Hospital nights, television dreams and Toto

January 23, 2006
I had a very exciting and noteworthy weekend. First of all my neighbor and good friend Fabia went to the hospital late Thursday night. We took her to the national hospital which is like our County hospital in the states, so you can only imagine. Well she apparently ate some “street food” and got this serious virus. I was a bit surprised because I always figured that Guatemalans were already immune to their food and that their stomachs were like steel, I guess I was wrong. She was in the hospital for 2 days and I played host to her 2 daughters. They spent the night with me and it was like having a huge slumber party. Fabia is a trooper and is already feeling better. She is an amazing woman; she and her daughters took the 2 ½ hour bus ride to Xela to go to church with me last weekend. I was super encouraged by that.
Let me tell you about Saturday. I started off my morning going to the open market to buy fruits and vegetables with my other neighbor Sonia and her husband Emilio. I wanted to go with them so that they could show me the ropes with regards to bargaining price tactics. After that we went to buy my TV. I have to admit I felt like a peace corps sell out wanting a TV. When I first got to Guatemala I was adamant about not having one. I thought I will read and journal on my down time. I’ve been in Solola for 6 months and I’ve read till my eyes burned and wrote till my hand went numb. I’ve decided that it’s okay to have a TV, its not against any Peace Corps rule or regulation, it was my own gut it out and suffer mentality that has kept me from buying one. So I have one now and I’m pretty excited about it.
Saturday was a busy day. After all that I did in Solola I went to Xela to spend the night at my friend Jackie’s house who is a great friend from church. Sunday morning we had an adventure with my church group. They had decided to have church service under a waterfall. I had no idea where we were going and I sure was not dressed for the occasion. All I knew was that we were going to walk a lot. I didn’t know that meant that we were going to climb up to the waterfall. Can we say lost in translation? We took a bus to San Cristobal which is in Totonicapan or Toto for short then walked our way to the waterfall. We passed the first Catholic Church ever built in Central America which was a treat to see. The waterfall was also amazing as you can see from the pictures. As I sat in the sun and looked around me I was so happy to be in Guatemala. At that moment I felt a complete peacefulness that I could never find back in Los Angeles; it was awesome.