Earth Lodge and the week prior to

Answers: Dylan, no I'm not scared of putting my mask on in front of them anymore
Mom, yes, it's important to my readership.

SO, during the inhalation of millions of particles of infectious tuberculosis this week, aka volunteering, Jill and I bought/brought 2 manicure sets! Of course most all of them had no idea what we were talking about when we said manicure so we had to explain that we were going to cut nails and give massages and paint their nails...only 1 of the patients, who is my age and normal, knew and got it done first. Everyone else was very hesitant until they saw her brightly painted hot pink nails...then more and more wanted them. Even Dona Sylvia wanted one...Dona Sylvia is the crazy lady I feed every day...who I found out has HIV, not TB, so that's great, not injecting her EVER. Painting her nails was a dumb idea though cause she instantly screwed it up so we took it off. She liked it though I think...I mean who, with skin so dry it looks like a cracked desert floor, wouldn't love lotion? I think we gave a total of 5 or 6. I quit my other job, the pediatric one, it was basically useless. I'd get there, wait an hour cause she was always late, then have to leave in an hour and a half and all I did was listen. Didn't learn really anything. So I dropped that to work at Rodolfo Robles one more day. We really want to learn to draw blood...not from HIV people of course. ALSO, I began working out. I went to the gym 2 times last week, in my hiking shoes, which is stupid. I didn't bring running shoes cause, I hate running, so I figured any working out I'd do, hiking shoes would suffice. But, now my left foot is fucked up and my left leg on the inside hurts like all hell, so I think I screwed something up in there. It's been since Thursday and it still hurts to walk. I didn't hike saturday cause it hurt too bad to walk. I didn't do anything special that I remember Thursday night to merit hurting myself. But it hurts. I thought maybe for a while maybe it was just weird knots but I don't know anymore. BUT, so I get on the treadmill, aka the thing I hate most in life, and think I'll just run like a mile to start out...got to a mile and I was like, lets do 1.5, then 2! So I ended up running 2 miles, speed walking a half, then running another half mile! I surprised the shit out of myself. The time in my life when I actually ran, freshman year, I ran 2 miles tops, and here I go after not working out for 3 months and run 2.5 miles! I'm so proud! So of course I had to force myself to do it again the next day, and did, it was way harder, but I did it...all in hiking shoes...pain! Tuesday I'll go buy some running shoes. I will force myself to continue running and increasing the distance! God running is boring.

Anyway so this weekend we weren't too excited about the planned trip, to Earth Lodge near Antigua because they told it was just for relaxing by the fire, in hammocks, and reading...we're like, hellooooo we just had a week off! But it turned out to be great. I seriously felt like I was at a Guatemalan Kerrville...with less people. Some Americans opened it up 4 years ago...most of us stayed in the dorm, with 8 bunk beds, but there were also cabins spread about on the hillside. It was beautiful...though I forgot my camera, but Amy had hers so pictures are pending. So we get to Antigua, and have to take a pick-up, as usual to get there. Then we get there and it seems like they dropped us off on some random dirt path surrounded by poor guatemalan shacks and a giant pila, which we renamed poola since it was as big as a pool. We got there at night too to make it weirder. So we walk down this slippery path for a few hundred meters and get to the lobby/hut/dining room/bar...one big room with a kitchen, table, bookshelf, self serve bar, couch...and super friendly staff of 4. They went on the honor system for drinks...had a whole bar set up and a sheet of paper where you write your name in and tally off the drinks you had, whether happy hour or regular, as well as water, hot shower, etc. Honor system kicks ass. The view was awesome, we were facing 2 giant volcanoes and could see Antigua settled at the base of them both. One of them is dead though, so no worries, the other though we saw erupt both nights, the second night way bigger, you could see it spewing from that far away. It was amazing. So saturday we just hung around, read my new book, cause i just finished reading We The Living, which by the way, I'm glad I'm named after Kira, she's awesome. She would die to live and love. So the new book is, well I don't remember, but it's funny. So while some of the crew went on a mini hike, I sat in a hammock and read and checked out the scenery. The food was great. You could have a cold shower for free or a hot shower for 5 min for 5Q, jill and I opted for the cold shower. There were 3 nice dogs, 3 kitties, a mule, millions of avocados, and the best swing ever. We swang a lot. Sleeping was alright, though I somehow chose the bed with the shittiest blanket ever so I froze the first night and apparently woke up saying, "Jill, Jill, I'm freezing," which she didn't hear but Amy did and didn't do anything to help me out! Agh rude! Saturday night we played some cards and drank some crown, then sat in the hammocks listenign to James play guitar and sing...we sang along sometimes too. It was a relaxing weekend but it was different, I felt more relaxed there, in my kerrvillish brain in the middle of nowhere guatemala on the side of a hill. It rained all day today, sunday. Bought a really cute YELLOW shirt today in Antigua, so cute, I love it and can't wait to wear it. Probably Tuesday.