The Search for Liquid Soap!

As you can see by the title I have been having a hard time finding liquid soap here, I have now lived here for 1 month yet, I have looked in many stores and the local super (like a small wal-mart) and yet i have not find it.  Despite the fact that I volunteer at a birthing house, we don't have liquid soap here, just bar soap and hand sanitizer.  This goes against everything I have been taught.  This means that basically no one washes their hands properly, which I know too well to be true (even after going to the washroom).  But thats not the only thing that is different here.  This blog entry is dedicated to things i have noticed are different here.

The electricity goes out, at least once a day, at least.  Sometimes its out for 10 seconds, other times 5 hours, nevertheless life needs to go on.  This may be yelling during church services, sitting in the dark at the dinner table,    and boiling to death without fans.  This also means that many times computers get ruined.

It is easy to literally run out of water,  water is by well and storing tanks here, and at least 3 times thus far, this house has literally run out of water.  I never thought that I would go to a house with running water, turn on the tap and have nothing come out.  It is now a regular occurrence for me.

Because of the recent gang violence in the Peten we now have a government run curfew.  Just for a month, but it is stil nevertheless very different then Canada.  Everyday no one can be on the streets past 8:00.  This means that church, youth group had to be moved to an earlier time, and that teenagers can no longer hangout at the youth center for very long.

Many people here, even christians start dating very young, by the time a girl is 13 she has probably been asked out at least 4 times, and has had at least 1 boyfriend!  This goes right along with getting married and having children younger.  I was looking through the papers we have at the clinic of all of our patients and to my surprise they are all 19 or 20 years old, having their first, second, or third child at this young age.  And this isn't a rare exception.  Of the 7 papers i looked out, (how many patients we see in a month and a half)  they were ALL either 19 or 20.  When i see the women here, i just assumed they were older then me, but I guess not.

Instead of selling alot of bottled water, bagged water is popular, where a clear plastic holds the water in.
Juice is also bought this way.

Doctors and hospitals are very expensive, and rather then a doctor having a set salary, the more patients he sees, the more money he makes.  Also many doctors have their own pharmacies at their practice and they get extra money from this so sometimes, unhonest doctors tell their patients to come again, when they really don't have to, or to get a bunch of medicine when they really don't need it, just to get money out of that.  Because of this people often choose to just go to the local midwife, or healer for medical help.

Grade school is in the morning from 7:30 to 12 or so and high school is about 1-6.  In high school you specify in something already, for example teaching so, you can be a teacher here by the time they are 18.   Homework, or at least much of homework, is very rare.

Of course there is so much more different about Guatemala that i already noticed last time I was here for just 10 days, such as chickens and pigs everywhere, extremly bumpy roads, kids driving motorcycles.  But this is a list of things that take a while to notice.  This was not intended on being a negative list of things wrong with the country.  After all, just because something is different does not mean its worse.  I hope this gives you a taste of somethings that Guatemalans go through.