It's rainy season now in Guatemala. In Antigua that means cloudy days with little sun, rain off and on and cooler temperatures. Not my favourite season here that's for sure. After 7 months away from home, things like the weather start to get to you. This is where I'm at right now.
My clothes are one such sore spot these days. Imagine wearing the same lot of clothes, enough to fit in a backpack, over and over and over for months. Sure I've bought a few things here but it doesn't make a huge difference. You don't even want to get dressed in the morning, for real.
Making it worse is that I gave up some of the few clothes that I did have before going to Nicaragua. I guess I wasn't thinking that I had another 6 weeks to clothe myself in Guatemala before returning home. I must have also thought that it was going to be as hot in Guatemala as it was in Nicaragua. Not even close. So I stocked up on tank tops there; even raiding my best friend Corrine's supply, for nothing.
My Spanish teacher was the lucky recipient of my clothes and is happier than I am when at Dairy Queen. Everytime I have a class with her I see something of mine and it just about kills me not to ask for it back..even for just a few weeks until I leave!! But that would just be tacky. And so I suffer with my many useless tank tops and other stuff that I can't even stand to look at anymore. I plan to leave a lot of it at the shelter or with my teacher before I leave as I know I won't want to ever see it again once back in Canada.
Hot water is another thing that's killing me these days. When I came back from Nicaragua I moved into a different apartment, and this one has solar heated water. Great for the environment surely, but not the best option during rainy season in Antigua. Especially for a girl who likes her showers so hot that the bathroom looks like a sauna when she comes out. The first week the water was just luke warm which I found awful, although certainly not the worst I've dealt with in my travels. In true Crystal fashion I complained only in my head and waited for someone else to talk to the landlord. Thankfully someone did and they eventually turned on the gas which was glorious for the most part as I was able to have my steamy times in the shower. However, I do have to say that showering with gas has its challenges as well. You basically have to withstand scalding hot water (thankfully I have a high tolerance) and if you can't, and turn on the cold water, the hot water goes completely. You can try and play with the cold, just a little at a time, and if you're lucky you might get to keep the hot, but it's a crapshoot really. Kinda detracts from the enjoyable shower experience that I look forward to, as you end up spending more time and effort tinkering with the water than actually doing what you're there to do.
But these days it's even worse as we're down to no hot water. Apparently someone used the hot water so long that it's toast. Pretty sure it wasn't me, although my previous description of my showers probably does cast some doubt on my innocence. Who knows..but what I do know is that on these cool, rainy days, showering in glacier water is a real bitch (sorry for the language). There are few things that make me more miserable than this. And so I'm miserable while I wait for it to get fixed. Ya see folks, it aint all glamorous over here!!
After 7 months you start to crave the ability to cook, in your own kitchen, with all the gadgets that you're used to. Here I open wine bottles with a steak knife (the only knife in the apartment), forcing the cork to fall into the bottle so you can pour the wine out. Toast is made in a frying pan. Coffee is instant and made by boiling water in a pot. No blender, no oven, no microwave.
And you die for foods and spices that you can't get here. Raisin Bran, greek yogurt, spices to make Indian dal, Campbells soup, Shake and Bake, Cheez Whiz, Stove Top stuffing..Honestly I don't even eat some of these things, but when you can't have them, you want them!
So let's just say that I very much look forward to breaking out my tickle trunk of Indian spices and making some lovely curries when I get home, making smoothies, baking Grandma Moshenko's banana muffins, and roasting a chicken to name a few.
I'm starting to daydream about things like having a Blackberry again, having my gel nails put back on, wearing boots, different jewelry and getting a haircut, OMG a haircut will be sweet after 7 months! Drinks and dinner with friends, summer patios in Winnipeg, camping, driving a car....
I guess you could say I'm ready to be home.
The shelter is open once again, and thank goodness, because it brings the sun back into my life on these rainy days. More importantly, because it's not a great time of year to be homeless. Unfortunately it's still only open 3 nights a week but it's sure better than nothing.
I've been thinking a lot about my homeless friends these days, especially on the nights that it is cold and rainy. I can't imagine having to sleep outside in this kind of weather. After all I can't even handle a cold water shower.
The reunions with my homeless peeps were sweet when I came back. But it's actually been a bit slow going at the shelter these days. Some of the regulars haven't returned at all, or have trickled back slowly over time. I suppose that the shelter being closed for 5 weeks led to some people making decisions to leave Antigua, visit family, and for some, likely binge drinking, because they had nothing motivating them to stay clean. At least when the weather is bad, they know that if they stay clean they can have a warm, dry place to sleep and a nice meal a few days a week.
As usual here are some updates...
Maria Esperanza was missing for the first while but eventually showed up after being assaulted. She told us that she had been sleeping in the park when two drunk men, homeless as well, attacked her with a beer bottle. For no reason. Poor Maria..life just isn't easy for her. She arrived with a bandage over her eye and stitches in her face. But if you can believe it, she was still smiling, and was nonchalant about the whole thing. It seemed like she enjoyed telling us her hardluck story actually, no doubt because at least it's something new to talk about in her mundane life.
Victor, an older man who is my favourite of them all, (although my Spanish teacher points out that I have many favourites, which is true) was also missing for some time. I thought maybe he had gone to visit his daughter as he told me was his plan, but unfortunately Alex has seen him more than once drunker than a skunk. But when he did show up one night, and sober at that, I got the biggest hug, and it was the happiest reunion of them all. He is the most lovely man. It's too bad booze has such a hold on his life.
Luis, the young guy whose in-laws hate him, showed up last week which was great as I was thinking I wouldn't see him again. Turns out Luis, his wife and daughters were together for a month after he scrounged enough money together to rent a place. Their time together was shortlived though unfortunately as he didn't have a stable job to support them ongoing. So Luis returned to Antigua to find work while his wife and daughters returned to the in-laws' home.
He and I have talked a fair bit since he returned and he's clearly depressed about the situation, drinking at times to cope. He is back to sleeping on the street and to earn money, washing cars, probably the worst job to have in rainy season. And he knows it too, which must make him feel worse as things probably aren't going to get better anytime soon.
I ran into him the other night in the spot where he often waits to wash cars. It's killing him that he doesn't know how his family is. He can't even call his in-laws' home anymore, which he says makes it worse than before. He just wants to know that they are okay. He talked a lot about just wanting to move forward with his life, for things to be better. He has a criminal record though unfortunately, and because of that he can't get a decent job. So washing cars is it for now. He gets about 20 quetzales per car ($3) but again, when it's rainy all the time, most people don't want their car washed. He's thankful the shelter is open again so he can at least have a good sleep in a warm place. Besides the cold nights, he said that the "bolos" (drunks) cause problems in the park (Maria knows this all too well) which makes it hard to rest. Having to deal with bolos also makes him nervous as he doesn't want to get into trouble with the law again.
Honestly, I still don't understand how homeless people manage. Talking to Luis shed some light for me though.
He has nothing with him, no possessions, no extra clothes etc. because he has nowhere to keep them. So everynight that he is going to sleep on the street, he buys a fruit/vegetable sack that they sell in the market for 1Q which he covers himself with. He throws it away the next morning. Same goes with his clothes. He buys an outfit in the used clothing shops for next to nothing, wears it until it is no longer usable and then throws it away. I never really thought about this before but I imagine a lot of the homeless do this. That's why it's even harder when it's raining, because when their one outfit gets wet, they have nothing else. I saw him again last night and he was going to be sleeping in only a t-shirt as his hoodie had got wet. And it was a cold, wet night. I felt so bad for him. To me he's really unique out of the whole group as he's a clean cut, good looking guy that you would never think lives on the street. He is clean, and the clothes that he does pick are pretty cool. You could picture him waiting tables at a nice restaurant or doing any "mainstream job" really. But unfortunately that kind of job is out of reach due to his past mistakes.
So the last 2 nights I have seen him, he was going to be sleeping on the street, on a cool, rainy night, the last time without a sweater, and probably an empty stomach. I felt so guilty walking away, off to buy food for myself, in my warm clothes, and then back to my cozy apartment, even if there is no toaster, coffeemaker, blender or corkscrew. Off to change into the clothes that I am sick of. To write and call those that I care about.
So really I have no right to complain after all.
