Day 10

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

God continues to bless me and I praise him for it.  I only wish each of you were here with me to share in this experience.  

Monday morning, I took a taxi from Antigua to the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City.  My passport was stolen on Saturday, and I needed a replacement.  The process was a little painful and lengthy, but I will receive a brand new passport in 10 days.  I will have to go back to the Embassy on November 5^th to pick it up, and then go to the Guatemalan Immigration office to replace my entry stamp.  I did find out, however, that if you needed to leave the country immediately they would issue you an emergency temporary passport to get back in the States.  After I got back into Antigua, I checked out of my hotel and picked up my keys to our new rental home in San Pedro las Huertas.  The house is basically empty.  It has a twin bed, futon sofa, end table, washer, and dryer.  I will need to buy everything else including a stove, oven, refrigerator, etc.  I took an afternoon walk into my new little town.  The center park consists of a catholic church, a handful of concrete benches, and a very large community washing area (pilla).  I wanted to try out the local bus transportation (chicken bus) that takes you into Antigua.  A “chicken bus” is an old, repainted school bus that has been brought from the States and has its own name (similar to how some people name a boat).  It cost me a whopping total of 1.5 Quetzales.  That is equal to 19 cents in the U.S.   The ride was a unique experience.  I was sitting against the window and had 3 other people sitting with me.  The walkway in the middle was filled with people standing in it.  And, of course, I was the only white person on it.  Not a bad trip though.  I have made 3 other trips by “chicken bus” since.

This morning I went to Antigua (by bus) and priced much furniture and appliances again.  The prices are not much different than what you would find in the States.  After lunch, I was scheduled to meet with a local Spanish teacher that wanted me to go with him to a town called San Antonio Agua Caliente.  He does a lot of volunteer work with his students and wanted to check out a group of handicapped people he had heard about that are not being helped by the government or any local church.  We left Antigua, by “chicken bus”, and headed south-west towards the town.  This trip cost 3 Quetzales (38 cents).  Once we arrived, we didn’t know where to find these handicapped people and the locals were not of much assistance.  After around an hour of walking through the streets asking people in every local tienda, we finally found a man that helped us.  He took us to a small house and there we met a family with a 17 year old handicapped boy.  We talked with the family for some time and found out that there are 36 children and adults in the neighborhood that are handicapped either mentally, physically, or both and not receiving any assistance.  This family was a Christian family and they welcomed the thought of any assistance that may come their way.  They have been promised this and that, and even were sent two exercise bikes to a school in Antigua, but have never actually received them.  The school kept them for themselves.  This father has a vision of having a place in the community that the handicapped people can go to during the day to receive rehabilitation and an education.  They are in a desperate need of some help.  The Spanish teacher and I talked about this opportunity to possibly work together and help these people where we can.  This Thursday we are going back to San Antonio and to this home.  The father is going to invite all 36 of the handicapped and their families to share with us.

God Bless