Written Feb 7th, just not posted till today. Sorry!
I love Antigua!
Settled by the Spaniards, the architecture
has a very European feel, which surprised me.Buildings from the 1500s, some beautifully crumbling, some still in
excellent condition, fill the city, and the square is gorgeous. Antigua is a
tourist hot spot, with many luring restaurants, countless native Guatemalan
artisan stores, and a beautiful melting pot of people from around the world. I
have enjoyed walking through the streets and overhearing foreign languages, and
seeing the variety of dress, from colorful indigenous dress, to European style,
normal American style, and then our hodgepodge of American missionary
style!
We visited an absolutely wonderful Crepe
restaurant that is owned and run by a Frenchman and a German, who both speak Spanish
and English in addition to their native language. I smile at the diversity. Cities have always been dear to my heart, and
this one is no different. A volcano
looms behind the city scene, the cobblestone streets lined with colorful
buildings, both residential and commercial.
The buildings are primarily cement stone, with slight bay windows
protruding over the sidewalk and flowering pots overflowing through the iron
bars.
The first few days here in Antigua, all 50 Racers stayed in a church that was
generously opened to us. It was quite a
scene, as we were all in the sanctuary, plastic chairs stacked against the
walls, with all of our packs. We each
laid out our sleeping mats and bags and lined the floor, one next to
another. There was one toilet each for
guys and gals but no shower. For those
who wished, bucket showers in swimsuits were allowed in later evening hours in
the churchyard. I actually declined that
offer in order to wait for today.
Because…
Today all of B Squad moved into a hostel
for the next three days. Quaint and
lovely, the most important part is that there is a shower!! All five of us ZEO gals are sharing a room,
in a wing with one other bedroom, and the one community shower. We cross the hall to access the community
kitchen and dining room. It is very
nice, and a wonderful change, but certainly interesting. When I say ‘community’, that is including the
other guests in the hostel as well, not simply racers. But I am totally okay with that. We have already met one other guest and will
certainly have opportunities to chat with more.
The shower was AMAZING! I had my first shower with warm or hot water
since I left home today. A real shower
head, and warm water, with a closed door so only one person showers at a
time. I have made my record though for
not showering. I find it quite
interesting that I can go longer without a shower now than I could at the
beginning and not smell as bad or my hair be quite as nasty. I am quite confident the body adjusts
itself. I showered at Selena’s last
Wednesday afternoon, then had a river bath on Saturday morning, swam in the
river that afternoon, and then… today! And today is Wednesday!!
I should really photo journal the journey of
my hair from day 1 to day … whatever, usually only day 4. Fun times.
I wear my hair down for one, maybe two days, then a
ponytail, then half covered, then all covered, either with my wrap or a hat! (I
think it held itself in a ponytail this morning- ha ha! yuck!) Who’d have
thought – Alissa going nearly 8 days without a real shower! I doubt it will be the last time.
It is a great release though, to realize
that none of us are out here to impress anyone, on our team or elsewhere, so we
are all reaching our showering records, and having fun doing it. Things such as these are not a big deal
anymore. Community living really
engrains this philosophy into our attitudes.
When showers are not readily available, and toilets are shared, none of
us can avoid knowing just a leeetle bit more about the others than we would
ever think appropriate at home! But, we
quickly become accustomed to knowing when people are sick and how, how many
days its been since we have showered, what we look like right out of bed, and whose
underwear is whose drying on the line.
Although community living is fun, and quite
entertaining at times, there are the challenges as well. Some people find some aspects harder than
others, but I believe the greatest challenge for all of us is finding time to
be alone and quiet. Palenque was full
of crazy noise and a lot of us people together.
Antigua actually has less obnoxious noise (at least to me, since I love
the city noise), but it is still loud, and we were with 50 people in our
‘home.’ Coffee shops are busy, the park
is busy, the sleeping room is busy. Here
at the hostel, there are people talking, guitars playing, cars driving by,
etc… And being alone is simply not an
option, especially for girls. Leah,
Sarah and I were walking in the park and saw one of our guys sitting on a
bench, by himself, just being alone. How
wonderful that looked. As a guy, he is
allowed, but as females, we are not allowed to go anywhere alone. There is no alone, and that is hard – we are
missing that. I find that I can get into
an alone mode in certain environments without much trouble, like a good coffee
shop,
but I know it is harder for some
others.
