In the past week, Guatemala has yielded extreme rainfall amounts. While we remain relatively safe almost a mile above sea level, flooding has inflicted severe damage in cities around Coban. Our plans for the last weekend were to visit a fellow Minnesotan and Bennie, Nora, as she visits her host family in Xela. Unfortunately, roads between Xela and Coban have proven recently to be very treacherous or completely washed out. Needless to say, I was obligated to cancel our plans. We enjoyed a nice weekend in Coban nonetheless. I must say, however, I can't wait to get out and travel again soon. After being in the confines of the monastery for most of my work periods, I've realized that I miss the open road.
Monday 10/17 - Friday 10/22
Most of our week was dedicated to the work with the computers… again. Also, we prepared, cooked, and cleaned a meal for Father Bernie's Rotary group. The entree included barbecue chicken and potato salad (okay, the kitchen made the salad). The rotary club is an active sponsor of Father Bernie's aldea projects, and this was a nice way to give thanks.
On Thursday, Justin and I took one of our favorite community members, Julio, out for dinner. We felt that we owed Julio a dinner since he often helps us clean up dishes after meals (which we do every meal, at first intended as a good-will gesture but is now expected). Julio is what the monks here call a "licho," or layman; he is not a monk. He's very intelligent, articulate, and has an incredible life story (he also speaks English). We went to his favorite restaurant which, while expensive, was an incredible experience. If ANYONE comes to visit me down here, you will go to this restaurant with me! Here is a picture of us enjoying a nice bottle of Merlot after dinner.
On Friday, we served as camera crew at a Confirmation ceremony at a nearby aldea. About 200 "jovenes" were confirmed by the Bishop (who we've met several times now). 100 pictures and about 30 minutes of video later, I am now prepared to begin my first lesson in video editing! Father Bernie would like to create a comprehensive video depicting the monastery's efforts and involvement with the local community, especially for future volunteers of Resurrection Priory. I'll make sure to post the finished product for all of you. For now, here's a glimpse of what kind of footage I was covering..
On Friday evening, We were invited to Marines' (Chilio's daughter) graduation. Bernie intentionally neglected to tell us that dress for this occasion was formal (we don't have any formal clothes, anyway). As we arrived dressed in jeans and collared shirts, Justin and I winced as beautiful girls waltzed around in shiny red dresses while suave, hair-gelled hombres gave off dashing looks. The gringos have done it again!
Saturday 10/23
Saturday proved to be a very uplifting day for our computer project. Giovanni returned and completed the application installation of 20 computers. This means that we will possibly deliver computers to a school in the next couple weeks. I look forward so much to being able to teach the aldea communities how to use the computer's applications. We celebrated with popcorn and Fanta pop!
After Giovanni took off, we left immediately for Chilio's farm for Marines' graduation party. I got the great pleasure of talking with the whole extended family, and even met a few gringos in the mix. One middle-aged man, Seth, a California native, moved to Guatemala 10 years ago. He now works the Dusseldorf Coffee plantation and does very well for himself. His wife is a light-skinned Guatemalan ("canche"), and his American-looking kids (one named "Thomas") were all bi-lingual. The youngest one, however, had a native look about him.
"What's this guy's story?" I asked.
"Well, he was left on our doorstep almost 2 years ago. He's been with us ever since," offered Seth casually.
Wow! Incredible story… clearly a very giving family. Seth had specialized in International Business. His advice to me (you'll like this one, Dad) after I mentioned my interest in graduate school was this, "Get into finance. You can't go wrong with it!" Good to know. It was refreshing to talk with a fluent English speaker again.
Sunday 10/24
As usual, Sunday started out quite lazy for us. We slept in for the first time in a week, and used time to catch up on things. By about 12pm, I had cabin fever and had to go out and about. Justin had already gone for a run, so for about 3 hours I wandered the Sunday afternoon streets of Coban by myself.
There was plenty to see. At one point, I got lost in one of those tarped flea market plazas. It was clear I didn't belong; plenty of Qui-chi cat calls from passing native women and peculiar looks from men. I made it back to the city plaza and ended up buying a soccer ball for playing soccer with a few local workers at the monastery.
During the afternoon, I met up with Alejandro, Tavo's brother, who had mentioned game of poker on Sunday. Even though I had misunderstood the location of the game, Alejandro drove 15 minutes out of his way to pick me up before getting to the poker game. It was a nice gesture.. I'm finding out that Tavo's family is just as giving as Chilio's.
Poker went pretty well. I made it to the big table but lost (It's okay though, only a 75 Quetzal game!). The nice thing about poker is that no words are necessary. Aside from the occasional numeric clarifications (of which I had quite a few), not many words are needed. This allowed me to be comfortable to sit quietly while I soaked up all the local ligo, "palabras malas" I could. After losing, I took a quick 2 Quetzal (about 15 cents) taxi back to the Priory.
Note: I will add pictures to this post soon!
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