Guatemala Part 1 - Mi Casa

This is my first blog post in quite some time and I'm doing it because I'm spending a month in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala working at a hospital.  It's part of the global health program at U of A and follows a class that I took in July 2013 and other work that I've done earlier in medical school.  Essentially,  I'm doing a med school rotation at a hospital called Hospitalito Atitlán which has an emergency room, a few inpatient rooms and an outpatient clinic.

Santiago Atitlán is located on the southern part of Lago Atitlán in west central Guatemala.  Most of the population in the area are descendents of the Maya.  For most, Spanish is a second language after the indigenous language which is called Tz'utujil.  Some patients speak minimal or no Spanish and one of the staff translates.

I arrived here in late January and will be here until late February.

My first post is some pictures of the place where I'm staying.  I rented a little 1 bedroom house about a 5 minute walk from the hospital. As you can see, the view of the lake about 100 yards away and the volcano (Volcán San Pedro) is towering over the house (it's actually on the other side of a slim stretch of lake).

This is my bedroom.

This is the kitchen.

This is the shower which is outside though well protected from any onlookers.

My main room (I haven't tried the fireplace and don't plan to -- it's chilly at night but really not too bad).

 Here's my patio.

Here's a view of the lake from the patio.

Here's the house as I come in.

Here's the roof where I can hang out.

Here's a view of the volcano from the roof.

Here's a view in the other direction of another volcano a bit further away.