Welcome!

First, I would like to talk about the miracle that lets me attempt this blog. I am currently sitting in a rural village in Guatemala, in a house with a mix of cement and dirt floors, a tin roof and an outdoor sink. I also happened to have wireless. In fact, my wireless runs through the cell phone lines, which means I could wonder anywhere in Guatemala, even on top of a mountain, and still have service. I can also Skype, download music (slowly), and do whatever normal people do outside of this country. Guatemala, with some of the highest rates of child malnutrition in the world, has a cellphone for every person and apparently infinite wireless. Imagine that.

I have to admit that I am not a blogger by nature, and so this will probably be a little difficult. I am, however, away from home for a while, and with the hopes of maintaining some communication with my friends and family I will try to relate something of my life here. This is obviously not my first time in San Lucas, but my first time with wireless, so now I have no excuse.

For those of you who don't know, I'm here doing research on child malnutrition, working with local promoters in the rural Mayan villages of highland Guatemala. We hope to set up a permanent nutritional surveillance program that is self-sustainable. It is the beginning of my third year working in these communities, and I have about four months to help create something permanent and useful (wish me luck)!

I live with my family, the Julajuj's, with my "dad," Angel, his six children (all my age and mostly out of the house), his three sisters and all of their multiple young children. We also have two dogs (Chiquita and Escrapy). Angel is a carpenter by trade, owns a small store, and hosts gringos from Stanford. It's a comfortable life here with my own room, hot water, yummy food and now, wireless!