Departure or not.....

Departure or not…. L

So today was our last day with the family. Last night Momma Cruz made dinner for everyone in the family. So we had Domingo his 4 kids and wife, Romos and his 2 kids and wife, Martita and her husband and Audrey, Viola and Andres and Mama Cruz. Domingo and his family weren’t there because Domingo and Papa had to go play in the band for the church. So we all ate a big lunch with Domingo his family and Papa. Let’s just say we ate a lot of food yesterday. We took family pictures with the family then we went inside and I gave them my camera so they could take their own pictures. They were so excited to have a camera. Then Martita left she told us goodbye and she started crying and you all know how I am once someone starts crying so do I, I am so weak. It is sad. It was in that moment of time I realized that it is a possibility that I could never see this family ever again. I have not thought about it really. It hit me like a fast ball to my stomach. It is amazing to me that we can meet people in our lives and get to know them be like them and never have contact with them the rest of our lives. We are so lucky that we can have the opportunity to meet people that have positive affects in our lives. But when the time comes to say goodbye it can be one of the hardest things we will have to do. I am so sad about leaving this family. They have been so good to us. They have shown me how to love strangers as family and even though we have barriers we can learn to communicate if we are open to trying new things. I will never forget this wonderful family. Leaving them probably was one of the hardest things I have done in a really long time. I am still tearing up about leaving them. There are things I have learned that I don’t know how to describe to other people. This morning Mama Cruz made us banana pancakes my favorite. They were sooooo good it was a great goodbye gift. When all my stuff was packed up and my room was empty I started crying again. Then Mama Cruz and Viola really got me. They are the ones I have spent a lot of my time with and have done so much for us selflessly. Sometimes we do things for others we may think it is selfless but we all have another underlying layer or selfishness. Here I saw true selflessness. I have learned I need to do a lot more selfless things, truly selfless things. I am so sad to leave here. I really am. I know coming here was hard for me but leaving is definitely harder.

Well we were supposed to leave at 4 or so we thought. Kate checked our flight and she thought it said we were supposed to leave at 4 well lets just say it left when we got to the airport 12:30. So now we have to wait until tomorrow morning at 7:30 to fly out. It is kind of frustrating I thought I would have a day to get ready for school and see my family but, I guess I will have to wait til Monday. L I am sad. But at least we will be going home. Now I am just sitting in the airport since 1:30 this afternoon it is 6:30 now. We don’t have any internet until we get our tickets and we can’t get our tickets until tomorrow morning. It is frustrating but oh well. There is nothing we can do. I guess we should have checked one more time last night. Ahhh. Oh well. I guess I will see you all soon. And if my journey continues passed this don’t worry I will let you all know.

Well my journey has continued. We were sitting in the airport upstairs cafeteria until this man came upstairs and told us we couldn’t stay there for the night that we had to go downstairs to stay for the night. So we are like ok we can go downstairs. Well folks let’s just say downstairs is not just downstairs it is outside the airport then downstairs. I don’t think I have ever been more frightened in my life. Walking outside Guatemala city airport (Guatemala city is not very safe) then walking down a creepy slightly dark set of stairs to the first floor. We walk inside and I feel a little better there are at least some people here. Then a family of other LDS people show up I start to feel a lot more safe. It was a nice peaceful calming experience compared to the stress day I had. So we start to talk to them grab some dinner. Then decided it was safe for some of us to sleep with such a large group so right as we fall asleep and the other family puts down their babies to bed a big ERRRRRREEEEEKKKKKK goes across the floor. Sorry folks we have to mop can you please move to this side of the room. Move again. This was our 3^rd time moving all our luggage. It was ridiculous utterly ridiculous. So we get moved pull together some chairs and make a bed. Lets just say I stayed the night with a bunch of strangers in a dark cold room. Hahaha it was nice to get some sleep since we had been at the airport all day. Ahhh. But we got up at 4 went and got our tickets and checked it. Finally we got on our plane and we are on our way home. Yay!!!

Lots of love,

Desi

Watching the Lorax on the computer just thought I would share this quote with you all. “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. Its not” -Dr. Suess

2 emotional roller coasters. who would have thunk.

Wednesday

Today was a pretty simple day. First of all we started out by going to the dental clinic. From there we went to the school to give fluoride to all the little kids. I am so grateful for America’s school system. We think we have disgusting poor education, but it is nothing compared to the school system here. I mean absolutely nothing. To explain the situation it is like having a cardboard beat up box with holes that smells like rotting cardboard compared to a clean house with fancy furniture. It is pathetic the way the school works here. The kids go to school in a very dirty place every room we went in made me want to gag because they smelt really bad. They seriously smelt like the walls and floors were rotting and they were hot too which made the aroma of the kids bad too. We are blessed to have the schools we do and people that take care of them and actually care about our education. Although we could do better we also can do a lot worse. The education system is terrible if you don’t have money. All the brothers and sisters in this family only went to school til 7^th grade. Since they didn’t have money to send their kids to school in Pana they could not receive higher than a 7^th grade education. This could be one of the reasons the girls here get pregnant earlier because they don’t get a good education and they have nothing else to do. The boys go and find jobs after finishing 7^th grade and the girls usually learn to work from home and do house work and find a spouse. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to get a good education and had the opportunity to live a life and discover who I am and who I want to be before having a child. The life these boys and girls live. It is sad to me, hence why Kate wants to bring Viola and Andres to the states for school.  Kates aunt and uncle will pay for them to come to the states to learn. Viola is actually 17 and her mom and dad could pay for her to go to school but they don’t want her to be like her sister and meet some guy and get pregnant. It is sad that they have to worry about that when they should be worrying about the education she can have. Thank you mom and dad for making sure that I had a good education and always encouraging me to get good grades and learn as much as possible. I think the whole theme of my experience here is be grateful for what you have because there is always someone better off than you and someone worse off than you. It is the things we have, that we need to be grateful for. These people are content with what they have and as should we. I thank my stars and have been counting my blessings because I am blessed. Oh how I am blessed. I have an amazing family, I mean amazing, good education, equal opportunities, and how lucky I am to have the life I have. The life I live is great and I am rich beyond compare. I may not have money wealth but I am wealthy in ways an outsider could never comprehend. I love all of my precious wealth’s I have, such as family and friends. Thank you all for enriching my life.

Love you,

Desi J

Thursday

Tomorrow is my last day with the family and how sad I am. I just got here it feels like I am truly cheerless to come home. I have made life time friends and family here. I am so sad. I love these people so much. They are so kind to us. Also Mama Cruz and Papa are so accommodating and always make sure we are taken care of. I don’t know how to explain myself my situation my feelings. I feel like I did the first day emotional roller coaster. I want to cry but I don’t. haha. I feel like I am standing in the middle of an empty grassy field my home to the west on the hill and this home on the east on a hill. I am stuck in the middle unable to choose the destination of where I want to be. I sit like a captivated vine behind bars and only allowed to reach so far only allowed to grow one way. In the end I know which way I will choose to go but my memories will always be a part of my growing journey. Although I am emotionally captivated I have been able to be part of an experience that so many will never experience. My experience here has been one of the most bubble bursting, humbling, amazing experiences of my life. Unless you experience something like this for yourself you will never understand. There is something about living with others strangers, learning to communicate without words, learning customs, learning a language, and learning to live a way you have never lived before. I don’t know how to explain it to anyone. But I truly grew as a person down here and I know that this is exactly where I needed to be in this time in my life. I developed as a person in ways I couldn’t at home. In our lives we are blinded by what we have what we do every day. Sometimes it is hard to think that there are other people out there. The world is so big and we are so small but we definitely need to be less selfish in our daily lives. You never really realize how blind you are tell you take the time to step out from behind the black curtain and look beyond what is right in front of you.

Sorry enough deep thinking for today. Today I did a lot more sealants this time I didn’t use the dentist chair we had to use regular chairs no water no air no nothing. Hahaha it was hard. We got 30 kids teeth sealed today. After we finished one of the supervisors came from the University of Dental School here in Guatemala to check up on the Dental students work on the sealants he took 5 random kids, 4 of the students and one of mine. Hahaha I was so nervous. I knew the job I did today wasn’t as good as the other day and he didn’t know that I was helping with the sealants he thought it was only the students doing the sealants. So he starts with the first 4 and he was so angry although I didn’t understand everything, he was talking so fast in Spanish, I could just tell he was angry and the vibe was off in the room. After the 4 he got to my patient. Turns out I had the best sealants he was just upset because I didn’t do one of the permanent teeth that I should have. Hahaha it made my day to know that I did a good job. So all in all it was a good day. Now we are just going to hang out with the family for the rest of the day.

See you all soon. J

My last week L Lunes y Martes,

Hola familia y mi amigas. Puede hablo espanol muy major. No mas voy a America. Usd. Es necessario por tu vamos a Guatemala por que Guatemala es mi nuevo casa. Jaja.

Ok that was a very awful attempt at my mala (bad) espanol. Hello family and friends. I am able to speak Spanish better. I will no longer be coming to America. You all need to come to Guatemala because Guatemala is my new house. Hahaha that is what that said. I am definitely getting better at the Spanish which sucks because I am leaving soon which makes me want to be here longer and learn more. It is amazing what living in a Spanish home and environment and how it can improve your ability to speak another language. I didn’t think I would ever be able to have a conversation when I first arrived here. But today I got done with work early and Jose and I had a conversation for about an hour. Even though I am slow at putting the sentences together and I don’t do it correctly I am getting better and able to communicate. And what a feeling that is! I am getting so sad to leave. L. I am trying to soak up every minute of this experience and I have not been doing my homework very well. Today was a spectacular day though! I got to work with the dentist finally!!!!! We first started by going to homes of different children learning about their brushing habits and the environment they live in. It is so sad to me to see some of these homes there is no privacy in some of them. I am so privileged and every day I have to thank my heavenly father. It is amazing the way these people live but the even more amazing thing to me is these people are happy. They don’t need everything we have to be happy they can live with just the simple necessities. (yes you may break into song here I did too! It’s the bare necessities…..). After seeing some other people’s homes we went to the school to check kid’s teeth to see which students needed sealants. Can I just say thank you mom and dad and grandparents for caring enough to make sure my teeth were taken care of? Seriously I am astonished at these children’s teeth. I have never in my life seen so many cavities. Every kid had rotting decaying teeth. These parents just don’t care and some of the teeth are permanent teeth rotting. It is so sad. I am depressed every time a child here smiles because their teeth are so bad. We got a couple of kids with permanent teeth that were able to be sealed. We went back and the dentist said seal them. She didn’t show me how just let me do it!!! It was so awesome I did about 12 sealants today all by myself! I can tell you now this is my calling. I know for a fact this is what I want to do I didn’t get bored like I do when I work with the doctors. It was so much fun. The dentist said I can come back the rest of this week and work on the sealants some more. I am so freaking excited. Hahahaha.

Yesterday Monday we worked all day didn’t really like how long the day was and plus we had this little girl that stuck something up her nose and so Craig asked me to hold her head while he was pulling it out of her nose. That was the hardest thing I have done in a long long long time. I am serious. I couldn’t do it. Her head was hot and her nose was bleeding and it stunk so bad. I couldn’t let her head move otherwise she could have got really hurt. I felt so bad. I defiantly will not be able to do something like that again. I will stick to the dentist stuff.

Well that is my last two days in a nutshell.

Lots of love,

Deserai

Eruption!!!! Volcano day!!!

Today we woke up at 6:30 to go to the volcano at 7. We missed the launcha so we had to take another launcha to catch the launcha that we missed. It was kind of funny. I am always late and Mama Cruz was late in getting our lunch and breakfast made. It was good but not enough protein. I really am in bad need of protein and potassium. We got to San Padro and took a tuk tuk up to the hiking grounds I am so glad we did because I never would have made it up to the top of the volcano if we didn’t. hahaha We started off it wasn’t bad but once we got into the forest part it was so hard. Hahaha like I am usually a pretty good hiker but this time I was not my nose is still pretty plugged and not being able to breathe well, didn’t help either. It was one of the hardest yet one of the prettiest hikes I have ever been on. The steps going up were seriously up to my knee if not sometimes higher. It was so bad I haven’t been getting the vitamins I usually get at home both of my knees kept cramping up. It was so bad. I was a walking mess. Although let me tell you I have never felt more accomplished in my life. To get to the top it took about 3 hours and it was the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. I am so amazed by Heavenly Fathers creation of this beautiful earth. I love every moment of it!! We ate lunch on the top of the world. I am seriously amazed everyday by how beautiful it is here. Every day I am more and more amazed. I was still full from breakfast so I had a Peanut butter sandwich with honey. We taught them to do that. It was so perfect. On the way down I didn’t struggle at all we were going so fast and everyone was laughing at me on the way down. I guess I was saying really funny stuff. Hahaha I don’t know. I have just got used to them laughing at me. Hahaha. I kind of feel like I am back home except at home I feel like they are laughing with me more. J who knows? Well all in all today was a great day. Tomorrow we are taking the family to Chichi they have never been.  So Kate is paying for them to go with us. It should be fun. I am excited!!!!!

Lots of love

Deserai

Zip LINEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Hola mi familia y amigos,

Today was an awesome day we went zip lining in Pana at the Atitlan Nature Reserve. There were two zip lines you could choose from the first was the Cables Xtremos or the Ultra Cable Xtremos. We decided to do the Ultra of course. It was amazing. It was 8 zip lines long and it took over 3 hours to get through the whole course. They said this is the shortest of the 4 ultra extreme zip lines it is only 400 meters long the other ones are over 800 meters long. It was the coolest thing I have done since parasailing in Jamaica. Just saying if you ever have the chance to go zip lining in Guatemala do it!!!!! It was so beautiful they had a nature reserve and they had a mauriposol reserve in the same place so for 40$ you got to zip line and see the entire national reserve park. It was tremendously beautiful you had the lake on one side of you and the Forrest on the other side. I truly loved it. After the zip line we went to the fruit market and the market to get stuff to make French toast for dinner Sunday. Hopefully they like it. One thing I have taken for granted is American super markets oh how dearly I miss them. I can’t wait to go shopping for something and actually finding it. That will be a very exciting day. The family and us talked and laughed all night. They are so awesome. Again I got teased. Kate brought it up this time that Andres and I are in love. Viola says he is scared of me. Hahahaha oh you know I kind of have that affect on ppl. Hahahaha Andres is funny he gives you this look like he is laughing at his head at you but it is his smile but he also does it for his silent laughs so I never know if he is laughing or smiling. So every time I laugh they all laugh Mama Cruz especially and Andres just gives me his smile laugh. I wish I could describe it better but that is the best you are going to get. So you know how yesterday Mama Cruz taught us to weave well she finished today and gave me a beautiful bufanda. I love it, it is so pretty and colorful it is a scarf. Well there was not a whole lot we did today but it probably was my favorite day. Best wishes to you all.

Love desi! J

Simple Gratitude

Thursday week 2

Today was pretty simple I woke up and was so tired I don’t think I slept well last night. I can’t remember. But we got ready and Mama Cruz had made pasta for breakfast (desayuno). It was so good but I couldn’t eat a lot I felt bad. It is hard for me to eat so many carbs I get really hot and my tummy swells. So this was a bad combination I didn’t feel fantastic after eating today. I felt awful actually. So we walked down the hill to catch the boat to Tzununa at 8:30 we are supposed to leave at 9. Craig was so late he got there about 9:30 so we got to the clinic late and also there were a ton of people. I had a lot of old ladies today with problems with pain so I did a lot of injections. There was a girl last week that we saw had a bad ear infection it looked worse today. She has no pain but it looked awful so we gave her an anti-swelling medicine. Then there were a lot of people with parasites. It was not fun at all today. I was tired and bored. Hahaha. It is just getting to be the same thing over and over. Craig is going to have me work with the dentist the last week I am here, so next week. J Oh well. Now we are just sitting at the house not really doing anything it is about 2:50. Hopefully it is a good night and I don’t get to much food again. Last night it was really hard for me to eat. She fries her broccoli and I love broccoli I just can’t take it down when it is fried. And I really don’t like her fried rice. L I feel bad but I can’t eat it.  Mama Cruz taught us how to weave today. The first part was really easy after a while. The second part is so complicated. There is a rhythm that she has when she does it that is hard to pick up. It was very difficult. She is going to do more with us tomorrow. :? Hahaha. I am so impressed and grateful for the people that spend time making stuff by hand. It is so impressive it truly is an art and a talent. I am grateful that we don’t have to make our own clothing. There is so much time that is needed and patience hahaha. I don’t think I could do. How grateful I am to have the life I have. I have been thanking heavenly father everyday for all the privliges I have been given. The opportunity to be here, to have this experience, for the life I was placed into, the family I have, and the opportunity to do things equally. How sorry I am for the selfish ways I have. These people here have so little and give more than you could think of. The women very rarely get to learn from a school because they usually have to grow up fast. If you read this sit down for 5 min and give gratitude to your father in heaven for all you have because if you are reading this you have way more opportunities and others and you also are very blessed. The people here don’t have computers, don’t have good pay and they work probably 3 times as hard as we do to keep their lives afloat. They don’t realize how blessed we are and neither do we. Until you see it for yourself I don’t think you will understand. I just hope you just take a minute to give thanks for what you have. I myself have been ignorant of all my beyond countless blessings. I love you all and I am so grateful for the life I have the people that have had an impact in opening my eyes. Thank you Kaycee and Grier, Karli and Shawn, Grandma Pat, G.G and Don, Mom and Dad for making it possible for me to come here you have opened my eyes and your donations have gone farther than getting me here. I was uneasy on wanting to come and I am so glad I did. You have helped my education, the people here learning from us, your donations help buy medications for sick underprivileged children, buy milk for moms that can’t afford to feed their children, helped grandmothers with pain so they can keep working and taking care of their families, it helped the family that I am staying with we each paid them 3000 Q which is 400$ which is together is 6,000Q which is 3 times the amount they would make in a month, and so much more blessings. I hope you know the impact you had on me and others. I am so grateful.  Thank you!!!! I love you all so much. See you in a week!!!

Love DESI!!!

Start of week 2

Wednesday, Tuesday, Monday

So Monday we did a little clinical work. I worked with Carmen and then we came home and studied. Talked with the family. I like talking with them a lot more. It is getting to be where I can understand most of what they are saying and at least try to attempt to say something back. It kinda makes me want to take a Spanish class next semester. Hahaha. Nah.

Tuesday

So yesterday we had an awesome time with the family. I am starting to like it here a lot better. I have submerged myself in just trying to learn instead of getting frustrated when I don’t understand what the people are saying here. I have been finding that I am understanding a lot more I may not be able to understand everything but I am understanding bits and pieces and putting them together it has been a lot better. I am getting a lot better at understanding too. So today we went to San Pedro to do clinical work as soon as we got there Craig said “Deserai do you want to do ultrasounds?” I said yes!!!! So we went in and at first it was so difficult Maria the girl that translated from Spanish to kikichiquel ( I spell this different everyday!!!) spoke way to fast I had to tell her despasso. She was very good about being kind and trying to help me understand the words I didn’t get. So the first 7 ultrasounds she did and I filled out the paperwork and measured the estomaco (stomach). Can I just tell you what an amazing thing an ultrasound is? It is hard for me to comprehend that something so amazing can be created by two people. There is no doubt in my mind that we can do this alone. I know heavenly father has made a marvelous miracle in giving us the opportunity to reproduce. It truly is a miracle. When I saw the first ultrasound it made me think of how grateful I am for such miracles. The baby is so small yet has a heart beat, head, vertebrae, legs, eyes. It is amazing to me and that it can live inside a woman it is truly  miraculous. I really loved this opportunity more than anything. I think it made me appreciate the lord and the gift he gave to us to make it possible for us to create lives. And it is a shame to see anyone take this for granted. After the 7 ultrasounds we went to lunch it was so cute mama cruz gave us fruit and tortillas. I am kinda sick of tortillas. Hahaha I like them but I need a salad sooooooooo bad and more fruit. But she is so kind to do such a selfless act for us. After lunch we went back and Maria said your turn. She is practicing English which I like because she helps me a lot. So I got to do my first ultrasound all by myself. It was kinda sad to me because the girl was only 16, but it was so amazing. It is sad most of the girls that are pregnant are younger than me without husbands. It breaks my heart. I was worrying about what I was going to do with my friends every weekend not worrying about being pregnant. How grateful I am for not having to grow up like these girls do. I got to find the heart and the head and we measured the head and counted the heart beat and showed the mama the bebe. They love seeing it on the screen. Some of them get a little emotional. I then got to do 5 more ultrasounds. It was so cool and amazing. I don’t think I could do it for a living but I am so grateful for the opportunity to that. It was such a busy day at the clinic that after we were done with the ultrasounds we had to take patients. We had 3 ppl with worms and then I had to watch Craig do a urinary exam. Not my favorite. At least I had no STD patients Kate had about 15 patients with STD’s it is so bad here. We didn’t head home til 5:30 it was so late. I couldn’t believe it. Crazy day we had over 60 patients. When we went home mama Cruz was making tortillas so we decided to try and help again. Younger Andres was laughing at us. Hahaha. It is bad. I can’t make them like mama cruz. All in all it was a good day. I keep waking up with Charlie horses in my calves though. I hate it. We definitely don’t get enough potassium or iron here.

Wednesday

Today was clinic here in Santa Cruz I had a few patients of my own. Scary!!! It is getting better. Luckily the translaters speak clearly and slowly for us. I gave two injections in the butt today. Hahahha can I just say I have seen more butts and boobs here then I ever have in my whole life. Hahahhaha after I was done with my patients Craig had me come with him.  I had to watch my first Pelvic exam. Lets just say not a fan. It was difficult for me. This means I don’t think I could be an OBGYN. After we were done with the pelvic exam he had me do two more ultrasounds. That has definitely been my favorite part of this whole experience. After we were done with clinical we went to lunch which mama cruz made lunch for everyone in the clinic because it was DR. Carmens birthday. After we were done with lunch we took a boat to pana to get money (thanks momma) and stuff to make oreo truffles for the family. (They loved them). Then we came home and made the truffles. Why Kate was emailing I was talking to the family about west side story because the girl in the movie is named Maria I was trying to say east and it is just esta. So I was saying esta su estorio. Very bad spelling but I was using my hands and Jose was like no! NSEsta or esta hahahahha. I said oh my no no no es the name of the movie. Hahahahha they cracked up forever because they thought I was trying to say NSEW but really I was just saying the name of the movie with my hands. It was funny. We all laughed for a long time. Oh and yesterday mama cruz made the best choco banana ever and I said I loved them so much I was going to sneak in the room at night and eat them all and Papa said like a ratton. Which is a rodant? Hahahaha we cracked up so hard so jose and I are the rattons because we love choco bananas so much we will sneak in like rats and eat them all. So overall it is getting to be a really good experience now that I am getting adjusted. Oh and I taught the family food bebe except comida bebe they thought it was funny to be embarazado con comida bebe. Pregnant with a food bebe. I said if I was really pregnant my dad would kill me. They cracked up hard core. I love that they love laughing at me. Every time I mean every time I laugh they start laughing. I don’t know if they think I am crazy or just like laughing with me anyway. Love you all miss you and I miss American chocolate and skittles. Hahahha. Love ya

DESERAI!!!!!!!!! Or deci uno or desi!!!!!

Weekend 1 continued

Weekend 1 continued

Hey everyone. So today was pretty awesome and so last night. So I will start with last night. So I was trying to explain to younger Andres that the reason I can’t sleep at night. I was saying that the cats run on the roof, the muchachos are always loud outside, they dogs fight. And I told him the night I got so much sleep I came out to use the bathroom and there was a cat outside my door and I scared it and it ran away. He didn’t understand my broken spanglish. Hahaha so Kate started to explain it in better Spanish. But when she was saying mierdo for cat poop she said mierda which is cat $h!t! hahahahahahahhahaha so Andres face was like what in the world is she saying desi scared the poop out of the cat. Hahahaha but really we meant she scared it. Hahahahaha. You have to understand this family laughs everytime I laugh because kate told them when I laugh a lot I am tired so everytime I laugh they think I am really tired but you all know I just laugh a lot. Or they could be laughing at me. Good thing to know…… hmmmm…..  Today we went to chichi to the market to buy stuff lots of stuff. I probably spent 50$ and bought about  200$ worth of stuff in America it is awesome feeling for a bargain shopper. We passed this guy begging for stuff for his son with cerebral palsy. I felt so bad and we just bought bread for .50Q. I couldn’t pass this boy up as I walked pass him he reached out for my bread. That feeling of guilt would not go away. I walked back and gave him my pan. It is sad when you see ppl that really need it. I get beggars that don’t need it. It broke my heart. I should have done more but I already spent my money. Oh on the way to the market on of the chicken busses went around a corner and rolled. A chicken bus is what all of the natives ride here to go to work or what not. It was so sad. They were pulling people up the hill as we drove past there were 10 ambulances we saw go to the scene of the accident. Anyway after the market we came home and we mopped our bedroom floors so viola wouldn’t have to. Then viola taught us how to make tortillas lets just say it was an epic fail!!!! Hahaha the dough kept sticking to my hands and I couldn’t get it to get off my hands the whole family was laughing hysterically. Then kate dropped one and long behold I dropped one also. Hahaha. We are not good tortilla flippers. Viola made like 6 in the time I made one. I called her majia manos. Magic hands. My tortillas were like a part circle and hers were perfectly round. Then for dinner which was delicious a stew with carrots whisquelle potatoes beef (we don’t know what kind of meat we are eating and I am not going to ask til the last day, let’s just say there are not a lot of animals in this part of Guatemala except dogs. Hahahahahaha) and cabbage so good. So while eating dinner I started laughing at how bad my tortillas were then the family of course started laughing then I am like I laugh a lot a good ab workout. Then kate said ya you know there are 3 things that are great for burning calories laughing, (cover your childrens eyes here) doing the naughty, (and open) and making out. And I said what the heck I have been missing out for a while I need to go find a muchacho. Hahaha and kate and I busted up laughing the family was laughing and then kate explained to them out of my unapproved no’s what I had said. They all looked at me and laughed even harder and it made me laugh and I started to cry with laughing it was so funny they are probably like what a (and cover) crazy girl. Hahahahaha. And they all just kept looking at me and laughing everytime they looked at me and spoke some kikichiquel and laughed some more. Then viola goes in espanol of course. Look desi there is your boyfriend for you right there. Haha it was an old man walking by it was so funny. Then we laughed about that. And now the joke here is desi needs a muchacho they don’t know what for. Hahaha and Lindsay is giving me 5$ dollars for a kiss. Hahahaha that is funny. I don’t think I can do it. Hahahaha. Then when talking to my mama on google plus she said ya she needs a muchacho. Hahaha just so everyone is clear I don’t need a muchacho right now maybe in the way far future. Hahaha but mama cruz said oh Andres is a good fit. Hahaha he is the younger one who is only 20. So his face was so red. I think he was as taken back like mom really you just gave me up to this American who can barley speak and laughs uncontrollably about everything. Hahaha It was so funny and so unexpected. Mama gave me away too only if Andres learns to speak English. So you know guys if he learns spanish in 2 weeks I am taken. I will marry Andres and live here forever. You can come visit me. Hahahahha. Anyway it was a great day. All the stress was gone I miss you. Til the next blog.

Love ya

Desi

Weekend 1

Weekend 1

Hey everyone. Today was the first weekend. Yay!!! So we didn’t work today.  I finally went to bed early I went to bed around 10. I know shocker and I slept in til 8. Awesome 9 hours of sleep. It felt so nice and I feel a little better my nose wasn’t as stuffed today. Andres (older) was with us today because mama and papa Cruz and viola were at the Ingles fiesta, which is a fiesta for their church. So Andres and his wife Rosa made us Banana pancakes with honey (meil). They were really good. He used to be a cook when he was younger so he has a talent in cooking. After breakfast we felt like we were up for a hike. So Andres took us hiking with Miguel and Jose Miguel and Scooby (Scooby is Simbas brother a perro (dog)). I probably should have waited until I could breathe. Hahaha. It was so hard. The elevation here is about the same as Pocatello and it wasn’t too different from a normal real mountain hike in Pocatello. It was just hard to breath because tengo moco donde me naries. Hahah I had a lot of mucus stuffing up my nose. It was one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever been on though. We started by walking up the main street of Santa Cruz then we started the long and wonderful hike up the muy Supido very steep mountain. It had so much lodo (mud) and not to mention I walked (Caminar) into a lot of Talor(spider webs). Haha There really hasn’t been a bunch of spiders which I am totally grateful for. The whole hike up I was just had a bunch of thoughts of how lazy us American’s are. You see this mountain is beyond steep and the whole way up you see farmers’ fields on the side of the mountains. I mean literally they are planting their fields on mountains. It amazes me that they are willing to plant these fields in such a terrible place to get corn or mais. But I guess if that is what you grew up doing that is what you are going to continue doing it until you can find means to do something else or until you know a different way. There were a lot of locals walking down when we were they were high-speeding it down the hill muy rapido very fast. They made us look like a turtle and them the cheetah.  Haha. It was a good hike so beautiful where we went you could look over the whole lake and see both the volcanoes. That is what we are going to tackle next week. Well I hope all is well

Till next time

DESI J

P.s. my Spanish is improving.

ONE WEEK DOWN!!!!

Day 5 clinic

Hey everyone I hope all is well. Let me know what is up with you all. This one way connection is sad. Haha. Well anyway today was good this morning Mama Cruz made us some oatmeal with bananas and we also had some beans and eggs. It was way too much food. Ahhh I can’t do this. It is killing me eating this much food. Ahh. I talked to Carmen yesterday and she said don’t eat more food than you want. So I decided to leave food on my plate to see if she would get the idea. Nope. So we went to the clinic about 9 and there was not a lot of ppl at the clinic so we went ahead and we just had Spanish class my Spanish is slowly improving slowly. I learn by association so everything I learn I have to associate with something else for example. Colgar is to hang or dangle so if you don’t brush your teeth with colgate your teeth will dangle. Haha so this is how I am slowly learning. We got done with class about 12 so we came home and mama Cruz had made tortillas stacked with broccoli, zanhorias, queso, bisquill. It was so good but she tried to give me 4 I could only down 3. The tortillas she makes are about the size of a palm so not like American tortillas. Haha I think I would barf if she fed us that much. We then decided to go to Pana to get an internet card so we can talk to everyone I got a beautiful gift for mama!!! And some other ppl. When we were there it started raining it was miserable. I wanted to cry. HahahA. Surprise I have not shed a tear yet. But I may be getting sick. I felt bad this morning couldn’t breathe again and now my whole body aches. Let’s just hope it is nothing too big. I think it will be fine. I just need to distress and sleep. One thing I haven’t done much of since being here. You see when I hear cats and chickens on the roof every morning. Today for dinner mama Cruz cooked a Spanish twist on spaghetti. It was really good. A little bit of beef and lots of onions and a really good sauce. I wish you could understand the miracles this mama makes in such a tiny area. I would love to send photos but it costs too much on the internet. I also discovered that the launcha was ripping us off. Today coming home from Pana to Santa Cruz I only had a 5 and 100 Q so I gave him the 5 and he took it like I never gave him any less. Craig said to try it and told us how to fold it. So I did and it worked.

One little side note. So Kate and I ate with Stephanie because it was her last night and we were there til about 9 and we thought we could get a tuk tuk but we couldn’t it was too late. So we were like well lets just walk up the hill like we did last time. So we started walking and we get to the  hill and Kates flashlight was not working so we were going to attempt to walk up the hill but Kate is like I have a weird feeling and I was glad she said something because I also had a weird feeling. So we decided to wait at la Iguana bar until some other girls walked up and the guy that was working and he said if you don’t want to walk up you can stay in my hostel and I will sleep in a hammock and I was like no way. So we waited for a good half hour and a boat came we ran and it was 2 other ladies so we decided 4 was better than 2 so we walked up with them and everything was great went to bed and all was well. We had no idea why we both got that feeling but we were both glad we waited.

I love you all and miss you!!!!! The weather is bad because of the hurricane causing bad weather to flow our way. Again I miss you. See you all soon. One week down 2 to go.

Please let me know how you are. I am in the middle of nowhere and need some English conversations. Hehehe Adios.

You know what ever day this is,,,,,,,,

Day 2 Clinic

Hello family and friends, I would love to talk to you in Spanish but I can’t I had an overload today. My day started about 6:50 a.m. We had a rough night so it was not a great amount of sleep last night. I had just finished showering and Kate came into my room to talk because there were some boys outside. So I was like well where are they. I peek my head around the corner (my room is right next to the entrance of the house so there is no front door just a small gate, don’t worry mom my window and door both have strong locks on them, plus Santa Cruz is very safe) and I see a couple boys being loud they were talking in Kikichicall so I couldn’t understand what they were saying, not that I would be able to in Spanish either. Hahahaha. Anyway I could still hear them but their voices got faint so I shut off my light and peeked out they were far away so I said Kate they are gone. So she took off running to her room and the boys started running to the gate. Kate slammed her door and I was still in the process of picking my mind to figure out what was going on. All of a sudden I saw a huge firecracker go off and I slam my door shut. For  the next 20 min I just heard the boys raving about their explosion. They finally went away around 11:30. I couldn’t fall asleep for about an hour or so because as soon as the boys went away the dogs started going crazy fighting and stuff. Ahhhh. Es no Buenos. I am just tired. But our adventure today was to San Pablo which is a 20 min boat ride from Santa Cruz. (Sorry kaycee got the name wrong on fb). So we get off the boat load our entire clinic tools into the truck. When we got everything into the truck we also entered the truck we were all standing up and it was an uphill climb. (here in Guatemala all of the cities are on hills so no matter what we have to climb the hills or drive up the hills and I am not talking a 20 degree incline it is closer to 60 degree incline. It is insane let’s just say my buttocks will be nicely toned when I get home. Hehehe. Es muy bueno. J Anyway 10 of us piled up into a little Toyota pickup and voyaged on. The clinic is very dirty in America it would have been shut down in a heartbeat. The thing is the health is so bad here there are little rules. Craig and Carmen have to comply with the rules of the Health ministry ( I wish it was as cool as the Harry potter ministry) but there are many rules to work in the clinic but not as many as in America. Here I can do ultrasounds (which I rather not), give shots which I will probably do tomorrow, and assist in many other ways. I probably will not work with the dentist til next week I need to work on my Spanish first Craig said. So I worked with Carmen all day. Every single second I am astonished by the privileges I grew up with. Today with Carmen we did pediatric care. The mothers here are so young most of them are 15-18 years old. They are not well nutrition children.  They have a lot of problems with not knowing how to feed their babies, being so young or their boyfriends leave them and they can afford to feed their babies. Nothing makes me feel so awful.  It is terrible to see these little babies with so many problems. A lot of the patients today we diagnosed with Scabies which is a parasite that is transmitted through close contact. So a lot of the babies and mothers have it. And the parasite is a lot like a bed bug but easier to get rid of. But if the mothers do not take proper care for the child’s clothing or sheets or blankets or their own the child will not get better. One child had a bad infection from the scabies so we had to give him an antibiotic injection. The scabies was infected on his hand. So I learned how to give an injection I have not gave one yet but soon I will. We just saw a lot of sad cases. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Today was a rough day. I am not feeling super confident. I wish I could explain how difficult it is to be in a situation where everyone around you is speaking a different and you understand very little. It is only understood when you are living in the situation. It is bad at the house too I can barley talk to the family because they don’t speak any English. It is going to take time I know but today I just feel way overwhelmed and I need a break from everyone hahaha which is hard to get here. I just got to stay positive. But I have also got to learn quickly.

Well Buenos noches.

DESI

Day 3 clinic

Today we stayed in Santa Cruz we only travel to different towns on Tuesday and Thursday. We went to the clinic about 9 and Craig started us with some Spanish lessons. There is so much to learn he sent us with 30 pages and about 3 tests of learning so soon I will be good at Spanish, lets at least hope. We learned for about an hour then we started checkups but as soon as we started a man walked in with half his finger cut off. Don’t worry it was just flopping around haha. It was so bad. Let’s just say not my liking.  I went to another room. Hahaha. Shhhh I am a coward. So I went Stephanie which is a medical student that is leaving in 2 days. So we finished diagnosing a old women so tiny probably 4 feet tall and she was just not feeling well. That was easy then we were about to bring the next girl in to do an ultrasound and the power went out. So the whole day we had to clinical with no power. It was a pretty easy day we finished about 3 o’clock and then we went to our house. Mama cruz made such a good dinner. It was a carne (roast) con papas y zanarzes y . It was one of the best roasts I have ever had. It was amazing. Sorry mama. The rest of the night we spent working on our spanish.

Lots of love

Desi

Day 4 clinic

Today was not off to a good start I woke Today we traveled to Tzununa to do our clinical this place is more poor than the last city we went to. The clinic is very sad. We had to put sheets up everywhere so we would have enough rooms to examine patients. This time we separated into pairs of two there were two Americans that volunteerd to help today. The man went to equidor on his mission. So Carmen stuck him with me so we could examine more ppl. It probably was comical for an outsider to watch because I would say something in spanish he would correct me then the girl would translate to kikichical. Then back kikichical to espanol to English. It was bad. But I am getting better. A lot of the symptoms are the same so I am picking up a lot more. The first patient I had today was a little bebe. She had a really bad infection in her mouth. She had pus in blisters all on the inside of her mouth it was so sad. We had to hold her down to see inside. We gave her some antibiotics and some ibepropheno for the pain. The next lady was old. She had a lot of pain everywhere and she just was not feeling well so we gave her some antibiotics for the tos which is a cough in spanish and then an injection for the pain with some ibepropheno. So today I gave my first injection in the butt. Hahahhaa it was pretty interesting. Just so you know the skin is a lot tougher than you think so you have to press really hard to get through all the layers of skin and the muscle so the needle inters all the skin. So I felt pretty accomplished today. Hopefully I get more experience like this. It is interesting. But I know for sure I don’t think I could handle working in a clinic or hospital. Tonight we are eating with Stephanie at la Iguana because it is her last night. I hope it is good. We have been so spoiled having mama Cruz cook such good food. Like for breakfast she made amazing banana pancakes. For lunch she packed us fresh fruit and peanut butter sandwiches. Well I have to go to dinner. Miss you all. Cant wait to chat this weekend for those of you who want to my skype is desi.nelson

Lots of love

DEsi!!!

day 2 clinic

 Como estas? Estoy bueno.

I am doing good here it is hard not having any form of communication. When we left our el hostel in Antigua we left the wifi. Here at the Martitis family’s home we don’t have wifi access. So when we get a modem is when you will receive this email. The language is really deficitco para me. “difficult for me”. The family is wonderful mama cruz is the sweetest lil lady. She is always making sure we are alright and taken care of she is definitely a mother. She wants to make sure that we leave our clothes in a basket after we are done so she can wash them right away. And she feeds us like no other. The day we got here and she gave us chicken leg a 4” piece of corn full plate of potatoes and carrots peas and rice. It was so hard to eat and I didn’t even eat lunch. So for breakfast today which is Tuesday we got 2 eggs covered in a mild hot sauce and tortillas and rice milk. Everything is eaten with tortillas. It again was hard to eat. Everything has been very delicious she just gives us too much. So for lunch she made a wonderful stew. Potatoes carrots peas and served with orange juice it was delicious I told her I have to Comida piqano es muy bueno but full and she said a si. So now it is getting better. For dinner she gave us a awesome meal I mean awesome!!! It was pasta shells, potatoes, tomatoes, peas, corn, and melted in cheese. So awesome. I took a picture of it. I loved it. We went to pana today to get money out and they wouldn’t let us so we will try again tomorrow. Sounded or at least what we understood is that their machine to pull the money out was broken. It is so hard to understand.  I am getting better at understanding the locals when they speak in spanish. When the speak kikichicael. I don’t pick up anything. All the locals in Santa cruz are nice. We went to the clinic for the first time today. Craig gave us books and study material. This has been hard for me to pick up and he says we need to do as much practice as possible. There is so much to learn and so little time. We were going to go to the clinic with craig and Carmen.  Carmen is the other doctor. They are dating outside the clinic one of the cute lil staff ladies also named Carmen said. But they keep it professional at the clinic. But a lady came in that was 26 weeks pregnant and was starting to go into labor so we left with lil Carmen. When Dr. Martinez which is Carmen was talking to us about patients it made me realize that we all have the same problems. Pg-13 for those who it bothers beware_________ It is crazy. So one of the locals got pregnant really young which is common here in Santa cruz the young girls don’t use birth control because they don’t want their parents to know they are sexually active so they seek no help even though it would be provided in confidentiality. Any way this young girl got pregnant by her teacher who is married. He is denying it is his child but everyone knows but he is the mayors brother so he is a little higher status. So this girl has a mal nutrition baby because she has no means to feed it. So see teachers go after youngsters everywhere not just in America . Hahahaha. Another story was of a man who came in and had troubles urinating. Craig said there are only a few reasons for this I will keep it clean. Urination problem, because of sexually transmited disease and something else. He would not tell Craig what he had done because he didn’t want his wife to know he was drinking and then when to a whore house with his friend. But now he gave it to his wife so now he has too treat his wife to. ___________ I don’t know why I have been so unaware that these things can happen anywhere it just is funny to me that I was so closed minded that I thought America was the only messed up place. Don’t worry for all of you as ditzy as me. It is everywhere. Hahaha. Well all in all I am doing well. I just need to learn more Spanish. Why craig didn’t give us more homework before we came I will never understand. But I really do miss all of you I do miss America it is beautiful here. But there is so much we take for granted such as Santa Cruz is a city in the mountains it is up hill about 75 degree climb. It has random stray dogs running everywhere pooping on the streets which is where the locals walk every morning. And for such a beautiful place trash is everywhere thank goodness for land fields. And we walk everywhere the women only go to Pana by boat once or twice a week for groceries and have to carry them up hill for at least 20 min uphill climb. We are basically living like they did before tv and stuff. There is a few luxuries electricity and hot water but no stove no wash machine no dish washer. The house has no front door just a gate but all of the rooms lock individually. The men go to work women stay at home to do house work. It is amazing the way they do things but without a doubt I am blessed to have all the luxuries I have. I definitely take my life for granted and for that I am embarrassed beyond contrast. I worry about stupid things such as ppl not txt me back, my brother bugging me, not having anything fun to do on a Friday night. When some of these people in the village have to worry about how they are going to feed their families. I am ashamed of my lack of gratitude towards my heavenly father for the amount of blessings I receive daily or just that I have received throughout my entire life. Yes these people have families and friends but they don’t have access to the gospel here. It is definitely in need here these people are amazing and could use it without a doubt. I thank you all for being supportive. It is definitely not easy thanks for everything. Love you all

Desi

ARRIVAL/DEPARTURE/SURVIVAL

Arrival/Departure/Survival

Hola!!! Como estas??? Bien! Jajajajaja

That was an awful attempt at my very lacking Spanish vocabulary. I will start with Kate and I’s adventure at the airport. We arrived at the airport about 7:00 P.M. The line at security was pretty long we were grateful that we arrived early so we were not rushing to make our flight. We finished getting through security about 8. We got some food and boarded the plane at 9:30. We were sitting on the plane the safety instructions were playing and then the pilot comes on the intercom in a very calm slightly unsettling manly voice. “Well folks we just got info from LAX that surrounding areas are having weather difficulties which are delaying flights in and out of LAX. Looks like we won’t be leaving for about 55 min. Kate and I both stare at each other with an uneasy look. Our layover at LAX was only 1 hour and 15 min. Kate says we aren’t going to make it. I said we got to stay positive we will make it. I was saying millions of prayers that we wouldn’t miss our connecting flight. The pilot comes on the intercom in that same steady calm unsettling manly voice. “Alright, folk looks like we will be leaving in about 30 min.” A lot of hope shot my deep-set stomach up a few millimeters. We were going to make it. I just had a feeling, but a little doubt. I just kept praying please let us make this next flight with no complications. We finally took off and I was out like a child after a long play day. When we landed about 10:40, guess whose unsettling voice came to welcome us again? Yes you have guess correctly. “Well folks looks like we will be waiting for the other  plane to leave our docking station.” Another stare of troubled looks shared between us. Trying to stay positive we will make it we will make it. Our plane finally stationed at about 11:25 ish. We got off as fast as we could ran from terminal 6 to terminal 5. They were just finishing boarding everyone. We got on and almost all my worries were gone now I just hoped and prayed that my checked luggage would make it before our flight departed at 11:59. We get on the plane and I definitely stuck out like a store thumb. Jajajaja I was the only blonde on there. J When we get on the plane and situated I hear over the intercome “Buenes noches………” and from there I got lost. Ahhhh it started to hit me a little more I was not going to be in American no more. The flight was awesome we got blankets and free movies so I started to watch the hunger games and then crashed. Kad a boom shakalaka. I finally woke up and it was bright and sunny outside. The pilot said “Buenes dia……llegada en Guatemala…..” I was here!!!! Yay!!! All of my excitement was finally realistic. When we got off the plane that is when I was thinking to myself maybe I can do this maybe I will be alright then we ask the attendant a question and guess what my repuesta was in. yep! “answer” 

Customs was easy when we started leaving the airport we had no idea who or where we were supposed to meet we were told to go with no one except someone looking for us. Luckily Craig Sinkston the owner of the clinic was holding a sign with our names. We went to his car and I was shocked to see a steering wheel lock on the wheel. I finally realized we were not in little Pocatello Idaho with windows unlocked, doors wide open and trust worthy as can be. Precautions were in  need here. We started driving and I fell in love with the green “verde” (you will be learning with me the more “mas” I use “usar” the words the better I will learn “aprendar” As we were driving a moment came that my heart literally sunk like the titanic in fast forward. As we stopped at a stop light a little girl probably the same age as Owen “my lil cuz about 6 years old” her face was dirty her clothes were torn and she had 3 lemons she started to juggle in front of our car for money. I was humbled beyond belief in those few minutes watching that little girl juggle. It is amazing how we take the simple things for granted such as, our parents working for us, or having enough means for us not to be sent to the streets as little innocent children sharing a talent for a little change. I am beyond blessed to have the life I have and I will not forget this experience ever. As we drive down the streets another thing I take for granted. Street lights and stop signs lines cross walks. Down here it is like playing chicken but the cars don’t slow down if you don’t move to bad for you amigo. Ca Plat!!! Squashed like a bug! We drove about a half hour to get to Antigua. Have I mentioned how astonished I am by the amazing green scenery? Antigua sits in the middle of a few Volcanoes. I wish with all my heart I knew the name I will have to ask again. But it is amazing you look West and see a volcano and look South and see a volcano. Words, pictures, nothing can do justice to the amazing colors and scenery. Antigua is a very touristy town there are lots of people there so I did not feel as out of place there. There is this amazing fountain in the center of town with vendors everywhere. We arrived at the el hostel about 9 A.M. It is the cutest lil thing I have ever seen. I will post pics.   we couldn’t check in til 2 so Kate and I went with Criag to get a cell phone $15 jajajaja cheapest phone I have ever bought with a good amount of minuets. But to call down here back and forth it is free so basically I paid for free minuets only to call out of Guatemala uses my minutes. We then went to the bank. I have never walked in to a bank with security guards and machine guns. AHHHHH!!!! Run!!!!  I traded 200$ for 2,000 something Quetzales. I decided that I should save 1000 for the familia we were to stay with and the rest for the hostel 230 Q  for both of us 30$ for bed and breakfast basically. And the rest for shopping so Craig told us where to go shopping so we went down the street to vendors the only problem is I look like a foreigner so they assume I want to buy everything. Kate is like you need to stop looking so American. Jajajaja. Oh well dang my blonde hair that I am fond of. So the natives (as in natives to Guatemala)  kept coming up and asking if would like to buy things. So we found a couple things that we likes I spent about 300Q  which totals about 40$ jajaja I love how cheap it is to buy things. We realized in the middle of shopping that we were hungry and then looked at the time it was about 4:30 pm and we had not eaten since they gave us peanuts on the plane. Jajaja so we went to this resturaunt called Y tu…. Pina tambien. It was so delicious I got the French toast it was really thick bread smothered in fresh strawberry syrup it was so warm and definitely hit the spot. The next place we went was this enclosed brick building ( oh quick side note the buildings in Guatemala are all made out of wood or brick. The brick hostels and business and most homes are painted in beautiful bright colors and the doors are all beautiful wood. It is awesome walking down the street and seeing the beautiful buildings.) Anyway we didn’t know if we could enter but we did anyway we walk in and realize the gigantic building enclosed by the brick walls is a Church called Inglesia San Fransisco El Grande it is amazing!!!!! Explanation points definitely needed here. The church is closer to the South Volcano but the main entrance faces the West Volcano. The arcutecture on the building is beyond my belief. The stones are beautiful there are bells on the top that ring when the servico is beginning. I will post pictures but again no pictures do justice. The garden is beautiful flowers everywhere green everywhere. Inside the church es muy grande. There are paintings of Jesus everywhere they are mainly catholic down here so there are a lot of pictures and statues memoirs of his crucifixion.  To the North of the building the most beautiful stain glass I have ever seen it had to be at least 20 feet tall and it was of him with the children. I would have taken a picture but it was not allowed. Sorry. But know it was jaw dropping. The whole time I just kept saying wow. After we finished it was about 6 pm. We were told not to be out past then so we went back to the hostel. We got ready for bed. And went to bed about 8pm I know what you are thinking everyone. What the heck desi you never have gone to bed that early ever. Si. Never I was so tired.

Day 2

Next morning we woke about 8 ate a wonderful breakfast ham eggs toast and fruit, then went to the vendors again. Today I was a little more over whelmed I was left trying to use and understand spanish. At times I wanted to scream because I can’t understand. Kate has helped me a ton. But it gets frustrating when you can’t understand or be understood. I take for granted being able to communicate. I am doing my best at trying to learn fast it is not working very well. I will keep trying it just gets overwhelming and a definitely frustrating. We got back to the hostel checked out at 11:30 and waited for our shuttle which was late may I add. He was supposed to arrive at 12:30 and didn’t arrive til about 1:30. We took the shuttle to Pana which led us to meet Andres which is the older son 20 years old he took us to the boat. You have to be careful because little kids will try and take your bags from you to carry for Q “money”. So we got to the boat to take us to Santa Cruz which is the location of the main clinic and the Maritis family. Andres is very nice he is the older Andres. There are two in the family the other one is 12. Andres’s were both born in August so therefore both named Andres. I guess a lil confusing  but one less name to remember.  Andres was very nice and paid for our boat and our tuk-tuk  a little cart like a mortorcycle but for 4 people and holds luggage.  We traveled up the hill to this little hut/house?

Next to the school yard and basketball court and right across from the Salud or medical clinic again not as many tourists here so I stick out badly. We walk in and are welcomed by momma cruz, Marita, Mario which is Marita’s espouse they have two little boys twins. Then we met Domingo which is espouse con Maria they have a lil girl she is beautiful Andrea. Then we met Jose which is espouse to Cecilia (yes when I heard her name family I did start singing in my head Cecilia I am down on my knees begging you please don’t go CECILIA!!!!) jajajaja they have a boy.  Mama Cruz is espouse papa Jose. I am still learning names and it is hard the family speaks no English Andres speaks muy picano and I speak muy picano engles. AHHHHHHHH this is me venting. It is hard but I am slowly getting a hang of it every once in a while I will pick up on words I know and slowly figure out what they are trying to say. Kate is helping too. She seems to point out my lack of espanol a lot. But I know it is bad. But like I said I am at least trying to take it all in and learn. I think the hardest part is that they don’t speak spanish as a first language it is a second language to them they speak Kaqchikel. Don’t ask because no se. I don’t know. Jajajaja it is hard. Trying to learn 2 languages at once but they are patient and wonderful at trying to help us. But communication is not easy. I can’t just go up and say hey you know your dog simba his name is the same as the movie the lion kings main character. No I had to figure out how to say. Tu perro Simba nombre es mismo de cine Lion king. That was difficult. They have a huge K-9 named Simba pretty dog and big. This house we are living in is very cute but not what we would consider a house. It is probably the size of our garages. Maybe a bit bigger. My room is closest to the street. I can hear the dogs fight, cats fight, children yell, dog growl, water run, kids running but I kinda like it. Jajaja. My room is across from the wash corner. Kate stays next to me in the other room her room is across from the sink. The bathroom is in the middle of the house to the side. So awkward when you go to the bathroom everyone can hear you. No farting in the bathroom. Jajajaja hahahhahahahahhahahha. The lavar or shower is next to the bano or toilet in a separate  lets say closet basically.  The next two rooms are mama and papa and the kids. The kitchen is small. There is only a stove and a fire to cook over. When we arrived mama cruz had a wonderful meal cooking for us. It was so goooooooooooooodddd. No joke. But they gave us way to much after eating I thought  I was going to explode. I may come home fat everyone if mama cruz doesn’t hold back on the food. She cooked us. Papas (potatoes) gusante (peas) Pollo (chicken) arroz (rice) y Zanorohia (carrots) and tortillas. Everything was cooked together except the tortilla. I loved it. I had to eat most of it but I couldn’t do it all. Overall I have loved this the family has been so nice and mama cruz was over ecstatic when we paid her I know she needed it. She is so sweet to making sure we are ok. She came and gave me a big hug before bed which made me feel better I needed a hug from a mom. I miss hugs from family and friends so I expect lots when I get home. It is getting better just a lil overwhelmed hopefully tomorrow will be better I need to rest my brain. I forgot what please was tonight. Hahahhahha por favor!!!!

Anyways goodnight everyone Clinic new next to come

Lots of loves hugs and kisses.

LOVE DESI ( ps. They can’t say my name it is very hard for them) 

Emotional roller coster! :)

Well I gave in I finally decided to get a blog. This is a total shocker to me too. Tomorrow is the day I leave for Guatemala. It seems so surreal. My emotions are complicated they are like a never ending bottomless pit. Once you think you have one emotion under control another one attacks out of no where.  I am super excited, super nervous, and just a little sad. I feel like I have bad timing with the trip, but I know I was supposed to go at this time for some reason. I am super excited to meet the family we will be staying with. I am hoping I will pick up the language that seems to be the thing turns my tummy the most. I know what I will be doing is an amazing experience and I will soak in all of it. I am so grateful to the people who helped make this trip possible. You know who you are and I will forever be grateful. You are not only helping me but ones less fortunate than us. I love you all for you kind generosity and astounding encouragement.  I fly out tomorrow night and won't get in to Guatemala until around 6 a.m. As soon as I get internet or some wifi I will keep you all posted. I love all of my families and friends thanks for your support and love I will miss you. Well until next time. See ya later gaiters.