[too lazy to come up with post title]

It feels like so much has been happening in these first couple of weeks here. We’ve been pretty busy at work since I’ve arrived because of a big event coming up in two weeks in Silicon Valley, where Mercado Global’s largest donor base is. Basically, it’s kind of a schmoozing event for current donors to invite their friends and hopefully capture some new donors by letting people know what the organization’s all about. So I’ve been simultaneously trying to learn how everything is done around the office and also help them prepare for this event. Both of my bosses are flying up to California next week to attend.

Other fun things—I went on my first community visit yesterday to meet two of the artisan cooperatives that MG works with in San Jorge, about a ten minute chicken bus ride away. (Chicken bus: a very crowded, very colorful school bus. I will post pictures of these.) The purpose of the visit was health training—talking about hygiene practices and other health stuff. So Barbara, who is one of the Guatemalan women that works in our office, brought me and my other new coworker along to observe the training. We introduced ourselves in Spanish to the women, but after that, the entire training was in their indigenous language, so we couldn’t understand most of what was said, except for when a Spanish word was thrown in here and there. It was interesting though, and I was glad I went along. I hope I get to go on more of those visits in the future, but for now work is going to be mostly entering a bunch of donations after this crazy Silicon Valley event is over, and drafting donation acknowledgement letters and all the other fun things that interns get to do.

Also, last Sunday I decided to venture out of Panajachel on my own for the first time! Like I mentioned in my first post, they have these pickup trucks that stop on this main road every 15 minutes or so, and you just ask where they’re going and hop in. So I decided to go to San Antonio de Palopó, hopped in the back of the truck and I was there about 20 minutes and 5 Quetzales later. It’s a really quiet, really pretty town. I was only there for a few hours, just walking around. They have a really nice church there that I went and sat in for a while just to get some shade and relax. And there’s a beautiful view just as you walk outside the church. I went down to the lakeshore and just sat for a while, and walked around a bit. Until this creepy guy started following me around and asking me to marry him and live at his house and wouldn’t leave me alone for the longest time, even after I snapped at him, so eventually I just left and went back to Pana. Besides the annoying dude, it was a nice, relaxing day.

In other news, I’m moving out of Doña Angelica’s house this coming Sunday so I don’t have to pay for a third week here, because it’s too expensive. I found an apartment! It’s not actually in Panajachel, I don’t think. Technically it’s in Jucanyá, which I’m not sure is a separate town or not… But the place is a 15 minute walk from the center of Pana, so it’s not too far. I found the apartment listing on a community bulletin board at a store that’s basically like the wal-mart of this town. It didn’t have any pictures or names on the sign. It was just a plain piece of paper that said (in Spanish): “two rooms for rent in Jucanyá” and then listed three phone numbers. Seemed legit enough to me, so I gave all three of those numbers a call until I got ahold of someone, who told me to take a tuk-tuk (taxi) to Calle Salpores and someone in a green shirt would meet me there. Again—legit.

It was a lady named Luisa, who was very kind and showed me the two rooms. They’re on the second floor of a three-level house that is unfinished because there’s nothing on the third level. On the plus side, this means extremely easy roof access with a decent sunset view in the evening, as I saw for myself. You can even almost see the lake, but there are a bunch of trees in the way. Anyway, one of the rooms was empty except for a bed, but the other was full of stuff that the last tenant had left behind because he was only there for a couple months. So there was a bed, two shelving units, a table, a stove and gas tank, a pure water dispenser, a ton of dishes, and even sheets and a blanket, so I only have to just wash everything and I’m set. Talk about furnished, right? I mentioned the place to the guy from New York who’s also living at Doña Angelica’s, and he decided he’s going to take the second room and split the rent with me, so it’ll be about 500 Quetzales a month each, which is like somewhere around $70. Wayy less than I expected to be paying for rent here, so I’m thrilled about that. It’s less than he and I have been paying per week to stay at Doña Angelica’s. As much as I’ll miss Lorenzo and Jenny’s adorable kids, and the chocolate pancakes they made me for breakfast yesterday, I’d rather not pay so much money to stay here.

So, after that whole process, I was kind of proud of myself. It wasn’t a huge accomplishment in the grand scheme of things, but it’s the little victories that keep you going, right? Or just figuring out you’re capable of things you haven’t had to do before. Like finding an apartment in Pana all by myself, and realizing that I have a Spanish vocabulary that’s at least just enough to be able to find a decent apartment for super cheap.

Anyway, the next challenge will be trying to fit my suitcase into a tuk-tuk when I move on Sunday. I’ll put up a picture and you’ll see what I mean.