I made it safely to Panajachel, Guatemala. I'm aqui (a-key) which means "here" in Spanish. That's been one of the most notable things of my trip thus far- the language barrier. I know very little Spanish so it has been tough to communicate with most of the local people, who speak Spanish and/or one of the many Mayan languages.
Thankfully my first full day here, language did not pose any problems. I joined the group here to work with Mission Guatemala for this week on a boat across the beautiful Lake Atitlan, which is within walking distance from my apartment. The water and the surrounding mountains and volcanoes are breathtaking. We stopped at Bed and Breakfast built into the hillside for brunch and then traveled further across the lake to a town called San Juan. There we wandered the streets and learned about a weaving collective where local women and their families work together to dye cotton thread and weave products like blankets and scarves to sell.
The past two days were spent at a school, helping to administer medical check-ups to the elementary school children. I mainly filmed the doctors weighing the kids, checking their temperatures, and so forth. I also was able to play with the kids while they waited, which included playing soccer, basketball, and duck-duck-goose (pato-pato-ganso). They all spoke their local Mayan language and were beginning to learn Spanish so we could barely converse beyond me telling them my name and asking theirs. However, the neat thing is, the kids here all have the same sense of humor as we do. I think kids are kids no matter what; some things are just universal. They would tap me on one shoulder to make me turn the opposite direction that they were or I could spin them around and we'd all laugh. The same physical humor and pranks were funny
Thankfully my first full day here, language did not pose any problems. I joined the group here to work with Mission Guatemala for this week on a boat across the beautiful Lake Atitlan, which is within walking distance from my apartment. The water and the surrounding mountains and volcanoes are breathtaking. We stopped at Bed and Breakfast built into the hillside for brunch and then traveled further across the lake to a town called San Juan. There we wandered the streets and learned about a weaving collective where local women and their families work together to dye cotton thread and weave products like blankets and scarves to sell.
The past two days were spent at a school, helping to administer medical check-ups to the elementary school children. I mainly filmed the doctors weighing the kids, checking their temperatures, and so forth. I also was able to play with the kids while they waited, which included playing soccer, basketball, and duck-duck-goose (pato-pato-ganso). They all spoke their local Mayan language and were beginning to learn Spanish so we could barely converse beyond me telling them my name and asking theirs. However, the neat thing is, the kids here all have the same sense of humor as we do. I think kids are kids no matter what; some things are just universal. They would tap me on one shoulder to make me turn the opposite direction that they were or I could spin them around and we'd all laugh. The same physical humor and pranks were funny