I got worms

Yeah, after a BM this morning, I saw this long white thing and thought "yikes, did I swallow a noodle whole?" So, it's no big deal. Everyone in Tactic gets regular worm treatments. For me though I've held on for nearly 2 years (though the worm was about a foot long, so who knows how long it's been in me). So, I got my Combantrin on and brought some home for Amber and Blaise. The best part of this whole thing is grossing Amber out with stories about people choking on worms and such.

Sorry, no photo.

Mmmm, Like a Small Deer You Say?

Our friends Erick and Gloria surprised us last night by whisking us off to Cobán and taking us to quite a nice restaurant. Up until now, our dining in Cobán had been limited to the food court at the mall where we do most of our grocery shopping. I wanted to try something I had never tried before and so "Tepezcuintle" jumped off the menu and onto my plate.

Erick explains to me that this is a wild animal. "Like the deer?" I ask. "Yes, but smaller" he answers. "Is it like a big rat?" wondering if he is describing a opossum. "No, it's not like that. It eats fallen fruit - avocados, zapote, etc. It's meat is the best wild meat in Guatemala." "So, like a small deer then?" "Yes." Erick orders the same. "They have some at the little zoo in Chamche, I'll take you there to see one some time."

It was in fact quite delicious, tenderized no doubt by the supple fat that comprised 40% of the small serving. It was in a nice gravy and had been roasted and stewed - like beef. I had to share a small piece with Amber. She liked it too.

So, now, it's 4:30 AM and I'm beginning to wonder why I had that cup and a half of coffee at 10 PM. I decided to get up and see if I can burn some of this energy off and why not, look up this mysterious beast online.

"The Paca (Agouti paca), also known as the Spotted Paca, is a large rodent found in tropical and sub-tropical America, . . . It is called paca in most of its range, but tepezcuintle in Mexico and Guatemala." Wikipedia

To explore the relationship between the ingestion of Agouti paca (AP) and human leptospirosis in Guyana, 19 febrile men who said they had hunted and eaten A. paca . . . Those found positive for anti-Leptospira IgM . . . serovars from three pathogenic species of Leptospira . . . a skin rash; lymphadenopathy; abnormal urine sediment . . . Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology

They live in my parents’ farm. I’ve shown these two to a couple of friends and they see them, with scorn, as big rats (the mom is about 60cm long and must weigh around 10kg)... I think they are absolutely great. jpablo's blog

Now, I know I'm making a big deal about this; people eat porcupine and rabbit all the time right? I grew up eating meat according to the Levitical laws (cloven hoof, chews cud, though not the official kosher bloodletting) so even eating a strip of bacon or shrimp is strange to me.



Cute, eh?

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Dasyproctidae
Genus: Agouti
Species: A. paca

Oh, and Rabbit Rabbit everyone.

Lost and Phoned

Remember that Seinfeld episode where one of their cars gets stolen and they phone the car phone and talk to the theif?

Yesterday while I was taking photos of the construction site of a new school and medical clinic, my cell phone slipped off my belt. I discovered two hours later after taking Blaise to the doctor in a neighbouring town that my phone was gone, but figured I left it at the office.

This morning after searching the house, car, office and the medical storage facility I remembered that I had jumped off mounds of dirt at the construction site late in the afternoon. Armed with Amber's phone, I walked around the site, dialing and listening. The good news was that it hadn't rained too much and that my phone was still ringing (it still worked). I covered the whole territory while kids from a neighbouring school covered the same territory during their recess.

Then someone answered my phone.

I hurriedly explained that I had lost my phone yesterday and that the phone they were talking on was mine and how could we meet so that I could get it back. What I could hear were girls laughing and someone speaking way too loud in Poqomchí. This went on for 10 minutes. The two words I did understand were "fifty quetzales" ($7). I pressed them for location details. I pressed them to find someone who could speak Spanish. Then I gave up and hung up.

I phone back 2 minutes later and a girl spoke to me in Spanish and called me by name! She told me that they were in Pansalché, a community on a the side of a steep mountain neighbouring where I was searching for my phone. She told me they would be on the path.

I drove up the road a bit and parked. I tried phoning again, but no answer. Over and over again, no answer. I began to worry that this might be a wild goose chase and I dreaded having to climb this mountain only to descend with out my phone.

But, why not? I dialed four times and on the last dial, half way up the mountain, I heard the familiar shrill ringtone of my phone. I walked up to the store window and said "that's my phone that is ringing."



I got a detailed account of how my phone was found and ended up here. But it was in Poqomchí. You can see the Q50 bill in her hand.



I was more than thrilled about the whole experience. If I had lost my phone though, I would have lost the number everyone has for me, 350 minutes of airtime, and a $30 phone. Oh, and a crummy belt case.

Zaak's Next Five Things

So, I've been inspired by Petra and Adam and 8 other bloggers to make a list of five things that I want to do next - not necessarily big things, just a list to get me moving. And with it a new blog (when I have 10 blogs on the go, please take my computer away). So, without further ado, here are my next five things:

1. Learn the Spanish verb Haber
2. Learn one movement of Bach's Lute Suites
3. Finish the five books I've been reading for two years
4. Do daily push-ups for 30 days
5. Investigate adoption possibilities (go/no go)

Two Books Affirm my Faith

I finished a book today: Adventures in Missing the Point: How the Culture Controlled Church Neutered the Gospel by Tony Campolo and Brian D. McLaren. I've read both authors before and both have beefs with the church* just like me. So, maybe I'm not challenging my thinking by choosing to read their diagnosis of the church, but it sure is refreshing to be affirmed in my thinking when nearly everything I come into contact churchwise doesn't feel right. I also lately read a book by Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis, that speaks on similar issues and was very encouraging.

In my years growing up in, studying in, working for, receiving counsel from, teaching for, and being a missionary for the church I've gotten to the point where I've nearly had enough of the church. Virtually all church programming is loathsome to me because it just doesn't seem real or honest anymore (or ever). I'm not saying I'm leaving the church. Those are just my thoughts and feelings at the moment.

What I desire in a church, both in giving and receiving, does not seem to exist in the current church. Strong questions aren't being asked. The mystery isn't embraced. Issues like poverty, justice, human rights, materialism, the family, homosexuality, and other faiths don't see the light of day. Though I've been able to voice my feelings on a few occasions with some close friends and some adventurous short-term missionaries, I don't sense that the existing institutions are going to make a relevant impact on the world.

As I ponder my future service in the world, I've got some questions that need answering by the church which will then define how I will continue to work within or without it.

Everything that I read from Donald Miller, Philip Yancey, Tony Campolo, Brian D McLaren, William M. Easum and Rob Bell suggests that the true church will emerge from para-church, casual, micro, cell, groups of believers. When people think of these people they will think of what I think of when I think of Jesus. And then the Kingdom will grow.

*By church, I mean all protestant western Christian churches as the body of Christ - I'm not discounting churches outside of this definition, I just don't have any strong feelings towards them as I haven't had much to do with them.

300 Posts

and still going strong. Almost 800 comments from nearly 50 different people.

I'm curious. Could I have everyone raise their hand if they read my blog. Add a little comment stating "present" with your name or online handle and at the end of next week I'll scope out how many regular readers I have. If you're reading this on facebook, please leave a comment here.

Thanks for following my blog, and, if I'm writing properly, my thoughts.

Flooding in Tactic

This is what we woke up to yesterday morning.



This is the 6" goat poop soup in our little goat shelter.

It's been raining every day and nearly every night for the past ten days and the forecast is calling for more rain. Fortunately, we are dry and our goats are dry too.

Our ministry director, Les Peters in an email:

Yesterday, when our evening church service ended, it began to rain. The downpour that followed quickly filled the creeks and rivers. The heavy rains continued through the night and many homes located in the valley were flooded. As the rain saturated the hillsides the soil became heavy with water, incredibly destructive landslides destroyed anything that stood in their way.

The president of Guatemala declared a state of emergency. Highways were flooded and blocked by landslides making travel impossible. Livestock crowded onto the highest spots in the fields that became islands as the waters rose. Schools and community halls filled up with those left homeless.

As I am writing this, the rain continues. Roads, bridges and retaining walls are succumbing to the pressure and force of the water. Whole neighborhoods are in danger.

Our home is on stable ground and we are safe….others are not so fortunate. Tonight, more people will lose their homes and more lives will be in danger.

Please pray for our community and our people. Please pray that our small congregation of new believers will be moved with compassion and minister to the many needs during this time of crisis.

Les

This is the inside of the church in Pasmolón that was destroyed in the landslide.
Photo by Les Peters



This is one of the houses that was flooded in Tactic, a two minute walk from my house. The waters have already receded two feet when this photo was taken yesterday.
Photo by Les Peters

Bugs

So, in Canada we didn't really have to worry about exterminating bugs in our home. There were screens in all the windows and the patio door so mosquitos didn't take over and that was about it.

It's different here; we're not quite prepared for the fight. We've fought cockroaches, silverfish, red ants, black ants, flying ants, houseflies, spiders, bedbugs, mites, fleas, and these crazy-miniscule-hard-shelled-pre-historic-armadillo bugs that are impossible to kill. Things get really bad when it's rainy; it's been rainy for 10 days straight. Everyone is looking for a dry place to park their hungry selves.

I don't mind the spiders so much. They've encamped in every corner of our home, catching and feeding on many of the other visitors. I suspect they might be biting us at night too, but I'd rather blame the legendary bedbugs and less savory beasties.

The dirty webs that hang on our rafters, in our door frames and in the corners may be ugly, but I welcome them if it eases our battle with other foes. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Murder: Canada vs. Guatemala

605 people were murdered in Canada last year. That's 1.81 murders per 100,000 people.

5885 people were murdered in Guatemala last year. That's 46.23 murders per 100,000 people.

The difference is primarily due to a culture of impunity in Guatemala. The BBC article says that last year the murder convictions were in the single digits. Murders aren't really even investigated in here. The police, judiciary, and politicians are extremely corrupt. No one has been prosecuted for crimes against humanity from the 36 year civil war in which 200,000 people were killed.

I'm more than apprehensive everytime I visit the capital city. Most of the killing in the Tactic area is revenge or drug related.

If you want to murder someone, come to Guatemala.

I guess that's what you get when you put a gun on your national flag.

Simpsonized Robichauds

I guess the charm is that we are not supposed to look real. At least Amber's hotness shines through and Blaise was able to name each of us.

I'm looking forward to watching the big blockbuster 2-D movie one day.

Simpsonize you.

Prevention Prevention Prevention

It's the middle of the night between day 2 and day 3 of a medical clinic in Pansalché. I think it's fair to say that medical clinics are the most exhausting jobs I do here: supervising a pharmacy, managing drop-ins (patient lists are pre-arranged, so we don't accept many drop-ins, so basically it means saying "no"), occasional translation for the doctor, and the biggie: handing the medication to the patients. I have to explain how to take or apply each medication from vitamins to antibiotics to creams and eye drops.

I'm wiped at the end of the day. Yesterday evening, I read Blaise his 2 books before bed and then fell asleep right there on the bed - 7:45 pm. So now I'm eating grapefruit and going "ga-ga" over the new iMacs.

As to the title topic, prevention, it is so frustrating having to give medication for the same ailments over and over when these same ailments are easily prevented.

• HEADACHES: because people don't drink water and they spend a lot of time in the sun
• HEARTBURN and REFLUX DISEASE: because people drink heaps of coffee and other stomach irritants
• SORE EYES: because of all the smoke in the home from their open fires
• STOMACH WORMS: because food is prepared alongside live chickens, dogs, dirt floors and because the water is not purified up to standard
• CHILDREN'S MALNUTRITION: because of appetite killers such as coffee and candy being fed to children from ages 0 and up
• SHOULDER and BACK PAIN: because people are not doing simple stretching exercises before and after long days of strenuous work

That said, these aren't actually all that easy to prevent considering some of the situations people are living in with no potable water, open fires in their kitchens, dirt floors, long work days, and super low incomes.

The cases that are really heartbreaking though are the ones that aren't preventable. For exampe, the man we saw whose feet were run over by a tractor 5 years ago and has a hard time walking (I thought he might be drunk), but lives at the top of a mountain and works in the valley pulling carts of garbage, only half days because the pain is too much.

In the Pouring Rain

It started raining at about 5:30 pm while church was on. Lightly at first, then a downpour. The things of church quickly left my mind as I began to think about my pour goats, tethered out there in the pouring rain.

So I drove home, put the goats into their brand new home and drove back to church in time for hot tea. When my tea was done, I drove Amber and the babies home, in the pouring rain, then shot over to the medical clinic, which was being cleared out so that sewing could be taught there this week.

The main things that had to go were 3 boxes of vitamins. Two boxes are 700 lbs and the third is at least 1000 lbs (good cardboard!!). So there were a dozen guys from church there waiting for the pick-up truck that had to make 2 trips. We managed to load and unload the vitamins in the pouring rain.

I had to load some 20 boxes of medicine and other things into the Toyota van to bring to a church where we are putting on a 3 day medical clinic with a team that arrived today. In 30 minutes, a couple dozen men are going to meet me at the bottom of a mountain and then carry all this stuff up to the top where the church is, in the dark and in the pouring rain.

-----------------

So, when I got there at 8:30 PM, I waited 15 minutes for the first person to show up and then another 15 for the last 5 to show. I, with the authority of my boss, made an executive decision to cancel the effort. The team can do it tomorrow morning. When it's not raining.

Baaaaaaa

My buddy René and I drove out to Salamá and surrounding areas looking for two milking goats. We're told that there are heaps of them in a place called Rincón. There was one. So we looked some more and there were a few here and there. We ended having to drive through a river to get the first one, which came with two kids. The second one came from her neighbour who was understandably not willing to part with his 3 milking goats, but did sell us a pregnant one (we believe she's pregnant anyway). She's due in December (we think). They are nubians.

We brought them home, cleared the laundry off the lines and tied them up under our car port for the night. You can see Blaise here, licking his lips.



This is Cappuccino Surprise, the pregnant one. She's timid and a very slow eater. The name comes from Amber and Blaise: Amber thought she had cappuccino colours and when we asked Blaise what we should call her, he said "surprise" because that's what we called the goats before we took him out to see them. My addition is that anyone drinking a cappuccino with goats' milk in it will have a surprise.



This is the nanny of the two kids. I'm letting René name her and her two kids.



This is the 3-month-old billy.



This is the 3-month-old nanny. We're going to wean them as soon as we have time. Their mom isn't giving a lot of milk right now so they might already have started weaning.

I milked her this afternoon to try and empty her udder and got a measly 80 mL.

We're not in a hurry to have huge production, but in time we'd like to each get at least 2 L between the two nannies.



This morning René and I went and bought wood and sheet metal and we built a shelter for our goats. It is complete with feeding trough. René's brother Horacio helped a lot. My hands are really sore from using the handsaw all morning.



Blaise is living my dream.

Fast Food in Tactic

Last night, Amber had a hankerin' for some churrascos. So I jumped into the car (with Blaise) and fired into the centre of Tactic where hundreds of other locals were making their way too.



The churrasco is a very thin piece of beef steak, similar in cut to what they dice up for you at Edo Japan. The beef has been marinated and precooked over coals, so it only lacks a quick warming up.



The dish that is prepared is a bed of cooked cabbage with mayonnaise covered with a 10 cm X 10 cm churrasco that is covered with 4 corn tortillas.



Then we pick up some accessories: some deep-fried breadfruit (mazapán) and french fries (papas fritas) doused in mayo, ketchup and green hot sauce.



Two tasty meals like this for exactly $4 (Q28).

Collective Thought

Got an email from my friend Carole suggesting I take a look at this video clip from TED.

It discusses using technology to link the collective images on the web to form one master image of the world. In other words, if I post a picture of my house and add a bit of meta data, people could come across it if they take a 3-D look at Tactic, Guatemala - and it could be connected to other pictures of the area. The video shows this effectively using photos from Flickr that are tagged with "Notre Dame" and composites these photos into a 3-D (sort of) image of the cathedral in Paris.

This is not a new idea, just a new application of the collective thought. The most successful application of it so far has been Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that anyone can contribute to. There is also Project Gutenberg where people can submit and share eBooks for free that are free domain (over 50 years old).

This article in the NY Times (you might need a free subscription) shows how they are doing the same thing with maps.

The most important part of all this is that no one owns the information because everyone contributes and can share it for free. Those who put together the composite can charge advertisers to pay for their costs, but that doesn't hurt anyone or put controls on what is happening.

The idea of collective thought is a recent one for me. As social ideas shift and are moulded through time, it is believed that we all start to think the same thing and hold the same memories. Globally, this is a recent phenomena due to information and communication technology. I detect a serious danger in the way that social ideas can moulded by advertisers (or amoral corporations). These ideas can't be checked because once they are out there and permeate the culture, it takes time to dismantle.

Example: Many people in Guatemala feed Pepsi and coffee to their infants in bottles. This idea won't go away too quickly, but it will over time as it is introduced to a healthier idea through the collective thought - as long as that is the idea that is passed on from the majority.

Finally, there is the issue of collective guilt. If we all believe the same things and as a consequence do the same things (for example add to landfill sites), then we are all at fault and responsible for finding a solution (global warming, urbanization, use of water sources, etc.).

The Swamp

Blaise and I kicked the soccer ball back and forth a bit in our driveway before supper. He's quite a good kicker, though he enjoys carrying the ball in his hands too. He says "One, Three, Five, Goal!" before kicking.

He smartly suggested we play in the grass and I agreed, not so wisely. Our front yard is a swamp, only when it rains though. It rains almost every day.



We got our feet wet.

Travel Guatemala

I've been really blessed to see a lot of the Guatemalan countryside (and neighbouring Honduras and El Salvador) over the past 2 years and on our trip 5 years ago. Some unique places include:

1. Salamá & San Miguel Chicaj
2. Tikal
3. Flores & Santa Elena
4. Lake Atitlan (and 5 towns around it)
5. Pacaya volcano
6. Copán Ruinas and aguas termales, Honduras
7. numerous mountain villages around Tactic
8. Livingstone and Río Dulce
9. Antigua Guatemala
10. Guatemala City
11. Fray Bartolomé de las Casas
12. Semuc Champey and Lanquin
13. Cobán
14. San Juan Chamelco & Caves at Rey Marcos
15. Santa Ana, El Salvador
16. Juayua, El Salvador
17. Purulhá
18. El Rancho
19. Caves at Candelaria

For a long time, I've wanted to get a GPS system that I could carry with me and connect to my computer to generate maps of where I've been. I look forward to many more trips in the future, there are huge chunks of Guatemala that I haven't seen. We hope to go to the Cancún area of Mexico in January to meet family, so that will take us through Belize.

Trip to Salamá

This little afternoon/evening trip marked the first time I had been anywhere new in Guatemala for a very long time. Vicky invited us to go to Salamá and meet her relatives and eat boshból.



Salamá is the capital city of the department of Baja Verapaz. It is much hotter, cleaner, and prettier than our capital, Cobán. We walked around the city market and central square for an hour and a half, then made our way to San Miguel Chicaj about 10 minutes further.



We met up with Vicky, Eldin, Mercedez, Belén, and their relatives in San Miguel and were promptly served a corn drink (sweet like cream of corn) and boshból. Boshból is a squash leaf wrapped around some corn dough that is then boiled. A spicy red sauce is added to it. It reminded me quite a bit of fiddleheads.



We got in at 9 pm. Blaise didn't sleep a wink the whole trip home.

girl / boy

Fresh from the cute patch.



Living to rumble toughly.

Visitors, Crawlers, and Geography

On occasion I like to get an idea of how many people visit my website and what pages are visited most often. The stats give me an idea of which days there was the most traffic (like last Sunday after I sent an email to family and friends that I had posted a bunch of photos).

Two things don't work too well with these stats:

• pictures that I post on my blog monopolize the stats for most visited URLs because my blog gets more traffic than my website and the photos are stored on my website
• 75% of the surfing on my site comes from Web Crawlers

Now, I know the web crawlers do a service, they allow people to find my site based on searches, like these ones: her ankle, tan lines, zaakistan.com, abbadie de saint-castin, amber isaguirre, amber pacific, amber tan, amber hay, anne van nostrand, ben pyper universe, bronze cross, exerpts from chicken soup for the teenage soul, fireweed souvenirs, madokawondo

I added ClustrMaps to my website a couple months ago. I like this one because it localizes where people are visiting my site from. For instance, I know now that my relatives do indeed visit my site from Vancouver, central Alberta, Montreal, New Brunswick, Florida, and China. I can also assume that the dozens of visitors from the midwestern USA are actual web crawlers. Then there are the international visitors like us in Guatemala, friends in South Africa (hi Waldrons), Romania (hi Chels), Peru (hi Victoria and Anna), and Germany (hi Steffi).

There are a few mysterious ones like Switzerland and the one on the edge of Hudson's Bay. Maybe they are the ones searching for tan lines and her ankle.

Rolled into One

I've been super busy. The last two days, I've put in 24 hours of work, plus 8 hours on the weekend. During all of this, I've had lots to write about, but now I've forgotten most of what I've wanted to say. Here are a few snapshots of some experiences / thoughts.



I've installed 23 stoves so far. Jorge helped me out with the last 10 and we had to hike up three mountains to install the last 4. We ran into his brother. Jorge told me that his brother's wife left him a month ago while her husband was at work. She took their two daughters. No one knows where they went.



This is one of the reasons why these stoves are important. This is the soot on a tile roof. The hole is where the stove pipe will go.



My firstborn son turned 2 on Friday. We had a little party that lasted 3 hours - pizza, piñata, and cake. Oh, and lots of toddlers and preschoolers running around. Blaise is awesome.



It is election year in Guatemala - municipal, departmental, and federal. So a helicopter can be seen over Tactic occasionally as it transports campaigning politicians to our region. I want to do a post outlining the various parties and how people campaign in Guatemala.

I am managing a pharmacy at a 4 day medical clinic in Mocohan this week. Got a little break this morning so I could get some translating done. See you on the other side.

7.7.7

This is a day worth celebrating!

I think it is cool that we get to live through two palindromic years - 1991 and 2002. The next one is in 105 years.

Avoidance

About 5 weeks ago, I drove a 13-year-old to a private pediatricians clinic. The boy had been steadily declining in his condition of stiff joints and severe pain for 6 months. His parents had brought him to a local doctor who had said that he had rheumatic fever and prescribed some antibiotics and other things. The drugs had done nothing to improve his situation so far and he hadn't begun his school year in January because of his condition. The director of the children's afternoon program he is involved in asked me what Impact Ministries could do.

The doctor I took him to asked for a long series of tests to be done. The next week, we were told he likely has systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and she referred us to a specialist, the only one in Guatemala, in the capital 4 hours away. Systemic JIA is a very serious disease that attacks the tissue in joints and can cause irreparable damage to joints and the spine if not treated early on. I contacted the boy's sponsor and asked if he would be willing to help with the costs of the treatment and he said he was and has sent money.

Meanwhile, the boy's parents returned to the first doctor they had brought him to who had consistently misdiagnosed him for 6 months. This doctor said that the doctor I took him to was wrong after looking at the tests. They took the boy to an evangelist in Cobán where he was prayed for and liberated from a bad spirit, after which they believed he was healed. He wasn't healed, though he did seem in better spirits.

I managed to convince them to make an appointment with the specialist and they did for the following week. I checked in on them two days ago to see what the specialist said and ask how we could help with the costs of the treatment. They had decided not to go and instead had gotten a referral from their employer to another pediatrician in Cobán who said he just had an infection and prescribed erythromycin, an antibiotic that fights repiratory tract infections along with chlamydia, syphilis, acne and gonorrhea. He is almost finished his prescription. This is his third of fourth series of treatments that will do absolutely nothing to help his condition.

Again, I explained the severity of the disease and the importance of going to the capital. This is a difficult thing to do when they don't want to hear that it is serious and when other doctors are telling them it's just an infection. They agreed after 30 minutes of me telling them they were being irresponsible and careless to make another appointment with the specialist. We'll see if they go through with the trip to the capital or if they will wait another six months to see the JIA worsen and have their son in a wheelchair.

Climb this one mountain

When driving from the Capital, each time I approach Purulhá (Km 164) I reassert that I want to climb this one mountain. It is an awesome sight and the perfect shape. This is it at 8:20 this morning with the mist still shrouding it.

So, in an effort to achieve goals (notably #81) and to be a good host to Will who is visiting, I invited him to climb the mountain with me this morning as I had it open from work. We drove to Purulhá and asked around if we should ask permission from anyone before making the climb. We talked to Don Roberto and he said "Dele!" So we did.



We crossed the barbed wire fence and began our ascent through a thicket of thorns, vines, ferns, alders, and muck. We would run accross a path every now and then, but they usually ran horizontal and didn't give us any hope of reaching the summit. So, without a machete, we scratched our way up the mountain.



After an hour, we were level with the tops of some of the smaller mountains level with us. My goal was to get to the top and see over into other valleys. After scrambling up some rock faces and more scrub brush, we had to quit and enjoy our achievement about 20 minutes short of the summit. We still had to get down, drive home, clean up and then I had to work all afternoon.





The hike down proved more difficult than the one up. We ended up going down the wrong side of the mountain after finding a favourable route, but we would end up a couple kilometres from my car. So we pushed and at a rate of about 2 metres per minute, we bushwacked to the other side of the steep mountain. It was quite demoralizing. It took us just as long to get down as up.



This is Purulhá.



We shot for a corn field that was up the mountain and trudged down the steep hill between 50 cm high corn plants. From there we walked half a km to the car at the base of the mountain.

There was no water for sale at the corner store, so we each downed a freezing Pepsi. My forehead contracted. Both Will and I are very scratched up and sun burnt.

But it was worth it.

After an extensive shower, I went to work deworming children and taking a team to visit their sponsor children in San Antonio.

Pissing my life away

WARNING: MAYBE SOME OF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THIS

My red baseball cap is on the floor of the bathroom in Pollo Campero (Country Chicken fast food joint in Guatemala City). My elbows hurt and so does the back of my head. I hunch over the sink and breath and slowly wash my hands. I stumble out of the bathroom and make it to a chair where I rest a moment. I zip up my pants. I walk to our booth and sit with the three Guatemalans who are with me to pick up the group at the airport in 20 minutes. They tell me I look very white, whiter than usual. I lay down in the booth behind my own and let the blood rush back into my head. My lasagna arrives.

(2 minutes earlier) It's 9:20 pm and I haven't eaten since noon. After nursing a small sweet coffee, I walk into the bathroom to let out some gas and take a whiz. My stomach has been bothering me all day. As I'm urinating, I can feel the blood leave my head from top to bottom. My eyes stop being able to focus. I put a hand on the urinal separator to support myself. I think to myself that the last time I felt this way I fainted, and because I know this I can prevent myself from fainting again.

(9 hours earlier) I'm eating lunch in Honduras; it's one of those tall triple bread sandwiches. I have more than 4 hours of driving to do before I get to Guatemala City. I've spent the morning in my hotel room playing with the kids, watching Wimbledon, and going between the bathroom and the bed. I take an Immodium before getting behind the wheel.

(5 hours earlier) As I lay in bed, I can feel a bit of gas coming on. I consider sitting on the toilet for this one. It's a good thing I do. It's going to be a long morning, perhaps even a long day.