Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Life in Guatemala City

The contrast of cultures between Guatemala City and Chichicastenango is extremely interesting. Partly due to the area in which we live as it is one of the well to do areas. We are very surprised in the quality of vehicles that we see here. In Chichi all are used cars or pickups, here there are many new vehicles, SUV's and what we would consider luxury cars - BMW, Audi, Volvo, etc. There is definitely a growing middle to upper middle class in Guatemala City. Then of course there are always those in the extremely wealthy category. We have started to look for a different vehicle due to increased highway travel and to provide for better guest transportation if the HTI vehicles are not available and we have a hard time finding one that is manual. So automatic vehicles are on the rise here. We have a few vehicles on our possibility list, most with prices way above any kelly blue book values which really do not work here anyway.

We live near a supermarket which is very nice. You forget the convienence these provide, especially when the cook of the family is always working. Yesterday Lisa went for a much needed pedicure and left feeling much better. She is on her feet all day and if on call all night and all day.

Lisa's work is hard but she continues to have a good attitude. The last night on call they had to call in another student to help as they had a patient on renal dialysis and a few on ventilators. The renal dialysis patient was a very difficult patient to care for. So far they have only lost one child to respiratory failure. Her days are getting better now that she has a feel for how to do things and has learned to be a better phlebotomist. Her next day of call will be tomorrow, Wednesday and I will head to Chichi for a couple of days.

As for me, I keep finding tasks to keep me busy in the office, take care of errands for Lisa and HTI, managing the group in Chichi from a distance. We have a great team which makes the management part easy. When Lisa is on call on the weekends, I take long walks, clean house, etc.. This makes me miss the chances to play golf as it is a good time killer. Recently, I also found a place for lap swimming which I have always loved so have started to that as well. Living in the city has its down points but also provides for many more conviences we have always been spoiled with. We will enjoy while we can; however, we still prefer living in the Chichi area and will be ready to go back.

Well thats all for now. We will continue to keep everyone update. Please check in with Sheri for more information on the clinics in Chichi. www.sheriinguate.blogspot.com

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