A Guatemalan Wedding (But Not Mine)
On Saturday night I put on my dancing shoes and slicked my hair back before piling into the back of Chepe's pickup with many of his relatives. We raced along the mountain roads with a canopy of stars overhead, to the wedding of his cousin in a town about half an hour from San Miguel. Upon arrival we briefly congratulated the bride and groom before settling in for a big meal of chicken, bread and vegetables. Marimba music boomed from speakers, and I patiently waited for someone over the age of five to start dancing. No one danced! But with much urging from the extended family, I invited Chepe's teenage niece to help me get the party started. I admit I was blushing a little as I felt two hundred pairs of eyes on us, but everyone burst into applause as we began to swing and sway. Soon some other couples joined us. Perhaps the wedding guests will now think of Americans as a nation of dancers. I'd like to believe so!
Later we returned home and I went to bed. I awoke in the middle of the night with a strange rumbling in my stomach, and became ill early that morning. I later found out that everyone at the wedding party also got sick from the food. Imagine that! I'm feeling better now, thanks to some antibiotics my Medical Officer gave me.
This weekend I will be taking off to visit a fellow Environmental Education volunteer who lives and works in the eastern lowlands of the country, where the climate is very hot and dry. Apparently she has been in-site only ten months and has already contracted both dengue and shingles...Yowie! Hopefully I'll be staying healthy during my visit. I am excited to go, as it is a part of Guatemala I have spent little time in. It's cowboy country, yeeeeehaw! Cattle, boots, hats, and guns...sign me up!
Also, I experienced my first earthquake a couple nights ago, a 4.1 centered in the town next to ours. It was pretty exciting, a very physical reminder of how dynamic this landscape is...as is the active 'Volcano of Fire' visible from San Miguel.
Blessings to all!
Later we returned home and I went to bed. I awoke in the middle of the night with a strange rumbling in my stomach, and became ill early that morning. I later found out that everyone at the wedding party also got sick from the food. Imagine that! I'm feeling better now, thanks to some antibiotics my Medical Officer gave me.
This weekend I will be taking off to visit a fellow Environmental Education volunteer who lives and works in the eastern lowlands of the country, where the climate is very hot and dry. Apparently she has been in-site only ten months and has already contracted both dengue and shingles...Yowie! Hopefully I'll be staying healthy during my visit. I am excited to go, as it is a part of Guatemala I have spent little time in. It's cowboy country, yeeeeehaw! Cattle, boots, hats, and guns...sign me up!
Also, I experienced my first earthquake a couple nights ago, a 4.1 centered in the town next to ours. It was pretty exciting, a very physical reminder of how dynamic this landscape is...as is the active 'Volcano of Fire' visible from San Miguel.
Blessings to all!
posted by John Engler at 5:57 PM
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