Welcome to the rainforest, practically. Welcome to Sarstún,
1 hour by boat up the Atlantic coast between Guatemala and Belize. 1 hour that
is, after having flown about 5 hours and ridden in a taxi van for 6 or 7. Actually,
the boat ride is a breeze after all of that (unless it’s raining, then it’s a
little more of a stinging gale. I recommend sunglasses and rain gear). But you
have arrived at last at the Refuge International Clinic of Sartstún…Now
what?
First, a few rules and notes:
1: Don’t drink the water! Actually, at the clinic it’s ok
because they have a clean-water well supplying it, but generally, stick to the
bottled stuff. If, though, you hate yourself and those you are traveling with
and feel the need to expel from your body every last ounce of fluid life you
have then go ahead. The giardia and amoebas are great! Oh, and you are at a clinic so Soilya, the live-in nurse/doctor, can hook you
up with an IV and some meds so you can at least live to remember the experience.
2: Don’t forget your
mosquito repellant! Or your mosquito netting to sleep under. They will find
you. They will find you and they will feast. If you remembered to take your
Malaria medicine you don’t have so much to worry about, except of course the
itching. That can be ignored though if you get bit by the other bugs whose
bites itch worse and swell more. My only recommendation for avoiding those is
to stay out of the trees (sounds easy enough but I’ll get to that)
3: Stay out of the mud! I don’t know if you know anything
about having worms (I actually don’t either) but I do know that you can get
them through the soles of your feet. I also know that they tend to live in the
mud, especially in the perpetual mud of this part of the world where it is constantly
wet, and where cows and chickens and all sorts of other critters are dropping
their digested lunches off all over the place. The whole ground surface is just
crawling with tiny little fertilized life forms just waiting to jump on board
the human digestive tract express! Mostly just wearing shoes is fine. If you do
have to sit down though, because the well being drilled is taking forever and
you are tired, opt for tearing off some large leaves for a cleaner seat. Trees might
be a fun way to get off the ground, but the bug bites are not worth the view.
4: Don’t flush the toilet paper…if there is any. Actually,
you might want to bring a little along with you to avoid any awkward
catastrophes. But once you have taken care of your business put the paper in
the trash. The plumbing isn’t ready for anything that didn’t come directly out
of you. It’s way harder to remember than you might think. It’ll be ok if you
forget once or twice (I hope), but try not to make a habit of it.
5: If you are girl with short hair and men’s clothes you
will be stared at…a lot. There will probably be pointing and whispering, and
little girls will definitely make fun of you. It’s ok. You know you’re a girl.
6: It will rain.
7: Your clothes might or might not ever dry…because it will
rain.
8: The tortillas are to die for. Eat them! Flour. Corn.
Fried to a puffy crisp. Any way you have them they are magical! The black
soupy, runny stuff is just frijoles negros (black beans…pureed it seems), and
it’s pretty tasty. Be aware though that you will eat them at every meal. That’s not an exaggeration.
Fact. Every meal comes with black beans. (I lied. We had pasta once.) The fish
still has a face. Just don’t look it in the eye and it tastes amazing! The
chili isn’t to be trifled with. And I know, you are in Guatemala, but in Sarstún
you drink instant coffee. It’s fine. Just do it. Sprinkle a little powdered
milk in and a dash of sugar and you got it!
9: Don’t worry about using all the hot water…there isn’t
any.
Well those are the
basics. Everything else falls into place pretty well. You get used to slogging
through mud if you want to walk anywhere, not that you can actually walk much
of anywhere anyway. The hour boat ride was not just the short cut. There
actually are no roads. There are boats and then there are foot paths…or there
aren’t foot paths and you can walk wherever you dare.
So what to do? Well, if you want to go for a run, go for it!
Be ready to shower as soon as you are done. You will be covered in mud. You
could go out and play some soccer with the locals on the field. It’s muddy, and
don’t be surprised if there are a few hills in your game. Internet? Do you remember the dial-up days? It
might be that fast. TV? Actually, there is one in the kitchen of the clinic. I
never did check that out though. When I wasn’t sitting, watching, reading and
writing at the drilling sight, I was sitting, watching, writing and reading in
a hammock in the open-air sleeping area.
Ah, sleeping. You’ll do a little of that. You will probably
get misted by rain in the night. It’s ok. You’re never really dry anyway. The mist is nice too because it cools things
down. The rooster starts crowing at 4. No, the sun hasn’t even started thinking
about rising yet, but the rooster doesn’t care. And neither should you. You
probably went to bed at 8 because you woke up at 4 the previous morning. You
get used to it. Or you don’t. The rooster doesn’t care. There is a 1 in 3
chance (in my experience) that your air mattress will stay inflated in the
night. Congratulations if it does.
So that’s about it. The people are nice. The food is great.
Oh! One more thing. When you get home, ease yourself back into the rich food.
The black bean and tortilla diet leaves your stomach a little less tolerant to
your usual burger and fries thing. Just a thought. Do you what you want. But
whatever you do, don’t forget your worm pill, and the rest of your malaria
medicine.
Enjoy your stay!
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