Campaign in Flores

On Saturday we had our 3rd campaign, and it went really really well.  We split into two groups, and 5 of us went to a town about 2 hours outside of Xela called Flores.  It was a lot bigger than the other towns we've done campaigns in so far, so that was promising for a good turnout.  

When we got to the campaign location on Saturday morning, there were already probably 15 people in line waiting for their eye exam.  For the next 4 hours we had a really steady stream of people.  People would get a number when they walked in, and then actually have to wait a little bit (we could have used a couple more people doing eye exams!)

 before one of us could talk to them.  It ended up being really successful - we sold 35 pairs of glasses and a couple other things.  I thought it was really fun and really rewarding to do so much work at a campaign - it was great Spanish practice, talking to a ton of people, and it is really interesting to see a cross section of the population of each town.  A lot of people had problems that we can't deal with (i.e. don't need reading glasses, or eyedrops for redness and irritation), but a decent amount actually get really excited to be able to see up close again, to read, or sew, or something like that.

After I'd been in my own room doing eye exams for probably 3 hours, a woman (as she was

 walking out) pointed out an "animal underneath the table".  Turns out to be a tarantula, the size of an outstretched palm.  It was incredibly disgusting. It had been there right next to me for a long time!  Did I mention that this campaign took place in the town's public health facility, IN the doctor's office? Tarantulas in the exam room .... that wouldn't really fly in the US!

After our campaign, we ate lunch in a 'comedor' in Flores .... comedores are everywhere in Guatemala, but we've never eaten in one because you can't really guarantee cleanliness.  A Peace Corps girl told us she ate at this one all the time, though, so we figured it was fine.  A comedor is basically someone's house that they open up for people to eat in.  You go sit down in their house and then they bring you whatever they made for lunch that day - we had a vegetable soup (called caldo), tortillas, and some fruit drink thing.  It was really delicious! Also, it was only 12Q (1.5 dollars) for everything.  It was definitely something typically Guatemalan that I'm glad I did at least once!