Life is Pretty Unexpectedly Good.

I have learned from my past three trips to Guatemala to be prepared for anything.

I have spent a lot of nights on concrete floors, taped a Guatemalan’s finger back on, eaten lots of tortillas, watched effigies of Judas be burned with a hundred firecrackers and a half gallon of gasoline on Easter, been nearly interviewed for a local gossip journal, learned to shower with a bucket, never really learned how to actually wash my clothes by hand, jumped out of a truck in the Guatemalan mountains as the engine overheated and exploded, used a porcelain toilet precariously plopped on the side of a cliff with an orange pipe sticking out and black tarp walls I could see over, shaken some scary bugs out of my shoes, and so on and so forth…

All this to say, I have already been very blessed this trip.

Through some connections with Engineers without Borders and the Guatemalan Rotary, I was picked up from the airport and stayed the night with the generous, kind-hearted Grazioso family. As a welcoming gift, the father gave me this bracelet that has proceeds supporting communities devastated by the volcanic eruption in Guatemala last summer. Since I arrived so late in the evening, not many restaurants were open, but with five minutes to spare, we slipped into this fancy restaurant that also sells tailored suits and only served us to-go crepes and salads.

The Grazioso family showed my friend Ethan, who is also interning with EWB this summer, and I around Guatemala City in the morning. We visited one of the underground supermarkets and walked through Paseo Cayala where I saw the statue “El Gigante.” We visited this restaurant for brunch on the top of a tall building with a gorgeous view of the city and mountains. During brunch, I gave Ethan his birthday present, and he was ecstatic and amazed I did not shatter it in my bag. (I mean, so was I.)

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After our adventures in Guatemala City, Ethan and I headed to Esperanza, Queztaltenago, also known at Xela. Unfortuantely, Ethan was feeling very sick, thinking it was strep. We went to the pharmacy for medicine, and he asked for penicillin. The worker pulled out a glass jar of white powder, but Ethan did not want to buy needles to inject it himself so he asked if they had amoxicillin instead. He was thankfully able to buy a weeks worth of pills for about $5 with no prescription.

I still continue to be humored by all the dogs in Guatemala wandering the streets, chilling on rooftops, and following Ethan and his ice cream. I was extremely surprised and excited to realize our host family for the summer actually owned a pet dog, Albieto, which is not very common⁠— so excited that I had him sleep with me on my bed the first night. I realized in the morning he puked all over my bed, but I wasn’t even mad because HEY I GET AN ACTUAL BED AND A DOG! We also have showers with warm water occasionally, a refrigerator, and a washing machine; I am not sure I have met a Guatemalan with a washing machine before. I was definitely not anticipating any of this, and I am grateful I do not need to master my laundry washing by-hand technique. Ethan and I are very blessed.

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Despite the comfortable living thus far, after my incredible experiences in some of the more impoverished areas of Guatemala with such kind, hopeful people, I am still uncomfortably shocked and disturbed by the economic disparity.

EWB is doing some inspiring work, though, and this is a dream to be working with them full-time. Ethan and I had our first few days of work, and we have been enjoying getting to know our diverse, friendly coworkers more while working on some incredible projects together.

When you travel to Guatemala, you eventually accept that there are always weird sounds at any time of day. While we were at the office, we kept hearing blaring music every half hour or so, and at first I thought I just had some crazy co-workers that liked to listen to a minute of a song at periodic times throughout the entire day. In reality, I realized the Guatemalan presidential elections are this upcoming Sunday, and trucks with large banners obnoxiously drive throughout Guatemala sporting one of the 20+ presidential parties.

Ethan and I walk to the office everyday, and we quickly learned that during rainy season, it basically starts down pouring at 2pm for the rest on the day in La Esperanza. Below you can see the cloudy, but gorgeous view from my desk of the mountains and also the interesting, not as gorgeous rooftop view where we either have meetings or our lunch break. Almost every building in Guatemala has rebar (steel reinforcing rods) sticking up “in case they add a second story”, which hardly happens in reality.

I want to end by saying thank you for praying for me, EWB, and Guatemala! My luggage and I arrived safely, and I have been able to navigate extremely well through my conversations. Here are some more prayer requests:

• Praise for all the answered prayers!
• For Ethan to feel better and get his energy back
• For me not to get sick from eating a really delicious plum from my backyard today
• For language school next week to go smoothly and that I continue to pick up on the language
• To have courage to attend and to feel welcomed at my first Guatemalan church service this Sunday
• For the Guatemalan people to have wisdom in their election tomorrow and for the new President to have a heart to do what’s best for their people