republica de perros

Well, On sunday I went back to San Lucas. Nicki, one of the volunteers there, is in the hospital with a kidney infection, so we went to visit her in the afternoon. She's doing okay now, but she's on IV antibiotics 3 times a day.

Monday we came to Cunen and Kat and I went to Nebaj, which is about an hour away from Cunen and contains the nearest bank machine. We got a ride there with the Nebaj team (also a Cedescri project), who also drove us to Cunen again because the truck is STILL in the shop. It's been three weeks. Apparently in addition to the alternator (or, rather, the battery), there's something wrong with the fuel pump, and they have to get parts. I don't know.

So coming back from Nebaj we had to find a ride. Which is difficult, leaving Nebaj in the afternoon. Finally a pickup came by that was going to Sacapulas, so we got a ride partway, to the turnoff to Cunen. Then we actually got another ride right away down to town.

It is now officially the rainy season here. It's been raining in the afternoon since the end of last week, so we got a bit wet coming home yesterday. Also, I had (have) a cold, which makes for great fun all around.

Today was pretty laid-back. We're getting ready to go to the town of Chiul tomorrow to build a vivero for planting basil. A vivero is basically a frame covered with treebranches on top to create shade for the seedlings. Tomorrow and Thursday we'll be up there doing that. And since we don't have a truck we're getting a guy to take us up tomorrow and bring us down on Thursday, and spending the night up there. Which will be most entertaining.

This afternoon, as we were getting stuff together to take to Chiul, we found a little tiny puppy howling by the house. So we fed him some milk and bits of bread, and gave him a little box. Kat wants to call him Tim, for tiny Tim, because he's quite small. On our way through town we saw a dog that looks like his mom, so maybe he has a home, but maybe not. We'll have to see what we can do with the little guy.

Next weekend I'm going to Semuc Champey, which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in Guatemala, and then heading home.