Pictures Coming Soon

I should preface this entry with letting you know that this is Aaron writing this, and I haven’t been keeping up with what Marla has already told you all, so there may some things that are repeated.
Since the departure of Felix and Laura we’ve all been settling into a rhythm of life here in Uspantan that is starting to feel comfortable. Our mornings consist of rolling out of bed at around 7am putting on a pot of coffee and sitting down with a book (there has been a lot of good reading on this trip). At eight we meet Don Avolino, the building manager, for water purification and our Spanish/ English tutoring sessions.
Don Avolino has agreed to teach us Spanish in return for us teaching him English, which has been a very fruitful exchange for everyone. Each day for about two hours while purifying the four tinacos (tanks) we trade words through hand signals and looking them up in the dictionary. Our Spanish vocabulary grows as Don Avolino’s English grows, he asked us if we would like him to teach us Quiche as well, but we said we think we can only handle one language at a time, not to mention when he starts to speak Quiche all understanding goes out the window.
After we are through purifying all the water with Don Avolino, our day consists of yoga, hiking, playing soccer/Frisbee with the kids at the field, cards, cooking, going to the Mercado, more reading, researching coffee farms, hanging out with new friends, and planning our next moves.
We’ve had the privilege of meeting some very interesting and helpful people in the past week. The first is Don Bagote aka Glen, he’s doing his Doctoral research on Latin American politics, and is currently traveling around through Guatemala, conducting interviews with as many people as are willing to sit down with him. He’s been a great help to us in informing us of the past and present political situations in Guatemala, and having traveled extensively through Guatemala, he’s also been helpful in telling us interesting places we may want to visit.
The other person that has been a true Godsend is Laura, a Peace Corp. Volunteer, she is currently working with the city of Uspantan trying to build some sort of tourist revenue for the city. Seeing that Guatemala is such a beautiful country she is trying to market the city to outdoor adventurers, which just so happens to be something that all of us are very much into, so we’ve all offered ourselves up as guinea pigs for anything that she is working on. She has also been a huge help in pointing us in the direction of several coffee co-ops and farms, and seeing that she works in tourism she knows the chicken bus system backwards and forward, which is a huge help.
The water purification system at the hospital is currently put on hold until we get the platform built that the tinacos will sit on to gravity feed the kitchen. The platform should be complete by August 10th, it is being made from steal so that it will last, but it also is taking longer than we anticipated. The maintenance/engineer guy at the hospital, Marcio, is one of the most intelligent guys that I’ve met and has been studying the water purifier manual for the past two weeks, and I am confident that he will have little problem with running the system.
So that’s pretty much it, life is good right now and I feel good about where we are. Each day brings a new challenge and adventure that stretches us a little, allowing us to grow and learn.
PS I hope that not too much of this post is a repeat, but I felt it necessary to write at least one while in Guatemala.

Practicing our Espanol

We have been having a great time working with Don Obilino, he has said that if we teach him english he will teach us Spanish. The past couple days we get meet him on the roof at 8 to purify the water and learn as many words as we can remember. It is slow going but a little at a time. It is also really fun getting to know him better.

Felix and Laura left a couple days ago and we all got together and made them and their family dinner, it was really neat to be able to thank them and their family for taking such good care of us. Their family lives across the street from us and told us that if we needed anything that they would be happy to help. It is really nice to have them always there if we need help.

miss you all

much love marla and aaron

On the Road to Clean Water

We have now offically settled into our short time home in Guatemala. The idea of eating beans and corn tortillas at every meal is no longer so bad and we look forward to the variations we can give to that dish with the local vegtables we buy.

This past week we have been working on the water at the apartments, which with only a few snags will be done very shortly. Besides the slight smell of chlorine in the water is just fine to drink. All that is left on that part of the project is to train the maintence man, Don Obilino how to operate the system when we leave. We will be working with throughout the time we are here to assure that he is confident.

The planning for the hospital system is just beginning, with Aaron and Micheal in charge of that. The work should start probably beginning next week.

We have started to get up early before breakfast and taking hikes into the mountains surrounding the city. It is such a great way to wake up and start your day, it has really been helping me to get energized for the day. Since for the past week we have felt sort of groggy which they say is because we not used to the altitude yet. But everyday we feel a little better. The views from the hikes are amazing, we took the group photo from the first hike we took.

Much Love and miss you all

Aaron and Marla

Settling into our new home

We have settled into our new home for the next two months and we love it. The town of San Miguel Uspantan is really nice. It is small but has everything we might need. Including a local makrket that is open everyday, where we can buy fresh vegtables, all household needs, snacks and even clothes. We started working on the first water purification system yesterday for the large apartment complex that Felix owns. The apartment building is like a MC Escher painting and makes you feel like you are living in a maze with awesome roof views and a courtyard with a lemon tree.

We went to a small local church where we got to meet all the members and the boys even played soccer with them twice. The kids are adorable and really good at soccer, it was a lot of fun to watch all our boys play with the little tiny children.

All the people in town are very nice and curious about us here, and Felix´s family is amazing!! They have made us breakfast and lunch everyday. Usually eggs, black beans, and tortillas for breakfast and some awesome dish for dinner. We hope to learn how to make tortilla sometime while we are here.

We miss everyone!!
much love marla and aaron

Estamos in Guatemala!

With no trouble and just a long day traveling we made it to Guatemala City, Guatemala. Felix and Laura have really been taking care of us, we all even have our own blow up mattress. Yesterday we went to Antigua and enjoyed walking around the beautiful city. There were so many wonderful colors everywhere. Other then practicing our espanol we have spent a good deal of time playing a new card game we learned called Muggins. Just imagine speed with 8 people, we all really enjoy it. At the house we are staying at there is a wonderful terrace that over looks Guatemala City and is a breathtaking view at night.

July 4th Weekend/ Beginning of Guatemala trip

Our trip to Guatemala started with a detour. We took everyone going to Guatemala to Saluda, North Carolina for the Graham's 60th wedding anniversary and Coon Dog Day. Aaron's family so graciously took us in and fed us the whole time we were there. The four days there were spent hanging out on the porch, playing horseshoes, Coon Dog Day parade, and hanging out with family. It was a really relaxing and fun time before we fly to Guatemala from Orlando.


There are five other people going to Guatemala with us. We plan to stay for two months and hopefully we will be able keep us this blog so all can keep up with our progress in San Miguel, Uspantan.