Days 10 - 12

Day 10: Monday, August 19th, 2013

Things are going really well at UNAERC, my dialysis placement. I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of Peritoneal Dialysis and the many steps that have to be done with each patient. The repetition helps a lot. :) I'm still amazed at how big a role that families play with these sick patients. Very rarely are they ever left alone to complete their treatment... Their daughter, son, brother, significant other etc are always there to help or just a few steps away in the waiting room. I hope my children will do that for me one day (if need be!)

This afternoon we took it easy, as most of us were recovering from the weekend. I still felt terrible Monday morning and was extremely happy to be able to rest and relax instead of running around town some more. The shopping is getting a little old... Every place has similar things. It's frustrating that I'll assume that I got a great deal on some hot chocolate at one place, but then at the tienda down the street, they are selling the same thing for 10Q less!

After dinner, we had a guest speaker who talked to us about the healthcare system in Guatemala. Ready for some shocking statistics? In Guatemala, the population is over 15 million people. There are only 17,000 doctors. If you do the math, that equals about 886 people per doctor. The main hospitals in the country are both in Guatemala City,so many people in need of care who live anywhere outside of GC have to travel sometimes 10+ hours, either by foot, by horse, or some other route of transportation. Once these people arrive, it doesn't mean they will be seen immediately by a nurse or doctor. People wait in long lines for hours and hours. I won't ever complain about my doctor running 30 minutes late for my appointment again! We have it good in the US of A.

Day 11: Tuesday, August 20th, 2013

Volunteered again this morning, then went to an underground market. The top half sold the usual.... Hand made clothing, jewelry, hats, shoes, etc... While the downstairs was like our Madison Farmers Market on steroids. It was huuuuuuuge! And so was all the produce! It was fun to see all the different kinds of fruits that we don't have in the states, or at least not in Wisconsin. The point of going to the market was actually taking the place of our weekly Spanish lesson. Rosario, our instructor, took us there so we could shop and speak to the vendors in Spanish, versus our normal Spanglish. :) So much better than sitting in a classroom!

Day 12: Wednesday, August 21st, 2013

This afternoon we went back to Antigua to see an old convent / church from the 1800s. It's being rebuilt right now but it is still mostly in ruins. Santa Clara Convent y Iglesia still had the beautiful stone arches and a huge fountain in the courtyard. This was a cloistered convent, meaning, once the nuns said their vows, they were never able to leave there again. Family members could stop by and drop off food for them, but they were never able to actually SEE them. They used a small, rotating window that could pass the food off to the nun inside the building. A picture would be so much better at explaining what it really looked like but I don't have any on my phone! Lo siento.

The next part of our afternoon was my favorite - We went to a little Mayan village just past Antigua and were greeted by some lovely women. One was making tortillas and roasting coffee beans, the others were curiously watching us as we gathered in a group to sit and watch a weaving presentation. We were given a quick lesson in weaving... It sometimes takes these women a year to complete a blanket with detail. And then I started to feel guilty about bargaining them down from $20 to $15. A year to make one blanket?! And here I am trying to give them only fifteen dollars?! Ughhhhh I felt guilty. I still do and it's 2 days later! The women start to be trained as young as 7 years old - One of their projects is to make a shawl for their future mother-in-law. Sorry but at 7 years old I never thought about my unknown MOH. I was too busy happily eating McDonalds and watching the Chicago Bulls game to be weaving a masterpiece for someone I didn't know! #firstworldprobs

Once we finished weaving, we were able to make our tortillas! I was the first one to try and I started off with a bang. I dropped the dough almost immediately and the tortilla lady shot me a disappointed look and another ball of dough. I also ended up eating three tortillas instead of just the one that I'd made myself. She definitely thought I was a fat gringo as I dumped some salt on them and devoured them within seconds. (I was hungry, what!)

***

A few more days left and I'm already dreading packing.

Sam