San Andres (2)

12/31/01 - 6:55am

I've picked up a bug of some sort and have major diarrhea. First dose of Imodium this morning. Will see if I need to use the antibiotics next.

Yesterday was a regular day in class. At the break Zack and I got onto Hotmail! The town doesn't even have full-time electricity or running water all the time and yet the school has relatively fast Internet access. I typed in a message Zack sent to Deb and another for myself to Shelley. Cost Q13 for 13 minutes.

After lunch we went to play pool again. I paid for 3 games at Q1.50 each but then ran out of smaller bills and couldn't get change anywhere in town. Apparently Q100 (about $8 U.S.) is too large a bill, too much money to have in San Andres.

After dinner, Zack and I were doing our homework at the kitchen table by candlelight. A heavy wind was up as a precursor to the rainstorm we had later in the night. Francisca was setting another candle for herself and a friend at another table by melting the bottom. As she grasped the candle to push it onto the lid of a jar she made a joke, apparently about the sexual way she was holding the candle and she and her friend laughed. I caught the gist of the joke without understanding the words and made a comment to Zack about it. Then Francisca was embarrassed because I'd figured it out.

Talked to Alixa about the family names and getting them written down so I can remember them. Also talked about why Francisca would use a wood stove to cook. It is clear after that she could cook with the gas stove (bottle gas sits next to the stove), but probably prefers to cook on the wood fire as is traditional and as she probably learned from her mother.

There were multiple fiestas yesterday. One at the church was for the nine-year-old children's first communion. The girls were dressed up in their communion dresses and veils, the boys in long black pants and white shirts. There were many fireworks in the street alongside the church. In the evening, it was a birthday party for one of Ulisses many cousins. Despite the lack of electricity, the party went on 'til after 9pm using candles and a battery operated CD player.

12/31/01 - 1pm

For the moment, the diarrhea is gone, but my stomach is still queasy and tender. Apparently it is a bit of a hit or miss proposition. One of the other students was here in the summer, was fine the time before, but had a bout of stomach trouble this time. She also is a bit leery of swimming here, although another woman who was here before (a Brit or Aussie) says it is fine if you get away from the towns.

The American woman was here last summer and when she didn't have anything in particular happening for New Years, decided she'd enjoy spending it with her family here.

The Aussie woman was here last summer as well, but isn't staying with a family, but rather, a hotel over in Flores/St. Elena instead. She's decided if she likes the school, she'll stay on another 5 or 6 weeks. She originally learned Spanish in Spain, but complained that her grammar was a mess.

I was able to buy a t-shirt from the school and pay for the Internet time from yesterday and thus break a Q100 and have change for being able to do stuff around town.

I've gotten conflicting stories about the New Year's festivities. However, there is an earlier fiesta at the pool hall that then ends in time for the dance which stories indicate starts somewhere between 9pm and 1am and goes until the wee hours of the morning. This apparently is why everybody will be sleeping late tomorrow and hence we have no school. This also means we are less likely to get a lancha to Flores particularly early in the day. We'll go in the afternoon to shop for souvenirs and get more smaller bills.

1/1/02 - 8:30am

While I finished my homework, Zack and Ulisses played a couple of games of Five Crownes. Ulisses has gotten quite good at the game and recognizes how much luck is involved in winning.

After that, Zack and I walked down to the beach where he skipped rocks and I snapped a few pics of him. An American was there talking with a friend - a mile a minute in Spanish - seemingly about business. His daughter seemed to be mestiza and he spoke to her in both Spanish and English. Zack became depressed and after a little prompting, he missed Deb and Nana badly. So, we hiked up the hill into town and went to half a dozen tiendas before we magically found the one that sold the tarjetas (calling cards). Getting through to the U.S. proved to be a bit of a crap-shoot, but eventually we got through, left a message at Deb's (turned out she was in Arizona), talked to Nana. That and an ice cream cone seemed to perk up Zack's spirits.

As it was New Years Eve, Francisca had made "bollos," which is like a tamale, and different in a way I couldn't quite understand.

Me, Zack and Ulisses played another game of Five Crownes after dinner - he really seems to enjoy the game, so Zack and I talked about leaving it for him when we go.

As Ulisses was dressing up for all the fiestas, he needed a couple of extra pins to finish shortening his pants. He asked if Zack could go to the tienda with him, which was fine, and he showed Zack the source of the local fireworks. I was asked into the living room of the house for the first time to hang out with Francisca and yet another male relatively and we talked some about where I'm from and my marital status. The fireworks are totally a hoot; you light the fuse and wait until the rocket itself goes off before you throw it.

With Ulisses, we headed up to the fiesta at his aunt and uncles billar (poolhall). Eventually we sat with another uncle - Hidalgo - and drank beer and talked. He has previously been a maestro at EcoEscuela and talked at length about social problems in Peten including people smoking because the odor coming through the skin keeps away snakes. He also spoke very highly of Zack's teacher Georgina, with whom he is a friend.

Zack got tired of sitting and listening and went back to watch the pool games while I talked with Hidalgo (after he and Ulisses fired off the fireworks I bought for him). After a while, I joined him, worrying that he might be bored. While there, I met Daniel, who might be the owner of the pool hall. This meeting connected a lot of people. Daniel is the person we saw at the beach. He's also the person hosting Alex who was also there. Another cousin introduced herself - in English - might be the eldest daughter of Daniel and his wife, who is a local. Daniel had lived in Guatemala for years and married here when he decided he needed to the U.S. to upgrade his skills. They ended up in the tri-cities area in Washington. The climate wasn't very conducive, so he took a job with NASA. Now they live in Huntsville where he works on a remote sensing project finding new Mayan ruin sites, then comes down to do the field work at the new dig sites. He's clearly very invested in the town and is responsible for starting the town's lending library; he offered me a tour tomorrow and I offered our copy of Harry Potter in Spanish and to supply any needed software.

There was one mustachiod guy playing pool at the table we were watching - clearly much better than everybody else in the room. Alex explained that he was the woodworker that not only built the lanchas used on the lake, but also built the pool tables themselves. Although it wasn't the total explanation for his playing skill, it certainly explains his knowledge of the table and cushions.

Zack finally got tired and so we headed back to the house and played cards until just before midnight when we joined Francisca across the street at some brother or sister's house. They invited us in for "champagne" after everybody hugged everybody else including us. Then we met Mateo (Matthew) another American who lives here and has created a job teaching the locals how to do environmentally oriented tours of the forests and birds. He explained that the family also owns a great deal of waterfront real estate and houses along our street.

With Francisca and Mateo we left the family party to meet one of her brothers who is el alcalde of the town - essentially the mayor. After that they went on to another party and Zack and I went home.

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