Meeting old and new friends

Hola a todos,

Wow, I can't believe how quickly a month can fly by. So I have a lot of catching up to do. I've posted a new album of pictures on Snapfish which has pics from our long weekend trip to the Caribbean coast. We took a long bus ride to Puerto Barrios and then a boat to Livingston, which is a Garifuna town on the Carribean. It was sunny, hot and pretty humid, but with the ocean breeze it felt nice. We then took a boat ride up the Rio Dulce which is a fresh water river that is in somewhat of a canyon that pours out into the Carribean. We went up one of its tributaries to spend 2 nights in a river jungle lodge called Finca Tatin. The lodge and setting were pretty unique. The main building had no walls and was built up over the damp jungle floor and was truly nestled in the jungle. The food was delicious and our little hut was tucked at the end of a small narrow path into the jungle. It was great, except when the generator went off at 11:00pm so there was no more fan and suddenly the heat and humidity felt oppressive and the sounds of the jungle were defeaning! I certainly let my imagination get the better of me, and the next day decided to head back to Livingston rather than spend another sleepless night in the jungle. (I took it as a very sad sign that I'm getting older!!). So we treated ourselves to a nice hotel in Livingston with a pool for our last night, ate out and listened to Garifuna/reggae music to which a young Garifuna girl, who couldn't have been more than 8, danced "la punta" which is a local dance that reminds me a little of the Hawaiian hula.
So all in all we had a great trip and got to see a very different part of the country. Although Guatemala's Caribbean coast is not full of white sand beaches and crystal blue water, the jungle and Garifuna culture (similar to the Rastafarean culture) are worth seeing.

Work continues to go well. A few weeks ago I accompanied our Men's project educator to Puerto San Jose (a town on the Pacific coast) to identify some groups of men that might be interested in participating in our sexual health and family planning workshops. We had a very successful trip and after knocking on a few doors we were able to convince the local police chief to have his men participate in the workshops and a local radio station to air radio spots about our program!! So after a days work in the heat and humidity we headed back to Antigua, a 3 hour chicken bus ride away, and while sitting on the bus listening to the blaring Guatemalan pop music I realized how much I actually enjoy chicken bus rides (provided I get a seat). The views of sugarcane and coffee fields were beautiful and there is no better place to people watch nor to remind yourself of where you are :)

I had another great workday out "in the field" last week. I went to a health fair that one of our partners was sponsoring and for which we were subsidizing a sterilization and contraceptive implant clinic. It was about a 2 hour drive on the highway and then an hour on a terrible dirt and rocky road, but the views were some of the most beautiful I have seen. We were in the mountains overlooking lake Atitlan. When we got to the small community there were about 300 men, women and children gathered to receive medical attention ranging from vaccinations and general check-ups to gynecological visits, vasectomies and tubal ligations!! We spent the morning observing and giving some educational talks and on our trip back, I thought to myself, "I can't believe how lucky I am that this was a day of work!" Of coures I have plenty of days in the office, actually the majority, but getting to go out into the field for days like that on a regular basis makes all those office days fly by!

As for Ben, he has contiuned with his Spanish lessons and has made tremendous progress. One of his new skydiving buddies invited us, and as it turns out all his siblings and their children, to dinner at his apartment in Guatemala city a few weekends ago. There were about 10 adults and we had a great night eating, drinking and speaking spanish. I think Ben really realized how much he actually does understand, which was great! For those of you who are MSHers, we also had dinner with Hector a few weeks ago, which of course was fantastic. It's a shame he's so seldom in Guatemala! And I also ran into Marjut in the streets of Antigua a few weeks ago who was here with her kids for a few months so they could improve their spanish (what a small world)! We had a wonderful night with her as well.

Now that I'm writing this all down I'm realizing that this month was pretty busy :) We had our first visitor, Kathy Liston and a friend, come down for a week, which was great. It was so nice to show them around Antigua and we went to one of my favorite places in Guatemala, La Casa del Mundo, on lake Atitlan. It is a small hotel built into the cliffside and overlooking the lake and the 3 volcanoes. Unfortunately it is was a little rainy, but early on Saturday morning Ben and I did manage to get in a kayak and a swim (voluntary) while the sun was still out and the volcanoes uncovered. Quite an unbelievable place! I'll send out pictures soon.

So I think that sums up the month of May! Life down here is going great and as you can see we have been running into old friends and hanging out with new ones. We hope to have more friends come down and visit too :)

We hope you are all doing well and enjoying the beginnings of summer.

Take care y hasta pronto,

Ben and Delphine