Mary and I both slept well despite a lively party in the street outside her window and conversation from a late family dinner wafting p the stairwell. I discovered a delightfully noisy air conditioner in the corner of my room and turned it on full blast, allowing it to lull me to sleep. Of course I woke up freezing about 2:00 am and had to turn it off, but by then all was quiet.
Luis picked up Bette and Savannah, the 17 year old niece of a friend at 6:30 and then returned to the hotel where Mary and I were packed and waiting. Bette and Savannah had their own harrowing travel story to tell. They arrived three hours early for their shuttle from San Diego to Los Angeles, only to find that there was NO PILOT there to fly the plane. “No Problem,” said the cheery gate agent, there are still two seats available on the van!” Delta’s solution for the absent pilot crisis was to pile the passengers onto a van and speed them down the freeway to Los Angeles where they had a mad dash and scramble to make their Guatemala flight. They were both too hassled to sleep on the plane but managed to pull themselves together nicely for the long day ahead.
We drove south on the main highway for 1½ hours before stopping at an authentic/tourist restaurant that I’ve eaten at a few times before. The food is great - especially the tortillas, made all day by two women in traditional dress at the front of the restaurant (the tourist part.) There were several venders’ booths there, and Bette bought a few things from a woman with whom she has traded for several years. We then continued driving for another hour until we reached the site of the Mayan ruins. There are partially excavated plazas, temples and buildings and an area where local Mayans conduct ceremonies. Last time I was there, a traditional Mayan wedding was going on, and this time, there was a purification ceremony. We were standing back, trying to be respectful and unobtrusive when a young Mayan woman greeted us and said we were welcome to take pictures and to ask questions of the priest/healer who was conducting the ceremony. He was her father, and she explained that he had been born with the ability to see into people’s souls and to know if they were in need of spiritual cleansing. She also had this gift. She had her two year old daughter with her, dressed in beautiful traditional clothing that the mother had made. We went down and spoke to the priest who explained that the Mayans were holding this ceremony to try to bring harmony to the earth and it’s four elements, air, fire, water and earth, and to end the current battle between Catholics and Evangelicals. He said that Mayans believe in Mother Earth and feel that both Catholics and Evangelicals sometimes forget the importance of Mother Earth and mothers in general in bringing life, and concentrate too much on Dios. Concentrating on Mother will lead to peace, the Mayans believe. Anyway, that was what I took away from his discourse. I’ll post some photos of the ceremony.
We then continued our drive to San Marcos. The road climbs and descends, winding around rock faces, rarely maintaining a level cant. It always reminds me of a racetrack, especially when the packs of motorcyclists zoom by, weaving in and out between the cars and trucks and giant busses. Mary, who says she can get carsick on a straight, flat road, took her Bonine and was fine. Perhaps she was in shock, too aghast at what she had gotten herself into to succumb to motion sickness.
We finally arrived in San Marcos, dropped our gear at the hotel and went to Luis’ favorite restaurant for a late lunch/early supper. By four, we both had appointments to see patients. Mary saw Luis’s wife’s 22 year old daughter from a previous marriage for a breast lump and I saw an 8 year old girl with poorly managed asthma. From there it was back to the hotel to organize medications.
So here’s the plan: Tomorrow, we leave at 6:00am and drive two hours to Tacaná, the municipality where the extreme poverty and malnutrition drove me to start the garden project last year. Mary and I will see patients and we’ll get to see the gardens and greenhouses as well. We’ll stay the night in a hotel in the mountain region and on Tuesday we’ll go to Sibinal, another mountain municipality with a similar level of poverty. Ours will be the first ever visit to this area by medical providers. Luis has just completed their garden, so we will view that as well. Wednesday will also be devoted to Sibinal because of the large number of people who are expected to show up. We’ll return to San Marcos Wednesday night and then spend Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning in villages in the jungle region.
Because we are spending 3 days away, we had to split up the medications, leaving about a third of them here for the villages in the jungle region. It took Mary and me about two hours to wade through the piles of bottles and make our choices. Now we’ll get to see whether our combined 60+ years of experience served us well.
I’m not sure what the WIFI availability will be for the next 3 days, but will post when I can. I’ll try to put up some photos if the WIFI holds.
Luis picked up Bette and Savannah, the 17 year old niece of a friend at 6:30 and then returned to the hotel where Mary and I were packed and waiting. Bette and Savannah had their own harrowing travel story to tell. They arrived three hours early for their shuttle from San Diego to Los Angeles, only to find that there was NO PILOT there to fly the plane. “No Problem,” said the cheery gate agent, there are still two seats available on the van!” Delta’s solution for the absent pilot crisis was to pile the passengers onto a van and speed them down the freeway to Los Angeles where they had a mad dash and scramble to make their Guatemala flight. They were both too hassled to sleep on the plane but managed to pull themselves together nicely for the long day ahead.
We drove south on the main highway for 1½ hours before stopping at an authentic/tourist restaurant that I’ve eaten at a few times before. The food is great - especially the tortillas, made all day by two women in traditional dress at the front of the restaurant (the tourist part.) There were several venders’ booths there, and Bette bought a few things from a woman with whom she has traded for several years. We then continued driving for another hour until we reached the site of the Mayan ruins. There are partially excavated plazas, temples and buildings and an area where local Mayans conduct ceremonies. Last time I was there, a traditional Mayan wedding was going on, and this time, there was a purification ceremony. We were standing back, trying to be respectful and unobtrusive when a young Mayan woman greeted us and said we were welcome to take pictures and to ask questions of the priest/healer who was conducting the ceremony. He was her father, and she explained that he had been born with the ability to see into people’s souls and to know if they were in need of spiritual cleansing. She also had this gift. She had her two year old daughter with her, dressed in beautiful traditional clothing that the mother had made. We went down and spoke to the priest who explained that the Mayans were holding this ceremony to try to bring harmony to the earth and it’s four elements, air, fire, water and earth, and to end the current battle between Catholics and Evangelicals. He said that Mayans believe in Mother Earth and feel that both Catholics and Evangelicals sometimes forget the importance of Mother Earth and mothers in general in bringing life, and concentrate too much on Dios. Concentrating on Mother will lead to peace, the Mayans believe. Anyway, that was what I took away from his discourse. I’ll post some photos of the ceremony.
We then continued our drive to San Marcos. The road climbs and descends, winding around rock faces, rarely maintaining a level cant. It always reminds me of a racetrack, especially when the packs of motorcyclists zoom by, weaving in and out between the cars and trucks and giant busses. Mary, who says she can get carsick on a straight, flat road, took her Bonine and was fine. Perhaps she was in shock, too aghast at what she had gotten herself into to succumb to motion sickness.
We finally arrived in San Marcos, dropped our gear at the hotel and went to Luis’ favorite restaurant for a late lunch/early supper. By four, we both had appointments to see patients. Mary saw Luis’s wife’s 22 year old daughter from a previous marriage for a breast lump and I saw an 8 year old girl with poorly managed asthma. From there it was back to the hotel to organize medications.
So here’s the plan: Tomorrow, we leave at 6:00am and drive two hours to Tacaná, the municipality where the extreme poverty and malnutrition drove me to start the garden project last year. Mary and I will see patients and we’ll get to see the gardens and greenhouses as well. We’ll stay the night in a hotel in the mountain region and on Tuesday we’ll go to Sibinal, another mountain municipality with a similar level of poverty. Ours will be the first ever visit to this area by medical providers. Luis has just completed their garden, so we will view that as well. Wednesday will also be devoted to Sibinal because of the large number of people who are expected to show up. We’ll return to San Marcos Wednesday night and then spend Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning in villages in the jungle region.
Because we are spending 3 days away, we had to split up the medications, leaving about a third of them here for the villages in the jungle region. It took Mary and me about two hours to wade through the piles of bottles and make our choices. Now we’ll get to see whether our combined 60+ years of experience served us well.
I’m not sure what the WIFI availability will be for the next 3 days, but will post when I can. I’ll try to put up some photos if the WIFI holds.
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