February 8

Today we returned to Melotto School in Chimaltenango. Since that 7:00 a.m. bus from La Antigua is so convenient (it drops us off right at the road to the school), we once again got up at 5:00 a.m. to have breakfast and get ready to go down to the road at 6:15 a.m. to pick up an early chicken bus into La Antigua. Once again the first two buses passed us by without stopping. To increase our odds of getting picked up, we walked down to the intersection of the road to Dueñas. Not seeing much traffic, we walked into Ciudad Vieja to the parada (bus stop), which is located where three bus streams come together. Even there, several buses passed by without stopping. On was so overcrowded that the ayudante (driver's assistant) was holding on to a window frame and the front door frame with his entire body on the exterior of the bus.

Finally, a chicken bus appeared and two riders exited. Three riders (Linda, myself and another woman) boarded and had to stand, since every seat was filled to capacity. Most of that trip was made standing in the aisle holding on for dear life. We soon arrived in La Antigua and quickly walked to the boarding area for the bus to Panajachel, which would drop us off in Chimaltenango. Although we were there early, it soon arrived and we loaded. Departing around 7:00 a.m., we were walking towards the entrance gate of the school by 8:15 a.m.

Today's task was simple. We needed to determine which, if any, computers had any potential use for the school. We also need to reassemble the dead units, so that they could be removed for recycling more easily. We finally determined that there were three computers with potential use remaining and possibly four. Although I once again tried to install two Linux educational distributions (complete Linux installation package) on the two systems running XP, neither had the memory to make it work. The other two systems, running Windows 98, lacked sufficient memory to do an alternative installation of the educational software. While we worked, we enjoyed hearing and seeing the students (preschool - third grade) singing, learning and playing. We especially enjoyed watching the preschoolers and kindergarten students participating in physical education. They were learning how to play basket ball, but it looked like the teacher was herding chickens.

We finished up for the day and headed out to the highway to catch the bus for La Antigua returning from Panajachel. We were concerned that they wouldn't stop, since the last time we rode back with them, they returned to La Antigua by a route that was different from their morning route. The driver and ayudante seemed to think that we would want to go back by the morning route, so they told us that they wouldn't pick us up. We decided to convince them to pick us up by making a sign with bold letters that said, "La Antigua." As it happened, the bus we wanted was stopped by the police (no idea what the problem was) just down the road from where we were waiting to meet it. We didn't even realize that it was our bus. Nevertheless, we were standing there with our sign when they came by and they stopped so that we could load. There were several English speaking riders who were quite amused at how we used our sign to get the bus to stop.

We were back in La Antigua by 2:30 p.m. and decided to stop by Pollo Campero for a personal size salad. Because of the problems with vegetables you can't peel, we've gone to Pollo Campero to satisfy our urge for salad. For only Q10 ($1.20), we get a side salad much like you would get at a U.S. fast food restaurant. We've done this a number of times since we arrived and have had no problems (you know what I mean). After our snack break, we went to the Bodegana to buy some items we needed and get some cash, since Guatemala is primarily a cash society. We then went to the mercado to replenish our supply of fruits and vegetables and find two small folding paraguas (umbrellas), since the Bodegana only had full sized models. Since it was almost 4:00 p.m. and we had eaten lunch at 11:00 a.m., we decided to celebrate the first (weekly) anniversary of our second arrival in Guatemala with a Big & Tasty combo meal at McDonalds. I don't know what is different about this sandwich, but I love the Guatemalan version. The U.S. version tastes like cardboard.

It was sprinkling lightly when we left McDonalds, but not enough to get our new umbrellas wet. When we got to the street where we catch our bus home, there was a chicken bus heading for Dueñas almost ready to leave and it was actually half empty and that was with no more than two people per seat. It wasn't until we were underway that I realized that I had achieved one of my life goals. Back in 2007 and on this trip, I've seen a bus named Esmeralda and wondered where it went. I planned to ride it some day just to find out. Well, now I know and have ridden on it. Now I'll have to find a new life goal.

We left the bus where the road to Dueñas split off from the road to our apartment. We quickly ran to the huge monument that serves as the marker for the cemetery and the adjacent fúbal field. It's actually a good combination, as the player's ancestors are always there to cheer them on.

Since it was still raining lightly, we opened up our new umbrellas and walked the short distance downhill to the road to our apartment. We were quickly back in our apartment and soon afterwards it began to rain more heavily. After a video chat with Donna, Nic and the twins in California and Robyn and Nathan in Texas, we began another vegetable soup for tomorrow's supper and washed a few items to tide us over until we can do our laundry.

Tonight's entertainment will be the latest Indiana Jones movie about the crystal skulls. It will be in English with Spanish subtitles. It's a silly movie, but fun never the less. Tomorrow we up at 5:00 a.m. for perhaps our final trip to Melotto School. How I wish that they still had those more powerful computers that were stolen from them. We could have left them with some truly powerful educational tools.

February 7

This morning we had decided to attend the 10:00 a.m. Mass at San Francisco Church (site of the tomb of Hermano Pedro). Since we had the time, I tried my hand at making the oatmeal we had enjoyed so much back home. In recent years, I've prepared it in a microwave, but in our apartment here in Guatemala I'm forced to go back to the stove method. I started by making two cups of instant milk, which I mixed with an egg and four packets of sweet-and-low (I'll only use two packets next time, as it was rather sweet). I heated this mixture until it was just short of boiling and then poured in twice as much oatmeal as the oatmeal package seemed to suggest. I then cooked it until it was done. It turned out quite good and I intend to make it again, as long as we're not trying to catch a 7:00 a.m. bus in La Antigua. With a piece of fruit and a cup of hot tea with lime, we had a tasty and filling breakfast.

About 8:30 a.m. we pulled together what we were taking with us - an English-language paperback missal that Susan was able to get for us, a Spanish-language Mass guide and a small Spanish dictionary. Together with our walking sticks (very handy when crossing uneven surfaces and all surfaces in La Antigua are uneven), floppy hats, cell phones and cash, we were traveling the lightest we've been for this trip.

A chicken bus picked us up at about 8:45 a.m. and we were in La Antigua by about 9:15 a.m. As usual, no seat went unused. Getting off on the south end of town, we walked the seven blocks east to the church, which was originally part of a large monastary, now a ruins that can be viewed for a small fee. Since we arrived about 30 minutes early, we examined the market stalls and gift shop within the church grounds. There's even a small comedar, should you want to eat following the service.

The church service was well attended. San Francisco is managed by the Franciscans, who are celebrating 800 years of service this year. Unlike our experience during our last trip, the service began with a procession down the center aisle, much like is done back home. There was a cross bearer, two candle bearers flanking him, three lectors, four other altar servers (both boys and girls) and a Franciscan priest. Unlike our experience during our 2007 trip, there was a printed order of Mass handout that included all the readings. Without a doubt, we were able to participate to a greater extent during this service than we could during our last trip. The music was loud and spirited, with accompaniment by a clavicord (I had hoped it was an organ) and a bass fiddle. Man, could that bass fiddle player jive. We even recognized two of the hymn that were sung, although we didn't have the words and couldn't sing along. Communion is a free for all. You just get us and go. There is no waiting your turn. During communion, I noticed that the family in front of us went in two shifts and realized that by doing so, they were keeping an eye on their possessions.

After Mass, we decided to have lunch at a traditional Guatemalan restaurant with a lovely courtyard that has a fountain in the center and a view of Volcan Agua - McDonald's. It took us some time to find it, since, while we knew about where it was, we went down some wrong streets. Actually, we had gone down the right street previously, but had not realized how close to Parque Central it actually was. Businesses in La Antigua must comply with a very strict sign code. Signs must be designed in accordance with the city ordinance and must be flat against the wall of the business. It was only when we were at the door of McDonald's that we were able to see their sign. As usual, their guard was on duty at the door. For lunch, we had the "Big and Tasty" combo. It was just as good as it had been the last time we were in Guatemala. After returning to Iowa in 2007, we tried it at the local McDonalds. It tasted like cardboard there. After lunch, we called family to check in and then decided to go to the mercado for a shoulder bag for Linda and some cleaning supplies.

The mercado is very much like a rabbit warren. We probably walked at least a mile while there and were lost most of the time. We did find what we were looking for or at least a reasonable substitute. As we left the mercado, we decided to stop by Pollo Camperso for a small salad. This has been a very safe way to include lettuce-based salads in our diet and for only Q10 (about $1.20). We also had a small "cono helado suave" (soft-serve ice cream cone) because we could!

Walking over to the street where we pick up our chicken bust back to the apartment, we were finally able to talk with Robyn. It seems that I had one digit of her telephone number wrong. I also had both her US calling number and the one we use in Guatemala. Somehow, I used the US number and reached someone in Guatemala who still wonders who was calling him.

The first chicken bus to arrive was one going to Dueña, which is on the road on the other side of the cemetery that is across the road from our apartment. It let us off at the intersection, which worked just fine as the road is downhill from there.

Back at the apartment, we showered and rested. I burned three CDs of educational software that I'm going to try to install tomorrow at the Melotto School. We watched a funny movie (in English with Spanish subtitles), worked on our blogs and surfed the web. While watching the movie, we had a short power failure that only lasted about 5 minutes. Later it rained for about two hours. This was the first rain we've experienced on this trip, since this is the "dry" season. We decided to put plastic bags on our shoes for our walk to the road tomorrow, unless the dirt road we live on has dried out. If we need to do that, we'll carry another plastic bag to put the muddy ones in and will drop them in a trash can in La Antigua. After having supper (the remainder of our last soup, scrambled eggs and fruit), we're finishing our blogging for the day and may watch another movie, if there are any that interest us. We'll be packing it in by 10:00 p.m. at the latest, since tomorrow has a 5:00 a.m. wake-up call (alarm clock). Life is good!

Cooking in Guatemala

The title should be "Don and Linda cooking in Guatemala," since I'm sure that our experience thus far is not necessarily that of folks living in their own homes.

It might help to describe what the term "kitchenette" means when applied to our apartment. Our kitchenette is a reverse "L" shaped room attached to our bedroom/computer room/dressing room/family room/storeroom/etc. At the end of the small part of the "L" is a small sink and counter with a rack to stack washed dishes. The long arm of the "L" has a window, a counter stretching almost the entire length, except for where the refrigerator stands. Sitting on the counter is a three-burner propane stove (the propane tank is under the counter), much like I used to use when I was camping with the Boy Scouts many long years ago. Across from the refrigerator is a three-shelve storage area. Sitting next to the shelving unit is a five-gallon bottle of water with a hand pump we purchased attached to it. There's also a small trash can with a foot operated opener.

We buy our groceries in La Antigua and haul them back to the apartment by chicken bus. Most of the fruits and vegetables come from the mercado and are very expensive. Canned goods, cleaning products, oatmeal, eggs and instant milk come from the Bodegana or Dispensa Familiar. We use instant milk because it is so much lighter than the liquid variety and less likely to spill on the trip home. Eggs are interesting. I have yet to see a dozen eggs for sale. I've seen individual eggs for sale in the mercado or shrink-wrapped trays of 24 (Bodegana) or 30 (Dispensa Familiar). We tend to drink a lot of tea (hot and cold), since Coke Light (Latin American name for Diet Coke) is both hard to find and heavy.

There are a number of minor things that we'd like to find, but haven't yet such as almonds, dark chocolate, and cottage cheese. On the other hand, there are lots of things that we used in Iowa that we haven't tried to find yet.

Without an oven or microwave, we are limited with what we can cook. This last week we kept things simple and cooked two soups (vegetable and vegetable beef), scrambled and boiled eggs and this morning, since we had the time, I made a version of the oatmeal we have eaten for years. Last week we packed out first sack lunch for a trip to Chimaltenango on Friday and will continue to do that on future trips, as it's much cheaper and a time saver.

In short, cooking in our kitchenette is just like cooking on a camping trip. I'm sure that we'll be branching out and trying new recipes in the coming weeks.

February 6

Today is a kick-back and relax day. We started by sleeping late. We didn't get up until 7:00 a.m. We then had breakfast, did our morning clean-up and dressed for the day. I did some research on the computer, while Linda watched an HBO (hache bey o) movie about some cat. Just before 10:00 a.m., we got ready to head into La Antigua. Since there wasn't much traffic, we walked into Ciudad Vieja to the bus stop and waited until a La Antigua bound chicken bus appeared. As usual, the bus was packed like a sardine can because Saturday is a market day in La Antigua.

We got off the bus on the south end of the main part of town and leisurely walked seven blocks to San Franciso Church (site of the tomb of Hermano Pedro, the first Central American canonized as a saint, 2002). We're planning on attending Mass there tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. While there, we made use of the "sanitorios" (bathrooms) on the grounds for Q2 (about 25 cents) each. The charge is for the "papel higiénico" (toilet paper) and an impressively clean facility.

We then walked towards the center of town, visited La Unión Washing Area (a public laundry area at the end of a small park), the Church of San Pedro Apóstol, and the Cathedral. We tried to go to the second floor of the Ayuntamiento (city hall), but it wasn't open on Saturday. We then strolled down Calle de Arco (Street of the Arch), which is named after the yellow painted Arch of Santa Catalina that crosses it. The arch was used by cloistered nuns to cross the street, when the convent of Santa Catalina was on the site. There's a hotel there now. We visited the Nim Po't craft and textile cooperative, an adjacent bookstore and then visited La Merced Church, which is painted bright yellow.

Since it was about lunch time, we headed over to the mercado to go back to the same comedor for the comida tipica (business lunch), which set us back Q20 ($2.40) each, but included a 600 ml bottle of Coke Light (Diet Coke). Following lunch, we headed to the produce area of the mercado and purchased more fruit and vegetables. After a quick trip to the Bodegana for some additional items, we headed over to the street where we pick up the chicken bus that will take us home. This time the chicken bus was almost empty. There were only three adults or two adults and two children on each seat. We got off next to our cemetery and walked the short distance to our apartment. The rest of the day will be spent blogging, doing on-line research for my computer repair project at Melotto School and studying Spanish.

Guatemalan Television

Our apartment outside of Ciudad Vieja comes with cable television. Guatemalan cable television is interesting. Some programs, which originate in Guatemala, Mexico or other Latin American countries, are naturally in Spanish. Other programming, such as CNN-International and some other news channels, is in English. We get HBO and a few other movie channels that play English language movies with Spanish subtitles. Other movie channels are in Spanish without any subtitles. Like cable television in the United States, sometimes there is nothing worth watching.

Side Thought

The Melotto School, where we are currently volunteering, had about 450 students last year. This year they only have about 320 students. The children are still there, but their families can't afford the monthly tuition. The reason for this is the current world-wide recession. Tuition at the Melotto School is Q110 per month (about $13.35 at today's exchange rate). It seems to me that $13.35 per month means so little to those of us who call the United States home and so much to a child in Guatemala. Unfortunately, Child Aid, the non-profit we're currently volunteering with, has no capability to serve as a conduit should a family or individual be interested in providing a scholarship. Is this something that should be pursued? Let me know what you think, especially if you are interested.

February 5

Once again we are going to try to get to the Melotto School in Chimaltenango. Because Kristen has an early morning appointment, we're going to meet her about 6:45 a.m. at the Bodegana parking lot, which is not far from where our chicken bus drops us off. To pull this off, we wake up at 5:00 a.m., get dressed and eat our breakfast (pre-boiled eggs, heated soup, fruit and hot tea). After gathering the things we're going to bring, we're out the door and walking down to the road. Since it's dark, I bring a flashlight. If the chicken bus driver won't stop this time, at least I can blind him and cause him to wreck his bus. To increase our odds of getting a bus, we walk up the hill to the intersection at the beginning of the cemetery. Seeing some people standing along the road waiting for a bus, we play it cool and stand with them. Before long we have the opportunity to join an already overloaded bus on its way into La Antigua.

We arrive in La Antigua about 6:30 a.m., so Linda has time to walk on the median (paved and about 12 feet wide with full sized trees), while I take some photos of the traffic, people and Agua volcano. As expected, Kristen arrives around 6:45 a.m., just after a Greyhound-type bus pulled into the walled parking area and turned around so that it could easily depart. This bus actually is meant for folks, primarily backpackers, going to Panajachel. One of the Child Aid Guatemalan employees knows the driver and ayudante and worked out a deal for them to drop Child Aid staff (paid and volunteer) at the street leading to Melotto School. Its really neat because it changes a two bus trip to a one bus trip. We intend to use it again, even if it means that we'll need to get up at 5:00 a.m. to be sure to make it.

The one hour trip found us walking down the street to the school. When we reached the gate, we were greeted by the grounds keeper. We walked by the library to say hello the librarian and stopped by the office to Hermana Director (principals are called directors and this one is a religious sister, i.e. hermana). She was out, so the office arranged for the grounds keeper to open the doors to the computer room, although they would be much better off if someone were to steal the junk they have that's called computers.

Once in the room, I booted each computer so that I could insert the Qimo CDs I burned last night. One actually seemed to boot properly. The others all had issues. The two Windows 98 computers don't have the capability to boot from a CD, I quickly remembered when I tried to change the device boot order. Only one of the Windows XP computers booted Qimo properly. Because the five computers were crammed onto four computer desks, I moved it to another computer desk across the room. As could be expected, it ceased to work properly.

As the two new gringos at the school, Linda and I are the subject of much attention from students, teachers and visitors. Today we were visited by preschoolers, elementary students, the nun who teaches religion and a visiting priest. I did tell the priest, as I was working on the computers, "oración, por favor" (prayer, please). He smiled. Later the religious ed nun stopped by and laughed when I laid hands on the computer tower I was working on. I really hope that I can get something working. These are really nice, hard working people.

With three potential computers that could run Qimo, I began to tear them apart to see what parts might need to be replaced from several dead units in the room. After replacing the CD drive in the computer that originally worked, I was ready to try to install Qimo on it's hard drive. Wouldn't you know it, just as it was about to install, I began to get a multitude of disk write errors. At about 12:30 p.m., I decided to quit for the day (school is actually over at noon) and try installing a different hard drive on Monday when we go back. At the very least, I'll need to put all of the dead carcasses back together so that they're easier to recycle.

Our return bus, which was to drop us off at Pedro Molinas School, where Child Aid has their storeroom, arrived about 1:05 p.m. as expected. I told them where we wanted to be dropped off and was surprised when they pulled over just past the crossroads where the highway we expected them to take meets the Pan American Highway. On a positive note, they didn't charge us for that short ride. It seems that they had decided to take the faster route back to La Antigua, one that didn't go by the school. We walked back to the cross road and waited for a bus to appear. None did, so when a tuk-tuk (http://www.viajeros.com/fotos/guatemala-un-mundo-de-detalles/620203) appeared. I got his attention, asked if he could take us to the school and asked what he would charge. He would take us for Q10 each (about @$2.40). On the way to the school, we witnessed an accident. A motorcycle rider, who was wearing his helmet, collided with a rather large dog and wiped out. Our driver and several other drivers stopped to assist him. Fortunately, he seemed relatively uninjured, although I bet he'll hurt for a week. I have after my accident last Monday. I didn't notice, but Linda said that the dog was injured in his hindquarters. After the motorcycle driver had been determined to be OK, we continued on our way to the school.

The Pedro Molino School is a boarding school. The classrooms and dorms for the boys are on one side of the road, while the dorms for the girls and Child Aid's storehouse are on the other. Walking down the road to the storehouse, small groups of female students greeted us and smiled.

My job at the storehouse was to examine and set-up a computer that Kristen will use to keep track of inventory. Child Aid received a tremendous number of donated books that are then given to libraries and schools primarily serving indigenous students. I set up the computer Kristen wanted and discovered that the video card was not secured to the back panel of the case. If fact, there as no way to secure it. It just plugged into the mother board. This would be a problem, so I opened a less powerful second computer and decided to swap video cards. The second video card securely attached to the case and worked just fine. When I tried to plug the other card into the second computer, I discovered that it would only fit into the slot backwards. Very strange. Maybe I can find a usable card in one of the non-functioning computers back at the school.

With Kristen's computer working properly, we walked to the highway to catch the next bus to La Antigua. Soon, one arrived and we headed towards Parramos, about half-way to La Antigua. After arriving in Parramos, we learned that the highway from Parramos to La Antigua was closed for road work, so we had to backtrack past the school all the way to Chimaltenango and back towards La Antigua by the newer, faster highway. Note that the buses we take to Chimaltenango take the older route through Parramos because there are more people along that route wanting to ride.

We finally arrived at the chicken bus terminal and said farewell to Kristen. Next week we will be on our own as we return to the Melotto School, as Kristen has other things she needs to be doing. She's done babysitting the new gringo volunteers. Looks to me like we'll be getting us at 5:00 a.m. so that we can take the straight-shot bus trip to the school. Coming back, they can take any route they want, since we won't be needing to stop by the storehouse.

One of the things we've missed in our diet has been frequent salads, since it's so hard to avoid significant stomach issues when eating vegetables that can't be peeled. We have discovered that the salads at Pollo Campero are safe, so we stopped by for a side-salad and a beverage. Afterwards, we went to the Bodegana and Dispensa Familiar to pick up some items we needed. We then went over to the street where we can pick up our chicken bus back to our apartment. Once again, it was loaded like a sardine can, but we were able to get off somewhat near our apartment.

Back at the apartment, we prepared the remainder of our supper - vegetable beef soup (homemade, not canned), crackers, fruit and cold tea. It was then time to shower (I go first to heat up the bathroom) and I discovered that our landlord had turned up the hot water heater as I had requested. For the first time since we arrived I had to use some cold water to moderate the hot water. Previously, I just used hot water, although it was more like lukewarm.

Our final task of the day was to record our daily blog entry. As you can see, I'm almost done. Tomorrow we can sleep in, since we don't need to catch a 7:00 a.m. bus in La Antigua. Life is good. We have hot water for showering and the wireless Internet works. What more could a fellow ask for?