Miercoles

Hola. Como estas? Me llamo Bethany. Yo hablo un poco espanol. This is basically how I have been communicating here, but amazingly enough, it has worked wonders! People don't care that I pair "tu" with a "yo" ending, they just appreciate that I try. I really enjoy jugar with the little kids wherever we go. I pull faces and tell them "yo quiero el helada" and they laugh and tell me about themselves. I think I'll start by talking about the food. It is delicioso. Every meal we get homemade tortillas and some kind of juice. My favorite so far is the orchata, a ricey cinnamony sugary milky drink that tastes like an iced chai. I drink it and think of my mother sitting at home being totally jealous. There are also lots of delicious tropical fruits here. The nice thing about having team members who don't like cilantro or avocado or papaya or flan is that I get to eat theirs. Yay. Earlier today we visited the children's hospital in Puerto Barrias. It was an old bright blue building, basically a tool shed in comparison to the new Porter hospital. Everyone there was so friendly though. We started off by building a playground outside (or should I say they started off by building a playground outside). I played and talked to all the curious kiddies who came over to where we were. One little boy, Enrique, stayed with me the whole time we were out there. I was extremely surprised at the extent of our conversation. With only one year of Spanish under my belt, I was able to carry on conversation with him for a long time. I found out he loves FC Barcelona and wants to be a futbol star one day, he is seven years old, he loves coconut, and even has coconut ice cream at home. He taught me some words in spanish, and I taught him some english. He especially enjoyed taking pictures with my (brother's) camera (thanks James). After building the playset, we went inside to play with kids in the wards. We started in the boys 2 and older ward. I played with a little boy, Daniel, who broke his arm in an auto accident. There were kids with all sorts of problems there. It is the only public children's hospital in Guatemala. They even have a ward for malnourished kids. Overall, I have had an absolutely fabulous time this week, and I do not want to leave. Although I am currently red as a tomato and covered in a nasty heat rash and mosquito bites and other bites that ooze pus, I am not letting that bother me. I am having the time of my life, and helping people here overshadows all physical problems I'm dealing with. Plus, my sunburn is nothing compared to what some people here are dealing with. All I know is that I feel so alive when I meet these people who are so thankful and gracious and kind and still love God even though they live in terrible conditions. I honestly don't know how I'll be able to come back to the States after this, seeing everything that I have seen. English papers and math tests seem totally minute compared to poverty and homelessness and human trafficking and drug addictions and guerillas and gangs and disease. It's gonna be real hard. More pictures are up on the El Faro website under Chesterton High School if you want to check them out! https://www.facebook.com/elfarogt/photos/a.804228382938742.1073741906.115603891801198/804860956208818/?type=1&theater