Jour 2: Arriving at the Mission

Well, I got into Guatemala City around 10 pm last night, where I quickly went straight through customs (actually, to be more accurate, there was no customs process) and stepped outside to meet Sheila, one of the mission directors. We went directly from the airport to a little hostel/B&B place just a few blocks away, and stayed up talking for a little while. As excited and nervous as I was, I didn’t really get any sleep at all, which was especially bad since we had to be up and ready to go at 5:30 this morning. It takes 2 ½ to 3 hours to get to the mission, and today visitors from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation were coming to tour the site and learn about the projects.
The trip from the city to the mission, despite its actual length, went by very quickly. Never having been to central America, the scenery was all very new to me. Looking out the window from my bouncy jeep jump-seat, I felt as if I had stepped into an impeccably maintained prehistoric landscape. Massive, broadleaf swamp plants, fields of sugarcane, towering palms and swaying banana plants crowded up next to the road, along with huge-leafed trees draped in twisting vines and roughly-constructed huts selling the most violent looking of all fruits – fresh pineapple. In the distance, dozens of flawlessly conical volcanoes dotted the countryside, every fourth or fifth one issuing pretty little clouds of steam puffs which slowly drifted across the sky. All in all, it was reminiscent of the dinosaur dioramas found at the Museum of the Rockies, or the posters which filled my office at last summer’s paleontology job.
We arrived at the mission around 9, ate a quick breakfast of beans, freshly cooked tortillas and scrambled eggs (all heartily doused with homemade jalapeno sauce) and went out to meet the arriving philanthropic contingent. It turns out the people arriving were actually kind of big-shots – the director of the Gates Global Health Initiative and his administrative assistant. They explained that although historically the Gates Foundation has focused on Southeast Asia and India, it’s becoming increasingly evident that Latin America needs attention. We spent the morning touring the clinic, with various people presenting sundry projects (maternal health and mortality, medicinal herbs, clean home cooking stoves, etc). Once they left, I finally had my first opportunity to shower since about 6 am Tuesday, which was divine despite being cold.
We had a great lunch which was right up my ally – four different ways of preparing vegetables. Green beans, carrots, onions, mysteriously tangy potato pancakes, spinach, more corn tortillas, red peppers…delicious!
I’ve got a bit of down time now, during which I think I’ll look over a Natural Family Planning class that Sheila is interested in having me teach to young couples if I want to; mostly just as a method to teach sex education. Sheila, by the way, is very cool. She’s quite personable, and kind, and has awesome stories to tell about how the CIA confiscated her passport after she fled Guatemala to Mexico City in the 80's. She left Guatemala in order to avoid being "disappeared" as punishment for providing medical care to citizens attacked by the vicious military dictatorship. Once she finally made it back to the US (with help from the Swedish government, of all things) she continued to be followed across the country – California, New York, DC, even Montana. Whoa.
Later this afternoon, we’re going to go to Mazatenango, a nearby city, where one of the girls from the school is in the hospital. Apparently she fell earlier today, and got a pretty gigantic hematoma on her inner thigh, which needs to be operated on. We’ll visit her, and do some grocery shopping, and be back tonight for Mass with Father Hazelton. I still haven’t seen him, by the way, apparently he’s out of town until later today.
I don’t really know how often I’ll be able to use the internet; it’ll take a while before I settle into a routine, but I do know I’ll start teaching on Monday. I’ll let you all know how it goes!