If you don’t know it already, I’m working at Escuela Caracol, a Waldorf/International School
in San Marcos, La Laguna, Guatemala (small, remote town near Lake Atitlan,
surrounded by volcanoes, full of 3,000 people).
It was founded by Josh and Courtney Wilson, a couple from Falls Church
Virginia! Most of the kids are indigenous, Mayan, with a large number of
international kids as well. The school
teaches in 3 languages, Spanish, English, and Kaqchikel (the native, Mayan
language in this region). There are many
things about this area that remind me of Paraguay, the use of the native
language and the socio-economic disparities tied to it, being just one of them.
My official job is the Development Coordinator, although the
day before I arrived, the head administrator quit so I’ve also been taking over
lots of his role since here. It’s all
new and I’m learning a lot. My co-workers are all super friendly,
supportive, and patient and I ease into this new role as supervisor to some of
them. As with any new job, it’s been
hard to actually get any work done.
Monday was a team-building day and it was very nice to get to know
everyone and a great way to start off the year.
Most of the teachers are local to the community, one is Guatemalan but
from a city, 2 are American, and one is Colombian. It’s a great group!
My “treehouse” office—I love it! And check out my view to
the school grounds!
Normally we eat a morning snack and lunch prepared by the
school (all vegetarian and home-cooked!) but the kitchen was under remodel so
we had to fend for ourselves this week.
I still had no food in my house but Josh, Karin (the Colombian, and also
new) and I went out to eat. I had a burrito at a place near my house, pretty
good. To be fair, everything is near my house.
The school is in my backyard and a 1 minute walk, the “grocery stores”
are another minute in the other direction, and the center of town, restaurants,
and lake are about a 4 minute (hilly) walk. There are no cars, other than the
occasional motor taxi, and I love it! It’s peaceful, except for the barking
dogs, chickens, firecrackers, and digadaroo playing from my Aussie
neighbor. I digress.
Josh and I worked until about 6 that night, trying to cram
in 2 weeks worth of training into a few days. I was eager to get home and test my running
water since it hadn’t worked in the morning, which meant I left a sink full of
dishes and came home to a house full of ants.
Luckily, it was working when I got back.
I was too tired to go buy food.
Fortunately, I brought a few packs of quinoa and rice from home and was
able to heat those up quickly to eat. I didn’t have any salt yet (me, of all
people!—I’m a giant salt-tooth!) so I had to flavor it with balsamic vinegar.
It was….interesting. J
I hadn’t showered since arriving in Guatemala and was really
looking forward to a nice hot shower. I
didn’t get one. While I do “technically”
have hot water, it’s by no means the same standard as Western hot water
showers. The warmest setting is luke
warm, at best, and comes and goes every 30 seconds or so. When it goes, you have to adjust the nob ever
so slightly to find the exact spot where it clicks again, wait a minute or 2
for it to reheat, and then proceed in the same manner the entire time. Needless to say, I was not that clean, not
shaven, and freezing with goose bumps by the end of the shower. I’ve since
figured out a little bit better how to work it, but it’s still like playing
Russian roulette eveytime I put shampoo in my hair and I risk having to wash it
out in ice-cold water. I’ve learned that
my best bet is to just not get dirty so I don’t have to shower. And then when I must, I just wash all the
important parts REALLY quickly, try to only wash my hair when it’s super early
in the day and it’s less likely that other people will be using their water,
and shave outside in my pileta---not sure what this is in English, wash bin
maybe? I’m also really glad that I brought a hairdryer with me. Not because I want to look cute (I don’t even
use the thing at home), but because it gets pretty chilly at night and in the
mornings (my office at school is freezing all day since the sun doesn’t hit it)
so it’s nice to have dry hair.
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