So as you all know i have been traveling in guatemala this summer. It has been quite an adventure, especially in the past two weeks. I started getting hives about two and a half weeks ago. At first i didn't think too much of this because i figured i miss ate one of the ambiguously labelled guatemalan foods or someone in a restaurant lied to me. Then these hives got worse and worse unitil i was covered on my arms, ankles, thighs, waist, lower back, and parts of my calves and rear end. The itching was incesent as well. Thinking these were hives, i eliminated tortillas and beans from my diet, which totaled to about 50% of my food intake. As my condition continued to worsen, i took my concerns to Olga, La Jefe at the school, and Sharon, the brutish scotish woman that answers emails and never smiles. They suggested that i might have pulgas or fleas for the non spanish speakers that are reading this. Fleas?! ¿Tú estas loca? As i continued to investigate the hives on my body, I began to realize that there were clear patterns that were not charactristic of hives which are much more randomly dispersed. I nearly had a perfect question mark on my thigh. Yesterday I started researching and sure enough, fleas normally bite around areas with tightly fitting clothing, as wel as other areas that i identified before. Hives can also derive from allergic reactions to flea bites. With this new information in hand, i still was not convinced. Today i joked with the fact that i had fleas scaring my old teachers a little , but i never actually thought it to be a reality. The proof came today in my bed. Last night prior to settlin into my new sheets, i covered myself with OFF bug spray and sure enough when i returned from my salsa lesson today there was a little dead pulga laying on my sheets. I' m infected with fleas! Un hombre sucio. Hopefully i can get rid of them soon with as little transmition as possible. I think i caught them from a passer by on the street or from los buses de pollos (the second class chicken bus) here. I can honestly say that fleas aren't that bad, just a little gross, but not that big a deal. Right now i wish all my fleas dead.
This is actually a relief. I'm not allergic to guatemala, just its fleas.

I hate internet cafes

I had a really careful entry written and i accidently hit the shut down button on the key board that i was using and poof, all erased. Today i played soccer with local kids and they litterally busted my ass. I can't understand how the guatemalan soccer team is so bad. Anyway today is the 1st day i have been abvle to go out because it has rained in the early afternoon for the past week and a half. Tuesday, June 07, 2005 quickie I only have about 15 minutes to type out this entry because i'm going to my first Salsa/Merengue class. I must say I'm a little skeptical of this class because Guatemalan Salsa and Merengue is definitly more tame and ballroomish than the hot and heavy stuff that comes out of the Carribean and of course NYC. We shall see, something is better than nothing Danny Cuba. Now down to business, @CN is very close to our first match ever, but i think the SN, my good friend is getting a case of the lazies and won't check his email to know that he is on availible status. It pains me to wait because i want him to me matched so bad. C'est la vie. Speaking of french, it appears that i only have space in my brain for one foreign language. Spanish is consuming my mind right now and I honestly cannot remember anything in french. This does not bode well for the fall, when i will be in French, and not spanish class, but i have a feeling it will come back to me sooner than i think. Spanish has gotten much harder of late. I'm so impatient to be able to speak this language that i forget that i've only been studying it for a week and two days. My will to learn the language is gtting in my way and preventing me from slowly memorizing what i need to know. I have also noticed that english is most certainly my primary language. I am having more trouble adjusting to spanish pronunciation than i thought. The Js LLs and Bs and Vs, which are pronounced the same in spanish, as well as dinffernt vowel sounds trip me up all the time and i get very frustrated. I think it is also a sign that i don't take crticism very well, which is something i can try to imporve. I also want to improve the amount that i sleep here, but i have been dealing with a case of insomnia i suppose. I can't fall asleep until about 3AM each night. I want to practice sleeping more for next school year, but it is proving harder than i ever thought. Wow, this entry is horrible organized and i appologize to those faithful readers who made it this far. I'm outie. Eat my salsa shorts cuba, you ait nothing! -Artur Saturday, June 04, 2005 reactions to week 1 I'm going to try to get this right this time because i often end up erasing these posts. I have been in Guatemala for one week and so much has happened. It truely has been an emotional roller coaster. Not knowing enough Spanish to understand that my host mother was tell ing me that breakfast is at 7:30 was challenging. Now after 1 week of 4.5 hours a day in Spanish tutoring, i can communicate on simple gramatically incorrect terms. Some of the stuff i say makes no sense though, an im still very confused with french. I cant tell you how many times ive confused elle with él. So now for current events. On Wednesday I saw a Mayan-Catholic procession for some saints day. It was quite a sight. There were literally hundreds of little indigenous people in full mayan garb (mostly women wear traditional clothing because much of the mens clothing was lost over the years and they now wear western clothing) carrying out a parade in honor of a catholic saint, which represents the religion of the conquistadores. It is a sign of how interesting to see how indigenous people live in this country. I hope to find out more from direct conversation soon, but this is easier said than done. When my sanish improves and I finish taking salsa and merengue classes (thats right , privte lessons for $6/hour) I hope to volunteer for an indigenous cause. Enough of that tangent. Last night i went to watch the Mexico-Guatemala game in a movie theater, which was quite a sight. There were hundreds of Guatemalans going crazy, that is until Mexico scored 2 goals within 5 minutes of each other in the 1st half. The crowd was definitly more subdued after those disheartening goals. Guatemala scored 1 goal in the end, but we had already left by that point. Let me clarify that i was with my host sister and her 2 friends, when she told her mother that she was going to watch the game at her friends house. Basically i was led around all night not knowing what was really happening.After the game, I got food at an argentine restaurant near the movie theater. the waiter was smelly and I was sure that this would cause my first umm loose bowel movement, but so far so good. Yes I went there and brought up a topic that effects all travellers. I have conquered the stronger guatemalan bacteria and parasites thus far and escaped with merely stomach pain, which could easily be from the massive amounts of beans that ive consumed. Although the beans are tasty, my stomach is not used to them. And just to clear the air, beans are not the musical fruit, but beans for every meal can cause some moving symphonies. Back on track, after the argentine restaurant that played a lot of Beyoncé, we went to a Disco. I never realized how much of a gringo i am until i came to Guatemala. This was extra evident in the disco. It was the one place that i've been that wasn't crawling with foreigners and it was very evident that i have a long way to go to learn the spanish dance stuff. Step 1 is definitly to learn the hip shake thing which feels awkward for me because i always feel like i'm "backing that thang up" when i try the hip shake thingy. But this like anything will fade with time. The disco was nice and uncomfortable for me, but i went with the flow. The night grew more uncomfortable when while we were walking my host sister's friend home, the question came up, "Como religion crees-tu?" This wouldn't normally be weird but my host mother and i had already had asked me this and I was faced with an uncomfortable reaction. I tried to avoid the question, "Yo no seis en español." Then they started listing religions and i told them. I mean i have nothing to hide or be embaressed about. Apparently I'm un poco extraño (or strange for the non spanish speakers like me), but i think this is good. I'm fairly certain that i'm the only jew that these people have ever met. The part that's even weirder for them is that i'm not very religous, which is certainly odd in Latin America. The concept of secularism isn't very popular here. I think these uncomfortable situations are good not matter how objectified i feel because I learn about how other people work, think, and operate, and also what they think of me and my life. A few closing thoughts: Central America is a great place to travel as long as you're ok with being a little uncomfortable with certain living conditions. For instance, the shower is powered by electricity (thats right, electricity and water), and this is the only place with semi hot water. Also the house has kind of a smell to it because no toilet paper is flushed because the sewer system can't handel the extra load. The meals here work differently. There is a large breakfast by US standards, when everyone sits down to eat together. Lunch is the biggest and most important meal of the day. It is also usually a communal meal eaten at the house. Dinner is almost non existant. Guatemalan Totillas are very good. Learning spanish is frustrating, but rewarding and immersion is the only way to effectivly learn unless you are super motivated, which normally fades in about a month for me when i realize that half the stuff is for a grade and doesn't have a specific pupose, (that is in foreign language classes in the US). Thats all for now, I'll try to update this more regularly and keep the entries short and sweet. Peace, Arthur About Me Name: Arthur Location: Ithaca, NY, United States View my complete profile Links Google News www.flickr.com This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from artiman133. Make your own badge here. Previous Posts I love TED An Awesome Company A clear mind plan foiled El sueño cono sureño terminando pronto musing Dreams come true The Answer!! 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