Xocomil, Sunday October 23

Sunday, October 23, we headed to Xocomil, Guatemala’s water park. Its about an hour and a half outside of Xela, heading towards the coast. I wasn’t so sure what to expect from a Guatemalan water park, but it was really nice! I kind of felt like I took a chicken bus into a Florida water park. When we first got there, the sun was shining, but towards the end it got cloudy and cold.

Probably the best thing about this amusement park was that there were no lines! Its amazing how many rides you can get through in such little time when you don’t have to wait an hour for each one (although I do have to say you kind of lose the anticipation factor when you walk straight up to every ride).

We got to the park around 10:30, changed and put all our stuff in lockers (the bathrooms were incredibly clean and smelled decent!). We started our Xocomil adventure around 11 and had done all the rides by 12:45 (granted there were only 8 rides, but still).

The first ride with did was called Nido deSerpientes, or in English, Snake Nest. It consisted of a bunch of tubes that spiraled together and spit you out in a little pool at the bottom. Two of the tubes, one opened and one closed, were larger and used for partners. The other two, one open and one closed, were for single riders. We did the partner tube one first. I went with Harim, and in the middle of the ride, inside the tube, we fell out of our inflatable tube. We went through the rest of the ride in awkward positions trying not to die. It was scary… in a not good way. We were fine, but it was definitely a shocker.

Another fun/scary ride we did was called El Regresón, or in English, The Regression. This ride involved first going through a black tunnel where you couldn’t see a thing. Then it shot you out onto this large ramp. You flew up the ramp until you felt like you were going to flip (and after my first ride, I was legitimately scared that I would flip), and then slid back down. You’d think the ride was over then, but instead there was another bump that sent you flying through the air, and you landed on another slide that brought you into a pool at the end.

This ride, called El Samalá (no clue what that means) was a scary one too. There were pads with handles on them, and you lied on top of them, belly down. The idea was to race people, so when the buzzer buzzed, you pushed off a wall at the back and flew down the slides. I definitely had some air time in this one (and didn’t win my race).

This ride is called El Caracol, which literally means snail, but can also be used as an expression for “wow!” We preferred to call it the toilet bowl ride. You first went through another black tube, where you couldn’t see a thing, except this one started with a crazy drop. Then, you went into this large “bowl” where you spun around and around until you went into the center and finished the ride going through another black tube. The scariest part about this ride was this it was easy to get stuck at the bottom, like in the picture. Then, you had to struggle to get through the hole, hopefully face first, while another two people were spiraling around you. I’m not sure how safe this ride actually was. But, after struggling, we finally made it through the tube and out safely.

The last “ride” we did was the lazy river that went through the entire park. This was pretty cool because there were decorations along the whole way. Although, after this, I was pretty freezing cold.

At 1:00, we met to have lunch. The food court was much like any food court at an amusement park in the states… greasy, overpriced fast food with zero nutritional value. Except overpriced is 30Q for a burger (the equivalent of about 4 dollars). And, I found cheese pupusas, which I thought that were a fun twist. A pupusa is a pocket of cornmeal stuffed with anything from beans to cheese to chicharron to a mixture of whatever. They are pan fried and then served with a cabbage salad over them. These weren’t all that great (the ones Ali and I made ate home were far more tasty), but it was cool to be able to get them. Pupusas are from El Salvador, so I am excited to eat some real pupusas when we go there (in 17 days!).

After lunch, we headed back to the locker rooms, changed, andwere out of the park and on a Chicken bus back to Xela by 3.

Although the day was fun and I was totally shocked to see such a nice amusement park in Guatemala, I realized I’m not a huge fan of water parks. I like the thrill of the rides, but I don’t like walking around a park wet and cold from ride to ride. I think I prefer plain old rollercoasters. There is another park, connected to Xocomil, called _____ that is based off of different famous locations in the world. Maybe in a free weekend, we will head over there and check it out.

These are some priceless signs that were posted all over the park:

Y'abal Volunteer Project 10/22/11

*Above: The view as we took the microbus through the mountains. After so much rain, it was incredible to have sunshine. We were told that when the clouds aren't there, you can see Lago Atitlan (which seems crazy far away)

*Below: This is the main road of the community. In reality, two different communities that lived miles away from each other on the coast, now live next to each other. Even though they share land, a school, church and clinic, they still consider themselves very separate. Even at the top of a mountain in a small community in the middle of Guatemala, politics rule.

Our volunteer project this weekend involved going to a community in an area of Guatemala called Alaska, located about 1:30 outside of Xela. This community is at the highest elevation in Guatemala (aside from mountain/volcano tops) and is also the coldest area. We worked through an organization called Y’abal. You can check out their website here: http://www.yabal-handicrafts.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1

Originally, the people that live in this community lived on the coast of Guatemala. When hurricane Stan destroyed their homes and land and everything they owned, they wandered and wandered until they found this area. They saw it was not owned land, so they started camping there. But, life was difficult for them. The climate and land in the mountains is different than that on the coast, and the people couldn’t survive the way they always had.

That’s when a few people happened upon this community and decided to help them. They organized groups to come help build houses, a church, a school and a clinic. They taught the men how to build and cultivate different types of crops, and the women to do traditional Mayan weaving. The organization now sells the weavings in a store in Xela, and all the profits go back to the community.

Our volunteer project involved setting up a “fun day” for the kids of the community. Melissa, a young woman from Belgium who has lived in Xela for 15 years, was our contact. She helped us organize the projects and gave us important details such as the number of kids, the supplies we would need to provide, etc.

We planned activities in three different locations. One was a clinic, where we taught the kids about brushing teeth. Another was an art studio, where we helped them do art projects. The third was a camp, where we set up a relay race/field day for the kids.

The most challenging part of this project was the fact that none of the children, except for the older ones, spoke Spanish. They all spoke the Mayan language Quiche. You can imagine the challenge in teaching dental health, describing an art project, and explaining a relay race when verbal communication isn’t an option.

We began the day with all the kids on the field. A parent who spoke Spanish helped us divide all the kids (about 50) into three different groups. Then, each group began the day at one activity. We had about 30 minutes with each group before they changed spots.

The clinic/brushing teeth group was very creative with their approach. They used their hands and black beans to represent dirty teeth. Then, they had large brushes and the kids got to clean the hands just like they should brush their teeth.

The art studio did a project with paper plates and colored pieces of paper. The kids were able to use whatever color they wanted and create whatever designs they desired.

I was in the camp group, which in my opinion was the most fun option. We created a relay race, which really just turned into a bunch of kids lining up and taking turns (or not taking turns) playing with the balls, hula hoops, etc. that we brought. But, the kids were being active and laughing and seemed to be having a good time, so we were happy.

The games we thought of included the following. In demonstrating these games, I realized my skills for relay races really suck. Probably the most hilarious was when I tried to do the potato

sack race (in a sack that was clearly too small for me) and face planted. I also stood in for a girl on one team and ended up miserably failing at the crab walk (aka 6 year old boys beat me). We left all the equipment that we brought with the community so they could use them in the school.

1. Wheelbarrow race (which we quickly realized wouldn’t work with girls wearing traditional traje)
2. Running race
3. Dribbling a soccer ball
4. Crab walk (also doesn’t work with traje, so we switched it to “walking on all fours” for the girls)
5. Potato sack race
6. Leap frog (again, doesn’t work with traje)
7. Hula hoop race (we ended up making three different kinds of hula hoop races on the spot in order to take the place of our three nonfunctional games)
8. Three legged race (the field was very pot-holey, and we decided this wasn’t the safest option, so we got rid of this one too)
9. Spoon and lime race (like the spoon and egg race, but we didn’t want to waste perfectly edible eggs, so we used limes that could be eaten after the games)
10. Pass the ball down the line

Above: These two little girls were very loving and clinging... they hung on to my legs for quite a while.

Below: A group of boys doing the "spoon and lime" race.

Above: A group of kids doing our original hula hoop game.

Below: This kid was awesome at the potato sack race! He should have demonstrated for everyone, not me!

After all the groups got to participate in each “station” we served a snack of homemade molasses cookies from a local Xela bakery and fruit punch (not exactly the most healthy snack, but we were on a budget and preparing enough food for 60 kids plus volunteers and other community members is not exactly the easiest of tasks). We also gave each kid a toothbrush of their own. We aren’t exactly sure if they will ever be used, but we hope some of what they were taught sticks with them!

These two kids refused to play any games, but they were great observers.

Some of the families of the community served us lunch. In Guatemalan form, they were very welcoming and served us their very best. We were served chicken, black beans and rice with tortillas. Since the family did not sit with us at the table, I was able to quickly pass my portion of chicken to Geoff, who gladly ate it. This way, I didn’t have to eat meat and we didn’t waste any valuable food.

One thing I do love, when we eat in local communities, is the tortillas. They are always made from scratch, starting with corn kernels. They are cooked on an open fire stove, which gives them a better taste. I’m going to miss real tortillas like that.

After lunch, we waited around about 30 minutes for our microbus to take us back. During this time, many of the kids came up to us wanting to play more. It was fun entertaining them, although difficult when they ask you something and you know you cannot respond. But, as

cheesy as it sounds, smiles and hugs are kind of a universal language…

Below: This picture shows how sturdy the houses are in the community. It also shows a little girl who made a game out of chasing turkeys. Then, she was successful in catching one! It was pretty funny watching her scramble around and then pin down the turkey, pick it up, and walk off with it.

Trabajo Voluntario

Its been a while since I’ve talked about what I’ve been up to… so I’ll catch you up!

6 weeks of this program involves volunteer work in Xela. The idea is that we use the Spanish skills we developed as well as gain exposure to health systems/services and culture in Guatemala and Central America.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons I work with the Red Cross from 3-6 PM. The doctor usually comes around 4pm and the amount of time he stays depends on how many patients come. He is usually there for about an hour and a half. Before the doctor comes, I call the patients into the room (there is only one consult room) and take their blood pressure, weigh them and ask their age. I write this information down in a big notebook, or work with a partner that writes the information. It is great practice with my Spanish numbers! During consults, the doctor explains conditions to me and asks me questions about conditions/bones/general anatomy.

Wednesday mornings I work with the Bomberos, or emergency responders/firefighters. Most of the time I spend there is a lot of waiting. But, I talk with the bomberos, work on Spanish homework and watch Spanish TV and movies, so it helps. When we do have emergencies, we get to observe some interesting situations.

Thursday afternoons, Rachel and I teach a combined yoga/dance class that we named Yoganza (a mix between yoga and danza, a Spanish word for dance) through PEILE, an organization that I’ve mentioned before. The class is composed of 10 students ages 6-10. The two 6 years olds are boys and impossible to control, but the older girls enjoy the class… or at least they seem to!

Tuesday and Thursday mornings I am taking Spanish classes to continue learning grammar and working on speaking correctly. Its great to be immersed in our volunteer locations, but the people working there usually don’t correct you when you say something wrong. I work with my teacher in a café.

Friday afternoons I have a group class with Marissa, Harim and Korrin, taught at the school by one of the maestras. Each week, we have a topic to research and then we discuss that topic in class. This helps us to explain complicated ideas and express emotions in Spanish.

Tuesday nights we have documentary movies at 7:45 PM. Because the movies are later at night (to accommodate the different schedules of all 14 of us) we don’t have time for discussion about the movie. I miss this part a lot! So far we have watched movies about health insurance, corporations and migrant farm workers.

Wednesday nights we have conferences and a group dinner at the school. I enjoy these nights because it is one of the few times during the week that all of us are together and get to discuss the experiences we have been having while volunteering. Also, the food is usually full of veggies and delicious (unlike the typical eggs, beans and fried plantains we usually get)! The conferences we have had so far include a discussion with an immigrant, with a migrant farm worker, and with a person who works with an organization that focuses on a number of aspects with immigrations… such as speaking with people and convincing them to not immigrate, helping immigrants with culture shock both when they arrive in the US and when they return to Guatemala, creating movements to retain culture amongst communities, counseling of all types, language lessons, etc. The organization, named DESGUA: Causas Estructurales de la Migracion (www.desgua.org), has offices across America and Guatemala.

Every other weekend, we have day trips to different areas of Guatemala to hike, learn about weaving, volunteer, and just tour Guatemala. Unfortunately, due to the massive amounts of rain and road destruction, we were unable to go on our trips last weekend (we would have had to cross this bridge, and a number of roads destructed by mudslides: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe1kbhVO8a0&feature=player_embedded). These trips have been rescheduled for the upcoming weekend, provided the rain stops, which is no guarantee.

Experiences with the Red Cross:

The clinic has a surgery room, two rooms with hospital beds, an X-Ray machine, laboratory (which I’ve actually never been in), a pharmacy, waiting room, office and one room for consults. I haven’t taken pictures yet, but I will before my 6 weeks are up. My first week, I learned the system of sterilization, how to fold all the laundry, how to make gauze pads, etc. I have not used most of these skills since then, except for the gauze folding (which we do a lot of!).

The doctor at the clinic is an Orthopedic specialist, but he also serves as a general physician. Many of the conditions that we see are typical of those you might see in any US clinic, although a few are very advanced due to people ignoring pain or signs of infection.

1) Like I said, the doctor often explains patient conditions to me and asks me questions about anatomy or organs, etc. One day, there was a patient in the office with prostate complications. The doctor asked me if I could explain what the prostate was and the condition that this man had. In Spanish, I said “Yes, but I don’t know how to explain it in Spanish.” He responded in perfect English “well, we can talk in English if you want, but you aren’t here to learn English, you are here to learn Spanish. I lived in the US for 5 years and learned how to speak English, so you can live here and learn how to speak Spanish.” Needless to say, I was shocked! I had no idea that he could speak English. It is definitely motivation to keep working hard on the language, if nothing else, just to be able to pull that on someone else!

2) There was a guy who had been having breathing/throat problems for 2 years. He said he went to the General Hospital, but they told him nothing was wrong, yet for the past 4 weeks (before coming to the clinic) he wasn’t able to talk. So, we took a look in his throat and it was FULL of infection. No wonder the guy couldn’t breath, eat or talk! Its really interesting to see people that clearly have complications but wait 2 years to take care of them. The doctor I was shadowing sent him to a specialist because he thought it was cancer and needed to be removed, but the guy didn’t want to go because it meant he would have to miss a day of work. It is difficult to think about, but in a way both work and health are a question of life and death for him.

3) A man came in after having gallbladder surgery, and had some pretty gnarly stitches on his stomach. To make it worse, they were extremely infected and oozing blood and puss (this was 15 days after his surgery). Clearly, there was a ton of infection either from the surgery itself or a lack of care for the wound. The doctor cleaned up the stitches, which turned my stomach quite a bit (mostly because I wasn’t expecting such a sight when he lifted his shirt), and then gave him clear instructions about how to clean them, and prescribed him an antibiotic.

4) We have also seen quite a few broken bones in young people. Most of the accidents occur from falling while playing or tripping in the street. It seems to me that many of the mechanisms of injury don’t call for such damaging fractures as I have seen (many of them are displaced). I wonder if this is a result of the lack of calcium in the typical Guatemalan diet, but I don’t know if this is actually true.

5) Unfortunately, the care, surgeries and medications the Red Cross offers are not free. Each consult is 40Q, and I’m not entirely sure what X-rays and medications cost. Many patients have come in with problems that require surgery. The doctor names his price, but most cannot afford it. When surgery is necessary, they must go to the general hospital, where care is free but waits are long and reliability is low. There are a few programs in which people can apply for free medication, but many medications are not included within these programs. I wish we didn’t have to turn people away! But, I also understand that there are financial constraints that keep organizations from being able to provide everything they want.

Experiences with the Bomberos:

As I said, working with the bomberos involves a lot of waiting around, but when there are emergencies we get to go in the ambulance and observe the calls. All of the bomberos are volunteers. There is no other option for ambulance service in Xela. The hospital has ambulances, but they are used to transfer hospital patients to other locations for CT scans, MRIs, etc. because there are not enough resources to house them in the hospital. The bombero ambulance is more like an emptied out microbus. Apparently, they have an equipped ambulance, but none of the volunteer personnel know how to work the equipment, so they don’t use it.

Its not that I wish people are in danger or hurt, but I do like observing the calls and watching the interactions, and at times I find myself wishing a call would come. It’s a little oxymoronic.

1) The first call I experienced involved a pregnant women who was on a chicken bus when she started having labor pains. We went to a random road where the chicken bus was waiting on the side of the road and helped the woman out of the bus and into the ambulance. She was 31 years old and this was her 5^th pregnancy. She was also only 5 months in, so it was not a good thing that she was in so much pain. We drove her to the general hospital. During the drive, the bombero asked questions about name, age, # of births, type of pain, etc. He didn’t take any vitals or even do a primary assessment. The other interesting thing is that we did not use the lights or sirens. So, with Xela traffic, it took us a while to get there. Once we finally got to the hospital, we took the woman into the maternity ward. The hospital is extremely different from any hospital I have ever seen. I found it very disorganized and dirty (compared to the hospitals I have seen in the US) and the nurses/doctors there were slow to answer us, even though we had a loud moaning pregnant woman in serious pain. After about 5 minutes of waiting, a nurse finally approached us and asked what we needed…

2) Another call took us to a very unpopulated part of Xela. We spent forever trying to find the house, and I’m pretty sure our response time was about 20 minutes. Again, we didn’t use the lights or sirens. Once we finally found the house, it was surrounded by mud and really difficult to bring the stretcher through the mud and into the tiny house. The emergency involved a guy that had been drinking way too much, and was suffering from cirrhosis. He had bloody spittle and was moaning incomprehensible words. He couldn’t move himself, so we had to lift him onto the stretcher… not exactly a light person. We also took him to the hospital.

3) Another call took us to the soccer field where XelaJu plays. One of the soccer players had been kicked in the face and had a pretty impressive tear in his front lip and I’m pretty sure his nose was broken. There was a ton of blood, but otherwise he was okay (didn’t seem to be showing signs of concussion). We took him to the hospital as well. It was kind of cool to ride in the ambulance with a relatively famous soccer player, although I’m pretty sure he was totally unaware I was there.

4) And then there was the experience with the flood, which you can read below.

Experiences with Yoganza:

We have only been able to teach our class twice because school was cancelled last week due to the rain (and although the class is not taught through the school, we were told children likely wouldn’t come to the class if they didn’t go to school).

We begin the class with an introduction where we sit in a circle and everyone says their name and an interesting fact about themselves (favorite color, food, etc.). After, we do about 20 minutes of basic Yoga, and then transfer into about 20 minutes of ballet. The last 10 minutes we save for snack (we usually bring bananas because we can buy a dozen for 5Q) and drawing time. The first class, we didn’t have drawing time, but we asked at the end what they would like more of in our class, and they said drawing. We were a little confused since drawing has nothing to do with movement, but we included it anyway, saying that they have to draw a picture of a yoga or dance position that we learned that day.

The first class was interesting. The children are older than I’m used to working with, so I had to change my approach. I decided to use more ballet movements and try to actually teach them the basis of ballet (when I was that age, I was totally into it, although I understand that’s a little unusual). I wasn’t sure they really cared. I’m positive the 6 year old boys didn’t, but the next week I was pleasantly surprised that all the girls remembered the positions and some of the movements and were excited to show me. I was proud of them!

So that’s a quick update of what has been going on. We have another three weeks of volunteer work,

Tropical Depression 12E

My most recent facebook status:

Sunday 10am: Brunching with the family in STL

Monday 10am: Interviewing at KCOM in Kirksville, MO

Tuesday 10am: Waiting in the Miami airport to fly back to Guatemala

Wednesday 10am: Wading through waist deep water rescuing people from massive flooding in Xela

Wednesday 1:45pm: Accepted into Medical school, 3^rd generation KCOM

The worlds greatest novelist couldn’t make this up…

Tropical Depression 12E hit Guatemala hard. It is hard to get information about it here, and I’m not sure if it was well publicized in the US or Denmark or Italy or wherever you may be at this moment.

While waiting in the airport in Miami on Tuesday (to fly back to Guatemala), I saw the rain/cloud system on the TV, but didn’t really think anything of it. Xela is way up in the mountains, away from the coast, certainly a hurricane wouldn’t cause much of a worry. Well, I was wrong.

I got into Guatemala around 1pm on Tuesday and took a taxi to the bus stop. There, I waited for a 3pm bus to take me to Xela. I didn’t get into Xela until 8:30pm (as a reference point, the same drive took me 4 hours on my way to the airport, this one took 5:30). There was a ton of fog and rain… so much I couldn’t see out the window. I was happy to not be responsible for driving the massive bus.

When I got into Xela, it was pouring, but I figured it was just the usual Xela rain that has bothered us day in and day out for forever. I took a taxi home, had a quick dinner, and was asleep by 10pm. I slept like a rock that night and didn’t hear a thing. When I woke up at 6am, I heard the sound of pouring rain and thought to myself, “wow, I wonder if it ever stopped?”

I got up to go to the bathroom and went to put my shoes on and realized that I was in the middle of a mini lake. I looked around and sure enough, a stream of water was falling down my wall. I put my shoes on and left my room to go tell Patti.

Turns out, she was pretty aware of the rain/effects. The roof in Jaki’s bedroom was entirely destroyed. Jaki had woken up in the middle of the night and realized that her entire bed was soaking wet. There were about 4-5 holes in the ceiling and rain was creating little waterfalls into buckets placed on the floor.

I went into Marissa’s room, and her bed was moved in order to avoid a leak in the roof. The floor in Patti and David’s room was also wet, and the hallways were flooded. In a nutshell, the rain never did stop. It just kept coming harder and harder. After helping clean up and dry up the mini newly formed lakes around the house, we settled down for breakfast.

(We are spending 6 weeks doing volunteer work… which I still need to write a blog about… but just know that I work with the Bomberos, or emergency responders, Wednesday mornings).

At breakfast, I get a call from Erika that I should wear warm, waterproof clothing to the Bomberos because they help with rescue during major storms such as this. So, I dressed in warm running tights, wool socks, my rain pants, rain boots, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, and raincoat. I figured I was good to go… on my walk to the station I didn’t get wet at all! I had no idea what was coming.

Aeja and I get to the station and the Bomberos tell us that we are heading to the Rotunda, where there was/is massive flooding, to help people escape from their houses. The Rotunda is in Zone 2 of Xela. It is one of the main ways to get in and out of the city. On the ride to the rotunda, we could see that the streets were flooded, but it was still possible to drive. We were told that once we arrived, there would be a person in charge that would give us assignments.

When we got to the rotunda, I could see what they meant by massive flooding. The rotunda itself was higher ground, so it wasn’t flooded and cars could pass through in two directions. But the streets surrounding the rotunda were totally underwater. It was the kind of thing you see on TV but never really feel like its real life. I wish I would have brought my camera (especially since it is waterproof) but then again, it probably wouldn’t have been too well looked upon to be taking pictures in that moment.

We stood in a long line and the boss split us into groups and gave us orders. The rain was loud and I could barely hear the guy, let alone understand what I was supposed to do. He pointed to me, and then pointed toward another group of people, so I just followed and figured I would discover my duties as we went.

A group of 6 of us including Bomberos and Aeja and I walked across the rotunda and down the street to a hotel. We couldn’t enter the hotel from the front, because the road was too flooded and dangerous, so we went around back where less water had accumulated. We climbed up to the roof and entered the hotel through the top. Inside the hotel, water covered the bottom floor, probably a good 2 feet. We rounded up all the guests and told them to take their valuables and leave the rest… they could come back for them after the storm passed. Many people didn’t want to leave, and some refused, but we got most of the visitors out of the hotel including all the young children and babies.

We helped each person climb back down the side of the wall and onto the street, and walked them to a shelter at a church located next to the Rotunda. From there, they would take a bus to a larger shelter in Zone 1 (close to where I live, an area that was not affected by the massive flooding). After we finished this task, we reported back to the boss for our next assignment.

We were put into groups of three, told to not separate from our groups under any circumstances, and sent to a street that descended into what appeared to be a slow flowing river… the water easily was up to my waist. Looking down the street, we could see people stuck in their houses… babies, children, elderly… were trying to get out of their homes and to dry land. I couldn’t help but think, “why didn’t you get out of here earlier?”

Our groups of 3 waited at the edge of the water, and we took turns going in to retrieve people. The moment that I first entered the water was a shock. It was so cold, and I could feel the current in the water. The pressure wrapped around my legs and every step just took me deeper into the water. I could feel water filling my rainboots and I had a panicking moment that my boots would fill with water and I wouldn’t be able to walk anymore. With every step forward I had to tell myself to breath. I made sure I didn’t let myself get separated from my group, and the fact that I was helping other people who didn’t have the ability to walk in the water was the only thing that kept me from turning around.

The best feeling I can relate this to is that feeling you get when you first start the swim in a triathlon (I don’t know how many people reading this can relate to that). You panic and your heart races and you can’t breath and you feel like you are so out of shape you’ll never be able to finish the race, but then you get into the swing the groove and calm down.

Except I never really did calm down. I was glad to come out of the water the first time, and every following time I had to enter the water, I got the same pressure, panicky, out of breath feeling.

As we were working, it was still pouring down rain, and the water level in the street continued to grow. Eventually, rafts were brought to help us move through the rivers of streets. Family members started coming up to us, telling us where their loved ones were and that they needed help. I remember one mother specifically, who was in tears because her 3 children and elderly mother were stuck in the house and couldn’t get out. I was not on the boat that retrieved them, but I did see the woman later, caring for her family.

Plastered on a wall was a waterproof map of Zone 2, with the streets labeled in letters and numbers. Every time there was an “assignment” the group would be shown where they were heading, and then use a boat to go to that location. It was a little complicated because we only had 3 rafts…. therefore, the work was a little slow.

I went in a raft with my team to help people trapped yet unable to call for help. We rowed down the street calling into houses and across the water, warning them that they needed to leave their houses and we were there to help them.

The water was absolutely disgusting, a thick brown, with a layer of trash on top and the shimmer of gasoline. Many times the raft got stuck on the trash and we had to move it from the boat’s path.

We came upon many houses where people refused to leave. We told them the rain was going to keep coming, the water was going to keep rising, they might run out of food, suffer from cold, but nothing convinced them. The two main reasons that people don’t want to leave, which were explained to me after the fact, is that (1) when people leave their houses, robbers come and steal valuables and (2) people don’t want to be squished into a shelter with a million other sick, cranky, crying, smelly people. Definitely understandable concerns, but I also don’t think I’d want to stay in a house where the entire first floor is completely under water, and nobody can reach you in the case of an emergency.

We eventually came upon a family that was calling out for help. We helped a baby, a young child, a mother and a father into our small raft from their second floor and rowed them back to the shelter.

At around 11:15 I was told to go inside and take a break. Once I stopped working, the cold set in and I started shivering. People handed me hot beverages and bread and at that moment, even dirty sock water (what we call Guatemalan coffee because it is so weak and sugary) tasted good. I also had a cup of mosh and about 3 pieces of bread. Then it was time to go back out.

By this time, more people had come to help and there weren’t enough rafts for the number of people willing to help. This meant that we had to sit around for a while, and standing in the rain I just kept getting colder and colder. After a while, Aeja and I realized we couldn’t do any more work we were shaking so bad. We had to tell the bomberos that we needed to get into dry clothes.

The bomberos said not to worry, and they took us back to the station. I walked home, sloshing with every step. I’m sure I got some crazy looks from people on the street…. A shivering gringo walking down the street soaking wet.

When I got home I was pretty much shaking uncontrollably. It was the kind of cold where you just feel like crying because you can’t warm yourself up and you feel so pathetic and helpless. I wrung out my clothes and jumped into a hot shower, or as hot as they get here. The lucky thing is that right before I got home, the power came back on. Apparently it had been off for hours. That was pure luck!

I blow dried my hair and feet and put on many layers of warmth. Patti made me a hot cup of coffee and a cup of noodles, which seems weird but both were hot and exactly what I needed to warm up. We sat around the table in the kitchen for a little and I told everyone about what the situation was like in Zone 2, and then we watched the TV to find out more information. I was so happy to be warm and dry and safe.

But at the same time, I felt a sense of failure. It’s funny, because in my preparation for my KCOM interview, one of the questions I came across (from Student Doctor Network) was “what is the most humbling experience you have had in your life.” I struggled answering that one before the interview, and I’m glad that question never came up. But now, I definitely have the answer.

I started the morning so ready to help, prepared for anything, and I walked into the water pushing out of my mind all the fears of what could happen. But after some time, you realize you can only do so much. Even though you are helping people, you can’t change the fact that their houses and lives are torn apart, that the rain is still coming and the water is still rising.

The moment I told the Bomberos I was too cold to keep going, I was disappointed in myself. I felt like a weak woman with a petty, lame complaint that couldn’t keep going, too accustomed to her comfortable life (it was as if I were living up to the stereotype that this machismo society throws in your face). It was definitely a crushing moment, and I still wish I had stayed longer and helped more people.

But at the same time, I was relieved and glad to be on my way to warmth. It makes me see emergency responders and firefighters and police with a whole new level of respect. I have always appreciated their sacrifices, but living that experience really ingrains it into your mind.

Another amazing thing I noticed was the amount of people that came to help. Women came with large teapots (and cups) full of coffee, tea, mosh, atole, all beverages boiling hot, with bags of bread. Every time someone came out of the water, whether an emergency responder or a rescued civilian, there was someone handing that person a hot beverage and a helping hand. People brought dry clothes and blankets to the shelter, agua pura, rafts. It was really inspiring to see everyone looking out for everyone.

Later that day, I went to the school to check my email and got the exciting news that I was accepted into KCOM. Talk about a whirlwind of emotions within one day!

The storm is still continuing, although weather reports here are really poor and don’t provide you with any specific information. All of the roads going in and out of Xela are closed due to mudslides (there are 14 mudslide locations on the highway between Guatemala and Xela). Schools are closed and the city is pretty dead, although some restaurants and bars and internet cafes are open. The rain comes and goes, at times really strong and at others just a drizzle. But the sun hasn’t come out for days. They say we should expect more rain for the next 10 days.

I’m really hoping we get to see the sun soon! And I hope the rain stops so Guatemala can rescue its land and people and get back to normal life.

Check out the following link to see what it was like:

http://www.prensalibre.com/quetzaltenango/Quetzaltenango-personas-fallecidas-estragos-lluvias-video_3_571172888.html