some recent craziness

First I’ll talk about the bus crash, then I’ll talk about cold water and the condition of my shower.

This morning, in what seems quite eerie - retrospectively -one of my companeras mentioned that two Americans had been injured in a bus crash yesterday, heading from Huehuetenango in Western Guatemala to take a short vacation in the south. “I hope they weren’t Peace Corps volunteers,” she said.

This afternoon, I come home and my host mother tells me that the crash had involved two volunteers, one with multiple broken bones – he’s probably already back in the States, thanks to a Peace Corps medevac. The other one “doesn’t know how she is alive.” The crash killed four Guatemalans, who, tragically, were coworkers of the volunteers. Apparently the driver lost control going around a curve, went down the embankment, and if the microbus hadn’t slammed into a tree and come to a stop upside-down, it would have fallen off a cliff.

Here’s the link to the article in El Diario, the sensationalist rag where my host sister, coincidentally, figured out what happened:

http://digital.nuestrodiario.com/Olive/ODE/nuestrodiario/
(it's on page 3 of the September 2nd issue)

So - the subsequent arithmetic is this:
- I’m also a Peace Corps volunteer.
- I ride in vehicles like this all the time.
- Generally speaking, Guatemalan drivers go as fast as mechanically possible. Taking turns while hurtling up or down a mountain highway involves centrifugal force that will flatten you against a neighbor.

There’s not much I can do, given the necessity of public transportation over the next 26 months, and to tell you the truth, this tragedy hasn’t really even hit home yet. Yes it could happen to me, but I almost feel like if it’ll be inevitable if it does happen . . . yes I will try to not let it happen.

In other news, my shower is freezing cold and it looks like this:



While we’re on the subject, my bathroom looks like this:



I will leave all adjectives/impressions/value judgements to your discretion.