3/22/09
We are still learning more Spanish at school actually its not hard to when you don’t know much. The problem is trying to remember it. I don’t know if the neurons delivering the info to the brain are not delivering it or the neurons retrieving the info are not working right or if the info is being stored at all. Its sort of frustrating not to be able to communicate with the locals still. We are still working on all the scrambled verbs. But I am able to pick out more words in a conversation. I take comfort in knowing that I have forgot more Spanish than most Americans will ever know.
I have gone to two dentists here to get my teeth cleaned and checked. I went to two as I did not like the first clinic. The dentist was nice but she did not do a good job on the cleaning and the office was not real clean and the dental tools were not in sterile packs. The second place (Clinicas Ovulle, Antigua)was clean, had sterile packs, and modern equipment. This dentist did a good job on the cleaning and checkup like you would get in the states. It cost about $47 for the cleaning and checkup and $25 for a full x-ray, where the x-ray machine goes around your head. I went back to get 5 small cavities done for $47 each. Both dentist speak English. Alicia and Shannon go in on Monday. Unfortunately Jared had his 6 cavities done before we came for $1400 and that does not include the cleaning and checkup. If you have a lot of dental work to be done come here to get it done and you will pay for the rest of your trip in savings. A root canal goes for $125 or so.
On Wednesday we toured a coffee farm, macadamia nut farm and looked at a fabric store in a small town near hear. Unfortunately the tours were in Spanish and I did not get much out of them. I understood some of the coffee tour by looking at the equipment and what it did. At the fabric store they did a reenactment of a Mayan wedding with some of the people from our group dressing up as the locals, that was fun.
Friday we climbed the Pacaya Volcano. Or I rode a horse up and the others walked. I rode as we heard the trail was long and hard, but I could have walked it as it was shorter than the last one we did. Shannon rode the horse back down all by herself, I was led. When we got there the lava was slowly flowing so you had to wait till the leading edge cooled off to see the red hot lava as this flow was covered with cooled lava rock. I got with in 3 feet of this flow when I approached form the side.
There had been another flow the day before that must have been flowing like a river from the smooth shapes it dried in. We were able to climb on this flow and stand on the newly formed rock that was still pretty warm. Actually about 8 to 12 inches under us it was still red hot as we could see this through a fold in the surface. Our guide started a stick on fire by putting it into the side of this flow right down from where we walked up on to it. We roasted coconut covered marshmallows (from the store and are very good) down in the fold and made s‘mores. Some English guys were trying to roast there sandwiches in the fold by putting sticks across the sides, but the sticks fell in and promptly caught fire.
Our trip was dampened as a man in another group had a heart attack and died at the edge of the lava field. We were heading down when it happened Jared saw the man fall. From where we were across the lava field we thought he had stumbled and maybe twisted his ankle as the we assisting him. When we got closer and below the group on another trail we heard them say that he had lost conscious and a few minutes later start CPR. There was a doctor in another group that came up about then and helped out and found a pulse. We moved on up the trail to where the two trails meet and about 10 minutes later they brought the man up and we found out he had died. He was my age.
3/28/09
Its Saturday and one more week of school to go. I will be happy to be out of school as it is still real mentally tiring. But at the same time I wish we could do more (after another week break) as I feel I am starting to get somewhere. We really like Guatemala still and would like to see more. We really like our host family Silvia. She is a good cook (gives us too much food), her place is nice and she is a real good person. She has been taking Shannon to the market with her and Shannon really likes that.
Shannon only had one cavity which was filled yesterday and had Alicia none. I figure we saved at least $225 in cleaning cost (if it cost $150 in the states) and $1170 in fillings or $1395 or two airline tickets for here.
Yesterday the school had a field trip to see Maximon in a nearby village. Maximon cigar smoking Mayan god of desires. He is the god of tobacco, wealth, alcohol, and other things. They pray to him for more of all kinds of stuff and for help with addictions if wanted. Out in front of the building families were offering burnt sacrifices. They would make a square or circle with sugar then put stuff inside of it, mostly sweet stuff, aromatic wood and alcohol. But also one family was doing a blood sacrifice with chickens, where they would kill the chicken over the rest of the offerings and spread its blood over it. Then the feathers where added to the offering.
Shannon did not go on this field trip instead she and her teacher went to the market, walked to a nearby village and McDonalds. The McDonalds here is the nicest I have seen. It has a big court yard and garden.
To day we are off to the market again and dinner at La Pena de Latino. We went there the other night to listen to music from the Andes and had dessert. Both were very good, their chocolate mus was the best I have ever had. We will also buy a few of the bands CDs.
The temperature has also finally warmed up some which is nice. It has been colder that normal for the whole month.