HELPS Trip #3 - Tejutla

HELPS Trip #3 - Tejutla

Wednesday, March 21, 2012, was the longest traveling day I've ever experienced in my life. Explaining logistics would be boring, but you should know it took us 13 hours (which included over 6 buses; healthy mix of both mirco-bus and auto bus) to arrive in Tejutla. Very little food and rest during this day lead to some grumpy, exhausted Johnnies arriving to the HELPS medical team, stationed in a hospital on a hillside with a beautiful view. We arrived only just in time for a hot, delicious lasagna meal and rewarding reunion with Casey, Connor, and the rest of the friendly faces of the HELPS team.

Our Endless Journey

Connor gets busy in the operation room

Christy "Triage-ing"

Our experience with the Tejutla Crew was truly unique. Having joined a crew 1/2 way through their work week, the system of admittance, scheduling, and clinic were already well established. This actually made fitting in easier for us. More translators are always good news for medical teams; Justin and I posted up one-on-one with a doctor and their respective clinical teams. I worked a few hours with Pediatrics, a few with OB/GYN, and a few with clinical. I saw for the first time a live ultrasound of an unborn baby… life-changing. I met more incredible people on this mission, many of whom were coincidentally from St. Cloud, MN! I worked primarily with Dr. Steve Jameson and Dr. Eric Barth, both of whom were very patient, informative, fun gentlemen. I had a really great discussion about faith with Pastor Jim Tetlie (thanks, Jim!). Sonia Russ, my favorite translator, has the biggest heart and the greatest sense of humor.  Mrs. Christy Rice is the best Triage-r I've ever seen. Also, shout out to Dr. Jim O'Neill (one of those terrible 'Tommies') and Judith Scott for compiling "The Guatemala Dictionary; for interpreters/heath care providers." We have a copy, and it will come to use in future missions!

Learning from Dr. Barth

Sonia translating for Dr. Jameson

The person that liked the mission the most, however, was without a doubt Kurtis Nusbaum. Originally, our plan was to stay for only Thursday, then leave Friday for two days at the beautiful Lake Atitlan before returning Kurtis to the airport. After the first day, Kurtis asked if we could stay one more, which of course we did. 

Playing hacky-sack for the first time in years with the
high school translators

Kurtis was put in charge of controlling the Triage line. This included organizing the lines bursting full of people; basically crowd control, and occasionally occupying the attention of little kids. To some this might seem a mundane task, but when it started hailing on the first day and there was a stampede of people trying to squeeze into the doorway to the hospital, Kurtis and the rest of Triage were essential. Not only that, Kurtis's Spanish improved immensely over only 3 days of working at Triage. I hope he has the opportunity to return to a place like Guatemala with a medical team later in his life.. he seemed to cherish every moment. 

Kurtis, Sophia, Sonia, Me ... taking a break from translating

Thursday and Friday came and went quickly. Tejutla 2012 was filled with the typical medical team upper-and-downer stories, hopes and failures, celebrations and defeated looks. I met a 17-year-old man who couldn't (and wouldn't be able to) see out of his left eye after a fatal car accident. Several young women were unaware of their pregnancy. A 93 year-old woman made it from a village several hours away from Tejutla, and a young man of 5 had never learned to talk because of a severe but fixable ear infection in both ears. Many times we cannot help these kind of people. We try to send them to a specialist at a nearby hospital, but many cannot afford the medical expenses. More often than not, we send them away rather satisfied with a routine check-up and bottle of antibiotics, while the real health problem while persist due to their lack of ability to pay for it. This is difficult to consider sometimes, but for risk of sounding cliché or oversimplifying… at least it's SOMEthing for them.

A beautiful Saturday morning awaited our much shorter trip from Tejutla to Lake Atitlan - Panajachel. We gave out hugs and said our goodbyes, promising a brief reunion with the team in Antigua for the HELPS banquet.

View from Panajachel Hotel Room

Lake Atitlan was a short-lived, fun adventure. We arrived in Panajachel, small city next to the lake, at around 3p.m. We took a brief adventure exploring the shops, went out to eat with a perfect view of the lake, explored the beach at night for an absolute crystal-clear view of the stars. I gotta get back to Lake Atitlan ASAP. Before hitting the sack, we shared drinks with Chris Buckshaw, a young entrepreneur who recently started a company called "El Camino VolunTours". His idea is to populate the idea of an alternative "break" experience, what he calls "a volunteer vacation." He's spent his last few years bringing several groups to experience a true cultural exchange  by organizing humanitarian projects in Guatemala and Nicaragua. His program seems to be popular and growing; it was refreshing to talk to another young ambitious entrepreneur (please feel free to check out www.voluntours.ca for more info). We wish him the best of luck with the future of his project!

We got Kurtis to the airport in the nick of time. After enjoying a lunch and saying our goodbyes, we left Kurtis for his journey back home while we headed to Antigua for a few days to enjoy the plush compliments of HELPS International's hospitality. I especially loved this mission's banquet, where I had the great pleasure of meeting Steve Miller, the founder and President of HELPS International. He is a man of big ideas and endless giving; its a wonder what the world would be like without men like him. Thanks again to all members of the Tejutla 2012 trip… our short time spent together was a blessing… hope you come back next year!

Welcome St. Pat's Parish… and Kurtis!

Welcome Saint Patrick's Parish of Edina, MN!

After so much traveling during the past weeks, it was good to finally settle in back at the monastery again. We didn't have much time, however, before we were blessed with guests. While our friend Casey was visiting for a few days, we prepared a "pseudo-schedule" for the Saint Patrick's Parish group from Edina, MN, that visited the following week. This pilgrimage trip included several fantastic people, including always  smiling Cappy Moore, the director, and my Mom and Aunt Ann! We made sure that we had a full, fun week planned for the crew before meeting up with the whole crew on March 12 at the Guatemala City airport.

The Cave

There was some hiking involved

Because Justin and I have already become very familiar with Cobán and the surrounding area, we were the point-men for the group's tourist activities and excursions. Aside from the many prayer groups, masses, and community meals that were already arranged by Cappy and Father Pedro, Justin and I accompanied the group out to several cool spots in Cobán, including San Jorge Mount (where my profile picture is on Facebook), the marketplace, the monastery's farm, and a day-long excursion to a local aldea for water-filter distribution. Everyone from St. Patrick's brought along gifts for the people of the aldea. My mom even brought a portable printer for printing off photos for people in the community. It was very special observe a group like that visit an aldea for the first time. 

Enjoying an aldea meal

Hair ties were popular with the little Qui'Chi girls

On Friday, we were joined by our good SJU friend Kurtis Nusbaum. Kurtis was looking for an alternative place to spend his spring break, and he thought it no better idea than to fly down to Guatemala and help us with our work. He arrived in time to join the Saint Patrick's group for the most exciting excursions; more specifically, that of Chicoy Cave and Semuc Champey.

After another crazy Saint Patrick's Day filled with green beer and green jello, Justin, Kurtis and I rose late on Sunday March 18 to plan an early trip out to Semuc Champey. We were leaving a away early because we were interested in going swimming and spelunking in Semuc's beautiful caves (not for the feint-hearted). We planned to meet up with the group the next day at the Semuc Champey pools. 

We stayed in Lanquin that night at a fun little hostel called "Zephyr Lodge." Everything with Zephyr works on the "tab" system: I have since found out that the "tab" system and I do not get along very well. Early the next morning, I woke to find a not so kind tab to pay and a very sick Justin. Damn! After I paid my astronomically high bill, Justin stayed back while Kurtis and I jumped into the truck to Semuc.

Tarzan 2012

I really hope that Justin gets another opportunity to do the Semuc Caves, because it was probably the most unique tourist experience I've had since coming to Guatemala. Mix images of the cave scenes from "Indiana Jones" and "Tom and Huck," and you get a slipping, sliding, swimming, jumping, climbing experience… all with a lit candle in your hand to guide the way! Our tour included several other young people from Europe. Our guide, Marcos, showed us every ledge we could jump off and every little cave-made slide. This show even continued outside the cave, where we swung on a giant tree swing out to the river. The last big challenge before the actual Semuc Champey pools was to jump off a bridge about 20 meters above the river. If someone tells me to jump off a bridge… I guess I will do it! And I was the only one that did.

Semuc Champey was as wonderful as I had heard. It's basically several pools and little waterfalls of very warm water.  Marcos showed our group all the cool places to dive and slide down, although not everyone decided to participate. We also met up with the St. Patrick's Group and Justin (who they had picked up, and was at the time sleeping like a rock). We stuck around the pools for a few more hours before departing for Cobán once more.

Look before you Leap

The following day, Tuesday March 20, the St. Patrick's group headed back to Guatemala City early to catch their flight. I know that they really enjoyed their experience, and I'm glad we were able to show them what our part of Guatemala has to offer. As they were mounting their return journey to Houston, Kurtis was helping us set up the skeleton to our now existing site for the monastery, www.resurrectionpriory.org. This moment was certainly a long-time-coming, but we could not have done it without Kurtis. His experience with writing HTML code was absolutely invaluable to our starting the site. Now, our ongoing process is gathering current news and the events concerning the community, and to eventually try to expose the site's usefulness to parishioners, guests, and the community itself. Once again, we couldn't be at the point we are today without Kurtis. Kurtis, if you are reading this, THANK YOU!

Kurtis and Me at Semuc

Anyway, after a day's work on the website, we settled our plans for the next few days. Kurtis showed strong interest in getting involved with the HELPS medical trip that was already underway. Our only obstacle? The HELPS site (Tejutla) was on the other side of the country. We faced potentially 12-hour journey.. by which we weren't completely sure of our exact route. Our plan? Just keep on asking for Tejutla.. and eventually, we'll get there. Early the next morning, we hit the road!

***** means 5 Star

 We left Dangriga with ample time to make our launch out to San Pedro. San Pedro is a small tourist island off the coast of Belize City. San Pedro is known for being expensive, but it also has the best nightlife in Belize. Normally, Justin and I wouldn't find ourselves within 1000 km (sorry America, but it's the metric system everywhere else in the world), but this time we had good reason: we were going to visit my parents at the ***** Phoenix Resort. Upon arrival we were greeted with a refreshing cold drink, a penthouse-like hotel room overlooking the hotel pool and Caribbean ocean, fluffy cloud-like beds, and, most importantly, my loving parents.

Justin and I spent just under a week (Monday - Friday) with my parents on San Pedro Island and the surrounding area. Every lunch and dinner we went out for fantastic food, and every day we went on some sort of adventure planned through various agencies. On our first day, we went snorkeling and swam with sharks, sting rays, barracuda, and turtles.  Our guide was excellent. He would clap his hand a certain way to get our attention underwater, and then he would audibly announce interesting information about the sea life above water, but so we could still hear. He even had us each hold and touch a friendly 12-foot nurse shark and pet a tame sting ray on our head! It was a magical first day.

Yep... house in the middle of the ocean

Little Cabin on our private island

Our second day in paradise was as good as the first. We went on a fishing excursion with Oliver and Brian. While I didn't catch anything on this excursion, I did SPEAR something! That's right; when we didn't get our fill of fish for the day. Oliver took us snorkeling for lunch. He used a long metal spear with a rubber band sling to spike a few snapper and redfish. Spearfishing is thrilling not only because of the hunt, but also the danger behind doing it. Any time you go to retrieve a spear, a Moray Eel could possibly strike out and bite your thumb off! Also, after you have a catch, the blood trail from the fish can attract sharks. Oliver even told us a story about a tourist that volunteered to hold his "catch" bag. He ended up having to fend off a Hammerhead shark from taking a nice chunk of flesh out of this woman. "She was about walking' on water when dat shark came 'round!" he laughed.

We enjoyed a delicious fish meal on a remote residential caye (island) near our fishing spot. It belonged to a father-son family close to Oliver. The island had two quaint beach houses, adorned with front porch on the bottom and an attic bedroom that overlooked the sea. The whole scene was something off of a postcard. I'll never forget it.

View from Little Cabin

Our third day involved a small airplane ride to the mainland for a long ride out to Mayan ruins and cave tubing. While this day was certainly fun, the "car-won't-start" situation, long hours spent traveling and the strange-natured tour guide we had made for somewhat of a drawn-out adventure. Even so, the Xunantunich ruins were quite interesting, the howler monkeys sounds were crazy, and the Cave tubing (just like it sounds) was quite relaxing and unique. 

Xunantunich

As mentioned before, the rest of our time was spent looking at the shops, eating at fantastic restaurants, and checking out the local area. From having drinks at a "swim-up" bar on Caye Caulker (neighboring island community) to getting painted during the Mardi Gras celebrations in town (we were even told not to wear nice clothes all day that Tuesday, for risk of ruining them!), it was the stay of a lifetime. My favorite "nightlife" occasion happened with the Chicken Drop. While the chicken never shat on our boxed numbers, the mere entertainment of watching a bunch of drunk gringos yelling idiotically at a scared-shitless (literally) chicken.

Before long, our weeklong dream in paradise came to a close. My parents departed for the airport as Justin and I headed back to Dangriga for one more night at Terrance's house before hitting the long trek back home to Cobán.

A Belizean Welcome

Where did March go? I've stepped away from my blogging duties for what seemed to have been a few moments, but now I find myself a month and a half behind on recounting my latest adventures. Several momentous occasions have occurred between then and now, but I will keep my recount as brief as possible to get you all up-to-date on my experiences in Guatemala and beyond.

The Tecpán medical mission came and went, and soon enough, it was already 5:30a.m. on the morning of Saturday Feburary 18. As I climbed into Maricio's truck for the long ride back to Guatemala City, I mused over the daunting day of travel we had ahead of us. Our goal was to reach Puerto Barrios by nightfall.. and we still needed to retrieve our passports… from Cobán. 

We were all over the country in one day

In our rushed effort to arrive in Guatemala City for the 8:00a.m. medical team bus a week ago, Justin and I had forgotten probably our most important traveling item: our passports. We couldn't leave the country without them. It made for quite the long travel day the following Saturday…

-2 hour bus trip from Tecpán to Guatemala City

-5 hour bus trip from Guatemala City to Cobán

-3 hour microbus trip from Cobán to El Rancho

-4 hour bus trip from El Rancho to Morales

The last bus to Morales was twice as long as normal, as we got a flat tire which took an hour to fix. The bus was filled with people, standing in the isles, sitting in the seats. It was a sauna by the time we were on the road again. As soon as we arrived in Morales (about an hour outside Puerto Barrios), we checked into the only hotel in the area… $25/person. Even though this is a bit spend for our tastes, we didn't mind. Finally.. a place to lie down! Needless to say, we slept soundly.

Justin made a friend at Terrance's house

Our next travel day wasn't as bad, but we started out later that we had hoped. By 1pm, we found ourselves in a water taxi across to Belize from Puerto Barrios. We caught the first bus up the coast from Punta Gorda, our arrival port. We were rewarded with a truly Belizean experience upon just mounting the bus. A group of young Belizean fishermen sat next to us at the back of the bus and invited us to a taste of their Rum and Sprite. One thing led to another, and soon enough we were invited to their house in Dangriga, a small fishing village between Punta Gorda and Belize City, our ultimate destination. Since we weren't going to make the launch out to San Pedro Island that day, we accepted their offer. Free lodging is free lodging! Many may consider this decision dangerous, or downright foolhardy. I can't say that it wasn't a risk, but we spent several hours with these guys (who were accompanied by a girlfriend), and it was apparent they meant to ill-will. Traveling does sometimes involve taking risks, and this is a risk that paid off ten-fold. 

We spent our whole Sunday evening in a true Garifuna village (please see my "Livingston" blog for information about the Garifuni people). Glen, Terrance, and Willie were the names of these locals. They lived in structures that were reminiscent of Galveston beach houses from memories of my youth. Big, tall stilts held a 3-4 bedroom house with a big living room in the middle. We learned some words from their own Creole-like language ("Baka- tone" = "back of town"), ate a delicious homemade chicken meal, shot pool and drank Guinness at the local tavern, and slept on a less than cozy but "it's-the-thought-that-counts" mattress. Price tag? Free. 

Playing in the living room with the kids

Glen and Terrace refused to let us purchase anything, even though we did force them a few beers for them at the bar. We were treated so incredibly well, I can't thank them enough for the hospitality. In hanging out with them, we discovered that they own their own island about 30 miles off the coast, next to Tobacco Caye. Here, Terrance and Willie will bring tourist groups out for a night on the island, which is adorned with a full bar, a few beach houses, outhouse, and a fishing shack. We promised to make it back for a trip out to the island sometime, but I'm not sure when we will be able to make it. Someday!

The next day, Terrance walked us down to the bus station. Before leaving, we sat down for lunch and insisted that we buy Terrance a meal for all the hospitality he showed us. He picked the cheapest thing on the menu. We ate and enjoyed each other's company before departing. Another very special traveler's experience of pure hospitality.