Casa Guatemala !

Dear all,

As the title implies we have arrived at our new home for the next few months..Casa Guatemala Orphanage in Rio Dulce.

Unfortunately our access to the internet here is scarse so we apologize for the late update. The orphanage is very isolated and we only get to catch a boat to the local town once a week to do our shopping, internet, etc.

At any rate, we have now been working at the orphanage for 10 days and although life here is hard, we are both finding it incredibly rewarding and are grateful for the opportunity. What a culture shock to say the least. Its safe to say that our first few days here were tough, but everyday since has just been getting better and better.

We have both taken on the role of "orientadors"...i.e:parents to the children living here. I work with the Varones Pequenas (small boys), 21 boys aged 5-11 and Doug is with the Varones Grandes, 27 boys aged 12-16.

A typical day goes something like this:
4:30 am: Wake up
4:50am: Wake up the children, get them to take showers, make their beds, do their chores
6am: Breakfast
7:30am: Children go to school, we go back to bed.
11am-1am: Lunch and playtime with the children.
1-4 School for the children, relaxation for us.
4-6:30pm: Playtime, dinner, teethbrushing.
6:30-7:30pm: Activities for the kids, break or meetings for the volunteers
8pm- Bed time for the children
8:30pm- lights out for us

The schedule is hard but we have adapted well and can already tell that the time here will fly by and it will be difficult to leave.

We are not going to pretend that it was a breeze at the beginning. The first couple of days were tough with the language barrier. The kids are great though and we still try to talk Spanglish to each other to communicate.

Then there is the living conditions - We only have running water when the generator runs (about 4 hours a day), no electricity (the kids do however, but again, only when the generator is running); our house is a wooden shack that is very basic and we need our mosiquito net to not only keep out the bugs but also the .....rats. Yes despite numerous traps and poison, they love to visit. There are many, many stories already about the various wildlife we have encoutered to date, but we'll save that for the next entry. Suffice to say that in the first few days we slept very little wondering exactly what animal was crawling over our tin roof.

We have also witnessed some of the most vicious rain storms, lighting etc. that we have ever seen. Yet on the flipside have seen some amazing sunrises and sunsets. Right now as we write this there is a tremendous lightning storm striking outside our window.

Despite the seemingly rough conditions, its just one of those things we've adapted to. We are happy to take them on and everyday with the kids presents a new and wonderful experience. Thanks for all your emails, keep us in your thoughts, and we will try and update soon with many more of the amazing experiences we are having here.

Here are a few pics from our short time here.