Healthy Schools Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala since February 2013

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Tortilla Tally, Water Filter, Yanet, and a Cow Detour

So I have mentioned that Guatemalans LOVE bread, but what they love more are tortillas. I don't think that they eat a single meal without accompanying it with AT LEAST 3 tortillas and that is a conservative estimate seeing as that is the number I usually eat. Lets make that number 5. I have tried my best to stay away from tortillas, but they use them to fill up, so if I don't eat at least a couple of tortillas I will most likely leave the meal still hungry. So I eat tortillas. I have started a tortilla tally and am planning on recording the number of tortillas that I eat. I really wish that I had started this from the beginning, because I am sure that by now it would be a ridiculous number. I mean just look at my tally so far - that was only started 2 days ago!!


After a month of only drinking bottled water I finally got my Eco water filter put together and purifying my water! The tap / pila water isn't safe to drink and it comes out of the faucet with little chunks of something in it. My host family only burns their trash so I am glad that I am no longer having to find creative ways to use my empty plastic water bottles. I refuse to burn my plastic trash and am only burning paper. On the bright side all of my organic trash goes to the two pigs in the backyard that my host family owns.


This is one of my billion host siblings. Her name is Yanet (Guatemalans saying Janet). All of the girls in the family like to model and have pretend runway shows. Yanet is in my opinion one of the best. She is three years old and is adorable. Especially when she wears the traditional Mayan traje!


Also today I had to take the long way from my house into "town" because there was a cow grazing on the path that I normally take and my host brother told me that I shouldn't walk there because the cow would kick me or step on me or something. There are normally pigs and sheep grazing in this path, but this is the first time that I had to take a detour because of cattle.

5 comments:

  1. You'll need to start jogging to work off the tortillas. A mile per tortilla might work. Just watch out for what the cows may leave behind even if the path is clear of them.

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  2. Yanet is adorable and she does have that model pose down pat. Where do they see runway shows and models - TV probably? If you should write a book about your experience in Guatemala, perhaps you could call it "10,000 Tortillas". My tortilla count for the week is 2 thanks to lunch at Chipotle. Have you thought about doing something similar to Hardy Girls in Guatemala? How do you say Hardy Girls in Spanish?

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  3. From now on I will always think of you when I eat a tortilla. I hope veggies are a part of meals too? Yea for filtered water! Progress is made. Yanet is way cute - she looks like she's got the stuff. The camera likes her.

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  4. Article in the KC Star Sunday paper said US Armed Services ate 8,800,00 tortillas in 2012

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  5. While I don't see any debris coming out of my tap, I could taste rust in it and was recently made aware of chlorine levels. Needless to say, I'd rather invest in a water filter than end up in the hospital for ingesting tap water. That aside, tell Yanet she's cute and embrace the tortillas!

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