San Juan Tepezontes, La Esperanza and more!

Right now, I'm happy to just be sitting in a chair. That being said, I've been able to visit more of the area around Olocuilta, by bus some of the time, but mostly by foot. My expeditions began this past Sunday. A group of us took a bus to San Juan Tepezontes, which is about 50 minutes up the mountain. After I got off the bus, I was told we'd be taking a walk. Now this meant hiking down a cobblestone and dirt road about three kilometers in the sun while I was wearing flip flops. Truely not complaining, because the scenery was amazing! And when we arrived in the town of La Esperanza, the people I visited made the journey worth it. I'm getting to where I can better understand the Spanish of children. At one home, I sat near a grandma whose grandson was on the other side of her. He kept trying to poke me with a balloon on a stick, until it popped in his face, then I decided to sit next to him and we chatted for a bit.

Earlier today, we took a much longer hike to a place I forget the name of. The journey went someting like this: walking along the highway, up a hillside, through a little residency, down a dirt path to the edge of trees, down through the trees to a river, along the river rocks, and finally arrived at a little house in the middle of paradise, or so I'm going to call it. All of this took 3 hours. I made this journey with two Baha'i families I met here. Some of their kids navigated the trails effortlessly and inspired me to get into better shape! The little house turned out to be a place where water was filtered and stored. I'm getting better at transitioning between places with running water and without. If I haven't mentioned already, you generally can't flush toilet paper in the country. It's deposited in a wastebasket instead.

There's a whole list of little things such as these I've become more or less acclimated to. Up until recently, I always wondered if I had changed. I kept thinking, "Okay, if i go home now, will anyone notice anything different about me?" Today, I stopped trying to look at things that way. Perhaps this is not the time for such a question. Currently, I'm focusing on taking it all in. The ups and downs of adjusting to a new culture and life are just a part of the process. The main point is that I'm dedicating a year of my life to helping other people. Whether things go as planned or not, it is nice to know I have another life in Alaska awaiting my return.