Back again! Onto the past couple of weeks since my last update...
I have finished my time at Camino Seguro which (of course) broke me little heart. My last day was filled with so many special moments and more than a few tears as I said goodbye to each of the kids I have grown to know and love over the past couple of months. My final day was family day, a once a month affair where all the families come to the school, awards are given to the kids for effort in the classrooms, and each of the families get a large garbage bag full of staples as compensation to the families for having the kids in school instead of working. The bags include soap, cooking oil, sugar, corn flour, rice and more. Not enough for the family to live off of but certainly enough to make a good contribution to the running of their homes. The kids also all get lice shampoo and a full shower, manicure and new clothes (used, but new to them). It was awesome to meet the parents of so many of my kids!
As I was walking up to the school in the morning one of my all time fave kids, Mishell, came running up to me with a small leather keychain as a gift to remember her by. Later that day Luis gave me a woven bracelet that I am obviously never going to take off. I think the most moving moment was with one little girl Feliciana. She is a vicious little kid, constantly clambering over any adult around, fighting with the other kids and defiant as hell. Of all the kids in my classes she was the one kid who I had the hardest time bringing myself to like, despite knowing that her constant acting out was a ploy for attention. On family day she came in holding onto a piece of paper and refused to show it to me when I asked her what it was. She held onto it until lunch time when a little boy (turned out to be her little brother) came up to me and handed it to me. When I looked at it I realized it was a goodbye card from Feli, carefully written out in single syllable chunks. My kids are just starting to read and are learning the different sounds that two-letter combinations make. Reading consists of sounding out each two of three letter combination to make full words. This card had a full message written to me in two-letter bits that she had obviously sat down and carefully sounded out to herself as she wrote. I stood there dumbstruck for a moment and when I finally found my voice again and asked the little boy where Feli was, he pointed across the room to where she was hiding behind a bench watching my reaction. She had been too nervous to give me the card herself. I walked over and held her for approximately forever, thanking her over and over again. I am trying to not cry again just thinking about it.
Whew…change of topic before I get all weepy in the internet café. I am back in Canada in just over a week so I have been trying to pack in a bunch of traveling during my last couple of weeks before I head back. I spent last week bouncing around the townships along the Caribbean cost of Rio Dulce and Livingston. The weather out there is outrageously hot but the warm wide deep Rio Dulce river provides sweet relief. (Get it? Rio Dulce…sweet….never mind). We spent one night at a community project, one night at a lodge nestled in the mangrove swamps, one night in a grand two story hotel in Livingston and one night in Finca Tatin, an eco lodge up in the jungle that will probably go down as one of the best places I have stayed. Livingston is home to the Garifuna people who are descendants of escaped slaves from the Caribbean. The area is completely culturally different from the rest of Guatemala and all the people are a mix of Black, Mayan and Hispanic. As we wandered down the beach we met a local woman who ended up taking us far along the shore to the locals beach, to the alters of her ancestors, back to her house for lunch and a card reading and up through the back country roads of the area. I didn’t end up seeing any of the tourist sites of Livingston but I saw real life there instead – always the better experience.
The next night was spent at Finca Tatin, halfway along the river between Rio Dulce and Livingston. Its absolutely beautiful there with a very unique, tranquil vibe. I hiked to a local NGO, Ak Tenamit, and wandered through the jungle led by the resident dog, who was obviously taking his job as my personal guide very seriously. After a mellow family dinner at the lodge, the manager took us all out onto the lakes to watch the stars. We sat out there forever in silence under a sparkling sky, surrounded by no other signs of human life as far as the eye could see. He guided the boat over against a cliff wall to a natural hot spring in the river and we ended up swimming in the hot springs listening to the symphony of the jungle and counting shooting stars. A perfect moment.
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