Countdown to detonate...

I spent last week in Cunen, and the surrounding "metropolitan area" (Right.)

On Monday night I got sick. Guatemala disease again, I guess. It'll be nice to be back in a country where i don't have to worry about the things I eat making me sick (well, mostly). Tuesday I was still feeling gross, so I slept all day.

Wednesday I went with Pedro to Xemanzana. On the back of a dirtbike, going too fast (of course) up a curvy dirt mountain road. We were planting pericón there and making mangueras sudadas (sweathoses). These are actually pretty cool: they're hoses that leak, really slowly, so that they use very little water. Which is good, since all the water has to be hauled from the well by hand. None of these aldeas have running water, and Cedescri helped install most of the wells that are there.

On thursday I went again with Pedro, on the moto, to Chiul, to check in on a couple of gardens, and to clean out bandejas (what's the english word for those trays you put seedlings in?).

And today we left on the bus. I came with Kat to Panajachel, for one last shopping trip (I think this country is the only place in the world where I really LIKE to shop. Scary, no?). Except that I left my ATM card in Cunen, so Kat had to loan me some money. Oops. On the way we stopped in Solola, where it was market day, because some of the textiles there are really gorgeous. Wacky, too. Well, I had just bought something and pushed my way through about a thousand people to get to the busses when I realized my money was no longer in my pocket. My first thought, after "oh no, my wallet got stolen", was "oh, wow, I'm glad now I left my ATM card in Cunen, or it might well be gone too." At least Kat was with me and could give me some cash, and at least there's ATMs in Panajachel, and at least I didn't have that much money, so it could have been a whole lot worse.

And I found some nice things here to take home. And next weekend I'm going to Semuc Champey, and then I'm LEAVING! Unbelievable.

Oh, and just a general call: anyone in Los Angeles between 2:30 and 11:50 PM on Wednesday, May 26 should come rescue me from LAX, where I will be bored out of my mind.