FOUND MY PASSPORT... kind of.

So... this has been a VERY long week because I have spent most of it on hold with either the embassy in Guatemala City or with the DMV in Houston. Here are some fun facts I have learned from my days on the phone. 


- If you loose your passport here you HAVE to have a drivers license to get a new one. 
- If you loose your drivers license you HAVE to get a new one in person in Texas. No way to get a new one from another country.
- You have to have your original (not just the scanned version my parents emailed me which should be good enough) to get a new passport.
- You have to go to the embassy (a 7 hour trip there and back) to get a form which you bring back to Pana to have the police chief here sign and then take back to the embassy. Apparently you only have 48 hours to do all this.
- According to the Texas DMV if you loose your drivers license they suggest you cancel your credit cards. 3 different people told me that, but had a difficult time answering my question when I asked why. If I canceled my bank accounts then I would have no way to get money out down here.
- If you report your passport as lost or stolen (there isn't a difference here because if you lost it most likely someone then stole it) then you have to wait for a new passport number to book any flights. I am suppose to change my flight in May and also book my Africa flight soon.

So that was all the information I found out after spending days on the phone with a number of people. I was going crazy trying to figure out what I needed to do. What I decided was that it would just be easier to go ahead and get to Guatemala City and just try to talk to someone in person. Janet offered to drive me there this Tuesday and we would probably have to spend the night because it would be a several day process. She also thought we should go ahead and go to the police station here and see if we can report it lost/stolen without having to go to the embassy first. 


That is what we did today. After my Spanish lesson (it was my first lesson ALL in Spanish) we went to the police station in town. When we walked in we sat in the corner of this little room with about 6 guys all with guns (which I'm still not comfortable with) who told us we just had to wait. I kept thinking about the movie Brokedown Palace and how scary it would be to be thrown into a prison in a different country. I was pretty sure that wasn't the punishment for loosing your passport, but the thought still crossed my mind. After awhile 3 other police officers walked in and told us to go with them. We walked out to the street and quickly realized they wanted us to get into the back of the police truck. Janet and I sat in the back with an officer and laughed the entire time. We had to take the long way around town to get to the police station for foreigners, and I kept wanting to drive by someone I knew. I assured Janet that she should be so happy I came into her life because I bet before me she never got the chance to ride in the back of a police truck.

When we got to the other police station things started to go quicker. It was a building that looked deserted and only had 2 officers in it. They printed out a form in English for me to fill out then they translated it (somehow without knowing any English) and eventually printed it out in Spanish for me to take to the embassy. They put me into the system as having my passport stolen. Which is an issue now because...

Look what I found in a grocery store!!!! I made up flyers to post trying to find the passport, and after I had dinner with one of my friends, Betty, we walked to Pana Super to put up the flyer. When I looked at the board I couldn't believe it... This is what I saw!

If you are not jumping up and down screaming "That's me" then you clearly didn't have the same reaction I did when I saw this. I emailed the guy who found it and am waiting to hear back. I am hoping he still has it here in Pana and hasn't sent it to the embassy yet.


So here are my new concerns:

- I reported my passport stolen online with the embassy, but am not sure if the form was submitted because I got an error message at the end. If it did go through I'm not sure what to do.
- I reported it stolen here at the police station, so I'm not sure what I need to do to cancel that either.


Hopefully the first form didn't go through, and that I can just go explain it to the dudes with guns tomorrow. Maybe they will let me ride in the back of the police truck again.

So... I may stay here in Guatemala.

Ready for some exciting news??

I have decided after a lot of prayers and discernment that I need to spend more time here in Guatemala. Shortly after I came down in January the position for Team Coordinator opened up which I have been helping cover while also working in the school as promised. About 2 weeks ago I officially accepted the position of Team Coordinator and committed to being here in Guatemala and working with Salud y Paz for a year. My plan is to come back to Guatemala the beginning of August and work with all of our mission teams we have coming in. We usually host about 25 mission teams every year that consist of rural medical, rural dental, surgery, and construction teams. I will serve as a host and go on the mission trips. Some work in Camanchaj and stay in Pana, so for those weeks I will still be staying at my apartment and just coming up to the clinic everyday with the team. However, most of our teams stay and work in other villages around Guatemala, so I will be traveling and spending the whole week away with the team. I keep thinking of it as a year of Workcamps and it makes me smile.

I am changing my flight to now come home the beginning of May for a benefit Salud Paz is giving in Houston on May 3^rd. I am looking forward to joining the church staff again for the summer. I know I am blessed to be able to come home and have one last summer with our youth and my friends on staff. I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it is going to be to say goodbye to them and everyone I love at the church so much. The church has always been my second home and the thought of not spending everyday there makes me sad. However, I know I have to trust God and follow this path he lead me down. I now know that sending me here for a few months this spring and allowing me to come home for the summer was his way of easing me into this new adventure he put in front of me. I know I am only capable of doing this job because of how I was raised in the church. My family along with our church did a great job of instilling in me the importance of serving others. It also makes me smile when I receive compliments from team members on how I handle hard situations during our mission team trips and I know that I have been taught well through all of our Workcamps.

This was a really difficult decision for me to make because my dream growing up was always to work at the church like so many others in my family. It is hard for me to imagine that I am giving up my “dream job”, but I know in my heart that Guatemala is where I am called to be right now. I feel really strongly that God wants me to spend some time serving through him down here. I am not sure how long God plans to have me stay in Guatemala, but I do hope to find my way home to the church one day. I know it’s not realistic to think that I can leave for a year and then move home and pick up right where I left off which makes me worried about what I’ll do once my year is up. I know that at that time maybe I will know I need to be here longer or another opportunity may come up. I mean if you had asked me a year ago if I would ever give up my job at the church I would have said absolutely no and now look where I am.

This experience has taught me that you never know where life is going to take you and that you have to be open to where God wants to lead you. Following God down this path is absolutely going to take me out of my comfort zone, but even though that thought used to terrify me and still sometimes scares me I think it’s a good thing. I realized last week when my family was here that this is really the first time in my life that I have something that is all mine and not connected to my family. When my family came to Salud y Paz they were introduced as “Kelly’s family” and that is something I’ve never had before. I have always been “Beverly’s Daughter”, “Parker’s sister”, “Steve’s kid”, or “A Cragg grandkid” my entire life and it’s kind of a special feeling to have something that is entirely mine. Everyone down here just knows me as Kelly and not as a Cragg. This is hard for me to explain well because don’t get me wrong I adore my family, know I have been blessed with an amazingly supportive one that not everyone has, and love with all my heart being a Cragg. It is just nice to know I have made some true friends that love me for being me and not because of my family. I know I have that back home also, but it’s just a completely different feeling having your entire world only for you. I just reread this and I can tell it may not be coming out the way I want it to. Family: if you read this know that I don’t mean anything bad by it. I’m pretty sure you know how obsessed with our family I am. J

Anyways, If you have been reading my blog do you remember the day I talked about meeting with Wayne for coffee then walking down to the lake and catching up on my family phone calls? Well that was the day I committed for a year. I think I wrote at the end of the blog that it was a life changing day and now you know why. I decided to wait a couple of weeks to spread the news until after my family came to visit. My dad needed some time to work things out at the church and he did tell me when he was here that he wanted to wait and see if he needed to talk me out of staying. Luckily, they had a great trip and feel comfortable with my decision. I’m really so glad they got to come experience it because I feel like they now understand my decision more. Also I heard my dad say to my mom “maybe you could come back in the fall for a couple of weeks”. I’m looking forward to more fun visits from people I love!

So yesterday I walked to town to a coffee shop and wrote a letter to send Dr. Simmons (senior minister at my church) letting him know my news. I was that awkward girl who broke down crying to the point where a backpacker came over to sit by me and asked if I was ok. He was actually really sweet and gave me a bottle of water and told me a joke to make me smile. After I reminded myself that if I was writing a letter saying I was actually moving to Pana for a year I should pull myself together and not scare the locals I finished the letter and sent it off. I first sent it to my dad for him to read with a note saying that it made me cry to which he replied “Great letter. Made me cry also”. I know it is silly and that my family would be proud of me no matter what I do, but I kind of feel like I am letting them down making this decision. Like I should just stay at the church, and that I’m being selfish deciding to come back. It makes me sad to think that I won’t share an office with my dad anymore, or get to hang out with my mom who is retiring and would have lots of time to play next year, or getting to spend so much time with my grandfather since I lived with him. Not to mention that I have a cat whom (so when I typed who just now it underlined it and changed it to whom. Know that I’m not just trying to be fancy by using whom.) I’m pawning off to my parents for the year and a pup Toby (aka Tobias when he’s being fancy) who I adopted with Poppy before I came. I know it’s silly and that they love me and are proud of me (my family not my animals… They are probably just laying on the couch thinking everyday how I abandoned them), but it still makes me sad to think about all the things I’m going to be missing out on.

Today has been made up of me doing a little work stuff here in the school and spending a lot of time writing emails to different groups of people telling them the news. My dad told the youth staff my news this morning and then I sent them an email (similar to this blog… I’ve rewritten this letter about 10 times to different groups of people). I then sent one out to the family and then to my disciple group of high school girls back home. I am sick of writing this letter because it makes me tear up every time, but I will say I have been loving the responses. Everyone seams to be really supportive and not really surprised by this decision, which is comforting.

Tonight I am going to a movie night where I was told to bring English type foods. I think I’ll jump out of the car in town and pick up some English Breakfast Tea. Get it?? It’s English. I did look up how to make crumpets last night, but then quickly got discouraged by all the ingredients you have to have which you can’t find anywhere in Guatemala, so instead I just gave up and went to sleep.

Hope you enjoyed my news. Hopefully you’re not disappointed in it, but if you are you should just lie to me and tell me how supportive you are. Or else I’m going to turn back into that awkward girl crying and I think the cute backpacker cheerer upper dude was leaving for Honduras this morning.

Steve Cragg Family plus Poppy Family Fun Week in Guatemala!

AMAZING week with my family! Oh my goodness was I blessed to have them here to experience Guatemala. I know how rare it is to have so many family members come down to visit and I don't take it for granted.

Amazing things that happened this week:

- My family got to see how beautiful Guatemala is. 

- They got to meet all of my friends here who I love. 

- They worked at Salud y Paz for a day and got to see everything I've been telling them about.

- I got a lot of family hugs that I've been missing.

Horrible things that happened this week:

- Lost my passport.

- Lost my drivers license (it was inside my passport).

- Dropped and broke my camera (yes I almost cried and was more upset about that than my passport).

- My family left to go back home. 

Now get ready for some pictures. Since we didn't have internet at the house a lot this week I have to write about the whole week in one blog... get comfortable.

So my parents and Poppy made it to Guatemala on Sunday around 11:00. I caught a ride with Giovanni who was already taking some people to the airport around the same time and hung out at the airport and waited for my family to come (I think this is when my passport jumped ship). After about an hour and a half they came out of the airport. It was so great to see them and to give them giant hugs I've missed so much. After driving back to Pana we stopped at a gas station to meet up with Archy. Archy is one of the drivers we use a lot when we have teams come in and he's become a great friend. He has 2 little babies and the youngest has to have a special formula that you can't get in Guatemala and that is crazy expensive. I had Ashley bring down a case when she came a few weeks ago and after sending out a plea to my family for more help they got together enough money to bring down 6 more cases. He was about to leave town, so we stopped real quick and gave him the formula. It was great for them to meet Archy and for him to be able to tell them thank you. We then headed to the house to drop off the bags then walked back to town to eat dinner. We ate at Pana Rock (think rip off of Hard Rock) where the chairs are old Chicken Bus seats.

On Monday morning we got Giovanni to drive us to a village 2 away from Pana named San Antonio Polopo. The lake was really clear, so we stopped to take pictures along the way.

 I had be to this village a couple of times and knew there was a cool pottery factory by the lake. I really wanted to take home a tea pot and cups and thought since I had 4 people to carry stuff home for me it was the perfect time to buy it. We ended up buying an entire box of pottery some for us and some to give away as gifts.

After San Antonio we headed back to Pana and stopped by my apartment to look around. Again so cool to have them here to see everything! After hanging at the apartment for a bit we walked to town. I took them on my short cut which is over this wooded bridge across the river. I couldn't help but stop and take this picture of Poppy and Pa trying to make it across the bridge without falling in. Note that the bridge is actually higher than it looks in this picture.

After walking around town we headed to a coffee shop (where I am right now actually) and waited for Parker. He was suppose to show up in a shuttle sometime, but we hadn't heard from him so we didn't know exactly when. After waiting for about an hour a van drove by and we saw Parker's hand waving out the window. My mom took this picture from the coffee shop. We were playing the game while waiting "What do we do if it gets dark and Parker never shows". Luckily we didn't have to play for too long.

After chilling at the house for a bit we walked back to town and ate at The Sunset Cafe. It is right over the lake and beautiful at night. It is where Ash and I listened to the band play Beatles' songs in Spanish.

This is the house we rented for the week. I forgot to take pictures until we were leaving for Antigua at 5:30 am, so that's why it's so dark outside.

It came with puppies! And by puppies I actually mean giant dogs. This is Shiva and Negra. They were sleeping because again it was 5:30. The house was cool, but it lacked a little thing called hot water. It wasn't until about day 3 that we finally figured out how to work it. You have to light the pilot light then turn on the water for the flame to spread. After my parents and Poppy went to bed one night Parker and I talked to the guardian for awhile trying to figure it out, but between Agosto's little English and our bad Spanish it just turned into a laughter fest. Agosto kept asking us from inside the house if outside the pilot light was a grande or pequeño fush. Now fush isn't an English or Spanish word and we had no idea what he was saying for about 15 minutes. I'm pretty sure you're not dying laughing when you're reading this which just proves it's one of those you had to be there stories because I'm laughing so hard while typing this.

The house had all these cubbie holes and on the first night my dad made the comment that he thought he could fit into this one with all kinds of glasses hanging from it. We made fun of him all week, but then on the last night he proved us wrong.

By Parker and my amazement he got himself into the cubbie. We also had a bet going on if I could hold Parker or not. I thought I could hold him, but he thought I couldn't. My dad compromised and said that maybe if he picked Parker up and handed him to me like a baby I could maybe hold him. We tried for awhile then I gave up and was defeated. Other families make bets like this on their family vacations right?

On Tuesday morning my family walked over to the hotel that the college team was staying at in Pana and rode the Chicken Bus with them up to Salud y Paz. We stopped along the way to take pictures of the lake and waterfall.

My family at Salud y Paz. This may be my favorite picture of the trip (a VERY close second is a picture you're about to see in a minute of Poppy dressed head to toe as a tourist... get excited). It was so amazing to introduce them to everyone and to show them around. I feel like I can explain it to people as much as I want, but until you come and see it for yourself you won't be able to ever fully understand or appreciate it. So happy they all understand it now.

One of my favorite moments at work was when they walked into the first grade class. Oh man did they get tackled by the kids. I stood there taking their pictures for about 5 minutes as they hugged and picked up every kid in the class. I love this picture so much.

 Pa with Gabby. :)

Poppy and little Kelly Luisia who is his sponsor child. Man she has a great name.

 Mom and Rena... Just adorable.

Wayne wanted the microwave shelf rebuilt, so that's the main project we worked on all day. Apparently it takes 5 Craggs to build this shelf. Or really to be fair it took my dad and sometimes Poppy and Parker. I mainly just took pictures and my mom watched and held stuff they handed to her. Us Cragg girls could have done it, but then what would the boys do?

Another great family picture as Salud y Paz.

Tuesday night we went to a restaurant that we take a lot of our teams to. I went there with the team with the high school girls and was eager to take my family. When there is a team there they put on a show and explain how to make the instrument they are playing and talk about their culture. The college team was going that night, so we went and got our own table, but were close enough to watch the show. My dad became a huge fan of the band and while we were walking around the other nights we would stop and listen to them play their songs on the streets.

Wednesday was our lake day. We woke up and did the same boat tour Ash and I had dome a few weeks earlier. We left Pana around 8:30 and visited 4 different villages around the lake. We didn't go on the boat named Kelly, but we did go on one that looked exactly like it. My parents were really impressed that after just my short time here I already had a boat named after myself. We also saw a tuk tuk named Kelly. I'm just really popular here. :)

So this is how Poppy looked on the boat. He borrowed some sunglasses and wore them all day. He looked like a little captain.

The first village we went to was San Marcos, but we only had 40 minutes there. We tried to get breakfast, but we didn't have enough time for our food to come so we just had them pack it up for us. We took it with us to the next village (besides Parker who ate his on the boat), but we didn't have any silverware so we had to use corners of the plastic plates as forks. Parker thought we looked hilarious, so he took our picture. This village was San Juan which was cool. My mom bought a purse made out of organic dyed fabrics.

Next village was San Pedro. When we got off the boat we took a tuk tuk tour of the village. They took us to the church in town which is where this picture was taken.

This was outside the church also.

Next we went up the mountain to see the view. There were trees in the way, so you couldn't see Pana across the lake, but the volcanoes were beautiful to look at.

The last village was Santiago Atitilan where we ate lunch and walked around town a bit. It was also the village where Poppy bought his Guatemalan outfit. He (ON HIS OWN) decided to buy this hat and shirt. He never wore the shirt out of the house because he thought it fit a little odd, but he wore this hat and the sunglasses the rest of the time in Guatemala. We kept loosing him everywhere though because he looked exactly like a local and not touristy at all. :)

We took this picture on the boat and it may be one of my favorites from the week. So happy he got to come and see Guatemala! Also let me just brag on my grandfather for a moment. He had to climb in and out of this boat about 10 times and walked at least 2 miles everyday. I'm sure he was beyond exhausted and is going to take a week nap when he gets home and demand to be carried everywhere, but he did great on this trip!

That night we went to the market and to the store and bought things to make tostadas at the house. They were so shocked by how cheap food was here. I think we bought everything for the meal for about $20. It was also pie day because it was March 14th aka 3.14 (if you know my dad this makes sense and if not you probably think it's a little weird). Parker and I took a tuk tuk (seeing my family ride tuk tuks was HILARIOUS) to a bakery I go to sometimes and bought a key like pie for dessert.

Thursday morning we went to Chichi for the day to go to the market. My family wanted to see the hotel I stayed at in August on my mission trip. It is also the hotel we stay at with teams a lot.

I loved showing them the parrots. (Note that this was the last picture taken on my camera. I dropped it right after this and almost cried).

Now these pictures are from my mom's camera which she nicely left with me. After walking around the market and tuk tuking to cemetery we went back to the Santo Tomas hotel and chilled for a bit while waiting for our shuttle. I saw a team come in and then saw Jose Hernandaz (who I work with at Salud y Paz) walk in. It was great that he got to meet my family. I also think it was comforting to them to see that I do know people here who will take care of me if anything happens.

After one last night in Pana (this was when all the betting took place) we headed to Antigua at 5:30 in the morning. Once we got there we dropped off our bags at the hotel and walked to the central square to eat breakfast. After a long breakfast (because we got there at 8:00 and had a lot of time to kill) we walked around the square and into the old presidential building.

All the churches had similar offerings on the floor in front of the alters. There wasn't anyone to ask what it was for, but I hadn't seen anything like this before, so I am assuming it was for lent. Whatever it was for it was beautiful.

 We also found a place to book a tour of a coffee plantation. That was on our list of things we wanted to do in Antigua, so we signed up to do that for a few hours before lunch.We went to a plantation called Filadelfia which picked us up in an army truck. It was funny standing outside a church and looking around the street and wondering what was going to show up. I mean I know they said army truck, but we didn't really think it was going to be an actual army truck. Here's a fun fact about my mom: she LOVES different modes of transportation. Between the boats, Chicken Buses, tuk tuks, and army trucks this was a great trip for her.

These are little baby coffee plants. I think these were 60 days old.

After about 3 years they start producing coffee seeds. You are only suppose to pick the red ones, so you have to check each tree daily.

The seeds drying out on the ground. I have seen this before at the nature reserve here in Pana.

After our tour dropped us back off in Antigua we walked to the Santo Domingo hotel. If you've been reading my blog this is the fancy hotel that Ashley and I ate lunch at and planned Parker's wedding for him. I knew my family would love to eat lunch there and look around the ruins. This place comes with parrots also. :)

Just a delightful picture of Parker standing where he will get married one day. Hopefully he will be wearing something a little nicer and have more friends to fill out the chairs.

After lunch we went to the jade museum then headed back to the hotel. We were exhausted and full after lunch, so we ended up not leaving again for the night. Archy was in town with a team and called and said he had something for my family. He came over to the hotel and we sat around talking for about an hour. It was really cool for my 2 worlds down here to come together. He gave us an adorable picture of his little baby that said thank you and God bless you on it. Also his mother in law had bought my mom a table cloth which was beautiful and his mom had made my mom, Ashley, and I purses which were pretty. I also had to go to another hotel to drop off something for work and Archy walked me there and back since it was already dark. It's great to know I have friends that are willing to help me out and look out for me. I really loved that they got to meet some of the people I work with here who I have become friends with. Also on the way to the hotel I ran into Joshua who is another driver we work with. He saw me from the other side of the street and ran over to say hi and meet my family. My dad made the comment that he was happy I was friends with all these drivers because if something happened and I needed to get somewhere I had friends to help me out.

On our last morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and played some 42. It's our family game and we hadn't gotten the chance to play yet during the week, so we played several games. Poppy played for awhile then he traded out with Mom and we played a few more games.

We had about 2 hours before their shuttle to the airport was coming, so we took a tuk tuk to the arch that Antigua is know for. I bought a painting of this arch in August when I was here and wanted them to see it. We then walked around a flea market and to a church behind the arch.

Last picture of the trip: Parker and I saw this funny little chocolate llama on the side of the road and took a picture with it. Cute little llama.

Sorry for the really long blog, but I use this as my journal and wanted to remember everything from this week. It was filled with so many beautiful moments that I know I am going to remember for the rest of my life. I know I have said this so many times, but I know I am blessed to have them come down. Now they get why I love it here so much and all the amazing people I have met here. It didn't quite feel completed or real without them having experienced it. Now it feels real.

Missed Flight...

So my family missed their flight yesterday. Hopefully they will get on a flight this morning and we will only have missed one night, but I'm still a little concerned that the Houston airport was so disorganized yesterday that they won't be able to make it work today either.

Here was my day...
I needed to go to the airport anyways to pick up a college team we have here this week doing construction around the clinic and school. I caught a ride up to Los Encuentros to meet the bus that was picking up the team. They were suppose to be there at 7:00, but didn't show up to pick me up until 7:45. Then about 20 minutes down the road I got dropped off at a gas station and picked up by another bus that then took me to the airport. When I got to the airport the bus dropped me off to wait at the door for the team. Emily had caught a ride with the bus because her flight back to the States was that day, so we grabbed some lunch at the airport and waited for the team to get in. I really hope she decides to come back to Guatemala. Even just knowing her for a week I can tell we would be really good friends if she lived here.

So this is when my day got complicated. After lunch we started waiting at the door for the team. When I pick up teams I have a Salud y Paz sign that I hold up, so when the team comes out they know where to go. I was waiting with the sign when my phone rang. It was a Houston number that I didn't have in my phone. When I answered I heard my dad's voice and knew what was wrong. He was calling me from a pay phone because they had left their phones at home. I heard him say that they missed their flight then the phone cut off. I tried calling it back, but couldn't get a hold of him. At this time I got a call from one of our translators that the bus hadn't gotten to Guatemala City (because yet another bus was coming to drive the team to Chichi). I was trying to figure out what to do about the bus when my dad finally called me back. I talked to him for a couple of minutes then he handed the phone to my mom. When I heard her voice I completely lost it. I started crying and quickly told her that I couldn't talk anymore because I couldn't be crying when the team came out of the airport. Can you imagine getting picked up in a foreign country where you've never been by a girl who was a mess? Not very comforting.

After I hung up the phone I then had to figure out what I was going to do for the night. I couldn't decide if I should just stay at a hostel for the night or catch a ride back towards Pana. I called and made arrangements to get my family picked up from the airport for their next flight and decided I could just jump on the bus with the team then catch a couple of more buses back to Pana then just ride with the driver who is coming to pick them up today. After I got that figured out I then remembered that my friend Archy's brother in law was going to pick us up and take us to Pana. I tried calling Archy to cancel the ride, but he couldn't talk because he was driving so then I called Jose (one of the translators) for help and he was actually with the driver who was suppose to pick up the team and they were cousins, so he called and canceled the ride to Pana. At the same time some dude saw me holding the Salud y Paz sign and wanted to know everything about the organization and another guy over heard me talking about Houston flights being missed which is where his team was coming from, so I was trying to help him out seeing if his team was delayed or coming.

The team finally showed up and after I met them and stalled for a little bit because our bus wasn't there yet we finally got on the bus and headed towards Pana. My plan was to jump off at Los Encuentros and take 2 public Chicken Buses back to Pana. However, the driver (who didn't speak any English, so be impressed I had this conversation with him all in Spanish) saw another bus on the road who he knew the driver that was going to Pana. He dropped me off and I got on that bus and headed to Pana. It was a team who had just flown in and was a medical team working in villages around the lake. Most of them had gone into the gas station to use the restroom when I got onto the bus and the looks I got when they got back on the bus and just saw a stranger sitting there were priceless. I played tour guide and answered all their questions about the lake and about Salud y Paz. When they found out where I worked and that we hosted rural medical teams they wanted my information to try to set up a team next year. Hopefully that contact will work out.

Anyways, it was a really long and stressful day and I am praying there are no problems with their flight today. I have to get going back to Guatemala City (it's a fun 6 hour round trip I'm not looking forward to making 2 days in a row) to pick them up. Expect an even more depressing blog post later if they miss their flight again.

Busy Week...

This week has been made up of several beautiful moments. This was the first weekend where I felt like I didn't have a lot going on. I already blogged about how Saturday was a beautiful day, and Sunday was just as great. Heather and I decided to take a boat across the lake to the village San Marcos to eat lunch at a little cafe overlooking the lake. This week we have a new potential volunteer in town checking out what Salud y Paz was about, so we decided to invite her to come along.

This was my first time taking a local boat and not a private tour boat around the lake. I realized that Guatemalans are only charged 8 Q while we were charged 25 Q. When we asked the driver why there was such a difference (like we didn't already know why) a little boy standing next to me on the dock pointed to my arm and said in Spanish "you're white and I'm not". We all knew that was why, but it was a little shocking to hear it said so bluntly. I have found that I am charged more than locals a lot of places which is really annoying sometimes, but at the end of the day I guess it doesn't matter.

Anyways, the lake was beautiful that day, so it was great finding a little cafe to eat lunch at and just sit and look out over the lake for a few hours.

This picture is of my roommate Heather (in the hat), Emily (who is only here for the week unless she decides to come back to work at Salud y Paz), and me. I have started wearing headbands almost everyday because since we are so much closer to the sun my scalp gets burned really easily.

Just thought it was funny that we found some surfing goats on the walk back to the dock from the cafe.

When it was time to catch a boat back to Pana we hopped on a private boat (we didn't know it was a private boat until we got on) filled with college students from the University of Guatemala City. It was by far the bumpiest boat I've ever been on and besides hitting our heads on the roof of the boat several times we also all got extremely wet from going so fast. Again on the way back they charged us 25 Q... annoying. After the boat Emily and I went to Solomon's Porch which is the church I go to Sunday afternoons when I'm in town. I have been gone a lot lately, so it was nice to be back with that community.

Monday I spent working in the school in Camanchaj. Then on Tuesday I stayed home from work to attend a town meeting called by the Embassy. They had a lot of random information you could pick up about living in Guatemala and was pretty much just a meeting to answer any questions anyone had. A couple of weeks ago I heard that The Peace Corps had evacuated all of their volunteers in Guatemala (I already knew that about a month ago they decided not to send any new volunteers here), so I asked the dude what he thought that meant for other volunteer and missionaries living here. Many others had the same question I did, and it was good to hear the actual facts straight from the embassy. He said that there were 288 (if I am remembering right) volunteers here and they sent home all but 150. In the areas that they deemed too dangerous they gave those volunteers 48 hours to pack up and head back to the States. The remaining volunteers that were sent home were given the option to end their time early. I know they have to be overly cautious, but it was still unsettling to find that information out. I also found out that in case of an emergency here the people you are suppose to look to for answers and evacuation plans are called wardens. In case something scary happens and the internet goes down these guys will be called by the embassy and told what the Americans in our area are suppose to do to get to safety. I wasn't registered with the warden in Pana, so it was good to be at the meeting because he asked for my email and cell phone number. It's nice to know that he will call me and tell me what to do/where to go in case hell breaks loose down here. On a side note how beautiful is this hotel? You can't tell, but the view we had was of the lake... So beautiful!

After the town meeting Emily and I took a chicken bus up to Solola to walk around the market. It reminded me a lot of our market in Pana with the exception that I saw a lot more dried fish (gross) and craft supplies (beads, yarn, thread) for sale. After walking around for awhile we decided to head back down the mountain back towards Pana.

This is the main square in Solola. We drive by here everyday on the way to Camanchaj.

We decided to stop at the reserva and eat lunch at the cafe there then do the hike. When Emily suggested it I jumped at the chance even though I have been several times already and am planning on taking my family there next week (HAVE I MENTIONED MY FAMILY IS COMING TO VISIT NEXT WEEK?!?!?!?!?!). I mean if you give me the chance to hang out with monkeys and butterflies for about $7 I'm going to take it.

Check out this little monkey... Just hanging out. (I'm hilarious I know!)

Emily and I walking around the butterfly park.

I found a butterfly!!! And by found I mean I opened a case, took out a butterfly, took a picture with it, tried to put the stupid thing back into his house, and then freaked out when it flew out of my hands and ran around chasing it for awhile before I just gave up and ran away. I'm pretty sure they let the butterflies free once they hatch (or whatever you call it), so I wasn't too concerned about him/her.

After the reserva we met up with all the volunteers for Salud y Paz and went to the Sunset Cafe to celebrate Stephanie's last night with us. Stephanie was a med student from the States that was with us for about a month. I really love dinners where all the volunteers get together and we spend time just talking and laughing. I have a good group of friends here.

Today I spent the day working with a rural medical team in Chichi. I rode to the clinic like normal then Archy came an picked up Emily and me and brought us to Chichi. I have experienced all the other types of teams we host, but hadn't worked with a rural medical team so I was eager to have the chance. This was a team of about 20 that consisted of 3 doctors (pediatrician, general doctor, and a cardiologist) and many other nurses and helpers. This picture is of the pharmacy they set up in this church. After the patients saw the doctor they would come here and get whatever meds they needed.

This was the registration table. Here patients told a nurse what was wrong then waited to see a doctor. This station needed 2 translators. One to translate from K'iche' (one of the Mayan languages spoken in our region) to Spanish then another to translate Spanish into English. I am always afraid it is going to be like a game of telephone and the information will change by the time it gets to the doctor.

The team put up these sheets to create different doctor offices.

Just some patients waiting to see a doctor.

This was the pediatrician "office". The doctor would constantly blow bubbles trying to cheer up the little kids who were usually crying. It must be such a scary experience to go to a doctor who was a gringo and didn't speak the same language as you. They put so much trust into us.

This is the view from the church of Chichi (the church was up on a hill, so there was an amazing view). The landscapes of Chichi and Camanchaj remind me everyday of Colorado which has a homey feel to it since it is where some of my grandparents live. It is a type of beauty I wasn't expecting when I came, but that I am blessed to look at everyday.

The team was running so smoothly that I had some time that I was sitting around bored. That turned into sitting and talking with Archy and taking pictures. Today was a really beautiful day and I'm excited to see where the rest of the week will take me. Tomorrow I am in Camanchaj at the school then on Friday I am working from Pana. THEN MY FAMILY GETS HERE ON SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!