Stories

Well I finally decided that I had time to write a couple of posts on what I have been up to the past couple of weeks. It has been hard to use the computer at my host families house because the boys are home for holy week and they cant use a computer at their school that they go to, so they enjoy the opportunity to use a computer. And on top of that, I just feel uncomfortable using the computer for hours at a time while they are home. I feel rushed and like I should be spending time with them. I decided that I would come into Flores and use a computer at an internet cafe. It is pretty nice and the connection is very fast. The downside of it is that their is a lady sitting next to me speaking in some other dialect of english, I don´t know if it is British or Australian,  and the only thing I want to do is listen to her.

   I am going to start writing stories mostly not in Chronological order so that I can just get them out of my head and onto virtual paper. Then, when I get bored or hungry, I can leave, eat some food and come back if I fancy to write more. Here we go:

Dirt:

I have been hanging out with the boys at the center a lot recently because they like to speak to me and it is fun to hang out with them. One of them has a motorcycle so I have been sticking around and riding that around. It is a little suzuki kcik starter with a bench seat riding on a lawn mower motor but is a blast and a half.The speedomoter does not work, nor the rpm-meter, nor does it tell me which gear I am in. When I firs started riding it I would engine brake when I wanted to stop, but I quickly learned that that usually just causes me to stall as first gear is a son of a gun to get into. I have since figured out how to ride it much better and have become a champ at starting it and going into first gear. Some would call me a professional rider, but they would be terribly, terribly wrong. Back to the story- I have also been going on excursions with the guys and Ovi to do random errands around town. One of these errands involved taking the pick-up truck out of town to dig up some dirt and bring it back to the center. Oh boy, just realized how boring this story is. Well, not gonna erase it. There really isn´t a lot to this story. We shoveled the dirt into the pick up truck and took it to the center where we filled holes and planted papaya trees. I guess it just stuck out because it was a good opportunity to work with the guys and get to know them a little bit. The papayas come from a friend of Ovi´s who is a papaya farmer and is the main distributor for the Guatemalan super grocery store called La Torre. Which means the tower. Not the bull.

Tikal:

Alright, I need to redeem myself with this one. It was brought to my attention a couple of weeks ago that I had been in Guatemala for around four or five weeks and had not seen any of the sightseeing places in Guatemala. I had hear about Tikal which I knew was THE place to see in Guatemala, but I had also heard about a place called "El Mirador" which sounded ohhh so much better than Tikal. First, the name "El Mirador" simply slides out of the mouth of spanish speakers. The "R" in spanish is very smooth and pronounced by putting the tip of the tounge where your front top teeth meet the gums. Much like the "L" in english. So mirador sounds suave and mysterious while Tikal has a fat glottal stop right in the middle of it that makes it sound rough and a little slow. Like a henchman to a villain. So I decided that I would one day soon go to one of the many "Travel agencies" around Flores to get some more information.

   On Wednesday I met Wendy outside of the school at around 4 oclock to run some errands with her. She needed to meet with her partner from school to figure out a day that they could go do some social work project out in the boonies with some disadvantaged family. We got to the parter´s house and I thought that it was the house that they were going to be working in. I quickly found out that I was wrong and was quickly humbled at how a person with so little is going to school to help others who have so much less. They finally got their assignment figured out and Wendy and I got back into a tuk-tuk to go to Flores so that she could talk to social work agencies there and find something to do.

    I love riding in tuk tuks. They are small, uncomfortable, and a gamble to get into, but there is just something so foreign about them that I am terribly attracted to. I say they are a gamble to get into because I never know if the driver is going to drive me to a remote street and strip search me for everything that is of value or if he is going to take me to my destination in a safe manner. The first time I was in a tuk tuk by myself the driver abruptly pulled over to the side of the road and got out. He flagged down another driver and at this point I decided that I was going to run from the tuk tuk in 30 seconds if I didn´t figure out a reason for pulling over. About fifteen seconds later my driver came back and looked at me while I simutaneously stuck my hand into the back of my pants to simulate that I had a handgun on me. He said some words that made me realize that he just need gas and I said okay. The other driver gave him a water bottle filled with gasoline and he poured it into his tank. We then stopped at a gas station and filled the tank and extra water bottle. I was relieved but quite on edge. We got to where I was going and now, after that scenario has happened on multiple occasions, I expect it. Tuk Tuk drivers also like to pick up as many passangers as will fit in their automobile. This mean that a ten minute ride from my house to Flores can quickly turn into a 25 minute ride to who knows where. I use to wait for the old and decrepid drivers to get in their tuk tuks because I figured old people don´t do bad things to young people. I now just look for people that don´t look sleazy. One driver I had was a super sleazeball and I was uncomfortable every second of the ride. He was in his thirties and skinny and I could tell he was a druggy and was relieved when I got out.

   So we got to Flores and after going to a couple of agencies Wendy gave up and we got some Sarita ice cream. Sarita owns the ice cream business in Guatemala and for good reason. It is very rich and darn cheap. A dollar for a scoop and a waffle cone? I think so! Vanilla is bomb.com and I like mango as well. While we were sitting in the open air ice creamery one of Wendy´s friends drove up on her motorcycle. Wendy flagged her down and we talked for a bit. I was really greatful for all of this time because it was awesome practice for Spanish. My comfortability in speaking the language comes in waves and it is easy to get discouraged. I already have a short attention span and having to concentrate and think about every word that is said is like training something that has a short attention span to learn a new language. Boom, assimile. After a while we decided to meet again at the school in a week and would travel to a place called "el mirador" that overlooks the island of Flores. It is a different mirador than the one that had previously sparked interest.

   I told Wendy that I wanted to ask about the other "El Mirador" so off we went to learn. We walked the streets of Flores until we found a store front that had a list of places they traveled handwritten on pieces of wood. One of them was el mirador, I am done putting that in quotes. We walked in and the agency was a small room with a computer, a couch, and behind a curtain was a laundramat. Yes, it did remind me of that episode of Tabatha takes over. So I sat down on the couch and an old, excited man sat down next to me and asked where I wanted to go. I told him El mirador and he smiled big and began to tell me all about how badly he wanted me to go. It is a five day and four night journy on foot through the jungle to what is believed to be the largest Mayan site known to man today. Excavation has just begun. This sounded like it was made for me and ended up being about 230 usd all in all. He told me all about the mayan writing that littered the temple and how on the third day I could sleep on the highest temple and watch the sunrise from it. I thought it sounded like the most amazing trip I had ever heard of and told him that if he had a group to go to give me a call. I was excited and thrilled to go to el mirador. On the way back to the house I prayed if I should go and felt a really strong no. I asked like 20 more times hoping for a change, but the answer was no. I was pretty upset and thought how badly I wanted to go and how fun it would be. I then figured that it was the price and decided that if I could get an awesome deal than I would still go. I felt wrong in that decision too and figured God just had other plans and I needed to accept it. I got home and decided that I would find information on Tikal in the next couple of days.

Getting hungry, will finish this story and others later.

God, you are bigger and better than me, Your knowledge exceeds everything and everyone else. You work in ways that I could never hope to understand and the pieces of my life will work out to glorify You. Thank you for giving me this life and for loving me unconditionally. Thank you for the freedom that comes from Your grace and I pray to always live in accordance to Your will. 


Amen