A day in the Life -- Part 2 - Travels on Tues 2nd Feb

8am – I check my emails quickly before getting the bus to Totonicapan. My bus is actually quite empty so no squeezing 3 people to a seat today. People often ask me why I don’t buy a car here, and are pleasantly surprised that I normally use the buses (missionaries here have a reputation about being scared of using the buses and buying themselves big cars). I have a few reasons – the environment being one of them – but mainly it’s because I don’t want to separate myself from ‘normal’ society here. I see so many missionaries who come to Guatemala saying they want to share the gospel with people but then do everything they can to protect their own lifestyles and families and isolate themselves from the very people that they say they’re here to reach (living in closed communities with security guards, never using public transport, sending their kids to private schools, shopping at the foreign supermarket and buying all the same food as they would at home). For me it doesn’t make any sense, and I know that the simple act of being on a bus is a way of sharing in the normal lives of the people. But I digress.......... So I spend 3 hours on the bus – I used to try to read but with the roads winding around the mountains, it just makes me feel ill, so these days I amuse myself by making funny faces at the child staring at me from a few rows in front, and thanking God for the amazingly beautiful country he has brought me to.

12.15pm - I arrive in Totonicapan and meet Joe, one of the Striders, and we walk to his home. Joe has been in Guatemala and Honduras for a year now but has recently changed projects. We talk through his 6monthly review form that he has completed – how he’s adapted to the culture, what he’s achieved and what goals he wants to set himself for the next 6 months, and chat about his new project.

2.30pm –We enjoy lunch with Joe’s host family. Chicken, rice and tamalitos never fail! Joe just moved here a week ago. Normally I meet the host families beforehand and explain all about the programme and their expectations – but this time, the placement was organised a bit hastily and I didn’t get a chance to visit previously. But he’s working with GEU (the Guatemalan Christian student group) –who have received striders in the past so have a good understanding of the requirements for a family – and as I talk with the family, I’m glad to discover that they made a great choice here for Joe. I explain a bit more about Latin Link and the way we work. Families are often worried that they haven’t got the right mod-cons for volunteers from Europe – or that they should cook things that the volunteers are more used to instead of traditional Guatemalan food. I reassure them that the idea of Stride is that the volunteers get to experience real Guatemalan life – so the family shouldn’t change anything – it’s the Striders responsibility to adapt to life here. (Sometimes that can be difficult to start with – but usually Striders enjoy seeing and eating the real thing! – and often end up stuffing as many tins of frijoles in their suitcases as they can when they go home)

During the conversation we also discover that Joy, one of the daughters of the family, is just graduating as a nutritionist and has been working on a UN project. I tell them about Hannah, another strider who’s also a nutritionist and developing a project in Zaragoza – but who has had trouble finding Guatemalan growth charts or information about how malnutrition is identified here. Joy offers to help – This might just be the connection that answers Hannah’s prayers.

4pm – I’m back on a bus – this time to San Pedro La Laguna, a bit of a detour on my way home.

6ish - As the bus negotiates the hairpin turns down the side of the mountain, I strain my neck to see the sun setting red behind the volcanoes on the other side of Lake Atitlan. It is incredibly beautiful, and makes me wish I was better as taking photos!

7pm – I arrive in San Pedro La Laguna and walk down the hill to the shore where my usual hostel is. On the way the smell of the coffee de-pulper hits me before I see it (think silage rather than roasted coffee). Many of the communities around the lake produce coffee and the chemical runoff from the de- pulping process is one of the causes of the blue-green algae that has plagued the Lake recently. But as I get to the hostel and glance over the pier, it looks like the algae has cleared significantly since I was last here – so I decide I’ll definitely try to get up for a quick swim tomorrow morning before meeting Jeanine for mentoring over breakfast.

7.30pm – I order some food at one of the lakeside restaurants and write a letter to a friend whilst I’m waiting. (Guatemalan culture does involve a fair bit of waiting – so I try to always have the odd postcard or bit of paper in my bag so that I can take advantage of the time and write to friends and supporters). One of the other good things about San Pedro (a bit of a hippy tourist town) is that several of the restaurants also show movies in the evening – so I settle down to watch before hitting the sack at the hostel.