I can’t sleep. It’s not surprising. I took a nap today and knew it would inhibit my sleep later on. Oh well, sometimes I make poor choices that look good in the moment and the consequences after leave me restless and contrite. I sent an email out to some friends today and one replied that a line in my email helped her to understand what life is like sometimes. So, since I’m awake with nothing more to do, I thought I’d share what I’ve slept on over the last 9 months. Because… why not?
Month 1: January 2015 – San Salvador, El Salvador.
My team stayed at Ximenja’s Guesthouse for the majority of the month. We paid $30/night for a 6 bed little space. There were 7 of us. The bunks creaked and stressed anytime someone got on. The occasional time I sat on a bottom bunk, I imagined what would happen when the person on top would fall through. I figured it’d be more physically painful for me, but anything else for them. The mattresses were a slim, lumpy kind and I questioned what bugs loomed inside. I opted for something different. Kathryn and I slept with the stars as our ceiling. Each night taking out our sleeping pads and sleeping bags on the third-floor terrace. Space enough for three. While the idea was romanticized in my head, I had too much pride to admit it was just as awful sleeping outside as I imagined it was inside. Despite numerous attempts at protection, my face got eaten like it was a free buffet. Pretty sure I looked like I had chicken pox. While the area we were in was fairly safe, every pop and bang I heard made my mind race down another path. I figured I was safest on the terrace should a bunch of crazies come in gunning. I had multiple escape routes planned on any side. Oh – and the sun. It was unbearable. 5:30 in the morning. I roasted like a pig in a blanket.
Month 2: February 2015 – Xenacoj, Guatemala.
My whole squad (of 29 at the time) was split between two buildings. I was in a room with 10 other girls. Top bunk. No glass on the windows. Tarp and pieces of wood covering holes in the wall. Our bathroom was a cement hole with a shower curtain. You heard everything. In the bathroom that is. No pretending girls don’t do certain things. Compared to the previous month, sleep was decent. The air was cold and quiet.
Month 3: March 2015 – Valle de Angeles, Honduras
I might have spelled that wrong. Oh well. My team of 7 slept in 2 bedrooms at our contact’s house. Top bunk again. Aside from a couple weeks of wooziness due to the altitude, sleep and weather and all was well.
Month 4: April 2015 – Granada, Nicaragua
100 degree days, no wind. My team was given a room with 5 beautiful comfy beds. Privacy and space. Instead, I chose a top bunk in the foyer where the front door was. The chance of air flow during 95 degree nights was greater.
Month 5: May 2015 – Chepo, Panama
I don’t know if I was being tested or if Satan was just being an ass. The bed I picked was infested with ants of all shapes and sizes. All month long. After two nights I asked our contacts for a cot. The ants continued to harass me. Want to know how gross ants are? Queen ants will get together and lay eggs/larvae underground. When the eggs hatch and the worker ants are born they stretch, dismember, and feed parts of the queens to the remaining larvae. Only one queen remains. Talk about warped little creatures.
Month 6: June 2015 – Medellin, Colombia
Some of my favorite people-memories were in our little abode which we shared with 3 germans, 2 families, 1 dog, and a number of other people. The cons: our room was mold-infested which I’m pretty sure I acquired an allergy to. There was also no window and because my team went back and forth of being sick the light was always off from someone napping. I missed the light.
Month 7: July 2015 – Cuenca, Ecuador
Oh man – so before this month began I prayed and asked God for some very specific things due to happenings from the month before. Not only did we have rooms that had real doors and windows with natural light, but also slept on brand new 12-inch thick mattresses! Praise Jesus! It was good 🙂
Month 8: August 2015 – Catamarca, Peru
We slept in a clinic which was being remodeled. Mattresses were comfy. Sleep was good. I played in the wheelchairs on occasion and once got locked out on the roof for 30 minutes. The clinic was guarded 24/7 but occasionally we got home so late that the guard was asleep. Not the first time I climbed over a 10-foot fence 😀
Month 9: September 2015 – Bolivia
So far my team has been in La Paz, one of the capitals. We spent 6 nights at a place called the Adventure Brew Hostel. The top bunk I was on felt like a fortress of solitude. It was so high up there I almost broke my neck slipping down. Cons -yeah don’t expect to go to a place with Adventure + Brew and assume you’ll sleep through the night. Constant music, noise, and random people walking in rooms at all hours of the night. Thankfully we have since moved to a much quieter little place. Only problem here is that my bed is lopsided/slanted/whatever you want to call it. It’s not horizontal and to that I think my back no like.
Happy Sleeping 🙂
