whew.
what a week.
i swear, to think that 7 days ago i was sitting in genaurdis eating sushi with mom.. you wouldn{t believe it...
please excuse my punctuation... the buttons are all in different places here!
so, the craziness began with a 4 am wakeup. I got to the airport where the man at the ticket counter told me i should carry my cot on. So, through security i go, cot in hand, (which, coincidentally looks a little bit like what an assasin might carry...) anyway, of course they pull me over, take me to a back room, and make me explain the situation... meanwhile Im telling them that i would be perfectly happy just to check it!
the next two problems i blame on bush... mostly because i was in his airport in houston. First i thought i only had 40 minutes until my flight was going to take off.. so i was speed walking to the little train only to discover that both of the little trains had broken down. I get to the gate and they decide to announce that there's a mechanical delay. 40 minutes later they board us, and we push off onto the runway. and then they turn off the plane. The captain gets on and tells us that there{s a bit of a rain delay.. which is followed by more rain delay... which turns into 5 hours sitting on the plane before we finally took off! We literally had to go back to the gate to get more gas.. and so you don{t think that this trip will be any different on bathroom stories, when i got up to go to the bathroom, they told me to use the one on the left because they had turned the electricity off on the other to save fuel....
anyway, guanajuato is great. it{s absolutely beautiful and so full of life. I love every second i spend in this city... the staff house is LIME GREEN... you can see it from anywhere in the city.
Look at pictures of guanajuato, you may see my house.
Im sharing a room with Rita, who goes to occidental.. coincidentally im the supervisor in the town where she used to volunteer... they LOVED her there-- i was bombarded by Rita questions. We did the room up really nicely-- bought a rug and hung my sarong up on the wall... the room is blue and beautiful..
kalie (another supervisor) and I won the scavenger hunt on sunday. we had to run around guanajuato--which is not that easy since its all hills- looking for various things in an attempt to get to know the city better.
On Sunday we found out which would be our routes (Anil is my supervisor--hes the one who used to work for foundation for sustainable development) My area is the farthest away. On Monday we left for our towns.
From then on, the week was totally exhausting but pretty amazing!
The first town, El Junco-which, can be translated as 'the Junk'- I hung out with the host mom-- who owns a store. Then these people my age pull up in a camioneta and invite me to hang out with them. They took me to this huge water hole and brought out food and drinks that they had made. we had a great time hanging out there and i was regaled with stories of all the people that fell into the hoyo and drowned... amusing. There are also no men in any of the towns. All of the men from this town, for example, have gone to OHIO.... in others it was Kansas. man they dont pick the most well known..
The Second town, San Rafael de Estala literally is the most incestuous town ever! (that{s a joke...) everyone is related in the town.. and they marry out but then bring them in. I played some serious cards including go fish and war. anya would be proud. The funniest part of THAT town was watching three teenage girls pop eachothers zits for an hour! one on the nose proved particularly difficult
I hopped a ride from San Rafael to the next one, El Mexiquito.. but i have no clue how i{ll do it in the future!
El Mexiquito was my favorite of the towns. everyone was so fun and there were gazillions of kids. We played some street soccer which was awesome. I wasnt actually that bad! i scored 3 goals on mexican kids.. hehehe
my favorite kid there was nicknamed 'el gallo' the rooster.. he{s like such a little man with his hat popped up on his head like a true old man farmer.
i got walked to the last town, Las Tortugas, where... none of the contacts were home... Las tortugas proved to be the most bizarre of all of my towns... While I was overfed in all of my other towns, i literally did not eat for 24 hours in this town (speaking of which, i should break that fast sometime soon) The adults were really weird in the town, but the kids were awesome. I got to watch them prep for their graduations (which, all of the towns want me to come to but which are all on the same 2 days) I have literally heard the same song 'rompe rompe' by... daddy yankee? more than 40 times this week. but they all LOVE it and get so excited to dance to it. they made me dance too.. ive got my rompe moves down pat
had my worst sleep of the week last night with a beep going off from a phone every 5 seconds.. and it was hot...
this morning i caught a ride with the women who work in a factory out to the highway where I was dropped and then caught a few different buses to get back here.
overall, its been a great week.. ive had some really funny experiences and met some amazing people. oh and the music...everywhere... it makes me remember why i love this country.
mm, and when i get fed, the food is very yummy.
I miss you all and hope to hear from you. we still dont have internet in the house, but ill hopefully check this again before the next time i go out on route /(which isnt for awhile)
next we prep for the volunteers arrival
Love Kir
