Bienvenido a San Lorenzo!

*Writing this post after I experienced my FIRST earthquake! 5.7 magnitude! All is well. Currently sippin' on some weird tea my host mama made to calm my nerves. She's the MVP. 

Bienvenido a San Lorenzo! Today marks a week that I’ve been freezing my buns off in my new community of San Lorenzo, San Marcos, Guatemala! It is an incredibly beautiful little town of 1,000 people. We’re located waaaaaay up in the mountains (elevation: 8,000 ft)! Which means this lil southerner is muy frío. It’s so cold here that on my first night, my host momma lightly knocked on my door and entered with a hair dryer in one hand and an extension cord in the other. I didn’t ask questions. Before I knew it, she placed the hair dryer on full blast, under my covers to warm up my lil toes! We made some awkward eye contact and then both of us totally lost it, cracking up, laughing. It was a solid first bonding moment.

 This little town of San Lorenzo that I live in has never had a Peace Corps Volunteer so you can only imagine the looks I get when I sit in the park reading, journaling, or trying to saludo (greet) people in my gringa accent. Because I’m opening this site, I do not have a site mate or anyone to show me the ropes. So it’s just me, myself, and I exploring, schmoozing, figuring out transportation, and trying to regatear (bargain) at our Mercado. It’s been a slow process of adjusting and I think everyday my emotions range from joy, to fear, to excitement, to “what the hell am I doing”, and back to complete gratitude for this experience. But apparently, this roller coaster of emotions is normal. Then again, the notion of normal in Peace Corps is completely NOT NORMAL. For example, my 5 am alarm clock is our pet chickens, and by pet chickens I mean they’re living the good life until my family gets hungry. That goes for our pet pig too! I was so excited when I saw a huge pig in our backyard and immediately named it “Chicarrón”. I decided we’d be friends. Well, turns out he’s our Christmas meal soooo that friendship isn’t going to last long. However, each new morning, I wake up and congratulate us both on for making it another day.

As far as the humans in my family, I’ve got a host mama (Doña Judith), host papa (Don Byron), and a thirteen year old little brother (Byron Pablo or Colocho). We live in a simple house. I live downstairs and have two rooms. One serves as my bedroom and the other as my little kitchen. It’s getting pretty cozy and the set-up process has kept me busy! I asked a local carpenter to make me a set of shelves and they turned out to be beautiful. I also visited another town and got a mirror cut and mounted to hang in my room. My next task is to hang my pictures with some handy string and paper clips (Peace Corps life). But in order to do this I need to learn the Spanish words for hammer and nails. For my kitchen, I bought a little gas stove and my family has been teaching me how to not blowup the entire house by placing a wet rag over my gas tambon. They’re seriously the best! They bought me all the basics I needed for my little kitchen like sugar, salt, storage containers, and a knife! They even took me shopping to the next big town (about 45 minutes away) and I was able to find powdered soy milk!!! Also pancake mix… Now if only I could find some Zatarans jambalaya mix (wink wink care packages)! Even though I’ve got my little kitchen, they still have the kindest souls and offer me meals. I think they’re so keen on eating meals with me because they have so much fun having me try different types of hot peppers. They’re also amazed that this gringa can handle the heat!! They crack up watching me add the spiciest peppers to my beans. It’s kind of become my party trick!  Seriously, they always ask me to show visitors that I can eat a Chiltepe straight up, in one bite.

            So far, I’ve met the teachers from my school, the Centro de Salud staff, the police force, and my supervisor! I was also invited to attend our town’s Christmas tree lighting where very strange games such as, how many tortillas can you fit into your mouth and who can peel this orange the quickest, were played. It’s very strange and a bit lonely at times to be the only foreigner in my little town. But I’ve encountered so many caring, interested, and kind souls in just a week here. I can’t wait to call this beautiful town my home for the next two years.

P.S. Still don’t have wifi and don’t know if it’s even a possibility up here in the montañas so my Internet access is limited and expensive! But I will at least be able to check in once a week so if anyone’s got questions or just wants to say hola – email me at jbingler@gmail.com

Learning how to "hacer" tortillas with my Host Mama!

My lil' kitchen 

Market Day!