Antigua y Guatemala City

Hello all. So this past weekend Matt and I went with Hermano Augustine to Antigua for a graduation celebration. Augustine is best friends with the uncle of the graduate - who just graduated from a one year school to work in banking. It was a private party, which was really nice. They had catered food, a large area for dancing, a full DJ...and security at the door. It was really fun, especially because we could just let our guard down, have some drinks and 'try' to learn to salsa dance. Of course the night wouldn't have been complete without some quality Michael Jackson music - he is really starting to get on my nerves down here...

The whole experience was great because we were able to experience Antigua, a large tourist spot, as locals. This included local restaurants, visiting the local markets, and just having an "in" that most gringos don't usually have in Antigua. Very fun.

On the way back we stopped in Guatemala to get a package my parents sent down. Thank you very much mom and dad, I love packages and look forward to more?

While in Guatemala, we decided to check out the Cathedral and Government Palace in the center of the city. It was interesting, especially because the Cathedral houses the tomb of Monsignor Juan Jose Gerardi, known as an outspoken human rights activist who was assassinated in his home in 1998.

The highlight of the day though was eating at Pollo Campero. It was my first time ever in over two months in Guatemala. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but Pollo Campero is like McDonalds in the States, only worse. It is the definition of monopoly in the fast food industry. It is the ONLY fast food restaurant and it is everywhere!!! It is pretty good, very similar to KFC in the States, but I'd eat at a local restaurant for less money and better food any day. They did have french fries though, and after two months...damn they tasted good.

Almost forgot. I've been doing some work with a Rotary water project. The club here has received funding from a Rotary group in California. We purchase them, paint em' up, and ship em' out to needy families/schools. They work as cisterns, and capture rain water from their roofs for drinking water. Sounds unsanitary to us in the States, but this is FAR better than the drinking water found in the tap or in the rivers/lakes.

Heading to Belize this week, so I may be out of touch for a while...who knows?

Until next time,

PD

Dia de los Muertes, Circo, Antigua

Wow...I am really starting to get behind on my blog. Anyone familiar with Dia de los Muertos would know it was celebrated last Monday! I don't even have a good excuse as to why I haven't filled you guys in-

Here we go. So Monday was Dia de los Muertos. It follows all Saint's Day every year. People spend the day before adorning the tombs of dead family members and friends with flowers. These makeshift alters also contain numerous photos as well as items the deceased enjoyed, such as chocolate or cigarettes to name a couple. While celebrated as a reflective holiday, the general attitude seems to be more positive than people visiting grave-sites in the States. More of a "celebration of life" if that doesn't seem to cliche. The afternoon is spent eating HUGE traditional meals. Kind of like Thanksgiving in the States, it is notorious for over eating/drinking. My cheeks may have been a little red at prayer that night...

Tuesday night Matt and I went to the Circus, or circo, with two of the monks. It was more of a talent show than a circus the way we know them in the States. I give them credit for trying. In between acts, they would rotate in and out as food vendors, security, ticket sales etc. The highlight of my night was the Michael Jackson tribute. No it wasn't. That's a lie. Thought I could run away from that whole media mess back home, only to run into tribute bands here. I visited the capital this week too - another impersonator in the central park. I have no idea why, but he is more popular here that he was back home. Ridiculous.

This past weekend we went to Antigua for a graduation party and stopped in the capital on the way back. Very fun. I'll tell you more about it. Tomorrow. Off to Belize this next weekend to renew my "90" days on my passport/and for my birthday.

Damn Yankees. Souless.

Happy 25th Anniversary Mom and Dad! David and Kevin too if I'm not mistaken? Two years for both of you, wow. I'm either the immature one or the smart one - who knows?! ha

Got a package this week. I like getting packages.

Miss you all back home-

PD

Happy 25th Anniversary Mom & Dad!

This post is reserved solely for them. Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad! Wish I could be there, and please do something fun...(i.e. visit me?)

Semuc Champey

What a weekend…Semuc Champey was absolutely AWESOME. Matt and I left Cobán after work on Saturday with Br. Augustine, Br. Lionel, and the monastery’s two employees that help in the aldeas, Oscar and Alberto. We got a later start then expected, which made things difficult because we ran into bad fog and the road has no lights – in addition to being a scary mountain road with limited guardrails. We finally arrived in the pouring rain. After a quick meal at a restaurant called Shalom, we meandered back to the hotel for a nightcap or two. It was Halloween after all, or Dia de los Brujas.

In the morning, we got an early start up the jeep trail to the actually falls of Semuc Champey. Near the entrance, there is a German Eco-hotel where we sat and ate breakfast outside. It was really a cool/relaxing place, with bungalows and hammocks all over the place. If I go again, this is where I will be staying.

The actual falls and pools were absolutely beautiful. The area is still very undeveloped, creating an extremely natural setting – but kind of dangerous too if you’re not careful! We spent a couple hours just floating in the pools under the sun, what a great morning.

We headed back to the Monastery in Cobán in order to celebrate Dia de los Santos – or All Saints Day. It is celebrated here much more than at home. There are lavish decorations around altars to honor all the Saints and clergy that have passed, as well as a large feast of traditional "turkey soup" and "sandwich Maya."

On a completely unrelated note, something really funny happened during my Spanish class tonight. My teacher had made it clear at the beginning of my course that she didn’t speak any of the Mayan dialects. Well in comes one of the monks, Rolando - a close friend of mine, and calls me a womanizer in Q’ eqchi’. I bark back and tell him to “eat s*&$” in Q’ eqchi’. Apparently this is the ONLY phrase my teacher knows, because she immediately turned to me in dismay. Despite the moment of awkwardness with my teacher as I just cursed a religious, Rolando and I couldn’t stop laughing…it was the story of the monastery all night.

More to come soon. Dia de los Muertes and my trip to the circus with two monks.

Go Phillies! Please beat the Yankees…

PD

My New Job Description

Hello all,

Happy Halloween!

My job description has now changed. I spoke with Fr. Bernie and told him that it might be time to split Matt and I up to focus on our individual strengths rather than just doing everything together (i.e. taking the food to the aldeas). I think he was glad to hear this because I will be able to help him out more at the monastery. Matt will continue teaching (he’s really good with kids and has the energy to keep up with them – more than I sometimes have…) and I will be taking over the new school here in Coban.

I can already tell it was a good adjustment. I feel much more productive in this element – as I should after working in an office for the past four years at St. Johns (Hello office ladies!). I get to organize all the aid that we received, set up our office, make sure construction is coming along correctly, documenting everything, etc. Essentially, “get this school and office operational so we can open in January.” I am looking forward to the challenge! Its fun too because I get to meet a lot of Fr. Bernie’s contacts and try and bring the right people together to create some synergy that will make things happen, all the while trying to fundraise as well (cough, cough).

Last night at dinner we had some food that really looked awful. Normally, there is an alternative choice, but not this time! Talkin about bad luck. One of the monks heard me making a joke about the god-awful food and apparently agreed. We dipped out after dinner and went to a Chinese restaurant (actually the first time I’ve ate out in Coban). It was really good and I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated variety more. After dinner we went to a small, second floor local bar and enjoyed some drinks before arriving back at the monastery where we were greeted by one of our guard dogs…thank God she was in a good mood – that could have been bad. I found out this morning she was out because three guys were trying to break into the other entrance gate near the new school and the security guard set the dogs loose on them. Wouldn’t want to be them.

I’m off to Semuc Champey now, which is supposed to be the most beautiful place in Guatemala, check it out on Google. I’ll post another update when I get back-

Have fun at Lambo this weekend, dad. Man that would be fun…

PD

Quick Update + Purchasing Wood Locally

Hello all,

Thought I would give you all a little update. I got word yesterday one of the septic babies was being discharged. Good news! No word on the other baby or the situation with the pregnant daughter/step-dad, but I will update you as soon as I hear.

We are in the process of building a large scale chicken coup right now. In an effort to buy local, we are purchasing much of our wood from a local family. We requested 1ft wide by 8ft long boards - pretty standard. Well, he didn't cut them that way. He said he had 20inch wide boards. Ok, so I recalculated EVERYTHING for purchasing and building with 20inch boards. When we got there to negotiate price, many of the boards were 17 or 18 inches. I told him this was a problem because I drew the plans for 20inch boards. He said, "no problem, I have 21inch and 22inch boards as well to average out to 20inches..." For anyone that has ever built anything, they know this isn't exactly how it works. Just had to roll with it and hope it works?!

Looking forward to Halloween in Central America, it should be pretty crazy and VERY different than in the States! Take pictures of your costumes and send them my way!!!

What a heartbreaker for the Vikings Sunday…

Miss you all and look forward to seeing everyone after Christmas,

PD

Medical Mission - Esquipulas

So I just got back from Esquipulas. It’s the site where Michael Anderson, Waconia and SJU, volunteered two years ago. A 24 member medical team from Catholic HeathCare West (California, Nevada, and Arizona) came to town and needed some extra help. It was really great. We worked REALLY hard, but talking about rewarding. Just the amount you learn being around all these doctors and medical professionals is remarkable. We had a septic baby the first day, seizures and all. It was pretty scary, but luckily we had a full pharmacy set up so they were able to give the injections immediately to try and stabilize him before rushing to the hospital for a full septic set-up. I hope he recovers, but the doctors thought he had meningitis, which is hard for a 26 day old to recover from. The worst part of the whole situation was that the local doctor that was with us wanted to send the baby home with Tylenol. Then, word for word said, “Call me on Saturday, but don’t come in to the clinic.” Basically wanted to cut the loss and not waste time or medicine on the baby. It turned into an argument with our doctors who pretty much told him, “f*#@ you, we are giving him drugs and sending him to the hospital regardless of what you think.” (Spurred on by one of the nurses that was rightly fired up about the situation)

It obviously made me feel better that we were doing the right thing, but at the same time this situation points to a much larger problem. With such limited resources, the doctors here are forced to be realists. They are not heartless human beings. They share the same compassion for helping people that all the doctors on the American team exert, but with the baby’s long-term diagnosis he couldn’t rationalize ‘wasting’ medicine. It is a concept difficult for us to fathom in the States. I know I struggled with it all day.

We also had a lady come in for generalized body pain. She had her 15-year-old daughter with her, who was holding the mom’s infant daughter. After her examination and discharge, the woman just stayed sitting on the bench. She didn’t want to leave. One of the doctors was able to read the situation, and brought her back in. After a long support session, it came out that the woman’s 15-year-old daughter was four months pregnant – with her husband’s baby. The stepdad had more than likely raped the child and now she was pregnant. The mother was irate, but hadn’t said anything because the father threatened to kill her.

Doctors in the US are obligated to report situations like these. But here, things are different. Death threats like these need to be taken very seriously. Most people carry guns, or at least have them, so situations escalate very quickly. Unfortunately, safe-houses and a just judicial system don’t exist. While discussing what to do, our local contact told us, “She won’t live a year if you report this. Additionally, you guys won’t ever be able to return here because he knows she talked to the ‘American’ doctors.” The doctors are desperately trying to figure something out, but I had to return to Cobán before we found a solution, if one even exists. I know this story probably breaks every patient-doctor confidentiality agreement known to man, but I needed to tell it. It still has me off my rocker. I said I was going to write about “the good, the bad AND the ugly.”

On a lighter note, I split my time between the pharmacy and working as a triage ‘nurse.’ While taking vitals, the team ‘camera man,’ who is also a doctor, decided to get me in an ‘action shot’ – yes, cheesy I know. Anyway, he starts making fun of me for being really slow at taking this lady’s blood pressure. After getting the same number twice, I move to try her other arm as well and he just starts ruthlessly making fun of me. I then tell him that I need him to double-check my number (hopefully we don’t give this lady a blood clot in the process) because I got 225/110. I didn’t think that high of a number was even possible, so I am totally doubting myself. He gets the same number. My self-esteem goes up.

We move her up the line and get her into a doctor quickly. The doctor comes out, takes my equipment and without saying anything leaves. She comes back. Looks at me and says, “Oh my God. It’s real.” She is from Panama, so that expression with her accent just got me laughing. So now I know – it is possible to be alive with blood pressure twice the healthy range.

In the evenings, the doctors took us out to REALLY nice restaurants. They can’t afford to get sick from contaminated food, so they demand the best! This is awesome though, because we got to come along on their tab the whole time. Drinks too!!! The last night, the three women that head the medical mission met with us and said they will right letters of recommendations, job search, help with scholarships, anything for us. What a great group of people!

Check out their website (with pictures of our work):

http://missionsblog.chwHEALTH.org/

Miss you all back home-