Buenos dias de Guatemala! Esta es su amigo Spencer. So far everything is great. We flew in on Sunday and Delta kept me entertained with Dear John (which would have been really boring if I wasn't on an airplane) and an episode of The Office, not to mention the great scenery of Hotlanta and Guatemala City when taking off and landing, respectively. My comrades (Patrick Daffin, Lauren Tate and Brittany Mays) missed almost all of this because they were fast asleep on their trays. When we touched down, Fred was there with Freddy, our driver, to take us on an exciting 45 minute drive to Antigua. The reason I say exciting is because lane changes in Guatemala are usually made with less than 3 feet of room to spare and withou
t turn signals.
Antigua is a very historic city, being the capitol until an earthquake hit some number of centuries ago. The streets are made of rocks and traffic is pretty much incomprehensible. On a side note, I really like the vehicles here, lots of old Toyota trucks, diesels, hatchbacks and 125 cc motorcycles (with up to 4 passengers). We ate lunch at a delicious restaurant where we played "4 questions", which is basically a way to get to know each other and build community by asking intimate questions. Half of the questions directed at me were about my relationship with and recent engagement to Jacklyn Wilkinson (hi Jackie!). And of course we had to
interrogate Fred about his ideal woman. Back at the house we had a small orientation and a discussion about why we decided to give so much of our time and effort to come to a third world country and build a house. We talked mostly about making a positive difference in the world, living out the Gospel through our actions and experiencing another culture. For dinner we went back downtown for pizza and Gallos, and then everyone but Fred stopped at the Monalocos (Gringo bar) on the way back.
The next day we were picked up at about 9 and went to our build site, where we met the family and started building the foundation of the house (cutting rebar, digging a trench, and mixing and pouring concrete). I guess we got an easy job because we didn't have to carry cinder blocks up any hills, and we finished this section of the build before 1. The family was very welcoming and friendly, very excited about their house and eager to help. We had lunch together, and Lauren and I tried an extremely picante type of chili pepper. Lauren went first and made the mistake of taking a big bite, so she ended up needing lots of water and bread. She said that it made her ears burn and we got some good pictures. After lunch the family showed us around their land and the 11 year old daughter (I don't know all of their names yet) told us about all of the plants they grow, although our Spanish is minimal. When we had finished visiting with the family we hopped back in the truck and got soaked by the afternoon rain on the way back. We stopped at the grocery store, which also sells motorcycles and guitars, to get food for the week, and now we are back at the house. We will be having our daily discussion soon and then going back into town for dinner!
Adios amigos!
Spencer
t turn signals.Antigua is a very historic city, being the capitol until an earthquake hit some number of centuries ago. The streets are made of rocks and traffic is pretty much incomprehensible. On a side note, I really like the vehicles here, lots of old Toyota trucks, diesels, hatchbacks and 125 cc motorcycles (with up to 4 passengers). We ate lunch at a delicious restaurant where we played "4 questions", which is basically a way to get to know each other and build community by asking intimate questions. Half of the questions directed at me were about my relationship with and recent engagement to Jacklyn Wilkinson (hi Jackie!). And of course we had to
interrogate Fred about his ideal woman. Back at the house we had a small orientation and a discussion about why we decided to give so much of our time and effort to come to a third world country and build a house. We talked mostly about making a positive difference in the world, living out the Gospel through our actions and experiencing another culture. For dinner we went back downtown for pizza and Gallos, and then everyone but Fred stopped at the Monalocos (Gringo bar) on the way back.The next day we were picked up at about 9 and went to our build site, where we met the family and started building the foundation of the house (cutting rebar, digging a trench, and mixing and pouring concrete). I guess we got an easy job because we didn't have to carry cinder blocks up any hills, and we finished this section of the build before 1. The family was very welcoming and friendly, very excited about their house and eager to help. We had lunch together, and Lauren and I tried an extremely picante type of chili pepper. Lauren went first and made the mistake of taking a big bite, so she ended up needing lots of water and bread. She said that it made her ears burn and we got some good pictures. After lunch the family showed us around their land and the 11 year old daughter (I don't know all of their names yet) told us about all of the plants they grow, although our Spanish is minimal. When we had finished visiting with the family we hopped back in the truck and got soaked by the afternoon rain on the way back. We stopped at the grocery store, which also sells motorcycles and guitars, to get food for the week, and now we are back at the house. We will be having our daily discussion soon and then going back into town for dinner!
Adios amigos!
Spencer
Possible origin of the term "Gringo":
ReplyDeleteFolklore says it was generated when the US invaded mexico, wearing green uniforms, and the people shouted at them "Green Go Home".