…….. and maybe a little remiss in not posting this note earlier.

I’ve heard directly from some of you who I know are regularly out there reading.  It’s a rather oddly affirming thing to think about how people are out there watching the goings on of the world and think of me.  And wondering, and maybe waiting to hear. (see remiss above)

I was literally on the last flight to leave for a US destination before the borders were closed.  It was a chaotic and expensive exit.  And I left with a great feeling of sadness.  It’s always been a mixed emotions experience for me to leave Guatemala and come home to MN.  But I always get to the point where I’m starved to be around my kids and see my friends.  This year Covid-19 changed all of the circumstances.

My last Sunday in Santa Ana the bell did not ring for mass.  The weekly Processions of Lent, and the daily ones during Semana Santa had been cancelled.  The spiritual effects of that aside, the economic effects on average Guatemalans will be catastrophic and long in how it lingers.  As I sat having coffee that last Sunday, looking out on emptiness where usually there was the teem of thousands of visitors, I was fighting back tears.  Renato and I were texting back and forth.  Usually on Sunday mornings I meet the family for mass at the Cathedral and then we go out or go back to their house for breakfast.  I was in a fight to keep my mood from completely tanking.

Renato, to his credit, had been encouraging me to go home for about ten days.  He kept saying, this is going to get really weird, and he was exactly right.  It did.

From all of this I have one useful tip to pass on.  If you are going to be in a foreign country for any length of time, week or more, register with the US Embassy.  An alert from the Embassy was the earliest notice of impending border closures.  Because I’m not a person who digests a lot of news or social media, this was a difference maker for me in getting out of Dodge.

So now I’m back in my living room in St. Paul, safe and sound, boy there’s a relative term, and experiencing the self imposed distancing that we all are hopefully practicing.  I can tell you it’s pretty frustrating to not see my kids for some months, only to come home and still not be able to gather with them.  Then I think of my friends who have kids that live elsewhere in the country and I jerk my perspective back where it belongs.

Now, more than ever, I leave you with, I am well and hope you all are too.

It’s actually very early on Day 4 and I’m up again avoiding the bandwidth crowds.  As I’m trying to work on my site when others are around, especially dealing with the pictures, I can look around, and sure ’nuff, there are people watching Netflix or youTube.  C’mon people, there’s important blogging going on here! 🙂   Truth, I just have a different version of hogging the bandwidth.  It’s all hoggin’.  But I digress.

Later today I’ll be heading back to Antigua and I’m ready.  This has been a great place to relax and see a new area of Guatemala, but a guy can take just so much of being confined by downpours.  Luckily I’ve had Louise along with me, so that’s helped.  Wait! What? Whose Louise?

In the quiet this morning, (Day 3), I spent some time with these guys. In past days I learned they wouldn’t let me get too close, so these pics are zoomed all the way.  And it was raining, big shock, so I had to stay under the roof.

When they finally took off I was just happy to get them in the frame even though between the panning and the zoom they’re a little blurry.

Here’s just a few more shots I’ve taken in past days while passing the time.

I had to share this one ’cause when I looked at it I just laughed out loud.  Look at the side of the boat.  Obviously my panning skills need some work.  On the far right of this shot is a brand new section of rooms that will be open for guests soon.  It’s built right out over the water.

Dried fish anyone?  I’m told by one of the kids who works here these are called salt fish.  He eats some almost every morning with eggs and beans.  I’ve never seen salt fish actually identified on a menu, so I’m just going to continue to wonder where they end up.

Wish me luck on my launch ride back to Puerto Barrios.  See ya.           Wait.  Who is Louise?

The day dawned with the skies unchanged from yesterday.  The sky out over the Caribbean stayed dark, and wave after wave of heavy rains came ashore.  Only those who had to leave ventured off in a water taxi.  I was hoping for a trip down the Rio Dulce but didn’t want to go so bad that I’d venture out from under the thatched roof in a downpour.  Everyone else around was of a similar mind so the wifi slowed to a crawl while everyone did the same thing.  I passed the time drinking coffee, reading, and shooting a few pics of Casa Rosada.  I’m hoping for a different result tomorrow with my eye on a boat trip to Playa Blanca and the Seven Alters area.  Meanwhile today I’ll get out for a walkabout around Livingston if the weather gives me that at least.

Here’s the kitchen of the hotel and below is the little hallway where my room is situated.  Mine is down on the corner to the right.  B6 if you’re sending me a postcard.

The weather is what it is.  Right now the word is it will clear on Thursday, the day I’m leaving.  The silver lining there is I might get on the plane relatively dry.  The next time I come I’ll bring a big garbage bag to cut holes in.  I’m surprised someone isn’t making a killing selling them one at a time.  I did see some plastic raincoats in town today.  Maybe I’ll pick one of those up.  In a fetching yellow or orange.  Speaking of which, I did make my escape for a walkabout in the afternoon.

The three most prominent buildings in Livingston are the hospital, pictured here to the right, and the municipal building and the school, seen below.  The hospital had a big Covid-19 warning and instruction sign on the side.  Or is that Covid-9?  You know that carrona  thing you’ve probably heard about.  I’ve already been warned that if Guatemala experiences an outbreak, I might get stuck here awhile.  I don’t want to sound cavalier but there could be worse things.  Than getting stuck here I mean.

There didn’t seem to be much happening at the school at 2:30 in the afternoon. ?  Or the hospital or city offices for that matter.                     Renato, among others,  had recommended I try a dish called Topada Garifuna, so a stop at a place called Buga Mama’s became the highlight of my walkabout.  Topada is a seafood soup.  The broth is made with coconut cream but it doesn’t have an overwhelming coconut taste.  The soup is full of veggies, shrimp in the shell, crab in the shell, plantains, and one whole fish.  If you don’t like to have a fish looking at you while you eat it, you have to be careful to keep the eyes “below the water line” so to speak.  Now I’m not an experienced  in the shell seafood eater.  But I went into attack mode and when I was finished I had a massive pile of bones, shells, and pinchers.  And I was giving thanks for the recommendation.  Oh man it was good.  Incidentally,  Buga Mama’s is a school teaching cooking and hospitality.  All of the kids working there are students.

While I was eating I was overlooking one of the local gas stations.  Boats, Tuk tuks, scooters, and cars all coming and going.

I’ve written about public pilas before.  Here is the local public do it yourself laundry in Livingston.

And lastly, a dose of reality; someone’s house and bathroom not far down the road from La Casa Rosada.

I am well and hope you all are too.  As always, thanks for being out there.

This is another part of Guatemala that I have not yet seen, the Caribbean side of the country.  Here’s a bit of good news, one can fly to Puerto Barrios from Guatemala City for not much more than you’d pay for one of those patented eight hour shuttle rides.  Not a hard choice.  It takes forty five minutes.

The day started with a fizzle.  We were sitting in the plane on the tarmac, when instead of a seat belts and tray tables announcement, we got an everybody off.   A tropical storm was blowing right through Puerto Barrios, (henceforth known as PB), and they wanted us to hold takeoff until further instructions.  An hour and some change later we left.  When we got to PB it was pouring rain.  I’m talkin’ torrential.  Ok, here’s where I remind you that this is not the size town and airport with jetways.  I was soaked before I even got to the terminal.  Well to be fair, everyone was.  That was only the beginning.  This is the street outside the municipal boat docks.

If you look on a map, both PB and Livingston, my final destination, are situated in a fairly large bay.  There are no roads to speak of connecting any of the towns along the coast.  Travel is all by boat.  See where I’m going with this?

If it were up to me, I wouldn’t venture out on today’s swells in a launch twice the size of these water taxis.  But hey, what do I know.  Well, actually, I know you try to get in the middle of the seat.  Not in the front but close to it.  There were two young mothers with young boys loading right by me, so chivalry won out.  Oh, did I mention that while we were waiting to leave it was not raining.  But just as we were loading, …………… 😉     Here’s a word picture for ya.  Remember those Gallagher shows where everyone in the first several rows had big sheets of plastic they held in front of themselves.  When they broke out the sheets of plastic, the two moms, between their English and my Spanish, coached me through what was happening.  If you’re in an outside seat, all your best efforts go for naught.  Forty minutes of bouncing on the swells in driving rain and before long I was sitting in water trying to decide which was better, protecting my face or protecting my stuff.  I chose my stuff which was also for naught.  Luckily my laptop compartment is waterproof, but the rest of the backpack is not.  One of the differences between buying more expensive gear and not.  When I got to my hotel and I was unpacking, everything was wet.  I even had to hang up my wallet.  By now I’m guessing you might be thinking two things; did I think about waiting for a later launch, and was I in the middle of a major grumpy old man incident.  Yes, and no.  Waiting didn’t strike me as holding much promise, and by the time I was unpacking, the whole thing was so over the top, and I was so in love with where I was, I was almost laughing out loud.

Livingston is a popular vacation destination.  But make no mistake about its place on the Caribbean.  This is not The Riviera Maya.  The town  is predominantly dirt poor and it lacks that contrast between local life and well appointed all inclusives found elsewhere.  My hotel, La Casa Rosada, is pure bohemian.  Not even shabby chic, ’cause you wouldn’t put the word chic anywhere near its description.  There are a lot of things about it that would have many gringo vacationers checking out after the first night.  I really don’t want to belabor the examples but my door is a screen door with a small window and curtain.  It has a hasp and a padlock.  I love it.  I discovered I’ve missed the ocean.  This is my kinda place.  Someone turn in my thirty day notice in St. Paul. 🙂

Above is my room.  It’s even tinier than it looks.  And the rain pouring  off everything.  I took this shot from the dining area.  When there was a break in the action, some pics from a walkabout.

As I’m finishing this post it’s almost 2:30 in the morning.  I got up so I could hog all the bandwidth and get my pictures uploaded.  Can’t wait to see how long it takes to get the whole post uploaded.

After a beautiful full moon evening it’s now raining hard again.  Not to worry, more later.

……., and with a little bit of bragging about Common Hope.

My Godchild Edgar was the very first kid sponsored in the town where he lives, San Miguel Milpas Altas.  I should know how long ago that was but I don’t.  It was awhile.  Today, somewhere in the neighborhood of five hundred kids in San Miguel are affiliated with Common Hope.  That means they are sponsored or are the siblings of sponsored kids.  If they are not yet sponsored, they are eligible to be sponsored and already experience some benefits or status as affiliates of Common Hope.

Recognizing a growing need from those kinds of numbers, Common Hope rented a house in San Miguel to establish an educational support center.  Here’s a few pics.

A small library has been started and there are teachers available to provide tutoring sessions.  These students are getting extra help with the accounting skills that are taught in their regular school curriculum.  These are high school students but the center will develop with an eye towards all grade levels.

This is a common area that’s on its way to being whatever is needed.

And here is the computer lab.  The young man in the tan pants and gray sweater is also a tutor.  The center, when it is open, is a secure environment  and will always be staffed and supervised.

Common Hope is about kids and families.  And about a different future in Guatemala.  I love this country and I’m proud to be a small little piece of that.  I came to Common Hope because friends brought me here.  But whenever I talk about Common Hope I always try to add this additional part of what I know and believe.  There are thousands, probably millions, of NGOs doing honorable, much needed work, on every inhabited continent in our world.  In many different areas.  I’m not talking geographic areas, I’m talking about areas like education, medicine, social work, food, rehabilitation, clean water, construction, I could go on and on.  Anyone and everyone can do something.  Whether it’s at home or abroad.  There are starfish to be tossed back into the sea.

I am well and hope you all are too.  Thanks for being out there.

The overwhelming takeaway from both of this year’s visits with my sponsor kids is new babies!  Last year on my visit we learned that Alba Veronica, Edgar’s mother, had recently learned that she was pregnant, and the boys, Edgar and his brother Ericson, were pretty angry with their parents about it.  Given that their youngest is 16, she was forthright about it being a bit of an “oops”.  A bit??  The boys were honest about the fact that they were still trying to get used to the idea.  Mom told me that got worse before it got better.

This year Nahomi, (short a, silent h), now 8 months of delight, has brought great joy to the entire family.  Including the boys whose feelings have changed entirely.  They are both attentive brothers.  Gratifying to see.  I think years from now when boys start coming around Nahomi, they will have real challenges dealing with her two protective brothers.

I had to be mindful of asking Edgar questions and keeping some focus on him.  It was too easy to have the whole visit, and all of the attention, be on the newest member of the family.

Even though Edgar is focused on school and does well, I learned that he is becoming quite the wanderer.  He has gotten crosswise with his mom for not being up front about where he is, and not being back home when he says he’s going to be there.  Huh, something new with teens. I’ve been around this family for quite a long time now and they are pretty open with their conversations when I’m there. Although there was some laughter when all of this was being discussed, there was also some tension.  I counselled Edgar that his mom’s anger is born out of worry and asked him to be more understanding and respectful about that.  While all of this was being discussed, Ericson, who I’ve also become quite close to and fond of, sat quietly next to me with his sister on his lap and a little smile on his face.  It is also becoming clear to me that Ericson is emerging as the real home body of the two brothers.

Here’s the whole group on this visit.  On my right, (I’m the tall guy), is Ericson.  Then Edgar on my left, Lys who works in Sponsorship for Common Hope and served as translator, mama Alba and Nahomi, and on the far right, Brenda whose the social worker assigned to the family.

Pepiàn, not a breakfast dish, has become the traditional meal during my visits.  Alba likes to cook it, and she knows I like to eat it.  This was a morning visit so we all learned that it is in fact good for breakfast. 🙂     I feel so blessed to be a friend to this family.

One baby per visit please.

I noticed on my Sponsor Activity Report that a new grandson was listed.  I had assumed the boy was the son of Paulina’s sister, Viviana.  But I wondered about it because Viviana is married and living with her husband’s family.  Not so fast grasshopper.

Last year during my visit Paulina was already pregnant but didn’t know it.  In fact, she didn’t find out for a number of months.  Now she is married and with a new son, Oliver.  Another regalito in my life as a sponsor.  You Spanish speakers will recognize that as, “little gift”.

This is Oliver completely focused on his very first selfie.  They say start ’em young.  He did pretty good with getting saliva all over my phone.

When I first figured out that my little flower petal was now a young mother, I was happy to realize that Paulina did not quit school when she learned that she was going to be a mom.  That would have followed a long history of similar stories.  A story repeated throughout the world of unplanned pregnancies.  Lys remarked while returning from the visit that she thought Paulina seemed a little sad.  I don’t disagree with that assessment.  While I was reviewing my pictures from the visit, it was there on her face in some of the photos. 

But also, in the pictures are looks of genuine joy while holding her new son.  She talked about not feeling very connected to him at first.  But that was just at first.  There is no doubt in my mind though that a part of her is feeling like, what have I done?  Way before I was ready.  But then there’s Oliver.  Little gift.  On this visit, Paulina who is very shy, was happy to have all of the attention on Oliver.

The other obvious new thing in Paulina’s life is that she no longer lives in the home where she grew up and is now living in the home of her mother-in-law.  As I mentioned earlier, I’m so happy that school did not end for her.  And that she is still committed to finishing, as hard as that has become.  She now attends classes only on Saturdays and has more homework during the week.  Saturdays are very long days.  Well, all of her days are very long days.  Oliver and her mother-in-law, or her mother, go with her on school days.  Of equal or maybe greater importance than her own desire to finish, I was very happy to learn that her husband, her new mother-in law, and of course her own mother, are all very supportive and want her to finish her schooling.  This is very good news and will likely be the difference maker in Paulina’s ability to finish.  As her sponsor I will be hoping and praying for this to happen.  I told her I want to watch her graduate and I look forward to that day with great love. 🙂