Ama la vida

Things have been going well for me recently, I just thought I'd write up a few tidbits.

• On Sunday, I went with all the female volunteers to Marisol's birthday party. Marisol is a local girl who works in the kitchen and just turned 17. Her house is a 15 minute walk from the lodge and even though it had been pouring down rain, we put on our jackets and trekked uphill. It cleared up shortly after. At the house, Marisol sat behind a table and her friends lined the walls sitting on plastic stools. The boys all congregated in one corner, acting too cool for school, & the girls giggled and whispered secrets on the other side of the room. Marisol's guy friend made a speech and then asked her to close her eyes. I thought he was trying to steal a kiss but instead he blew flour into her face. It covered her nose, entered her eyes and dyed her hair gray. She ran out mortified. Reggaeton music played and no one danced. One of my coworkers, LeeLee, started dancing with a local boy. The other gringas from the lodge joined in and I took to dancing with a toddler. Eventually, I was dancing with 4 little kids playing follow the leader. When Marisol returned, she had changed her outfit and styled her hair with little blue flowers. She re-entered the house with a bang (literally, they set off fireworks as she walked in) and then she danced with her boyfriend. The immature friends chanted "Beso! Beso!" (Kiss! Kiss!) and her boyfriend went in for the kill as she rolled her head to the side and avoided it all together. She giggled and they just kept dancing.
• The girls that work in the kitchen all live in the nearby town like Marisol. Most are in their late teens although a few are in their 20's or 30's. They all wear traditional dress, meaning a long skirt and colorful, conservative tops. I have become good friends with them, often joking around. They are fascinated by my clothes and accessories because they have never tried on anything like it. Yesterday they all begged to try on my jeans. We stood side by side trying to gauge whether my pants would fit them. I postponed the fashion show to another day, but in the meanwhile I let Marisol try on my glasses. She was immediately dizzy, although I confess my prescription isn't all that strong, so she looked in the mirror, giggled & took them off. This whole interaction provoked a conversation with another coworker, Justin, who remarked how unfair it is that local men can wear jeans and t-shirts while the women are limited to the traditional dress. While it is a beautiful element of their culture, it is clear that women do not have the same freedom of expression as their male counterparts.
• I went to craft club the other day at the local school. Kids are currently on vacation but are encouraged to come work on art projects for a few hours during the week. I taught a boy named Mario how to knit and he caught on quickly. The girls made friendship bracelets and the boys knit scarves, while I made childish jokes about stinky feet. When I saw Mario later that week, he was walking around town, knitting needles in hand.
• The volcano Fuego has been spouting and smoking recently, allowing for some really breathtaking moments shared with guests and staff and cool photo-ops to share with the folks back home.
• Recently, I have been having really weird, vivid dreams. I don't know if it's the change in location or the recent visit from the exterminator, but something has been altering my brain activity at night. It is really interesting and often fun, but last night, for example, it just led to restless sleep. I woke up with all my sheets, pillow cases and comforters in a ball, laying on top of a bare mattress. Additionally, I have a frequent visitor in the morning: a yellow-backed oriole. It appears he is either trying to wake me up by colliding into my window or attempting to mate with his reflection. Either way, I am annoyed and wish he would find another window to tap at 6AM. To his credit, he is a very beautiful bird and if I were him I'd be obsessed with my reflection, too.
• In addition to the birds, there are an insane amount of creepy crawlers. Whenever I encounter a new creature I feel like I am in the Lion King: the scene where Timon & Pumba devour colorful bugs and teach Simba the meaning of Hakuna Matata. It is quite often that I imagine my life as a Disney film. Another example is when our dogs, Rufus and Lola, begin to howl and bark, communicating with dogs around town and throughout the valley. It feels like 101 Dalmations when all the dogs are conspiring across the city.
• The other day, Rufus and Lola followed a guest uphill and disappeared. As I left around 12PM, I told the driver what had happened and just shrugged, hoping they would come back soon. At 3PM, we were driving uphill from Antigua (a 20 min drive, a 90+ min hike) when I spotted a woman walking with the two pups. Their tongues practically reached the ground and Lola looked like she could collapse at any moment (she's a bit overweight and has really bad hips). The woman planned to walk the dogs all the way back to the lodge, giving Lola frequent breaks. We hauled the dogs into the van and drove them home. At the top of our hill, two stray dogs tried to attack Lola. Some local women were doing laundry and threw a bucket of water on the dogs, who quickly ran away. I led our dogs back to the lodge and they spent the rest of the day recovering from their ambitious adventure.

Coming up, we have a busy weekend, live music and a barbeque. More stories and pictures to come.

Shout out to my newest readers, Jamie & Kyano, two of my former students!

(The photos are in no particular order. Apologies for the ones that are blurry or have bad lighting.)