followed those instructions.) Anyway - after fully recovering, you're back to step number one all over again. And, though you'll continue to do your best to wash foods carefully, watch out for what you eat and drink, and wash your hands frequently, there will still be no guarantees that you won't pick up a new batch of free-loading little amoebas who will, once again, try to colonize your intestinal tract and anything else they get access to.

The good news is that the second time around at least you'll be familiar with the process, know how to say all the necessary words in Spanish, and already be skilled at giving a sample.  ;)





 

Brain Dump

There are times when, for whatever reason, I don't have the time, focus, or ability to create an entire blog post, but there are lots of little things floating around in my head that really want to come out and play. It is for such times as these that I created the 'Brain Dump' post. Enjoy!

• Why is it that I have to duck through every doorway in my house, but the mirror in my downstairs bathroom is so high that even I (giant Gringa that I am) can only see my reflection from the nose up? 
• Is it worth taking the time to tell my phone to remember every word I type on messages and texts, or should I just continue to be content having it try to autocorrect everything I write into some random Spanish word instead? 
• There really is nothing quite like seeing a valley full of clouds from above. They look a giant, white lake, with only the highest mountain and volcano tops peeking out around the edges. Guatemala is a truly spectacular land. 
• I love that the presence of the Lord breaks language barriers. There is something immeasurably thrilling about standing in the midst of dozens and dozens of people who are crying in their own language, and I'm crying in mine, and even though we can't understand each other, we understand each other perfectly. It is at once familiar and novel every time, and I can't get enough of it. 
• I wonder when I'm going to start "feeling" like a missionary. 
• Being stared at for the color of your skin and how much you stand out is a very strange feeling. I'm not sure I like it, but I also know it's good for me, and for our family, to understand life on this side of the equation. 
• I keep mixing up the words for old (viejo) and trip (viaje). Yesterday I told my Spanish tutor that I was taking an old this morning with my students. <sigh>  He's very patient with me, and tries his best to only chuckle instead of laughing openly at my mistakes. 
• How far should one go to assimilate into one's new culture? Should I feel compelled to throw my kids big birthday parties at a local restaurant, and invite all of their classmates? Should I think about having a Quince Anos party for Rachel, even if she's not really interested in having one? Where is the line between rude and just different because of our background? 
• So, here's something strange - I buy fresh fruit from withered, ancient, Mayan women at an open market. I live and drive on literal cobblestone roads.  I hang my clothes to dry on the roof. Everyday I see people who carry things on their heads. It is no longer startling to spot cows, goats, and chickens in the road, but I do a double-take when I see a dog on a leash. These things are still hard to believe sometimes.
• Cats walking across plastic roofing in the night sound really loud. And really big. Unless, of course, there actually is a 500 pound panther walking across my skylight each night at 2:00 a.m. Could be, I suppose. Could be.
• Around here there are places called 'Auto Hotels.' Let's just say they call them that because they're places that your car goes to sleep, but <ahem> you don't. (My understanding is that they rent by the 20 minutes.) They are everywhere, and sometimes have startling American icons or logos. Like, cartoon characters, for example. I saw a billboard for one a few weeks ago that featured Chewbacca from Star Wars. Seriously, Guatemala - you never cease to amaze and confuse me. 
• Some street food smells reallllllly good. It's becoming increasingly hard to resist.  I'm beginning to think it's worth the risk of catching amoebas or accidentally eating dog meat. You only live once, right? 
• There is a kind of bread here called Pan de Muerte (bread of the dead), but I don't think it has to do wtih the Day of the Dead. (I might be wrong.) On that day people eat a cold meat and vegetable salad (of sorts) called fiambre. I'm told it's delicious. Can't wait to try it.
• I love that students have identified my room as a safe place to be, and that many of them go there to eat lunch. To hang out. To cry. To ask for prayer. God is so good.
• Every roadtrip I take (or everytime I'm in the car for more the 20 minutes, for that matter) I see someone peeing on the side of the road. There are signs up all over town admonishing people not to throw trash or use the bathroom on the sidewalks, walls, and empty lots. 
• I have yet to figure out how to write about life here in a way that really captures the beauty of this place and my genuine, pleasant wonder at it all. Somehow everything I've written sounds negative, even though I meant it just the opposite. I guess you're going to just have to believe me when I say that everything here (even the hard stuff) is a blessing and part of the place that God has truly made me love with all my heart.

Identity Crisis

Learning a foreign language is hard, especially at my age. (I'm not old, of course, but I'm also not  kid anymore, either.) Figuring out new pronunciations, conjugations, phrases and idioms - I'm not gonna lie, it's taxing to say the least. I never before understood the reality of a physical headache that comes from language strain. Let me assure you, though, it's very real. But, despite how challenging and annoying that can be, it's not the hardest part about learning a language. That hardest part is losing your identity.


Allow me to explain.

In the U.S., I speak English, and I speak it well. I am an English teacher, after all. I'd like to believe (and years of experience have supported the idea) that it's easy for fellow English-speakers to assume within just a few moments of conversation that I am a Christian, educated, informed, intelligent, open, friendly, kind, trustworthy, sincere, genuine, and contain a sharp wit and a great sense of humor. (Alright - maybe people don't think all of those things, but it's my blog, so I'm allowed to take a few liberties.)

Here, though, it's not so easy.

I'd like to think I'm still all of those things, but now I don't have any way to communicate them to others. Let's face it, someone unable to come up with the word for 'sit' doesn't exactly come off as amazingly smart. I'm afraid that the long pauses in conversation during which I roll my eyes heavenward, searching (physically and metaphorically, as it were) for a certain phrase or way of saying something tend to make me look a bit untrustworthy at best - as if I'm engaging in a lie and trying to keep all the facts straight in my head. At worst, I'm afraid some people have wondered if I literally had a mental disorder or disability. And then there is the inappropriate level of exuberance I express in voice and energetic hand gestures when trying to convey such simple things as wishing to buy two pounds of potatoes, instead of one.

Of course, it also doesn't help that, apparently, we no longer know how to say our own names. Mark has (out of necessity) become Marcos. Rachel is now Raquel. Even Rebecca, Sarah, and myself, whose names are technically also Spanish names, have had to learn to drastically change the pronunciation. As for 'Farrier' - forget it! It's strange how even American words from American corporations (like Big Mac, or Angus Deluxe, for example) have to be said with a pronounced local accent in order to be understood. It is a surreal experience at McDonalds to ask for chicken nuggets and be received with a blank stare, but be understood perfectly by contorting the word into "noo-goots".

<sigh> I'm afraid that all of Xela have become aware of the family of giant gringos living in their midst, and they're thoroughly convinced that we're all a bunch of idiots.

So, to overcome that misconception, we're doing our best to smile a lot. We are very well versed in the Spanish phrases for, "I'm sorry," "please," and "blessings from Jesus." And, we do our best to express the love and grace of Christ everywhere we go. Perhaps we can at lesat be known as polite idiots who love the Lord, after all.

For all of you out there living in the land of your native tongue - soak it up! Enjoy being able to express who you are, and never forget how powerful your words can be! (I'd try to say that in Spanish for you, but I'd rather maintain my reputation as an intelligent, intelligable person instead - at least in one country!)

Bienvenido a Nuestra Casa!! (Welcome to Our Home!!)

I know we've written in the past about how excited we were when we found out about this house, and how much we'd love to have visitors, but we've been getting a lot of requests lately for blog post giving a little tour of our new home. I think that's a fantastic idea! 

So, here it is - our house:

This is the view down the street:

This is the view up (literally! note the steepness of the hill) the street:

From our front door you enter into the living room, which is long and narrow and cozy:

Immediately to my left in this pic is the door that leads to the courtyard area. (The curtain behind the TV in this pic also looks into it.) This is the view as you're standing in that doorway. You can see the stairs, door the bathroom (open), and door to a closet (red). 

This little cubby hole is under the stairs. It's the place to store garbage until trashday - Wednesday mornings. We have to be sure to have it out before 6:00 a.m., but don't dare put it out the night before or the 649 neighbhorhood dogs (give or take) will make a mess of it.

This is our downstairs bathroom - just off the courtyard. I hate to be indiscreet, but you'll note the full trashcan near the toilet. That's because you can't flush the TP. Took a little while to adjust to this, but we're totally used to it now. 

Here are the shower and sink in the downstairs bathroom. We usually use the upstairs shower since it has the option of using the gas-powered hot water heater. However, despiite how scary these electrical lines look, this shower does produce pretty decent hot water.

The next door in the courtyard area is for a closet that we use to store cleaning products, brooms, etc... Nothing much to see. The anatomy pic in the lower right is a handpainted/embroidered piece made years ago by one of the family members of the house's owners. There are two more as well. I think they're just about nifty and folk-arty as they can be, but they freak Rachel out a little. :) 

This is another view of the courtyard. The owners left us several lovely plants, which I am doing my best to keep alive! You can see the windows on the left which lead into a small room downstairs. The arched door goes into the kitchen. The arched windows lead into the diningroom.

This is the small room downstairs off the courtyard. For now, we're not using it for anything except storage. It needs a new coat of paint, and smells of midlew to me. We're hoping to get it freshened up and be able to use it for an office / study area. 

This is our dining room, which will hopefully soon have a bigger, better table and chairs. We're still deciding on what we want to get. Can't wait to have many family meals and visitors gathered around our table!

Adjoining the dining room is our kitchen - probably one of the best kitchens in all of Xela! :) Most houses don't have any built-in cabinetry, so even renters have to buy/build storage. Our kitchen is a real luxury, and we love it.

One of the curious things about life here (one of MANY) is that we don't have hot water at our kitchen faucet. One of the best purchases we've made here so far is our electric water kettle, which is SO much faster than trying to boil water on the stove at 7,500 ft elevation, and comes in super handy when we are doing dishes, making oatmeal, having a quick cup of tea, trying to sanitize something, etc.  In this picture you'll also notice our baskets, perfect for storing fresh fruits and veggies from the market.

One more item of note before we leave the kitchen: the way people wash dishes here. Instead of using liquid dishsoap, they typically buy little, round containers of gritty, semi-solid soap, and just dip their sponges/rags into when they're washing the dishes. Works like a charm! Sorry about the dirty dishes in the sink, but at least you can see what our stuff looks like that we bought to use. 

Time to head upstairs. The stairs are located at the opposite end of the courtyard from the kitchen. They're very steep, and very narrow. (We have to walk up sideways with our giant Gringo feet.) This is the view of the courtyard and stairs from the kitchen door. You can see all the way to clear roof, and the walkway upstairs. The door  you see on the lower left goes into the livingroom.

Thisis what it looks like from the top of the stairs. You can see the bathroom door below. At the top of the stairs, you can either turn around and go up 4 more steps into the prayer room, go straight ahead into the guest room, or turn left and go down the walkway toward Rachel's room and the rest of the bedrooms. It's a very funky and small landing.

This is our prayer room. We're SUPER excited to have a place designated in our home for prayer, Bible study, worship, etc... Right now we don't have much in it, but we've decided to go 'Moroccan style' with it, and just get a bunch of nice rugs, pillows, maybe more bean bag chairs, etc. (The rug you see in there now is a hand-woven one we bought at the market last weekend.) I'm looking forward to spending many hours there, and hoping to host Bible studies there as well. 

This is our guest room. Though it doesn't look inviting yet, we're hoping to be able to get a very comfy bed soon. Poco a poco (litle by little) as they say here. Another unusual blessing in this house is that each of the rooms came with an armoire. Most homes have no closets, and you have buy them. Our landlords left theirs for us to use, which saved a lot of time, money, and hassle! 

This is a view down the walkway from the guest room - looking toward Rachel's door (on the right), our room (at the end of the walkway), and the little girls' room (windows on the left).

Rachel really loves her room, especially since she got a double bed instead of a twin, and has lots of storage for her things.

Next up is our room, which is pretty simple, but nice. Our bed is comfortable. The closet is roomy. And, as long as remember to duck, we don't hit our head too often on our arched "hobbit door." (Oh yeah - forgot to mention there are numerous doors and stairways we literally have to duck in so we don't injure ourselves.) 

Across the hall from our room is the room the little girls share. These two are best friends, and really love being together. Thankfully, the bunk bed was already here, along with the closet and the bookshelf. All we had to do was unpack their bags and buy bedding.  The windows in this picture as the same ones you saw from the walkway. They look out into the house over the courtyard. In fact, the only exterior windows in the whole house are in the prayer room, stairs, and guest room. Except for skylights, two of the bedrooms have.

Just next to the girls' room is our laundry area, neatly tucked in under the stairs to the patio. It is SUCH a blessing to have a washer and a good place to hang clothes to dry! Most people here handwash their stuff in a big sink called a pila. We have a nice pila in the courtyard, but don't use it often. Also in this picture is a gas water heater. It is kind of pain to light, but the joy of being able to have hot showers (and even baths, if we want to ) is indescribable, especially on the cold mornings we so often have here. Though the weather is much more temperate here than in Iowa, it does get down near freezing some nights, and we have no insulation, no heating system, and only wire mesh between us and the upstairs patio. A hot shower is a blessing beyond description some days. 

Just to the right of the washer is our upstairs bathroom. It's pretty roomy, and very nice. 

Beyond the bathroom are the stairs that lead up to the rooftop. We have to be especially careful to mind our steps and our heads here, since they are narrow, steep, and have a low overhanging ledge. Oh, and they make a corner. In the first picture the window to the right looks into the bathroom, and just to the left (behind that wall) is the washer.

At the top of the stairs you can look behind you to a platform on the roof that has a water holding tank. This is a blessing, since the water and/or electricity are often shut off here in Xela for hours at a time in one sector or another in town. You just never know when your sector is going to lose out! This holding tank has really been wonderful for those times when we'd have otherwise been without water. 

Directly ahead of you at the top of the stairs is the doorway that leads to the patio. If we don't close this door and latch it (using a string and nail) each night, we're told we're likely to end up with stray cats in our house. As it is, we frequently hear them walking across the roof and skylights. 

We re-oriented the rooftop patio when we moved in so that the clothes drying lines went vertically from side to side on the back half of the patio, leaving the front half free for a few chairs and tables (someday). Since we usually only wash one or two loads a day, at most, this leave us plenty of clothes drying space, and room to go up there and enjoy the view. 

Speaking of the view... here it is!! It doesn't get much better than this. It's especially beautiful at night. You can see the whole city from here - everything except the volcano. OH well. We can see the three big Catholic churches in town, the Mormon Temple, and even the school where I work! (Oh, yes - and McDonalds.) We're also told that the fireworks during Christmas and New Year's Eve are unbelivable from up there. Can't wait to see them.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little tour of our part of the world. We feel increidbly blessed to have the privilege of being here, and of sharing our home with you. Until next time...

Like a Trip to the DMV on Steroids

On Thursday of this past week I got to go to Guatemala City, which people here just call Guate (say: Gwah - Tay). I had to do some official stuff. I'm still not sure what stuff I did. Or still have to do. But, I have it on good authority that I'm well into the process of receiving my two-year Visa.  <whew>

The day started at 5:30 (in the morning!!!) when I had to get up in order to shower (in cold water), get dressed (in the dark) and walk to Parque Central (in fog). Here are some of the things I saw along the way:

Stray Dog. One of ten or so I saw on my walk.

Sunrise on my street in Xela.

Fresh juice, anyone? 

I think the church in the background is called the Transfiguration Church. Don't know for sure. It's old. And pretty. And visible from a distance.. 

The downtown catholic church from a distance.

Security measures are important. You see a lot of razor wire here.

The downtown catholic church, as seen through the overhang of the gas station. :) 

Another dog.

The catholic church up close. The facade in the left of the pic is almost 500 years old.

Right now the city of Xela (and all of Guatemala) is in the throes of celebrating Independence weekend. Apparently Xela is the THE place to be for the Independence Day celebration. There are parades, a fair, tons of people from out of town, and TRAFFIC!!!!! It's always a challenge to get around here, but apparently even more so this weekend. Oh - and there are also flags up everywhere, like these in  the central park.

The light blue and white banners represent Guatemala's flag. The red, white, and blue ones represent the flag of Xela.

After a big of delay in getting everyone and everything situation in the very comfortable van we were blessed to be riding in, we were on our way. The drive from Xela to Guate usuall takes between 3 and 4 hours, depending on traffic. You have to ascend to over 10,000 feet, and then descend again into the city. The views are spectacular. Unfortunatley, my camera skills in a moving vehicle are not. That's why the only pics I got look like this:

See... there's a mountain back there. Honest.

The view just a second before these trees got in the way was really something.
It's too bad you missed it. (Or, that I missed it with the camera.)

There was fog. Or, is it just called clouds at that altitude? 

Our trip went smoothly, and we made good time - only stopping once for a few snacks and a potty break. It was a very typical gas station / convenience store.

Because of *course* the toilet wouldn't have a toilet seat, or TP.

Because of *course* the gas station is going to have a stuffed alpaca out front.

After we arrived in Guate, I became even more grateful for our intrepid driver. You know you're in a bad traffic situation when you hear the navigator calmly say from the front seat, "Remember - you shouldn't honk at them, even if they cut you off. That's a red chicken bus, and they are the ones who always shoot people."

And she meant it.

But there were other interesting things to look at, too. Like this motorcycle, which had deer antlers, even though I don't even think there are any deer in Guatemala.

Thankfully, we arrived in one piece (despite our proximity with red chicken buses) just before 11:00, and plopped down in non-descript seats in a non-descript room in a non-descript government building. And then we waited. For four hours. During that time I got up twice - once to sign a piece of paper, and once to get my picture taken. I'm so grateful for the school's lawyer, who did all the hard work, and for the people I was with. They were awesome, and we managed to have a blast despite the long wait.

The lady with the purse in the background was waiting with us... AND her two young children (who were so well behaved)! The one giving the thumbs up had to spend her BIRTHDAY in a Guate govt. building, and still managed to smile through it all. Like I said - we had a blast together!

Ok, maybe he wasn't having as much fun as we were. But, still... :) 

After 653,000 hours (give or take), we finally headed back to the van, and stopped off for the most delicious McDonalds we'd ever eaten. (Perhaps not having eaten for 12 hours might have had something to do with it as well.)

Thumbs up! We were so happy to be back to the van.

So, here's something interesting... the McCafes in Guatemala sell the most amazing cake and pastries. We bought Mary a piece because it was her birthday. There may or may not have been open flame and some off-key singing in the van as well.

The rest of the ride home was uneventful. The sights were almost as pretty on the way home as they had been on the way there. Somehow my camera skills hadn't improved any, though, which is quite a shame, since we saw a volcano puffing out smoke and ash. You really missed quite a sight! :) 

Sleeping off the cares of the day (and the sugar from the cake).

Resting from all the resting he did at the government office. (I don't blame him, though. If I could sleep while sitting upright I would have done it too!)

One of the bus stops along the way home. Lots of people...

There's a volcano there. On the right. Beyond the blurry red lights It's even erupting a little as this picture is being taken. Not that you could tell, though...

 

We finally arrived back in Xela around 8:30. It was a long day, to say the least, but we're learning to be patient and enjoy the process and the ride (figuratively as well and literally). So, all in all, I'd say Thursday turned out to be a pretty great day!