Anita and I spent the night at my grandpa’s house in Chiquimula- which is so much hotter than Antigua. My grandpa doesn’t have hot water and he says he doesn’t need it. Considering that it’s winter here and Chiquimula was at least 95 degrees, he’s not kidding! My uncle Eric took Anita and I to the markets in town, which is more like a massive outdoor swap meet of vegetables, meats, cowboy hats, shoes… pretty much anything you can think of. After spending an hour in the market maze, we were so overheated and wanted to go home. So Eric took us to the only place in town with air conditioning- the freezer section of the local supermarket. We spent a good 15 minutes looking at the yogurts and butters before heading back out to the street for the walk home.
My grandpa’s house is pretty cool. It’s the first time I’ve been to his property since he built the house and wood workshop. He has a massive garden, with similar crops that we grew in CA: corn, cucumber, lemons, limes, avocado, banana, peppers… he had some extra exotic things to which I still don’t know the names of. His housekeeper, Mila, cooked for us over an open flame outside, grilling phenomenal steaks, roasting peppers and squash, and making us homemade tortillas. We ate so much food at his house, all with fresh ingredients from the market and painstakingly prepared by Mila.
After lunch, we had to head back to Antigua for a dinner meeting to plan our week, so we got back on the road with my cousins. After 3 hours, we made it back in time to meet the new Gerontology Practice supervisor, Sue Copolla (who seems like an amazing OT). She has so many ideas on what we can do with Casa Maria, it’s nice to get a fresh perspective from someone who is ready to jump in and get their hands dirty. Moreover, she’s warm, inviting, and trying to make our lives a bit easier while we’re here… which is so welcome since we’ve all started to get exhausted from our busy schedules. She’s definitely a welcome addition to our team her.
After dinner, I finally got a chance to see my new homestay. I moved in on Friday, but spent under an hour unpacking before I had to head out to Guatemala City for my weekend journey. The new place is cute. I have my own bathroom again, however I don’t have internet, which is sort of sad, but it’s only 3 more weeks. The family is composed of a couple my grandparents’ age, their daughter and her 2 children- one of whom is a 5 year old name Brian- so cute! Oh- and we have a parrot named Polly too. He’s cute, not very talkative, but a bit of a screamer. Nonetheless he’s cute and I’m excited to have more pets around.
