Forced Relaxation

I don’t do “nothing” well.  I am a like to go places and do things.  Of course I enjoy having the occasional day off to rest and relax, but a day or two is plenty.   Because of this, the last few weeks have been hard for me!   I was sent home from the hospital with strict instructions to take it easy.  My hospital doctor told me to plan for a month before I was recovered.  My normal doctor (who I had to visit with a few days after being released from the hospital) told me that it would take between two weeks and a month.  I decided to be on the two weeks end of the spectrum.

The first few days of being home passed quickly, because I slept through them.  Seriously, I probably slept at least 16 hours for the three days after I got home.  My body was recuperating, and I was exhausted from the hospital (no one ever tells you that you can’t actually sleep in the hospital since they come in every hour to check your vitals or give you medicine – the worst is when they wake you up to make you eat something so that they can give you your medicine!)

 When I wasn’t asleep I was bundled up on the couch, watching TV.  And eating.  Oh how I eat.  It was like my body had been starved forever, and I could eat forever.    My sweet mom kept my fridge well stocked with lots of fruits, yogurt and crackers.   I couldn’t eat much, but I was eating about once an hour.  I was so concerned over this fact that I asked my doctor about it.  He told me it was normal, and that my body was trying to heal and get back all the nutrients I had lost so I should keep eating.  I did.

The first week passed quickly as I slept, ate, and watched both seasons of Downton Abbey and copious amounts of the Food Network.   The second week I started to feel better and become more bored.  I am at a point where I am doing well enough to be up and about, but I have to be careful not to do too much, or I pay for it by sleeping through the next day.   I finished all my antibiotics (hooray!)  and I really think that two weeks might be what I am looking at for healing time (and I am only a few days away from that!)

The thing I miss most right now is the ability to exercise.  It’s funny how you really don’t want to exercise until someone tells you that you absolutely cannot do it.   I’ll have to keep with that one for a few more weeks and hope that when I can exercise again I still want to!

That is what I have been up to – forced relaxation.  Not my favorite thing, but totally worth it to have a healthy body again.  I am grateful all this happened in the summer so that I do not have to use huge amounts of sick days and make all sorts of substitute plans.  I have to admit, I have never been so grateful to have a healthy body in my life, and am very excited to get back to “normal”!

That time I went to Guatemala and came home with some random blood infection

I woke up on Friday morning to my phone ringing.  It was someone from the ER, something had shown up on a blood test they ran the night before and I needed to come in so they could start me on an IV antibiotic right away.   After sleeping I was feeling quite a bit better (except for some troubles breathing), so I got up, showered, did my hair and put my makeup on before heading back to the hospital.

I was not quite prepared for what happened next.   In the ER I was hooked up to ANOTHER bag of IV fluids as well as a bag of antibiotics.  After I was all hooked up I was admitted into the hospital.   I had no idea I was going to be staying at the hospital, and I had nothing for my stay there. I was really quite shocked! I kept telling the doctor that I felt WAY better than the day before (except I was having some troubles breathing, odd) and did not need to be admitted to the hospital.  He assured me that the only reason I felt so good was all the glorious meds they had me on.  I didn’t really believe him.

Finally, a kind nurse (who also happens to be in my stake Relief Society Presidency) took pity on me, and explained what was going on.  I had two pretty bad infections.  One was in my stomach, and was quite common for travelers to have when coming back from third world countries.  This infection is usually treated with antibiotics at home, with no need to be at a hospital.  The other infection was in my blood.  It was the reason for the high temperature, the low blood pressure, and the problems breathing (we caught it right as it started attacking my lungs).  It is a pretty random and serious infection, one only found in Japan, Brazil, and Costa Rica (and apparently Guatemala).  They had never seen it before at the hospital, or anywhere in Utah as far as they could tell.  It can be very serious and deadly, but we caught it at a good time.  We will never know exactly when or how I caught it, it is just one of those things that happens from time to time.

You always hear about people who catch really terrible things when traveling, but I never expected it to happen to me.  I lived in China and Brazil (both were for longer periods of time than I was in Guatemala) and never had ANY problems.  But it does happen! 

Friday was a really good day.  I didn’t think the hospital was such a bad place!  I still thought someone had made a mistake with admitting me.  I really thought I would be going home on Saturday, Sunday at the latest. Then Saturday rolled around.  I was SO sick.  As the antibiotics started to kill the infections, my body went into crisis mode. The fever would not go away.  The blood pressure would not come up.  My body puffed up like a blow fish (this part terrified me!) They took a CT scan, which was not my favorite experience ever, to check and see if there was anything on top of the two infections causing my symptoms (there wasn't, just some really nasty swelling going on).  I didn’t do anything but lay in my bed (very in and out of it) the entire day.

The one and only picture I have from the hospital on the one and only day I felt like a human!

Sunday was more of the same.  At one point I felt good enough that I ventured out and took two laps around the 3^rd floor of the hospital with a kind CNA.  I was shocked at how tired I was after walking for five minutes.  It worried me.  At one point I got really sick and they put me on a medication that knocked me out for most of the day. 

Monday was my turning point.  I started to feel like me again.  They did a scope to make sure I didn’t have any worms taking up resident in my stomach (SO glad they didn’t find anything) and gave me some really nasty medicine to take care of anything they may have missed.   This was the day my fever finally broke and my blood pressure got to a normal (though still low) level. If I focused on breathing I could take deep breaths, and that was a HUGE relief!

Tuesday morning the doctor came in and gave me the good news – I was going home! The infections were under control, though I would need to stay on antibiotics, and I was at a point where I could keep myself hydrated so I was good to go! I was soooooo happy to finally be going home to stay!

Before this experience I had never been in the hospital, and I have gained a new sympathy for people who have to be hospitalized!  It was a rough experience, I have never felt so sick or helpless or worried about my health in my life.  I am SO grateful that I was able to make it to the hospital near my house, and that I didn't have to be hospitalized in Guatemala or in Dallas during my layover.  I came home on the 19th so that I would be able to go to Wicked with my family on the 21st, but I ended up being in the hospital this day instead.  While it was disappointing, it is the whole reason I came home when I did, and had I not come home at that point it could have been disastrous!  So even though I missed it, I really feel like it was a blessing that we had tickets that day because it got me home when I did.  I am grateful to have been treated by such great doctors and nurses who specialized in microbiology and were able to figure out what my problem was and take care of it quickly.  I am thankful for such an amazing support system of family and friends who took such good care of me through it all.  I really have been watched over through this whole experience!

Not Quite How I Expected to Come Home

I know it has been a while, the last few weeks have not been at all what I had expected! I had some great plans for my last few days in Guatemala.  I wanted to spend some time capturing pictures of the beautiful Guatemalan culture – the women in their traditional wear with baskets on their heads and babies tied to their backs, men walking town the street with a machete in one hand and shovel in the other, etc – followed by farewells to all my Guatemalan friends with lots of  hugs and pictures. 

That didn’t happen.

I spent the last few days in Guatemala sick.  Very sick.  I was running a high fever, and just did not feel well overall.  I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew something was wrong.  I was going home soon enough that I didn't want to go to a doctor in Guatemala, so I decided to tough it out.  I was happy to have a few hours my last day there where I felt well enough to run to school and say my good-byes to my students (during which time our apartment was robbed -  It was a rough week). The rest of the time was spent at home, trying to pack and sleeping a lot.

I left Patzicia at 4:30 on Thursday, July 19^th.  After an hour drive to the airport I checked in, grabbed some breakfast in an effort to stay alive and well through the trip, and waited for my flight.  Three and a half hours later I landed in Texas.  I prayed that custom’s would let me through even though I was not well.  Thankfully, they never asked any questions.  I hopped on my next flight to SLC, and two hours later was gratefully home about 13 hours after my day had started.

I had some great plans for my first night back in the USA.  I was going to eat dinner with my family, followed by the longest shower ever, a moose tracks shake from Artic Circle, and a blissful nights sleep in my clean and comfy bed.

That didn’t happen.

My parents picked me up at the airport and we quickly drove straight to InstaCare.  At InstaCare they took my vitals (a temperature of 102.7, and blood pressure of 80/32) and sent me straight to the ER. 

I don’t remember much in the ER.  I was sicker than I have ever been in my life.  They took all sorts of tests and gave me lots of meds. Remember that overall feeling of being sick in Guatemala?  I guess that was the blood pressure.   I started to panic when I couldn't raise my arms up anymore. They did everything they could to raise my blood pressure, using every trick they had.  They pumped 4 liters of IV fluid into me.  They tipped by bed practically upside down (guess that is suppose to raise your blood pressure) and finally resorted to taking my BP by hand, because they figured that no one could really stay that low.  And yet I did.  Six hours later we got my BP up to 85/50.  We all cheered and they finally sent me home.

My kind mom, understanding my desire to sleep in my own bed, spent the night on the couch in my room making sure I stayed alive throughout the night. There was no shower when I got home.    I literally fell into my bed and was gone for the next 7 hours. 

 I love to travel, especially by plane, but July 19th was the longest day of my life!    I remember reaching a point on my first flight where I was so sick I thought I was not going to make it.  I reached into my bag to grab my ipod in an effort to take my mind off of things.  I pulled out the earphones, but they had come out from the ipod.  I was too tired to try again, and fell asleep holding my earphones in one hand and my bag in the other.  I woke up a half an hour later in the exact same position.  I have been asked how I survived the flight home, the fact that I was walking is pretty remarkable.  The honest truth is that I don't know! I think I must have had angels carrying me a lot of the time, there is really no other explanation.  It was the longest day of my life, but one filled with so many tender mercies!  And they continued for the next several days.

One Last Hoorah!

For my last weekend here we headed to the southern coast of Guatemala to the small town of Monterrico, a beach town surrounded by beautiful black sand beaches.

 Monterrico is a place where you go to RELAX.  We really haven´t had weekend trips where we have done that, so we did LOTS of relaxing while we were here!

I did a lot of this:

And a lot of this: 

Our hotel was right on the beach, which made for a perfect beach getaway!  Friday night, once the sun had gone down, we headed out to the beach to enjoy the sound of the waves crashing up.  It was such a beautiful night!  Directly above our heads the night was completely clear and filled with stars.  To the side, a storm was rolling in, filling the night sky with the most beautiful lightning you have ever seen!  The mixture of stars, lightning, and the sound of crashing waves, all while sitting on a warm sandy beach made for a PERFECT Friday night! 

The next morning we left at 5:00 to go on a canoe ride.  The early morning was worth it, it was spectacular!

We watched the sunrise as we canoed through a nature reserve for an hour and a half.

I could have fallen asleep in that boat.  It was SO relaxing! 

Our kind guide even let me row the boat like a local!  

We spent the day in Monterrico before heading back to Antigua, then back to Patzy later in the evening.  Our shuttle driver stopped in front of a mountain and asked if we could see the Mayan head at the top.  I thought it was so cool! (Can you see it?)

Sadly, the rest of our weekend was not so perfect.  Krista got really sick on Saturday morning, I got really sick on Sunday morning and we were miserable and sick together in our appartment!  However, I am glad I got to enjoy Monterrico before I got sick and before I left Guatemala! 

How We Go

I am sure you are getting sick of the posts every day, but there is so much I am trying to fit in before I leave! Sadly, for saftey reasons there are not many pictures on this post, but the transportation in Guatemala has been so memorable that I figured I needed to do a post about it, even without pictures!  There are many ways we travel here in Guatemala.  Car is not really one of them.  Here is how we do it here:

Walking

Patzacía is a small town, so we walk wherever we need to go!  I have learned to enjoy the 15-20 minute walk to school each day, or the walk into town.  It is a great opportunity to meet people, and fun to see Guatemalan´s in their element.  The sights are great!

Tuk Tuk´s

Okay, we don´t actually use tuk tuk´s all that often, but they are EVERYWHERE here, so I need to mention them!  Tuk tuk´s are small cart things that you can hire to take you short distances.  They remind me a lot of what we used in China, except it is a cart, not a bike on the front connected to a cart on the back.  They are small, though we did fit all three of us in the back when we went to Iximché. 

Shuttles

We take a shuttle most of the time when we go on our weekend trips.  They are slightly more expensive, but they don´t make stops which makes them faster.  Some rides have been better than others.  Shuttles can hold 10 people comfortably, but they like to put 14 or 15 in them.  When you have a 7 hour ride to Honduras it makes for a REALLY long ride.  Sometimes you luck out and there are only 6 or 9 people in one.  No air conditioning, and the seats are pretty small, but not a terrible way to travel! 

Chicken Busses

Oh my goodness.  Where to start with chicken busses.  I really had no culture shock when I came to Guatemala.  There was nothing about the country that surprised me, except for chicken busses.  Let me explain.  Chicken busses are old school busses from the United States that have been converted into public transportation busses in Guatemala.  They are extremely colorful, we recently learned, to let you know where they are going.  They are called chicken busses not because there are chickens on them, but because they litterally STUFF them as full as they can.  You know how we put two children in each seat in the United States?  Here they put three full grown adults in each seat.  If you end up in the ¨third¨ seat (in the middle) you hope to have someone in the third seat next to you.  That way your shoulders push up against each other and you hold each other up.  Once there are three people in each seat they start to fill up the aisle with people standing between the knees and backs of the third sitters.  Once the whole aisle is full they open the back door and people hang out the back.  They never turn people away  (you would lose money!) so once it is filled on the inside, they start putting men on the top (NOT KIDDING!)   Once the bus is full the helper comes up and down the aisle (often swinging from the bars overhead to move) to collect the fare. Personal space does not exist, it is hot and stuffy, and I have no idea how people don´t die from falling.  It took me a while to get use to the system, and I would dread the third seat.  I am now grateful if I have any seat at all, even if it is a third!  I have only been on one truly miserable chicken bus ride. I was in a third seat with NO seat under me.  There wasn´t a third next to me, so I kept flying all over the place.  It happened to be our longest trip on a chicken bus, of course.  A man behind me took pity, though, and held my backpack! I really wish I had a picture to show you how crazy full these things are, but it is not safe at all, so we keep our camera´s safely tucked away! 

Microbus

A microbus is really just a large van that they use like a chicken bus, but for a smaller area.  These microbuses are meant to hold 15 people, I counted 29 on one ride.  I ended up standing by the door (which was open) on one foot in the pouring rain.  It was a long ride! Krista ended up standing slouched in the front of one with NO space last week.  They forget that we aren´t built like Guatemalan´s and at 5´3 I am practically a giant.

The way these people manage to travel still boggles my mind!  But they do it!  When in Guatemala, we travel like Guatemalan´s! 

The Teaching Part Of It All

Last week someone asked me if I was actually doing any work while I was in Guatemala, or just playing.   I have to admit, it is a very valid question!  Yes, we play a lot on the weekends!  But we do work during the weeks!  Weekdays are spend at this place:

Colegío Mesoamericano Patzicía.  It is a private school, teaching grades pre-kinder through 10th grade.  The public school system in Guatemala is really not great.  Many Guatemalan children don´t go to school at all. They have tried to change that at this school.   

Colegío Mesoamericano is funded through the Rose Education Foundation, aiming for a better education for Guatemalan chindren.  A large part of this is their English education, knowing that the opportunities for them will be so much better if they can speak English.  

 They try to recruit volunteers throughout the year to help students with their English, working on getting down the pronunciation and accent of speaking English. 

Since there are two of us volunteering at the school right now they split us up with Krista teaching the older grades (5th through 10th) and I teach the younger grades (pre-kinder through 4th).  It worked out well because Krista prefers working with older kids, and I would take the younger any day!

Kinder

Prepa

First Grade

Second Grade 

Fouth Grade

It is a VERY different teaching environment than I am use to, and it was quite the struggle in the beginning!  There are still some parts of it that are not my favorite, but it has gotten better, and I do LOVE these children!

Honestly, how can you not?  Are they not the cutest little things ever?

So to answer the question, yes, we are doing some work while here in Guatemala!  And it is wonderful!  We are just filling our free time with all the adventures we can!

¨Land of the Most Delicious Carbs Ever¨

As I mentioned before, I am a food person.  I not only love to cook it, I love to eat it.  And I love to try the cousine of different cultures.  It is one of my favorite parts of traveling.  The ways that they use different ingredients, spices and herbs is something I find so interesting!  Guatemala has been like hitting the jackpot when it comes to food!  It is seriously SO good, and we have been enjoying ourselves completely! 

Gringa´s eating Gringas.  So divine! 

Breakfast every morning is cinnamon oatmeal made from scratch with a banana.  Boring, but cheap and healthy and warm (mornings are so cold!)  About once a week we will go to a little outdoor cafe that lady to taught me to make tamales has.  She serves corn flakes with a milk/oatmeal mix that is really good.  

Our usual weeknight dinner - Black bean purré with tortilla´s or bread

 Every night on our way home we pick up bread from our bread lady, Elisabeth (yes, we know our food vendors by name).   The next morning we make sandwiches to take with us to school.  We discovered this bread our second week here, and it is so much better than making sandwiches on sliced bread!  We love it!

Chapin Dogs.  We love them. 

The beans here are amazing!  They come in a can, and are purreéd black beans.  Our most common dinner is beans with some cheese on top, and either fresh bread or fresh tortillas. I prefer the bread while Krista likes the tortilla´s.  Both are about 12 cents for a serving and give you TONS of food!

Pupusas.  Traditional food in El Salvador, though we enjoy them here.

 When traveling we have been known to carry a can of beans, buy a few pieces of bread, and spread the beans on cold.  It is a super cheap meal, fairly healthy, and we love it!

Pan de Banano (banana bread) I need to figure out how to make it like this!

 We really have made friends with the food vendor´s, and they seem to like us!  I mentioned the bread lady who we visit daily. The banana bread comes in fresh to the tienda downstairs and the one at the school on Monday´s and Thursday´s.  So we buy banana bread on Monday and Thursday.

Arroz con Leche.  So warm, so cheap, and so delicious!

 We also have our Arroz Con Leche lady, Marta.  Arroz con leche is a warm milk and rice drink with cinnamon.  It is so tasty, and when it is cold outside there is nothing better!

I had always heard that the popcicles of Central America were divine.
I heard right! 

There is also the ¨Pan dulce¨ that they have here.  It is a small sweet bread, and it is so good!  All the bread is super amazing, and unlike the states, you just buy the ammount you need each day, so food is always fresh when you eat it.

Liquado - a fruit smoothie.  I love them!  Especially when we are somewhere hot!

 Bread, tortilla´s, sweet bread, gringas, tacos, pupusas, delicious cookies (packaged, I haven´t seen fresh baked cookies here), arroz con leche, the list could go on and on!  I really think that Guatemala should change it´s motto from ¨Land of Eternal Spring¨ to ¨Land of the Most Delicious Carbs Ever¨!

A traditional food in Honduras that I can´t remember the name.  It was really good, though! 

 And they have things other than carbs that are delicious as well.  The fresh produce is phenomenal, you just have to be careful with it, so I haven´t been able to eat nearly as much as I would like.  When we travel I always try to taste something new and traditional.  It has made traveling really fun! Plus, everything is really cheap.  The liquado´s I love so much are about 70 cents, the bread for a sandwich is 6 cents.  Makes it all even better!

The other day we tried some new food that we liked, and Krista made the comment ¨Great! Now there is one more thing I want to eat!¨.  To sum it all up, we are not going hungry at all here in Guatemala. It would be a dieters worst nightmare!  No chance of losing weight here!