One of the best things about not being on a schedule is that when opportunities come up I’m able to take advantage of them.

As I wrote a few days ago, I’ve begun volunteering at Na Bolom a local non-profit that has just a ton of stuff going on.  I was brought on by my friend Julio to re-design the website and, if I had time, offer some suggestions for operational improvements.

Things have been going well and I’ve very much enjoyed working with Fernando and Julio but I thought it best to finally have a chat with the president of the Board to get her take on the project – and it’s a good thing I did.

She has a very detailed, very involved viewpoint of what they want the new Na Bolom web presence to be and it was nothing like what I am currently designing.  It will also take much much longer than the original 2 weeks.  In fact, it will probably take closer to 6 months – so it looks like I’ll be returning to San Cristobal after a few side trips.

This was something I had already been contemplating as there are some operational improvements that could really make their lives easier and I just wasn’t sure how I would be able to get it all done in time.  But now it’s official.  Fer also mentioned something today about maybe getting paid in addition to the free room and board but we’ll see how that goes.  I’ll be satisfied without the paycheck just because of the new skills I’ll be learning, new friends I’ll be making and the great addition to my resume and portfolio.

The New Plan:

I will leave San Cris @ the 22nd of June and start making my way back to Cancun via Palenque, Merida and maybe Chichen Itza.  I will then fly be in the US from July 1-7 before I fly to Guatemala City.  I will most likely stay in Guate for several weeks taking Spanish classes as most of the people I’ll be working with on this expanded project have limited English skills.  I will then return to San Cris to finish the project.