Casa Guatemala part 1
On Sunday I will finally be going off to the orphanage to work as an Orientador for the small children (basically a surragate mum for 30 kids from 4.30am until 8pm (when they get up to when they go to sleep).
So far Ive been working in the hostel/hotel associated with the orphanage which is 20kms downstream and near the town of Fronteras. Im in civilisation now but will be going over to a rat infested island sharing it with 250 children, 100 adults, and god knows how many chickens and pigs. Aparently there are some cows as well as a bull placed himself infront of the door to the voluntary dormitory the other day and refused to move and a horse regularly comes into the dormitory looking for food. Ill wait to see what happens:)
The hotel is very different as whilst I like talking to and helping the guests, all the Israeli guests have been a pain and most of the staff dislike the volunteers as they move on so often, and have made no attempt to understand my spanish. Ive gone from using spanish on a daily basis, being understood and complemented on the spanish, and translating for other tourists to not being understood by 90% of the staff and 50% telling guests not to speak to me as I dont speak spanish! However the two main people I work with are funny, serious and very good at their job and have definately made the hotel work more enjoyable, along with the views across the river:)
I am living in a dormitory at the top of the hotel with the volunteers, gekos, one bat and two dogs! The hotel is currently surrounded by water as the Rio Dulce, which the hotel is beside, has risen 1 1/2 meters in 2 weeks but as the rain stopped 4 days ago the level has gone down half a meter. The bar was flooded after 6 inches of rain in one night and if it rained the next night the dormitories, internet, bathrooms and lower part of the hotel would have been flooded! In the orphanage part of one school building collapsed and a boat was used to ferry the volunteers from their accomodation to the school as a walkway was waist high in water that was a mixture of stagnant water, pig waste and a bit of sewage thrown in for luck! 3 children have also gone down with malaria although this is contained (I am on malaria tablets). In Fronteras, the many marinas with boats stored on land have been in water instead and many homes and restaurants flooded.
Some photos are below but the website (http://www.casa-guatemala.org/) has details of the orphanage. The second page that pops up gives pictures of the flood in both Casa Guatemala and the hotel.
(Pictures - the reception desk and my colleague Estuardo (I turned photographer for the day to take pictures of Estuardo for his girlfriend), picture of Hotel Backpackers from the bridge, view of the land marina (ie. should not be filled with water!), impromtu 3 a side rugby match from flooded pontoons at the hotel)
So far Ive been working in the hostel/hotel associated with the orphanage which is 20kms downstream and near the town of Fronteras. Im in civilisation now but will be going over to a rat infested island sharing it with 250 children, 100 adults, and god knows how many chickens and pigs. Aparently there are some cows as well as a bull placed himself infront of the door to the voluntary dormitory the other day and refused to move and a horse regularly comes into the dormitory looking for food. Ill wait to see what happens:)
The hotel is very different as whilst I like talking to and helping the guests, all the Israeli guests have been a pain and most of the staff dislike the volunteers as they move on so often, and have made no attempt to understand my spanish. Ive gone from using spanish on a daily basis, being understood and complemented on the spanish, and translating for other tourists to not being understood by 90% of the staff and 50% telling guests not to speak to me as I dont speak spanish! However the two main people I work with are funny, serious and very good at their job and have definately made the hotel work more enjoyable, along with the views across the river:)
I am living in a dormitory at the top of the hotel with the volunteers, gekos, one bat and two dogs! The hotel is currently surrounded by water as the Rio Dulce, which the hotel is beside, has risen 1 1/2 meters in 2 weeks but as the rain stopped 4 days ago the level has gone down half a meter. The bar was flooded after 6 inches of rain in one night and if it rained the next night the dormitories, internet, bathrooms and lower part of the hotel would have been flooded! In the orphanage part of one school building collapsed and a boat was used to ferry the volunteers from their accomodation to the school as a walkway was waist high in water that was a mixture of stagnant water, pig waste and a bit of sewage thrown in for luck! 3 children have also gone down with malaria although this is contained (I am on malaria tablets). In Fronteras, the many marinas with boats stored on land have been in water instead and many homes and restaurants flooded.
Some photos are below but the website (http://www.casa-guatemala.org/) has details of the orphanage. The second page that pops up gives pictures of the flood in both Casa Guatemala and the hotel.
(Pictures - the reception desk and my colleague Estuardo (I turned photographer for the day to take pictures of Estuardo for his girlfriend), picture of Hotel Backpackers from the bridge, view of the land marina (ie. should not be filled with water!), impromtu 3 a side rugby match from flooded pontoons at the hotel)
posted by boozysoozy at
8:58 AM
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