Days 5 and 6

What's the number one thing I miss the most about home? 

Reliable wifi...

...and my chicken noodle soup. 

Due to technical difficulties, blogging has been put on hold. If all 10 of us use the internet at once, it crashes and doesn't come back until the next morning when Virginia, the volunteer coordinator, comes and resets it. By the time she gets here, all of us are already at our volunteer sites and once we're done, we aren't supposed to use the wifi until after 5pm. Rough life... I know. I'm sure I am sounding like a spoiled American right now.



Day 5: August 14th, 2013

We started the day with a delicious, traditional breakfast and then headed to our clinical site. Karyn and I are now working with hemodialsis patients at UNAERC. Dialysis lasts anywhere between 3.5 to 4 hours. The patients range in age from roughly ages 12 to elderly. We've lucked out with the dialysis technician that we follow - He's extremely patient with my broken Spanish and he enjoys practicing his English with us as well. 

After volunteering, we arrived back at home base around 1pm, had lunch, then made an impromptu decision to stay over night in Antigua - The original plan was to go there, come back the same night, then leave early the next morning to go back again. Our hotel in Antigua was a-maz-ing. We had a gorgeous view of a volcano and the town is so much prettier than Guatemala City. We took a tour of a local coffee plantation and got to taste-test some yummy, medium-roast coffee. There was a shop afterwards where I immediately bought TONS of coffee beans, hot chocolate, and a few other souveniers for some lucky friends back home. 

That night, we went to dinner at a nice restaurant as a group - Tons of sangria, whiskey, cuba libres, and other various beverages, along with a huge meal, it cost me a whole $15.00. We visited a hostel and had a drink at the hostel club, followed by another round at Reilly's, an Irish Pub in Antigua. It was a fun evening, and I really am fortunate to be with such a fab group of ladies here.

Day 6: August 15th, 2013

Happy birthday to my main squeeze! He's 30 years old today.  <3

Today we visited Volcano Pacaya, just outside of Antigua. I rode a horse up and down the volcano in the rain. If you know me, you know that i'm not much of an outdoor person... Especially when it's raining! I'd forgotten my poncho back at the home base, but "fortunately" a few little children were selling "ponchos" just outside the office - I paid 5 quetzales, less than $1.00, for a "poncho", but after getting back on the bus to hide from the rain and opening the "poncho", I quickly found out that it was not a poncho, but just a sheet of plastic with no head hole! I had been ripped off. Those little stinkers were no where to be found! I don't think people here are big on return policies. (At least it was cheap!) Once we made it to the top of the volcano, we walked around on the volcanic rock and roasted marshmallow's in some of the lava vents. WHAT?! So unbelievable. I got to sit in a volcano sauna pit and warm up a bit before heading back down. Once we reached the bottom, we had a few Gallo's (a popular beer) and got back in our tour bus for the ride back to our hotel. Not 10 minutes after we left, the volcano had it's first eruption in 3 years. So bummed we had to miss that! What are the chances of that happening the day that we're there!?

Afterwards, we hopped back on the bus to head back to Guatemala City. Saying I was exhausted would be a HUGE understatement. My hot shower in the trickling water was amazing. No mas lluvia for this indoor cat!

That's all for now!