So...I wanted to come back home skinny and tan, but as you will soon read, that's not going to go as I planned. Tuesday we woke up early again, but there wasn't any bird on our roof this time. We dressed for some hard work out in the sun, as our schedule told us we should and headed next door to the McIntyre's again for another delicious breakfast. Banana bread and eggs and fruit. Such good food! I'm not going to go back home skinny as I hoped I would.
We cleaned up the kitchen and then got ready for a hot working time. Sunscreen, bugspray, hats for those who look good with them and some large bottles of water. Now, I am not a physically fit person, unfortunately. Strenuous physical exercise is not a part of my daily lifestyle and I don't go out of my way to make it so. Needless to say, digging, shoveling and carrying dirt around was a lot harder then I expected. Those wheelbarrows man, talk about heavy! Impossible is a better word to use. I quickly saw that I could get more down with shoveling my spoonfuls of dirt then I could trying not to tip those big things.
The pickax wasn't much better. I could swing it decently, (read, weakly with my wimp arms) a couple of times and then I had to rest because it was so heavy too! And hard to use. I never felt so weak as when I was trying to use those. The shovels I could manage, again only "decently", but even my skinny cousin could fill those squares up better then I could. The sun was super hot, super hot, but I had to wear capris because of the culture clothing thing so all my tan lines ended up being weird. Oh well. I know that's not what this trip is about and I'm glad to help even if I do get terrible tan lines.
We worked on moving and leveling dirt for two and a half hours. Getting the land ready for some wall that I never quite knew what it was going to be used for. But it was good work. Mr Daniel McIntyre kept our spirits up by funny quips and encouraging tips. Dad used his smarts and built himself an umbrella to work under. One negative on where I was working, it was right by the sewage tank. Yeah. But it was tolerable. Honestly the heat and work kept me distracted. None of us fainted, so that's a plus. I felt worn out but happy when we finished. And dirty. Extremely dirty.
We wiped ourselves up and headed in for another delicious meal. We had some kind of leftover meat that tasted oh so good. I'm definitely not going to get skinny here. After lunch the boys went back outside to work some more and all the girls headed into town to buy some paint. We rode the Guatemalan redneck roller coaster again. I think I'm getting used to it.
In the city we stopped at the bank. The bank in Guatemala is slightly different than the bank in the Unites States. Really long lines for a first. Ms Brandi went in first while we waited in the car and took a million girl selfies, of which pretty much non turned out good. Then we finally decided to head in and see what was taking so long. I was a little behind the rest of the girls so I didn't see the trouble they had with the door. I only looked up in time to see them disappear inside. I walked up to be tinted doors and yanked in the door confidently. And then I yanked again. And again. I thought, "Wow this must be a really hard door to open or I'm doing something wrong." Well then the door was opened by a uniformed guard.
Apparently it is kept locked until customers need to enter. Duh me. I bet he was looking out at me through that tinted glass and thinking what a dumb Americano.
We piled back into the car and pulled out on the crazy roads. Literally. Crazy. Ms Brandi told us her road horror stories and we tried not to look out the windows. We did a couple more stops and then we helped Ms Brandi pick out paint, again enjoying tons of local stares. It's so odd being the odd one out, but I think I'm just going to accept the fact that I am fabulous.
Ms Brandi took us to get some ice snacks while we waited for the paint to be mixed. The sidewalks in Guatemala are not built with third wheels in mind, that's for sure. And the cars and motorcycles have no problem getting close. We entered the store without and scratch and had a confused conversation, trying to figure out what flavors to get. Evidently me and Becka decided on the sweet one and everyone else had the sour sweet one. Mine was delicious, especially the pineapple with condensed milk. But, Miranda's looked...lets just say inedible. Or throw up? Haha, we teased her about it anyway.
We finished our snack picked up the paint and made our way back home. The boys had finished their work and were taking showers. Miranda and Becka started painting, I went to join them but there were no more paint brushes so I just ran the inspirational music. We took some more deliciously cold showers, so nice after a hard working day, and dressed up a bit for dinner. We were all so tired after dinner that we lazily cleaned up the kitchen then went to get ready for bed.
We had a meeting for what we were going to share with the school the following day, and came up with some not so brilliant plans. Oh well. We were so pooped we couldn't think so we just went to bed.
I wonder if I will be more brave by the time this trip is over? I hope so.
Pensive thoughts.
We cleaned up the kitchen and then got ready for a hot working time. Sunscreen, bugspray, hats for those who look good with them and some large bottles of water. Now, I am not a physically fit person, unfortunately. Strenuous physical exercise is not a part of my daily lifestyle and I don't go out of my way to make it so. Needless to say, digging, shoveling and carrying dirt around was a lot harder then I expected. Those wheelbarrows man, talk about heavy! Impossible is a better word to use. I quickly saw that I could get more down with shoveling my spoonfuls of dirt then I could trying not to tip those big things.
The pickax wasn't much better. I could swing it decently, (read, weakly with my wimp arms) a couple of times and then I had to rest because it was so heavy too! And hard to use. I never felt so weak as when I was trying to use those. The shovels I could manage, again only "decently", but even my skinny cousin could fill those squares up better then I could. The sun was super hot, super hot, but I had to wear capris because of the culture clothing thing so all my tan lines ended up being weird. Oh well. I know that's not what this trip is about and I'm glad to help even if I do get terrible tan lines.
We worked on moving and leveling dirt for two and a half hours. Getting the land ready for some wall that I never quite knew what it was going to be used for. But it was good work. Mr Daniel McIntyre kept our spirits up by funny quips and encouraging tips. Dad used his smarts and built himself an umbrella to work under. One negative on where I was working, it was right by the sewage tank. Yeah. But it was tolerable. Honestly the heat and work kept me distracted. None of us fainted, so that's a plus. I felt worn out but happy when we finished. And dirty. Extremely dirty.
We wiped ourselves up and headed in for another delicious meal. We had some kind of leftover meat that tasted oh so good. I'm definitely not going to get skinny here. After lunch the boys went back outside to work some more and all the girls headed into town to buy some paint. We rode the Guatemalan redneck roller coaster again. I think I'm getting used to it.
In the city we stopped at the bank. The bank in Guatemala is slightly different than the bank in the Unites States. Really long lines for a first. Ms Brandi went in first while we waited in the car and took a million girl selfies, of which pretty much non turned out good. Then we finally decided to head in and see what was taking so long. I was a little behind the rest of the girls so I didn't see the trouble they had with the door. I only looked up in time to see them disappear inside. I walked up to be tinted doors and yanked in the door confidently. And then I yanked again. And again. I thought, "Wow this must be a really hard door to open or I'm doing something wrong." Well then the door was opened by a uniformed guard.
Apparently it is kept locked until customers need to enter. Duh me. I bet he was looking out at me through that tinted glass and thinking what a dumb Americano.
We piled back into the car and pulled out on the crazy roads. Literally. Crazy. Ms Brandi told us her road horror stories and we tried not to look out the windows. We did a couple more stops and then we helped Ms Brandi pick out paint, again enjoying tons of local stares. It's so odd being the odd one out, but I think I'm just going to accept the fact that I am fabulous.
Ms Brandi took us to get some ice snacks while we waited for the paint to be mixed. The sidewalks in Guatemala are not built with third wheels in mind, that's for sure. And the cars and motorcycles have no problem getting close. We entered the store without and scratch and had a confused conversation, trying to figure out what flavors to get. Evidently me and Becka decided on the sweet one and everyone else had the sour sweet one. Mine was delicious, especially the pineapple with condensed milk. But, Miranda's looked...lets just say inedible. Or throw up? Haha, we teased her about it anyway.
We finished our snack picked up the paint and made our way back home. The boys had finished their work and were taking showers. Miranda and Becka started painting, I went to join them but there were no more paint brushes so I just ran the inspirational music. We took some more deliciously cold showers, so nice after a hard working day, and dressed up a bit for dinner. We were all so tired after dinner that we lazily cleaned up the kitchen then went to get ready for bed.
We had a meeting for what we were going to share with the school the following day, and came up with some not so brilliant plans. Oh well. We were so pooped we couldn't think so we just went to bed.
I wonder if I will be more brave by the time this trip is over? I hope so.
Pensive thoughts.
Comments
Post a Comment