Hello again!
My first entry to the blog comes with sort of bitter/sweet emotions. We are all kind of sad to be leaving San Lucas, as we have kind of gotten used to our daily routines and will be leaving some new friends behind; one of which is Jorge the tienda owner on the corner. He was sad to hear that we were leaving tomorrow morning because he said he liked seeing us walk by a few times a day and talking to us when we came into his store. So he was giving out sad hugs today, I am not sure if he will miss us more or the looots of business we brought him. Whether it means anything or not, he would always give us his "special price."
Lauren blogged earlier about the fun she had cleaning... well Brady, Michael, Jake and I went and had our own fun. We asked Jorge if he knew anyone who had canoes, and he pointed us three blocks up the street to go behind some bar and asked for a guy named chilota, it was kind of sketchy, but we spoke enough spanish to get it figured out, everyone is so nice its easy. For about three american dollars we took out 2 of his home made canoes. It was a good intention, took a couple good pictures (to come later), but it was super windy and wavy, I thought I was going in a few times. we kept spinning in circles (the ores were different sizes) and it was a battle against the wind to get back to shore. It was fun though.
Chona came to talk to us shortly after this, she talked about how thankful the mission is to have volunteers from North American come down to help out, and how this place wouldn't be the same without the contributions people like us have made in the past. She also talked about the violence between the guerillas and the guatemalan military in the past, and how hard it was for her, her family, and many other guatemalans.
Now it's time to watch a movie and hit the hay, as we are getting up at 3:20ish a.m. to leave for Antigua. We leave with valuable knowledge about the problems that exist in countries other than our own. These problems transformed from something we heard in the news, or writing on a page into first hand experiences. It makes it that much more real, we have been trying hard not to "get used" to what we are seeing every day. Antigua will be a lot different, and we will probably see more tourists than actual natives due to the fact that it is a huge vacation destination during holy week; however, we will not forget what we have seen, heard, and learned here in San Lucas Toliman. At this time tomorrow we will be unpacking our sleeping bags to sleep under the stars on top of a volcanoe in Antigua, We are all excited. So far, great memories had, great memories to come. Peace.
-Jon Schoenecker