Life is...muy tranquilo at the lake

Kim: Our days have enough focus here to keep us busy, but we still have plenty of hanging out time too! Life at the beach and on Roatan seems very far away. We look at the photos and we wonder if that was really us living there. I am working and observing as a speech language pathologist/therapist at Centro Maya, a center for kids with disabilities, in the Mayan village of San Juan La Laguna. It is a short boat ride (launcha) from our village of San Marcos on Lake Atitlan. I am there a couple of days a week and have really enjoyed sharing experiences with another SLP named Ane, the Guatemalan speech therapist. We have compared therapies, education, job possibilities and spoken of future job/cultural exchanges. It has been rewarding, as I did not have a peer exchange at all when I was working as an SLP on Roatan. The center has a vocational component where some of the older special needs students bake bread, sew bags and other items and make jewelry for sale in the community. This is so inspiring to see and the center as whole is so much more developed than anything that exists on Roatan (yet!).

 

Workshop at Centro Maya

View from our roof

As Dan mentioned, our Spanish school has been amazing. Marino and Lucia are really enjoying the 3 hour private Spanish classes. They are each taught by a local Mayan woman they laugh with, go exploring in the pueblo with, visit their homes, and sing songs with. It has been a long process learning Spanish, but we are really enjoying the experience of this school, the family that owns it, and the teachers at the school. Taking a launcha to school, studying in open air classrooms in a coffee field and sampling the local brew at break time are only a few of the highlights.

Marino getting art lessons

Mini Marino - Benedicto Jr

Dan, el trabajador del campo

 

            Life in San Marcos and at Lake Atitlan is difficult to portray. It feels like life full of little vignettes, such as……buying freshly cut mangos sprinkled with salt and masa (pazul?) from a woman in the doorway to her home, eating tostadas on plastic stools at the plaza, playing in the old playground and seesaw in the centro, hearing broadcasts from the evangelical churches throughout the day, the bell of the trash truck, the dog poop that is always in the middle of the path, the dogs that have their own parallel dog village life, hearing the local Mayan languages of Tz'utujil and Kakchikel, hearing the sound of tortillas being handmade (slap, slap, slap),  and always the backdrop of the beautiful vast lake with towering volcanoes behind it. 

Old fashioned see saw

            It feels like we are in a tranquil waiting period for our USA re-entry. We study Spanish, talk and spend time with the family, Benedicto and Maria (and their 2 children) that own the Spanish school, wander around San Marcos, and pass quiet hours in our peaceful lovely garden oasis. What an adventure we have had. Life has continued without us back at home and at times this has been difficult. We have lost two good friends this year during our absence, but another has beat cancer. Marino and Lucia seem like they have grown up so much this year and I am sure we will really notice this when we return to our life in Santa Fe. We are questioning for ourselves how to not get completely back on the racetrack of an American style life. We want to preserve some of the slowness we have enjoyed this year.

Mother's Day