guate is happening...

guate is happening?

let me tell you...

So…when insect repellent says it’s good for “8 hours of protection” it does NOT mean that you’ll be okay 10 hours later.

Apparently, as is the case with sunscreen, reapplication of insect repellent is also key. Noted.

I also totally thought of mosquitoes as more of a “dusk” bug…as in they only come out in the evening…but as I was just bitten at 8:30 AM I am going to go ahead and say that my ideas of when they come out was wrong, much how I was under the misapprehension that roosters only crow at dawn which is also, VERY WRONG.

I am learning so much.

On other things I’ve learned… I hate animals in Guatemala. Admittedly, I wasn’t particularly crazy for dogs in the states, but I grew up with a dog and certainly did not hate them. In Guatemala however, I feel like a good portion of the dogs are…like rats. They carry diseases and the majority of them that are living on the street have incredible medical problems that can, at the sight of them, effectively make me sick to my stomach. I want to help them but… I don’t want to touch them.

Certain types of “mange” for a dog translates to scabies on people. Scabies are gross, I think we can all agree on that. Oh, and lets not forget fleas because they can come home from a street dog with you and infest your mattress and anyone who’s had fleas can tell you, they’re a real hassle to get rid of and their bites suck,. oh and ringworm is gross too… gross.

Disclaimer: the following story is sad/graphic so if you’re not good with that stuff… don’t read it.

Skip to section that says, “On to other things…”

A few weeks ago a dog was hit by a car outside of my window. The car, naturally, drove on and left this puppy crying and bleeding in the street and people would look at it while they walked by, comment on it and continue walking. Oh, and this was great, I’m pretty much crying and feeling sick because it’s so unfortunate and the yelping and crying is pretty unbearable when I hear a dog fight break out…of course. other dogs are attacking the dog that was hit by the car while it tries to drag it’s body to the side of the road. Nice, real nice. I wanted to go out and help the dog but as previous blogs would evidence, they’re always trying to attack me and I was afraid that if I picked up the wounded dog that I would (a) hurt the animal more (b) get bitten by the animal, or (c) the other dogs that had congregated would attack me (either misunderstanding my intentions with the wounded dog or because they‘re mean street dogs). Luckily, after about an hour, the “owners” of the dog, (I say “owners” because I don’t consider most people who have dogs here to take much responsibility for their animals, I think that being a “pet owner” entails a little bit more than giving the dog leftover tortillas) came out and picked up the dog and took it home, where it probably died and was thrown somewhere for someone else to deal with, like most things. I know that this is probably what happened because the last time an animal died in the street near my house it was thrown in the area where we compost our organic trash and burn the inorganic and my roommate and I found it after following a particularly foul odor; it was really unpleasant.

The other thing that really gets me about animals is that there isn’t a Veterinarian in my town. Why? Well, there was a vet but he couldn’t stay in business up here because NO ONE took their animals in to him. No one has enough money, or cares enough about their animals to do preventative health measures like vaccinations and getting them neutered or spayed or to take their dog in when it gets hit by a car/ attacked by another dog, etc.

I was reminded of a time when I was a kid and one of my friends and I found a pigeon with a broken wing and we were really torn up about it- so much so that we got our babysitter to drive us out to a bird aviary where we thought that it could get some help and be safe. I wanted nothing more than to take the dog that was hit by the car to an animal hospital but there is just nothing like that here.

On top of the occasional car accident, there are some dogs that are so…pathetically ill that I wish someone would just put them out of their misery. There is one dog in particular that has gaping sores where a tumor has obviously ruptured some part of him and to look at him is actually painful for me, it’s like he is so miserable I want to free him by giving him euthanasia. Guatemala would really benefit from some sort of “spay/neuter your animal” initiative…and a dog catcher.

I would like to think that some of the dogs that I see that are really ill and poorly cared for with matted fur etc. could be rehabilitated…but their chances of anyone doing that for them are so bleak. I really wish I was more of an animal lover, that I could do something to help these animals without the fear that they would get me sick or otherwise harm me. Breaks my heart that I don’t have the skills to do that for them.

Sorry to have ranted on a bit above…it’s really been getting to me.

On to other things…

I was on the bus a few weeks ago with some friends and we saw a guy with a T-shirt that said, “Simon says, ‘go fuck yourself.’” He was like holding a baby and didn’t look like he would say something so audacious but there it was. It was a perfect example of how all American t-shirts eventually get bought and worn, even if they say something really stupid. They’ll make it down to markets where people don’t speak that language, nor care what it says, a shirt is a shirt.

Another example (that to this day I really wish I had photographed) was on a woman in traje (Mayan clothing) who was wearing the traditional woven skirt and a t-shirt that said, “I heart frat boys.” Now, lets not pretend like I wouldn’t have worn that shirt at one point in my life…I do kind of heart frat boys; but the contrast of a woman in traditional Mayan clothing wearing a shirt that said she loved frat boys was pretty incredible. You know she probably just saw the heart and that the shirt was pink and went for it. So rest assured that when you see a shirt that says something really silly on it that’s on sale because someone who ordered it misread how popular it was going to be, it will be worn somewhere (and it will make someone who understands what’s on it laugh).

After last month’s Antigua festivities I was pretty thoroughly Antigua’d-out…lucky me- I’m going back (for a root canal)! I have been having a lot of pain in one of my teeth on the left side of my mouth. At first it wasn’t bad but when it got to the point where I couldn’t even chew oatmeal on that side of my mouth…I decided to go ahead and make the call.

Before I made my appointment to get it taken care of I wanted to have some idea about what I was going to need to get done. Luckily I have some awesome dentist friends here in my site! I went and saw my friend Sara and she took an X-ray of my tooth which showed that it’s got a bit of a dark spot inside it. It looks like when I had my dental work done in the US before leaving (it was pretty substantial…energy drinks are really bad for your teeth, fyi) that there was a cavity that they filled for me where they did not grind off enough of the cavity part before filling it. So the tooth is sealed on the outside but it’s…got inner problems. So…the prognosis is that I will be needing a root canal. I’m somewhat concerned, having never had a root canal before. Meh, I’m sure it’ll go fine. I got an appointment for this Friday…which turns out to be Friday the 13^th… I hope nothing weird happens.

Something to look forward to though, is that while I’m there I’m going to treat myself and my newly fixed teeth to some good food, so that’s exciting.

I’d better get going, the post man isn’t going to stalk himself. I’m just so excited for packages that are in the mail for me!

Until next time

Make good choices, wear your insect repellent, pet your animals, don’t buy a ridiculous shirt just because it’s on sale, and stay away from energy drinks.

Peace & Love,

Kristin