my Guatemala: February 2007

Ana Virginia

I have news for all of you who have donated money. As you know I have donated a big part of the money to INEPAS for their projects with the Hogares Communitarios. What you don't know yet is that I have kept some money for other projects. And well I have found someone who is in need:

Let me introduce you to Ana Virginia.

Her story is quite sad as when Ana was born the doctor made a mistake at her birth and therefore her brain was damaged. The diagnosis at this time was that she was mute and blind and had the west syndrome (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/West-Syndrom). The doctors said that it will be a miracle if Ana lives up to her first birthday. As you can see, Ana has fought together with her parents, and now Ana is 8 years old. She is actually speaking a little and she does also see a little. In the last few weeks her condition got worse, she has had different attacks or strokes (don't know how you call this) and now she has problems walking. She needs an exam and a treatment, which can only be done in Guatemala City, but her parents just don't have the money (2000 Quetzales, about 270 USD) to get the exam done. I hope I have acted in your interest when I offered her parents to help them. At first they did not want to accept as they feel ashamed to accept money but as it is in the best interest of Ana they could not turn the offer down. On Thursday this week they will travel to Guatemala City, so after this date I will let you know what the results of the exam are.
Again thank you for your help!

Zoologico

Well after all examinations we know now that I don't only have bacteria but also some ameba... again yes yes...! What I did not know is that 8 days after taking the anti-ameba medicine you have to take it again as these bastards leave eggs. Never heard about amebas leaving eggs... I thought they reproduce by "Zellteilung". Guess I don't really remember my biology classes.
I met Alfredo (Italian guy who lives in Guate for many many years and runs an Italian restaurant here in Xela) the other night and he told me the following.
When he visited his family in Italy the last time he fell sick after two days in his hometown. He went to the tropical disease institute and had a check up done when the doctor asked him where he has been. When he told him that he came from Guatemala, the doctor laughed and said that he could tell from the "Zoologico" Alfredo had in his stomach. 3 different bacteria and 5 types of ameba... guess they did not like the Italian climate!
cheers
Mtfbwy

Helicobakter Pyloris

I am making a new experience with a new intestinal pet :).
As I found out yesterday that I have bacteria living in my stomach I had to take some actions and therefore my day today started a bit different than usual...
I had two yoghurt cups which I had to fill (!!!) and bring to the lab this morning. Que Verguenza!! But these are the kind of experiences which bring you back to reality and to basic needs.
Don't worry, I am doing fine some inferior life form won't brake my spirits here (well I suppose the question who is the inferior life form is now open for discussion).

I will soon fill you in on my new projects (just need to get all the doctor appointments and other things done), so stay tuned...
Mtfbwy

the Swiss bake shop

So Claudia and I thought we have found out what is missing in Xela. Good pastry and good bread. We have been talking about this for a long time now and we planned to start baking as soon as one of us has an oven at hands. With good ideas and recepies from betty bossy we waited around for me to find a house with a kitchen. But as I am still living with Anabellas family and Claudia lives in the hostal we could not start to put our plan in action until Claudia had the good idea to ask Maria (Dutch girl living here in Xela with her Guatemalan boyfriend) if we can use her kitchen and oven. Well this is what we did on Saturday Feb 10. Armed with flour, margarine, eggs, sugar and all the other ingredients we could find here in the local supermarket we started at around noon with the first dough for our "Spitzbuben", "Kokosmakronen and Apple pie (Oepfuwaeie). See some pictures of the baking in progress:

After 5 hours and the discovery that the missing ingredients are actually crucial for the taste and consitency of our pastry we lost our good spirit and were pretty much nauseated from all the sugar. But see the pictures of the results as well.

You ask youself why is she doing this now? Well I have the intention to find a way to make some money to be able to keep on supporting some kids here in Xela and the fonda has a project with elderly people here, who do not have the same chances as our elderly in Europe. So some extra money would come in handy. But I have found out that I have to try harder to find the right mix for good pastry, the quality of products is quite different from what I am used to in Switzerland. Next to this I am also not sure if I could stand being aournd sweets for about 5 or 6 hours a day... so if you have any good ideas let me know.
In this sense, take care and mtfbwy.

My Swiss Friend, yes she is real!

So finally I got the chance to take a picture of my Swiss friend here in Xela. She just does not like fotos of herself and so I had a hard time to convince her.

But then after a lot of sweettalk I got a nice pic of her at the gym. As I told you before we go to the gym if possible 2 a week. I write if possible as I am regularly sick (stomach and digestion problems, you don't want to get more details) and have to skip but she is going almost every day... incredible woman! what a discipline!
So here some pics of her and myself at the gym:

Take care and MTFBWY!

Frans the slave

See how they make me, the gringa work for them, the Guatemalans:

Here you see me painting one of the houses in San Felipe... the other one is still waiting for the same treatment... I fear next weekend

As Guatemalans are tiny I (the giant Swiss girl) voluntered to carry Emilio so he could paint the wall up to under the roof. As you can see he was very creative and used the pesticid pump to calc the house... as you can imagine at the end of the day the pump did not work anymore.
Well I guess I have to explain what we were doing: As you've seen several times before on Sundays we often go to San Felipe as Emilio has a terrain there and two small cabins. As the cabins are not really finished, that is there is no more than the walls, we decided to renovate them and make them "useable" that is we want to put some matresses and stuff inside so we can spend a full weekend there. My proposicion was candles and hamocks but as there is already some electric light we decided for the matress version... Lastima.
But great to have this space so at least once a week my loungs get a break from the polluted Xela air!

Here you see me after work when I refused to do more and was seeking a hiding place... you can say that I am assimilating quite well.

Here some paradise pictures from San Felipe:

Bad blogger, bad blogger

Well I know, I am a bad blogger. I have so many things that I would like to share with you, I just don't sit down and do it... shame on me.
I have been working mainly for the Fonda in the last few weeks and we have been busy putting together all info for a flyer I have made. In my next entry I will update all info about the Fonda for you so that you can see what exactly I am doing and why.

Other than this we also need to get out of the city from time to time... the smog and the noise level are very high, so on Sundays we take our time off and leave for the cost!!
Here come some pictures:

Jan 20th was birthday of Guiro aka Jose Luis. He is or was the cook of the Fonda. Unfortunately as we do not have the money to pay the staff or better our friends who work with us everyday, he does not show up regularly. Normally his scheduled to work Friday and Saturday as these are the busy days, but he does not take it too serious, which puts us into trouble from time to time.... Well on Sunday 21st we went to the cost to celebrate his 23rds birthday but unfortunately he did not show up...