My month long hiatus has been, for the most part, in good reason. Work has been crazy hectic as I prepare for my departure. All the work I have to do before is just a bit on the list I had before Christmas vacation. We had to prepare a lot of work before we left on vacation, I was catching up from a week gone in New York for thanksgiving and we have a huge raffle that has been taking up a lot of time. Most excitingly I have had a slew of volunteers coming, and we are completely booked for next week! Running between the communities, around Antigua and in the office has been hectic, but I am happy a very busy time has come--better late than never.
So I will start where I never got to, going way back to last year at the beginning of December...
With a few drinks in us to warm our stomachs, a few friends and I headed back to my friend Ana Karen's place. The night had been a success, but in no way one you would point out in the future of remember when's. That was the case until we found ourselves locked outside her house. Keys, check. The problem: the door. The key was correct, but the lock would not budge. Her mother had warned her before the door was broken, but she hadn't expected a full lock-out.
What to do? Most of the crew lives in Guatemala City, so they needed a place to stay. The reasonable answer would be for all of us to split up between my house and the house of another friend Jackie that lives in Antigua. But when in Guatemala, adventure grabs your spirit, and reasonable is just, well... boring.
So after an hour of struggling with the door, we were determined to get in. Juan Pablo, known as mono, or monkey, by his friends, lived up to his nickname. He climbed the window grate to the top of the roof. At the top, he found the window Ana Karen indicated, and followed her instructions: break in that window!
The rest of us--Jackie, Ana Karen, Trey, Jessica and I--stood with our heads facing upward, waiting to hear what we knew would happen next. Juan Pablo hesitated. "Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked only to hear Ana Karen's confident response, "dele mono!"
Crash!
Juan Pablo started his work with a stick he found on the rooftop, and he was continually smashing into the window. Then a light entered the house, and we knew he was in.
Juan Pablo came downstairs to open the door for us, but it still refused to open. With an already broken window, it seemed we had no other choice. We all climbed the window grates to the top. Talk about an alternative entrance.
The next morning, Ana Karen played perfect hostess. Although she wanted to go buy food, she realized she would have to climb in and out for it, she figured to stick with what we already had. After a hearty typical Guatemalan breakfast, we left the same way we entered, except this time we were in broad daylight for all her neighbors to see. A man across the way stood in his doorway, watching for a few minutes, but didn't ask us any questions or call the police. For all he knew, we could have been robbers. We at least entered in their style.
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