Guatemala Extravaganza

Ezra and his Papa, snuzzling. How sweet!

Yes, it is photographically proven to be true: we are indeed here in Guatemala.
We spent the first week in Chiquimula, hanging out with Cristian (Ezra's Papa) and the rest of the Morataya family. Ezra is especially fond of his cousins Angie and Julie (10 & 8 years old) who live with his great grandma. He even likes to spend time with them without me- woo hoo! I think this is good for his Spanish as they speak no English.

Speaking of Spanish, Ezra has so far acquired: pantelones (pants), buenos dias (good morning), buenos noches (good night), hola, adios, gracias, moto (motorcycle), rio (river), "Mama tiene chiches" (Mama has breasts, funny joke) and he knows how to respond to the question “como te amas?” (what's your name?). Poco a poco (little by little).

The second week we went to the school in Rio Dulce called Casa Guatemala that I had mentioned. You might remember that I had intended us to be there for 8 months. We were there for 3 days and have now returned to Chiquimula. There are a number of reasons for this:
1.)The school is 20 minutes by boat from town, meaning that there are no stores. The boat comes fairly infrequently.
2.)Three meals a day were provided, and all three were rice and beans. Ezra ate rice the first dinner, but hardly ate anything for the other two days. I myself was craving fruits and vegetables, but...
3.)There was no electricity, meaning no refridgerater so even if we purchased fruits, vegetables, dairy products, etc upon a random trip to town in the boat there would be no way of preserving them.
4.)The ninas were CRAZY about Ezra. Like obsessed. Whenever they saw he they hoarded around him, trying to kiss him, touching him, and saying things like “You want be my boyfriend?”. He punched, kicked, spit and stuck out his tongue at them trying to make them go away but this only made them giggle devilishly and amplified their fixation. It made us not want to leave the house and was really overwhelming for Ezra. I imagine that after time the girls wouldn't bug him as much, but I have no idea how long.
5.)The beds were SUPER hard. I usually sleep through the night without waking but I woke up at least every hour to assess my aching body.
6.)Breakfast (of rice and beans) was at 6 o'clock in the morning- it's hard to wake up that early, harder for rice and beans, but when it's all there is and you have to it's even worse.

I'm sure there's more but those are the key factors causing our extremely premature departure. There were some good things about it. Ezra loved the 12 young boys that lived there. The boys house was right on the river and they jumped off the first and second story decks into the river. Ezra spent a lot of time in their house, swimming, wrestling, and being shirtless with the likes of Felix, Oscar, Edi, and Walter, among others. The boys were adorable and so sweet to Ezra. They always let him go to the front of the line for dinner (if only he'd eaten it!) and wanted him to sleep over at their house.

A lot of the children were amazing. After only being there for 3 days I had tears in my eyes and felt really sad watching Ezra give his friends hugs good bye. I do wish that things could have turned out differently, but the issue of food was a major and there wasn't really a plausible solution.

So now we are back in Chiqui, living at Cristian's house again. Ezra is really happy to be here. When we were here for the first week he said that he didn't love his Papa and wouldn't give him hugs or play with him. After our week in Rio Dulce however Ezra came to realize that he does love his Papa and since we arrived they've been playing, snuzzling (snuggling), and getting along great.

I'm looking for work here and today while Ezra and I were running some errands we ran into a man who I had met last year who wanted me to give his son English lessons. He took my number again and said that he had friends with children who were also interested. I'm also going to call around to some schools to see if they are in need of an English teacher. I am optimistic. After all, I am the only gringa in Chiquimula!

I'll give you the job update soon, but for now here's some pictures of our time so far:


We are spending a lot of time at the swimming pool.


This is as close to a bath as we can get. At least until he no longer fits!


The parrot, Homero Jumprope is still hanging out, mostly in the mango tree. Although he does come around whenever I hang up clothes to dry because he loves to gnaw on the clothespins.


There's a gang of kids that live on our quiet street. They play in the afternoons in front of our house and sometimes Ezra joins them. I think as he gets a better handle on Spanish he will have a lot of fun with them.


A friend of Cristian's invited us to the pool with her and her son. Ezra and the 10 year old Noa had a blast! Really, he was having fun even though he looks pained in this picture.


The boys sure like to watch movies together. Remember last year how they sat on opposite ends of the couch? I'm glad that this year they're getting cuddly.


This picture was taken at the hotel where we stayed for one night in Rio Dulce before heading to Casa Guatemala. It was right on the river and right under that big, noisy bridge. I hardly slept a wink that night because the semi trucks were belching all night long.


Ezra on the other hand slept just fine.


The next morning we walked over the bridge to get supplies to take with us to Casa Guatemala. Not so smiley but a beautiful view!


While we were in town we had breakfast at a little restaurant. Ezra likes to eat the corn tortillas, but he likes to put them on his head even more.



Spiky flowers.


A little ice cream before the boat trip to Casa Guate.


I didn't take too many pictures in Casa Guatemala, but this one shows the girls hoarding around poor lil' Ez when he simply wants to play in the dirt by himself.


Ezra loved watching these ants carry huge leaves in a constant stream in front of our lodging site.


There were some crazy mosquitoes so we brought this net. The view from the outside...


and from the inside. It was kinda fancy feeling to sleep in the net actually.


For fear of being swarmed by the ninas we spent a lot of time in the lodging quarters. Ezra really likes this shape activity that I brought.


Swimming in the river was the best part by far about Casa Guatemala. The only bad part was that the rules were the you couldn't swim until after 4 because all the kids were in school until then and if there was anyone swimming the kids instinctively jumped in, in their clothes, and it was a hassle getting them out. Here Ezra snuck in a solo swim a little early.


And shortly thereafter all the boys joined him. All the boys could swim, even the youngest a 4 year old named Felix who was absolutely adorable.


This photo is from the morning that we decided we had to go. We are waiting on the dock for the boat to come to take us back to Rio Dulce. Wondering what he's got in that backpack?


Snuzzler and Amos of course!


Happy, yet extremely sleep deprived.


It was a beautiful place.


What a lovely commute.


Back in Chiquimula we went to the mall and there was a big jumper thing. You might be able to make out Ezra's new "How to Train Your Dragon" shirt as well.


It's also good that Ezra and his Papa can be together and play. I am SO GLAD that he has someone else to attack now!

And these final pictures are just weird things found out and about in Chiqui:





Hope you're doing well!