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Tuesday, 5 November 2024: A Colorful Sunday at Lake Atitlán

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I arrived in Guatemala on a Tuesday and realized by Friday that I would be stuck on the weekends by myself.   The other ½ dozen or so volunteers at the school are 50+ years younger than me so I doubted we would be hanging out together.   Ten years ago, I’d seen a lot of the city of Antigua in the two weeks I was here.   I didn’t want to sit around feeling bored and lonely.   Where could I go?   Violeta, the owner of the place where I’m staying, had recommended a travel agency four blocks from here.   Diana, the other volunteer staying here, gave me a flyer from the agency that listed trips.   A day trip to Lake Atitlán caught my eye because it is renowned as one of the scenic crown jewels of Guatemala.   The price for a day trip was $55 which included a modern mini-bus ride for the 2+ hour trip each way.   Once at the lake, you got a guided tour via boat to three towns. I’m not much for tours but figured a day-tour would be okay.  So on Friday, I booked the trip with the agency.  And o
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Friday, 1 November 2024: My first week at The School of Hope

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Some of my readers may be wondering about my experiences at Escuela La Esperanza (School of Hope) where I’ve been volunteering.   Getting to the school and back from where I’m staying is a bit of a commute.   The school assigned me to a room on the southeast side of the city of Antigua while the school is in Jocotenango which adjoins Antigua in the northwest.   They did so because of my veggie diet. And yes, Violeta and Fernando have been feeding me good veggie meals.   It’s about a two-mile walk to the school but it takes me 45-50 minutes because parts of it are a bit of a challenge:   narrow sidewalks that are 6+ inches above the streets and where there’s scarcely enough room to for two people to pass each other; cobblestone streets that are tough for walking (I wouldn’t dare try to walk them in anything but hiking boots); and heavy, crazy traffic – big American school buses converted to city and intercity buses which belch diesel fumes (a year of being around them would leave me w
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Saturday, 26 October 2024: Wandering Back to Guatemala

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  Here I am on my third trip to Guatemala (I was previously here in 2000 and 2014).   Why am I doing it?   I have several motivations: -          I wanted to try returning to Latin America after that fiasco with my heart problem and stollen camera in Chile last year.   -          I need to be in a Spanish language environment again – otherwise why keep studying Spanish? -          I wanted to get away from the U.S. during this god-awful election.   I’m sick of hearing about it, especially all the blatant lies. Do me a BIG favor and don't tell me how it turns out as I have a bad feeling about it.        -          An article that I read in the Denver Post earlier this year about the school where I am volunteering pointed out that providing good educations for kids in Guatemala will help them find work here as adults instead of migrating to the U.S.   So, it seemed like a positive thing to do to help stem the flow of “ilegales”. -          I feel that so much of my life has
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July 6, 2024: The Debate Debacle – Your Responses

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I am heartened that, so far, 180 people have looked at my July 4 blog post (Blogger shows me how many people read each post but not their identities).   I also have received some great responses via email from various sides of the political spectrum.   I would like to share these with you, identifying the writers by their first names and where they live.   I’ve “cleaned up” some of the grammar, punctuation, etc. but I’m not going to comment on these emails although you are free to do so or send me more emails for future publication on the blog. By the way, I’ve decided to scrap my idea of visiting Colorado politicians’ offices in person.   I discussed this idea briefly with a friend who has experience lobbying Congress.   “Should I make an appointment to speak to staffers or just show up at their offices?”   I asked.   “You need an appointment but they are unlikely to give you one,” he replied.   This snapped me into reality:   Why bother making all the effort to speak for 2 minutes wi
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