Independencia

Independence day - for more than one reason. Of course it's the 4th of July. We didn't do much to celebrate today, it's not a big deal for Guatemalans as you can imagine. But today Allie left for the US, leaving me down here for the next month - a much more somber kind of independence, for sure. It was tough to say goodbye at the airport this morning, but we managed.

Overall, our vacation was a success. We saw some incredible places, did some fun things, and ate some amazing food. What more could you ask for?

Tomorrow I start at Mayan Medical Aid. I moved my stuff from Santiago to Santa Cruz today,  which was a scosh laborious. Thankfully I had already taken my climbing pack with the rope and gear to the house on Saturday. But my one huge duffel is rather heavy, and there was copious walking involved. After a brief time when I thought I had no access to money, and with none on me at the time, thought I was going to have to beg for handouts to get to Santa Cruz, I did make it just fine. There was actually an ATM open on Sunday. Why do the ATM's close? Isn't that point of ATM's, to be open when the bank is not? That's a rhetorical question - of course that's the point of ATM's. But not these, save that one I came across. Then the lancha ride from Pana to Santa Cruz - oh boy. We were loaded down, slam full of people plus a bunch of other random stuff. And my duffel ended up at the very tip of the bow. A loaded lancha is not a dry ride, and the tarp they use to cover the stuff and people would have helped for sure had it been covering my bag! But no, my duffel was the one object on the entire boat not covered by the tarp - perfect. It got drenched. I was fuming. But, thank the good lord, when I got to the house in Santa Cruz, only a couple things were wet, and even those weren't that wet. Lucky.

So tomorrow I should have some kind of orientation to the clinic, the town, etc. Pete, the guy who organizes things for the students will orientate me. After that I don't know what the day holds. Usually Monday's are days we stay in Santa Cruz at the clinic and have Spanish class. Two or three days a week we go out to communities around the area to do outreach clinics. My guess is Tuesday this week will be my first one of those. Can't wait!

The house is great. It's got three rooms - one for Peyton, me, and one other student. It's a good group. The house has a big porch with a view of the lake. I finished my book (Into Thin Air by Krakauer) on the porch this afternoon while the rain drizzled in the surrounding garden. Pretty peaceful.

There's no internet at the house, so I have to come to the local hangout at the docks, La Iguana Perdida, to use the internet. That's fine, it's a 5-10 minute walk from the house. But uploading pictures may be an issue. I'll keep posting text for sure, but I may have to go back and add pictures when I can during this month, and perhaps even after. We'll see.

Hasta pronto!