From hanging with construction workers to drugged out hippes!

So the next days of construction have been cement mixing, cement mixing, and more cement mixing! FUCK YEAH!!

On Thursday I was the only one on the construction site and I worked my butt off because we got a truckload of DIRT!

And they dumped it on the street outside the house because the family only uses a narrow alleyway to get to the backyard where we were working.

So we had to wheelbarrow it:

Cute but what a slacker. Hey asswipe, go grab a wheelbarrow like everybody else.

And I was the lucky one to get to shovel it over the cinderblock wall to where it goes:

So that huge mound of dirt to the left was on the right to begin with and using my freakily bulging muscles and brute aggression I hoisted it over.

And to give you an idea of how much dirt that that it was, it was about the same height as this girl putting a rusty metal thing in her mouth.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Why did he take a picture of the girl putting rusted metal in her mouth instead of telling her to take it out? There's a very good answer to that: I have zero journalistic integrity! (Actually I didn't notice what she had in her mouth 'til after the picture was taken, I swear! The moment I noticed, I told her to swallow it so it wasn't in her mouth anymore.)

And that day I was invited inside to eat lunch with the family's cousins (they live right next door):

And afterward, I had to walk down the street to get some caffeine and their youngest, Daniél, followed me.

He LOVED my camera and took some pictures with it as we walked down the street:

 

 

So avante-garde, so brilliant. I really 'get' what this kid is saying. It's like, What is photography? What is anything? Masterpieces.

There is definitely progress happening on the house.

This was also the last week I'll be working with the same group of people. Huge shout out to Kevin, Natalie, John, Carol, Tricia, and Reed. It was awesome meeting you all and I wish we had a proper goodbye and some more pictures together!

On Friday I did not go to the site (hence the reason for no proper goodbye) because I took a trip to another city for the weekend called San Marcos (Lake Atitlan). First thing I did was get a haircut at Barberia Modelo (near the market in Antigua).

It was the best haircut I've ever had!

The guy worked on my hair with focused precision for over half an hour. He was like a sculptor. I felt like I should tell people I'm wearing him after he did it. Was so detail oriented and even did my beard, all for 15 Quetzales which is less than $2 American!

And then I ate at this mom and pop's place called Lazaro's on 9a Calle & 2a Avenida (Antigua). It's a small family -- mother, father, and daughter who own this place. For some reason the 2 times I've been here it's been completely empty except for me. But they serve a daily "typical" (Spanish) meal all day. And it's only 20 Quetzales which is less than $3 American! Today it was a huge chicken leg, refried beans, plantains, vegetables, along with complimentary tortilla basket. It's damn hard to beat that! Lazaro's comes highly recommended!

I'll have to get a picture of the family for my next entry. They are SO NICE.

 

So then after that I headed on a bus to San Marcos. It took about 4 hours and we were only on a head-on collision course with speeding trucks and buses passing other cars in no-pass curvy roads barely at all! You wouldn't even need two hands to count!

 

The town is a small village on the edge of Lake Atitlan. It's beautiful (too bad Saturday was very cloudy there, so these pictures aren't as stunning as when it's clear.)

 

 

 

 

 

The bus only took me so far. The rest of the way I had to take a Tuc Tuc which is basically a cross between a scooter and an economy car:

 

 



 

 

The town is like a hippie Never-Never Land. It's a village full of people that just kind of stayed there. Many out-of-towners who say things like "Yeah, I've been here the past 8 months. No idea when I'll be leaving." It's fascinating. There's yoga, meditation, spiritual massages, etc. And, oh yeah, lots of drugs. And burn-outs.

 

The place is a maze of gardens, foliage, and tiny pathways. It's enchanting:

 

 

 

 

 

It was very relaxing and I loved it.

 

I made friends with some of the locals. When I first got there, I was wandering around with my backpack, looking for my hostel when a small 8 year-old boy sitting at a restaurant with nobody there told me he knew of a good hostel that was cheaper than the one I was looking for. He just seemed so mature and sweet, and so I accepted his offer and he led me across the street to where his family's hostel was. As we walked, I asked him if he has to work for his family and he said, yes. He asked me where I was from, how long I would be in town, and had this unbelievable maturity about him. His name was Pablo. I ended up refusing his family's hostel (lol) but did visit he and his brother working again the next day. Pablo told me how there are many kids in this town who are angry at their parents because they work for them and their parents don't do any work. Luckily this did not seem to be the case because their father showed up and I had a nice conversation with him too (which ended up being a long-winded sales pitch.)

 

I also was buying chocolates from another young working boy in the town (and a space cookie from his mother who was openly selling them in the town... Yeah.) even though the chocolates make me sick. I just wanted to buy more so he wouldn't have to keep working. And he attached himself to me too, and he was the last person I talked to as I left on Sunday, he was yelling down the main walkway "Adios amigo!!" and waving.

 

The child labor is one thing that's really tough to deal with in Guatemala. How do you tell a youngster, "No," when they ask to shine your shoes? Well it's pretty easy actually, but still it's bullshit.

 

 

Another thing that burns me up is the way they treat their pets and animals. Dogs are scared of humans here because they go out of their way to hurt them. I don't see why I have to keep being the volunteer to pressure them into giving their dog water. Not being as educated has a lasting impact.

 

But the good news is, I have 1 week left to go of construction on that house and it'll be done Friday. And if they continue to mistreat their dog while I'm there I'm just going to grab the nearest sledgehammer and taketh away that house.

 

So I'm back in Antigua now from San Marcos and enjoying it's usual quirkiness...

 

 

The crying Virgin Mary! Brought to you by Super Cola!

 

 

Dominos fucking gets around here.

 

 

Am I supposed to see a bag of what is probably pee hanging from barbed wire for no reason and not snap a photo of it?

 

It's a brilliant idea, actually. Any robber can get past barbed wire, but are they willing to risk spilling a bag of urine on themselves to get in? Probably not.

This is the hostel I've been staying at the past 2 weeks. Hostel Villa Esthela:

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! Until next time (unless one of us dies)!