Poco a Poco - Peace Corps Guatemala

Despedidas

2009-07-15T14:36:00.000-07:00

July 15, 2009

Today I left Cabrican for the last time. The past two weeks have been a mess of going away parties and Peace Corps events. One of our fellow trainees got married, several people from our training group have already left the country, and now the few of us who remain, and are not extending, are counting down the hours until we are officially freed from our Peace Corps Service this Saturday. It was sad leaving Cabrican, but I am ready to move on to new things. Luckily, I am being replaced by two new youth development volunteers who will be continuing on with the library and the basicos in town.

Sometime next week I will be attempting to enter into Honduras and meet up with some friends from the States who are flying into San Pedro Sula on Wednesday. Keep your fingers crossed that the borders stay open!

Chuchitos

2009-06-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

June 20, 2009

I made chuchitos with Doña Chama the other day. This time I have the recipe right for when I get back to the states!

La Primera Dama

2009-06-20T08:32:00.001-07:00

June 20, 2009

The first lady of Guatemala came to Cabrican yesterday to drop off an ambulance for our town. She flew in on a helicopter was shuttled into the center of town and gave a speech and then was shuttled right back out as quickly as she came.

The Municipality provided a lunch for her, which was to be held in the library, so it was blocked off and searched for bombs etc. For some reason (I guess I look sketchy), one of her body guards wasn't going to let me in, even though I worked there and the staff had told them I would be coming (or rather, a gringa would be showing up). All the security turned out to be a bit unwarranted though, because a medical doctor showed up, supervised the packing of her food and took it to go. In the end, she never actually came into the library.

Rainbow!

2009-06-20T08:10:00.000-07:00

Mini Libraries!

2009-06-05T14:24:00.000-07:00

June 5, 2009

We had the inauguration for the mini-library project this Monday, June 1st. Once again, THANK YOU to everyone who donated. Some pictures from the event are posted above. If you would like to see all of them please check out the link below.

Mini Libraries Inauguration Pictures

April and May

2009-06-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

May 20, 2009

My mother has drawn it to my attention that I’ve gone almost two months without making a blog post. As a result I’m going to try and do a rapid fire update.

In April, we had the week off for Semana Santa so I hiked through the jungle to the Mayan ruins of Mirador on the Mexican border with Peten with some of my fellow volunteers. Mirador was built between 600 BC and 150 AD at which point it was almost completely abandoned for still unknown reasons. It houses one of the largest pyramids in the world and was recently in the news over the discovery of a nearly completely intact panel that is believed to depict the two Mayan twins from the Popol Vul (Mayan equivalent of the bible). Mirador has no road connecting it to civilization and can only be reached by a two day hike or by helicopter. Still mostly covered by vegetation (it took 30 years to uncover Tikal), it was an interesting experience to see an ancient Mayan city mostly still in its forgotten form and to be able to see the pyramids before they are restored.

Cabricán’s mini-library project was put on hold until now. The municipal government ran out of funds and we were unable to collect those which they had promised us. As a result, we put the book purchasing on hold until new funds were received from the national government. These should be coming in next week. Hugo, the library’s director, and I are going into Xela tomorrow to make initial purchases. All of the books should be purchased by the end of next week and we are hoping to turn over the mini-libraries and train the school directors and teachers on Monday June 1. Once again thanks to all of you who donated!

Rainy season has begun again. It’s my third here in Guatemala. I’m dealing with water flooding under my doors and leaks in my ceiling. A temporary bridge set up between my town and Xela has almost completely washed out and there are mini mudslides are everywhere. The good news is that I don’t have to sweep my house daily due to dust anymore and that things are starting to turn green again.

I turned a quarter century.

My little brother graduated from UNC. I went home to surprise him for graduation and to drop of Xpint, who is now a US citizen. He behaved himself beautifully on the plane, sleeping for most of the flight and only crying during take off and landing. Many people in town have been asking why it so much easier for an animal to get a visa than a person. I cannot explain this to them in terms they would understand.

I already really miss my cat. I keep expecting him to come flying through the window from outside. I found a huge spider in my bedroom today that I was unable to kill/trap and flush down the toilet (it escaped into the wall), and, had Xpint been here, he would have had that completely under control. He on the other hand, doesn’t appear to miss me all that much. According to my parents, he’s settled into life at 1483 beautifully and he and the dog are fast on their way to being friends.

My training group had our COS (Close of Service) Conference last week. There are less than two months left our service for those of us who aren’t extending. It is shocking how fast the time has gone. July 18, 2009: the official date I am allowed to leave Guatemala.

That’s it for now. I will try and be more on top of things in the future…

Library on the Web

2009-03-30T11:19:00.001-07:00

March 30, 2009

I've taught the staff at my library how to blog. The link to Biblioteca Nuevo Amanecer's new page is available below, or permanently on the side bar at the right. Check out their page if you get the chance. (Even if you don't speak spanish!)

Biblioteca Nuevo Amanecer

Feria Part 1

2009-03-30T10:09:00.000-07:00

Videos on Feria as promised and ahead of schedule (I'm feeling good about the GRE). Hope you enjoy.

Feria Part 2

2009-03-30T08:59:00.000-07:00

Visits to Mini Library Communities

2009-03-26T09:27:00.000-07:00

March 24, 2009

Today Hugo and I hired a driver of a four-wheel drive truck (many thanks to the Muni for paying!) to take us out to the three of the communities that are participating in the mini-libraries project: Los Rojas, La Vega el Cerro and Buena Vista el Cerro. It was a bit of an ambitious trip, but we managed to visit all three schools and get back to the center by 2 pm.

These schools, as previously mentioned, are extremely isolated. I had hiked to Los Rojas and Buena Vista in the past, and it takes 1 ½ and 2 ½ hours respectively to reach each one on foot. In car it takes about 45 minutes as the roads are horrible. Hugo made fun of me because I was so terrified driving down into Los Rojas, but I think anyone who was not accustomed to Guatemalan rural roads would be, and even the majority that are. A steep down hill road, which could hardly be considered a road at all, complete with sharp turns and drop offs the equivalent of cliffs… not something you want to be on if your brakes give out. La Vega is even further out, and takes a good hour and 15 minutes to reach it in car. I would guess at least three hours on foot.

Our purpose was to meet with the parents of the community and discuss their responsibilities for the completion of the project. Many of them are already way ahead of us, as two of the schools had their bookshelves completed to show us upon our arrival. It was also an opportunity for them to ask us questions about the project. I shouldn’t have been shocked, but I was, when I learned that through this project many of the community members of La Vega learned for the first time what a library is. The education level in these communities is very low, so it is nice to see the parents showing such an interest. You could tell from the quality of the bookshelf that the parents made in La Vega that it is something very important to them. These communities are some of the poorest in Guatemala, which makes them some of the poorest in the entire world.

We also took the opportunity to bring out some of the books that Child Aid had donated to give the communities an idea of what type of books they will be receiving in April. As things have been very busy the last three weeks with Feria, and Semana Santa is following in less than two weeks (both of these events mean a week off of school for students), we are holding off on the purchase of the remaining books until mid-April. The communities will be officially receiving their “mini-libraries” around April 22nd.

Tomorrow (with luck) we will visit the remaining schools of El Durazno, Quiquibaj and El Cebollin, before heading over to the neighboring municipality of Huitan to celebrate the opening of their community library. This means that we have to leave the center by no later that 7 am, and will hopefully be back by 5 pm.

Feria 2009

2009-03-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

March 23, 2009

Feria has officially ended. As a recap from last year, Feria is ostensibly a one week celebration of the town’s patron saint, but it normally runs closer to two or three and is more of an excuse for the town to let loose and go crazy. Vendors come in from all over the country selling food, games and cheap plastic toys, the town elects Señorita Flor de La Feria (Miss Flower of the Fair) among a billion other various señoritas, parades run daily, a giant speeding Ferris wheel is propped up on wooden blocks, neighboring municipalities arrive to compete in soccer and basketball tournaments, drinking begins in earnest, dances run into the wee hours of the night (things stay open past dark), fireworks take over, and a few religious traditions occur (like Jesus being carried down my street). Needless to say, it’s kind of nice to have the tranquility of a sleepy rural Guatemalan town back.

I did partake (solely for your benefit of course), in almost every greasy delicious feria food offered, mainly to put in the video I am making of the whole shebang. It’s unlikely I will have this ready however, until after Easter, because I’m heading down to Guatemala City next week to take the GRE, and then hiking through the jungle of Petén for 5 days to the Mayan ruins of Mirador. However, keep a look out for it in the upcoming weeks.

Speakers

2009-03-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

March 12, 2009

I’m sure in my last two years of blog posts, that I have mentioned the Guatemalans’ love of loud noise somewhere. Its amazing the level of sound they can tolerate, and that there aren’t more deaf elderly. I just left the election of Señorita Flor de La Feria and am now suffering from a major migraine. To drive the point home, please check out the speaker set they deemed necessary for use in a regular sized gym. I was vibrating the entire event, and not as a result of my cell phone. Wouldn’t want the neighboring towns to miss out. I don’t doubt they could hear it… sound travels better here, across valleys to neighboring ridges, and forget sound barriers: no insulation.

Niña Parvulos y Bilingüe ... Again.

2009-03-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

Niña Parvulos

2009-03-11T08:17:00.000-07:00

March 10, 2009

Feria started off with a bang today, with the election of Niña Parvulos and Niña Bilingüe. I was lucky enough to be selected to judge this event which seems to contradict the very conservative Guatemalan culture, although it is very deeply ingrained here. If you thought the US was the only country in the world where mothers dressed their four year-olds up in skimpy clothing and paraded them around like dolls for the world to see, you thought wrong. The girls competed in the categories of Traje Típico (Mayan Dress), Talent (the only talents that appeared were dance and some type of activity with a hula-hoop) and Ballroom Dress. At the end of the day, a six year-old named Marleny, walked away with the main title. Before the end of feria the town will elect the following: Niña Estudiantil, Flor de la Feria, Señorita Deportes, Señorita Magisterio, Señorita Deportes Magisterio, and Hija del Pueblo Mam. Woohoo for beauty contests!

Bola

2009-03-11T08:16:00.001-07:00

March 9, 2009

The other day I witnessed a disturbing sight. A bola – possibly our one and only – was lying prostrate in the middle of the street in our main square at 11 on a week day. (For all those who don’t speak Guatemalan: bola is the female version of bolo, which means drunk).

This could be deemed disturbing for several reasons:

Someone got so drunk that they passed out in the town square in the middle of the day.
Alcoholism runs rampant here, and there is little infrastructure to deal with it. Most people, when they reach the level of passing out, are abandoned by their equally inebriated drinking buddies, and the powers that be (ie la policia or, in this case, our one and only “traffic cop”) are loath to deal with the situation. Left to their own devices, they crash wherever they are able to take their last step, occasionally piss themselves, and generally lose their cowboy hat to the wind or trouble-making children. Additionally, women technically don’t drink, so it is likely, this woman didn’t have a drinking buddy to cuidarla from the get go.

Could she get hit by a car?
This, while possible, was unlikely. Being that we’re not exactly a raging metropolis, traffic is slow at best. Always putting safety first, our “traffic cop” or some other authoritative figure had taken it upon themselves to place two orange cones around her. Lastly, she was kind of hard to miss; besides being surrounded by the two traffic cones, everyone within a two block radius was staring at her. Women rarely drink (in public), and it is even rarer that one would drink so much by mid-day that this would occur. Hence: a huge spectacle.

Why is no one taking it upon themselves to move her?
This I cannot answer. I was not readily moved to take up the call either. My site mate and I discussed the matter, and decided that two gringas moving her out of the center of the road would only draw more attention to her, which is the last thing she needed. Whether this was to make ourselves feel better for not moving her, or was really in her best interest, is up to debate.

This does not inspire a great lasting first impression of the town.
A Trainee was visiting my site mate to get a better idea of what her life would be like once she swears in as an official volunteer in a couple of weeks. Bolos don’t create a great impression, but bolas even less so because they are so rare. Also, because no one was moving her, it didn’t make the people of the town seem very considerate.

I could go on, but I will try to prevent this blog post from becoming too long.

I am sorry to admit, the only living creature with any sort of compassion was a chucho (stray dog), who lay down to cuddle and support her in her moment of shame. (I apologize to anyone who would have loved a picture of this, but it just didn’t seem appropriate).

I feel incredibly sorry for this woman, who is the known bola in our town, and whose social status can sink no lower. It is frustrating that there is no organization or person who can provide her with the support she needs to overcome her alcoholism. It is frustrating that her children are being left without a mother or family to raise them. It is frustrating that people seemed to view the situation with humor rather than with any form of empathy.

She was finally moved on to the steps of the municipal building more than an hour later, by the aforementioned “traffic cop” and one of several bystanders, when a delivery truck needed to pass. I saw her again the next day, stumbling around, clearly drunk again, possibly unaware of her humiliation the day before and without hope or the likelihood of overcoming her addiction.

Estados Unidos or BUST!

2009-02-27T07:22:00.000-08:00

February 26, 2009

Xpint is causing me endless grief. I’m trying to figure out how to send him home… but of course, no one can give me a straight yes or no. Some airlines say he can go in the cabin of the plane, but he has to be able to stand up and turn around in a height smaller than 9 inches. Since he measures more than 12, I’m not sure if this disqualifies him. I put him in a case that measures 8 inches in height and he can definitely turn around… but standing up is a matter of opinion. I suppose I should have followed the Kohls’ example and limited his food intake as a kitten so he didn’t get so large (Disclaimer: This is an inside joke people! The Kohls never starved their cat). He’s going to need to go on a severe diet between now and May, or we might have to remove his paws.

Going below deck carries all these temperature restrictions, and since he’ll be traveling through Houston or Miami in May no one can really guarantee that I’ll be able to send him. I would like to thank both Continental and American Airlines for giving different and contradictory answers every time that I call, using up all of my saldo (Q 300!!!), and leaving me more confused after each conversation.

So the matter is settled. We’ve decided he’s going to be a true Guatemalan and go mojado. Anyone know a coyote? Andrea thinks due to his querulous nature he’ll have trouble in the desert, but I disagree. Since cats are naturally desert animals I think he’ll have more trouble with the river.

Seriously though, he’s getting there somehow, someway, even if it causes me to go gray in the process. If anyone knows someone at Continental that can guarantee I can bring my cat in the cabin, I would love it if you could put me in touch!

Oddity

2009-02-24T06:55:00.000-08:00

February 23, 2009

Xpint is preparing for his trip “home.” Poor thing, I don’t think he enjoys it much. I wouldn’t enjoy sitting in a cage barely big enough for me either, but the vet says he has to get used to his travel accomodations. Since Xpint can’t go home in July due to heat restrictions, we are looking into sending him home in May, and since May is rapidly approaching, I am having to prepare.

This weekend Andrea and I took our cats into Xela for vaccinations and to buy Xpint’s new cage. Just for a moment imagine the oddity for Guatemalans of two gringas on a bus, each carrying a cat. For lack of a better comparison: imagine two one armed people carrying squirrels on public transportation in the States… you get the idea. I heard whispers the whole way there…. GRINGA! GATO! Not that it prevented people from approaching us. Odd doesn’t begin to describe the trip.

Actual Conversation:
Guy: Where are you from?
Me: The United States.
Guy: Oh! I need a passport. Can you get me one?
Me:?? No, sorry, I don’t work in that area.
Guy: Are you married?
Me: YES!

I guess it doesn’t hurt to ask. Later he asked me if Cabrican was far from where we were… while we were on a Cabrican bus.

Conversation in Xela:
Girl (within a group): Can we interview you for a school project?
Me: Um, sure? About what?
Girl: The traditions of where you’re from.
Me: What kind of traditions?
Girl: You know, the traditions of where you’re from.

So specific! For lack of a better topic I picked Thanksgiving. They video taped it.

Perhaps I should have picked animal care… Might have been more fitting.

On the Way Home:
Man: Is that your cat?
Me: Yes (No, I’m just carrying it around.)
Man: Does he always travel with you?

WOW

2009-02-23T11:00:00.000-08:00

February 16, 2009

Wow.

Apparently feria is just around the corner. I won’t bore you with the details of what feria is again (yet)… for those interested, check out the blog post somewhere around February or March of last year (that’s 2008). The point is: a year went by really, REALLY fast. I was shocked into this realization by the arrival of all things feria in our town square: video games and foosball. Among other things, I’m halfway through my second dry season, my APCD is coming up to scope out my site for my replacement this Thursday, and I’m into my THIRD season of mangos (mango season is only once a year people!).

… Somewhere along the line my Peace Corps service turned on auto pilot. I’m two and a half months shy of two years in country, and only five months short of COSing (close of service). This shouldn’t come as a surprise to me. I have started to plan my life post Peace Corps—signing up to take the GRE (explain to me how knowing what it means to chase metal is going to help me out in grad school?), organizing my backpacking trip through Central America, trying to decide what to do with myself for the sixth months between applying for grad school and actually start school (providing I get in)—but somehow none of this sunk in until foosball reappeared in my town. Go figure.

This of course is starting to make things hit home: e.g. I am going to have to start making some tough decisions (policy school, law school, vet school?). I can’t keep entertaining them all from now until eternity. Also, there are some things I AM going to miss about rural Guatemala, like being able to make a mango, strawberry, banana smoothie for less than $1 and Vicente Fernandez’s crooning voice on the camioneta.

This stated; I am going to start taking advantage of things while I still have access to them.

Defense

2009-02-14T08:12:00.000-08:00

February 13, 2009

I’m languishing in bed due to a super-hardcore cold, and Xpint is lying in utter contentment beside me. He’s accomplished a lot today: torturing a defenseless and miniature gecko to death. I watched the endeavor out of boredom and feel guilty for having not risen out of bed to save the poor creature. My defense: I’m sick. Plus I’m trying not to discourage Xpint from killing things that find their way into my house.

Yesterday morning I awoke to find something had helped itself to my bread overnight. Not the cheap pan frances from Doña Shely at Cabripan either, the expensive pan integral from Hiper (or should I say Wal-Mart?). Sure, it was only Q16 (roughly a little more than $2), but in my world, Q16 = $16, so I detested having to throw the loaf out. What a waste of money! It’s unlikely that I will be able to buy another loaf for at least a week and a half, unless I make a day trip to Xela, which I am not keen on. I made a day trip to Chimalt this week and a full 12 hours of bus riding in one day is enough to keep me off of the buses for a month.

Needless to say, I think somehow, despite having a cat, I have a mouse. Xpint is obviously not fulfilling his duties, which is irritating. The cat has no balls, which I suppose is my fault for having them cut off, but letting a mouse run rampant in his own house? Not to mention backing down today when a neighboring cat wandered into the kitchen and started helping himself to Xpint’s food. All it took was a menacing hiss from something half his size and Xpint slinked off into the living room. No wonder his food disappears at such an alarming rate. Xpint doesn’t have a posse (or a tapeworm), he’s just whipped.

Clearly from the amount of small dead animals he brings home, we have the offense down. Defense is something we’re going to need to work on.

On a side note, Xpint became an uncle this week. His sister Mesha, owned by my “neighboring” PC friends the Kohls, surprised Laura and Justin this week by pumping out 5 new baby kittens!

Segundo Basico

2009-02-14T08:09:00.001-08:00

February 12, 2009

Three weeks of teaching basico classes, and I’m a actually kind of enjoying it. All my “eighth” graders (segundo basico) pictured above. The pictures were taken for name tags that the kids are making.

Book Donations

2009-02-14T08:02:00.000-08:00

February 11, 2009

I made a day trip yesterday to Chimaltenango with Hugo, our library director, to pick up a book donation from Child Aid for our Mini-Libraries project. I have to admit I wasn’t in the best mood as I stumbled out to the town square in a mental stupor, bundled up in 2 sweaters, a winter coat, scarf, hat and mittens at 3 am (welcome to the tropics of Central America!). Carrying rocks in my pocket as a chucho deterrent, I was cursing myself for having agreed to the day trip and silently praying Hugo would be on time (Guatemalans have a tendency to arrive at least one hour late… to everything).

Spending 12 hours on a bus in one day is never anyone’s idea of a good time, but things began to look up when Hugo was there early. 6 hours, 240 kilometers and one Pollo Campero breakfast meal later, Child Aid made it more than worth our while by donating more than 1,000 new (not used) books. Hugo was absolutely astounded. Making a purchase of that size probably would have cost the library somewhere between Q30,000 and Q50,000. Books do not come cheaply in Guatemala. Included were math texts, literature texts, and a montage of children’s literature for all ages.

Peace Corps helped out by sending a driver to collect the books, as there was no way Hugo and I would have been able to manage them all on the camionetas. Gonzalo, my APCD, will be hauling the majority of them up next week when he comes to assess my site for a replacement volunteer.

I even got a ride home in a car from Xela as Oscar, my friend who works in the forestry office in Xela, was heading up to my site for work. Above are pictures of Volcanoes Tajumulco and Tacana at sunset on the way home.

As a reminder, please donate to the library’s mini-library project for outlying primary schools! Click on the link below for more information, the children will greatly appreciate your effort! Thanks so much to all of you who have already made donations! Unfortunately, I do not receive the names of individual donors until after the full amount has been raised. But have no fear, thank you notes will be coming eventually!

DONATE!!

Xocomil Video

2009-02-09T09:16:00.000-08:00

Xocomil

2009-02-09T09:07:00.001-08:00

February 8, 2009

This weekend I was able to take a break and relax and enjoy myself after a long week of work. A couple of us hit up the water park Xocomil for Laura’s birthday. Shockingly, while it’s freezing in Xela right now, (My nights last week were spent shivering in bed, and waking up to find only my nose protruding from the blankets, frozen as a result.) if you take a one hour bus ride down towards the coast you find yourself in a tropical paradise (the magical difference of elevation)! The five of us had a great time flying down rides and soaking up the sun. And don’t worry Mum, the rides were all very well taken care of. It was like being in a water park in the states, but better… line free!

Fundamentos Training #2

2009-02-09T09:02:00.000-08:00

February 4, 2009

Starting off the year with a bang… today I trained 36 teachers on the “Fundamentos Empresariales” program with assistance from my sitemate Andrea. I had been trying to get this training off the ground since last May when Carolyn helped me do one for 12 teachers in Rio Blanco. Fundamentos teaches 5th and 6th grade students basic business techniques: how to save, how to plan ahead, how to calculate your earnings. In training teachers and providing them with program materials and completed lesson plans, we hope that the program will reach many more children. Several of the teachers were very receptive, and Hugo my counterpart would like to tweak it a bit and use it for the basico (middle school) students as well.

On a side note, I am now teaching two classes of basico students the “Como Planear Mi Vida” (How to Plan My Life) program, with Hugo’s assistance, in the library on Wednesdays and Thursdays … although, true to Guatemalan form, the Thursday class has yet to show up. Como Planear Mi Vida teaches life skills and important topics such as self-esteem, planning ahead and sexual education. Hopefully, this will be helpful to the youth development volunteer who will be replacing me in July, opening up a few doors for them ahead of time.

Gang Issue

2009-01-30T07:46:00.000-08:00

January 30, 2009

Guatemala has a gang issue, and recently it has begun to affect people in my community.

Violence is meted out with impunity here. Probably as a result of more than 15 years of brutal civil war in the 1980s and 1990s. Death and violence are looked upon as normal. Everyday the most popular daily paper Nuestro Diario’s front page is covered with tales of death and destruction. These stories don’t stop on the second page; they fill it from front to back.

Gangs have been taxing the bus companies in Guatemala City since before I arrived here. If a bus company refuses to pay, gang members climb aboard their buses and shoot their drivers and ayudantes (assistants, people who collect fares and place luggage on top of the bus). More than 15 people have been killed as a result this January. Unfortunately, the income of a bus driver is too enticing for men who need to support their families. The high instances of death on the job do little to deter desperate people from applying to these positions.

Until recently this problem was contained to buses traveling in and out of Guate, but a couple of weeks ago gang members started approaching bus drivers in Xela. My town’s buses were among those approached and given a choice: Q45,000 ($6000) or the lives of our bus drivers. Wanting to protect their own, the town’s bus companies pooled together and paid up.

The saddest part behind all of this is the fear that is developing as a result. It has always been considered very calm and safe here in comparison to other parts of Guatemala, but now people are not so certain of their security. Rumors are flying that the gangs are going to “tax” the stores here. The police traveled up from Xela last week to meet with the town and discuss their options. Community watch groups have been formed and now patrol the streets at night. People are less trusting of their neighbors and won’t go out at night for fear of being associated with the gangs… or attacked by them.

I am skeptical of the reach of the gangs in my town. I still feel safe here, as the bus companies paid up, I am not afraid to ride on the buses. It is sad however, to see the fear affecting my town. It’s unfortunate, but I feel it is only going to get worse.

DONATE! - Mini Libraries

2009-01-28T08:57:00.000-08:00

DONATE!

Six local primary schools and the local library in Cabrican have developed a project together to provide mini-libraries for their students. These schools and their communities are located in areas where there is little public transportation (if any) and therefore the students cannot make the trip into the center of town to use the community library's resources. We're hoping to provide the resources to these students to expose them to research projects and reading for leisure at a young age. In addition to providing these resources, the local library will be providing training to the school directors and teachers on how to manage their new resources and run story hours, reading clubs and create research projects. I hope you will take the time to read more about the project and/or make a small donation by clicking on the link provided. The students and their communties are already providing 60% of the project costs and will greatly appreciate your help!

DONATE!

Affects of the Recession

2009-01-28T08:46:00.000-08:00

January 28, 2009

It has not taken long for the recession in the States to affect us here. As isolated as we may be, there are infinite ties that connect us. In the past couple of months, immigrant workers have started returning, citing lack of work or lower pay. The number of people who approach me wanting to practice their English has doubled since September. Having been here for a year and a half, people had stopped asking me why I was here, and what I was doing, but this too has begun again. People who were in the states and have returned are shocked to find a gringa in their midst. They are unaware of how long I have lived and worked here. Many assume I am only here for the day or week, to complete some small project.

But this is not the only effect. The community library I work with is founded and funded by the Riecken Foundation. As many are aware, the recession in the States has greatly affected non-profit foundations such as Riecken. Many are stuck without funding, have lost important donors, or find themselves without access to credit. Riecken appears to be stuck somewhere in this mess. We were provided a supplementary budget of at least Q 1,000 per month (roughly $130) to provide materials and organize activities within the library. Since October Riecken has been unable to provide us with this assistance. In addition, Hugo Bulux, our director is paid by the Riecken Foundation and not by the municipal government, which pays the salary of our librarians. Starting next week Hugo and all Riecken library directors will only be paid part time.

Needless to say, this is not good for the library´s prospects. Hugo is crucial to the library´s success. He is unusually motivated and works hard to increase the library´s reach in the community. Hugo is also the person with whom I work most closely. It would be a true loss for the library and the community to lose him, which may well happen, as Hugo cannot afford to live on only a part time salary.

This is not meant to undermine the work of the Riecken Foundation, which has been greatly appreciated here, but this situation highlights the importance of sustainable development. While Riecken undoubtedly has developed this community library into a hugely successful educational community project, it has not in its four years here, worked to make the library sustainable in the long run. The library still depends on Riecken´s monthly assistance and its payment of the director’s salary. All the work that went into the library could come undone if Riecken is forced to pull out. Of course this is not to say the community is not stepping up to the cause, the board of directors is making a request to the municipal government to pay the second half of Hugo’s salary until the end of the year or until Riecken is once again able to pay it. However, whether or not the mayor will agree to this is not clear, and it is very apparent that the municipal government is not keen on taking over the monthly costs of running the library. In which case, we are left to wonder, what will happen to this educational bastion if Riecken is forced to pull out?

Tuk Tuks!

2009-01-28T08:44:00.000-08:00

January 24, 2009

The tuk tuks have arrived! Tuk tuks are small three-wheeled motor vehicles that act as taxis here in Guatemala. Anyone who has been in Antigua will have seen these vehicles speeding through the streets with great alacrity. My town has recently acquired three which can now be seen barreling around town with passengers in tow. This has been one of several advancements (including an ice cream parlor, a “pizzeria,” a paved road and a larger daily market) that have arrived in town since I began my service here (in which I can claim no influence)!

Home and Visitors

2009-01-28T08:37:00.000-08:00

January 23, 2009

My mother left today to return to the States, and my month-long vacation appears to be officially over.

I was able to spend three weeks at home this Christmas, and while it was great to be home and to see all my friends and family, I am excited to be back. When you´re gone for so long, it is hard to realize how much things may have changed in your absence, and being back in North Carolina resulted in a bit of culture shock. I am glad I went though, as it will make me more prepared for my eventual re-entry sometime at the end of this year.

I was also lucky enough to have my parents and my aunt return with me to Guatemala. I got to spend my first week back staying in nice hotels and tourist spots, which made readjusting here much easier on me. They were able to climb a volcano, visit Lake Atitlan, and come out to my site to see where I live and what I do. Although I don´t think my house was the most comfortable place for them to stay, they got used to “roughing it” Peace Corps style (I maintain that it isn’t all that different from living in the States). My mother being the brave woman that she is, stayed an extra week with me in my site and got a much better idea of my life here. I also took her on a couple hikes, so she could see the beauty outside of the center of Cabrican… which, I am sure she will agree, is stunning.

(I would put up more pictures, but my camera was inadvertently filled with sand and is now non-functional… My aunt was nice enough to lend me hers until my replacement arrives, but I have no cord to upload the pictures… so my blog might be a bit bare for a while.)

Tajumulco

2008-12-13T07:43:00.000-08:00

Some pictures from my recent hike of Volcan Tajumulco, highest point in Central America at 4,220 m (just under 14,000 f). The peak

Volcan Tacana, Tajumulco's shadow and Mexico

Guatemala's range of volcano's from the peak of Tajumulco at Sunrise.

At the top

Volcan Santiagito blowing of some steam... the most active Volcano in the western hemisphere.

At the start

Turkey Day

2008-12-05T08:41:00.000-08:00

The tradition continues...Thanksgiving in all its turkey killing glory. Please excuse the poor editing, my ancient computer was being uncooperative and kept freezing. For Houdini's complete background check out my friend Kate's page: http://kgriffin.blogspot.com. Unfortunately the poor bird made his final disappearing act this thanksgiving dinner.

Xpint, Cazador

2008-11-25T12:45:00.000-08:00

La Cosecha

2008-11-20T09:46:00.000-08:00

November 19, 2008

The harvest has begun. For the second time since I have arrived in Guatemala, cornfields are being flattened left and right. I can no longer walk from my bathroom into my house in a towel, the barrier of corn that shielded me from prying eyes has been razed. Entire families spend the day out in the fields gathering corn, machete-ing cornstalks and lugging ayotes (giant squash that look like watermelon). Soon all the left over dried-out foliage will be burned in giant bonfires sending smoke billowing into the air with the dust that is already rising. Children and adults alike spend the day shucking corn, saving corn husks to make tamales and chuchitos, separating the good from the bad and selecting those which will be used for seeds next year.

The rain has stopped and the cold has set in. I am back in the habit of drinking tea, using four wool blankets and shivering in my two sweatshirts, long-underwear, scarf and wool cap. It is more than a struggle to get out of my warm bed in the morning. Camionetas and trucks that pass on the road send clouds of dust into the air drying out eyes and lungs. The wind is picking up, and electricity is the victim. It is fall in Guatemala.

Rapid Reduction

2008-11-20T09:31:00.000-08:00

November 11, 2008

Our forces are rapidly decreasing.

Andrea (Art Corps) finished up her service this October, and returned to Ecuador to spend some time with her family.

Our semi-site mate in the town over resigned last week.

Katy and Joe are moving sites, to a town on the south side of Xela, due to lack of work here.

… and then there were just two. It’s quite a drastic reduction. Granted, we were overloaded before. There was never any need to have four Peace Corps volunteers in one site. If you count the JICA volunteer (Japanese equivalent to Peace Corps) we had as many as 7 foreign volunteers. Nevertheless, you get used to having people around.

I am happy for Katy and Joe, because it seems their new town is very invested in working with them and the development of their program. This will be a step up since the interest was so low here. It will make them happier, busier and their service more rewarding. I am sad that they are leaving, because they have become such great friends of mine, but they never should have been placed here in the first place.

It seems that I will have to get used to entertaining myself at night again, but this is not the end of the world. If nothing else, it gives me lots of time to study for the GRE, and ponder my future.

Todos Santos

2008-11-08T13:08:00.001-08:00

November 3, 2008

This weekend I made the trip out to Todos Santos, Huehuetenango for the celebration of All Saints Day.

Todos Santos is one of the few places in Guatemala where the men as well as the women still wear the traditional dress, at least in theory. Men wear red and white striped pants along with colorful collared shirts, and while the younger generation has kept this tradition, it has altered it to modern styles. Young boys and teenagers wear pants in a style copied straight from the states, wearing them low and baggy. They could pass for a pair of jeans if it weren’t for the stripes. And while they still wear the collared shirts, they leave them open and wear shirts bearing the insignia of heavy metal rock bands, WWF wrestlers or rap artists. I was struck by the fusion of tradition with modernity in this small isolated town.

On another note, Todos Santos is also famous for its celebration of All Saints Day. First, because the town’s feria also falls on this date (todos santos means all saints in Spanish). All towns in Guatemala have a patron saint (or saints in this case) for which they throw a celebration every year on that saint’s day. Secondly, Todos Santos has gained notoriety for the horse races they stage on this date. The races are not so much races, as drunk men riding their horses up and down a road at full speed. Upon reaching the end, they wait until one man decides to turn around and race back to the other end and the others follow. There is no winner and not much of a point. Predictably, several men fall off their horses in their drunken stupor and more than one are usually trampled. It is said if a man dies, his team will have good crops the following year. I watched the races the morning of the first, and saw several men fall and one get trampled.

Unsurprisingly, Alcoholism is an even bigger problem in Todos Santos than in most places in Guatemala. Last year the town voted to outlaw the sale of alcohol. While this prohibits the sale it does not prohibit the consumption, and the bolos were out in full force for feria. Men were passed out like flies all along the roads. I wonder if there is much hope for this problem, in a town were the act of drunkenness is a traditional celebration.

Different Perspective

2008-11-08T13:02:00.000-08:00

October 12, 2008

Some of Katy and Joe’s friends from training came and visited this weekend and put a different perspective on Peace Corps Guatemala for me.

I have become accustomed to urban sites and placements. Almost everyone in my group lives in the main town of their municipality. This generally entails a market (at least once a week), paved roads, Spanish speakers, relative proximity to a major urban setting (under 3 hours), etc. which is to say, convenience. There is no doubt in my mind that Guatemala is one of the easiest placements to get. I often forget that I am living in a third world country, although a few things bring me back to reality (having to wash my clothes in the pila, bad roads, low levels of education and dental hygiene, to name a few).

Katy and Joe’s friends live in a small isolated aldea (an outlying town from the muni’s center) in the department of Huehuetenango (nicknamed way way far away). It took them 12 hours to travel to our site. Their town is so far out of the way, it has barely been reached by Guatemalan or foreign aid (which makes me realize, I am not as isolated here as I think). Many people have never been to school and most do not speak Spanish. For this reason, people in town are very responsive and appreciative of their efforts. The local health center told them that rates of diarrhea have dropped by as much as 30 percent since they began giving health charlas to the community two months ago. The local population does not become offended and uninterested when they explain they are there to educate and not give out money. They have been placed in a town that desperately needs their help and is eager to receive it.

I believe part of the problem with placements is bureaucratic restrictions. People are so scared of the repercussions of a volunteer getting hurt or threatened that we are being piled on top of each other in more urban settings where the towns are larger, more developed and in less need of aid. All of us have become frustrated here in Cabricán, because when we offer up help, people expect that we will give them things or money. They become indifferent when we explain we have no money to disperse and that we are here to educate. International organizations have thrown so much money at them that this is what they anticipate. In addition, it is harder to integrate and to reach those outlying communities that really do need, and would appreciate, our efforts. I would love to work in some of the outlying caserios of Cabricán, but a 2 hour hike one-way is both impractical and discouraged.

Katy and Joe’s friends don’t fit the typical mold in that they are in one of the outlying communities. They don’t need to worry about the logistics of hiking in and out because they live there. In this small town, it is easier for them to integrate and the people are grateful and enthusiastic of their efforts. It is difficult for them to be so isolated, but they really seem to be enjoying their service despite this fact. I believe Peace Corps efforts in Guatemala would be a lot more effective if they would place people in more of these outlying and isolated communities. Sure, there is greater risk involved, and it would be a harder and more challenging service, perhaps more people wouldn’t be able to cut it, but isn’t that what Peace Corps is all about? Challenging yourself to help those in need?

Coming Home!

2008-10-07T10:40:00.000-07:00

October 7, 2008

Just throwing it out there for all of you who have been asking:

Yes (after 20 months) I am coming home for Christmas this year.

I arrive in DC (It was almost $300 cheaper than flying into NC) on December 18th. I’ll be there for a couple days with my sister until I can catch a ride home to Chapel Thrill.

I fly out of DC on January 8th… Due to lack of money and time, I am not planning on being anywhere but DC and North Carolina.

Plans include excessive consumption of food (sushi, steak, salad, breyer’s mint chocolate chip ice cream, CHEESE…I will consider it a failure if I don’t gain at least 10 lbs in 3 weeks), hitting up as many b-ball games as possible to watch my team dominate, LOTS of time with the family (this includes the Elanders and the Joses) and possibly Charlotte for New Years (this depends on my girls! I.e. all my sweetmates, Ravie, Casey, Claire …let me know what you’re up to).

I really cannot wait to see everyone!

Regular Cazador

2008-10-07T10:34:00.000-07:00

October 7, 2008

I might be beating a dead horse here, but since my cat is my child, and my most constant companion… I’m going to overdo the stories about him.

Xpint has turned into a regular cazador. In the last two weeks he’s come home with three mice and a bird. The worst is that I can’t complain about the carcasses the keep appearing on my kitchen floor because it’s my fault. I turned him onto it.

It started when visiting friend spotted a small mouse running around my yard. Not thrilled by the prospect of a mouse infestation (the house had a problem before when Brian and Aneth lived here), I woke Xpint up from a characteristically deep slumber and pointed it out to him, while chastising him for not taking his job as a cat more seriously. He chased it under the fence, it escaped and I assumed that was the end of it. Xpint looked slightly disappointed at having lost out on his nap and a fun toy.

An hour or half hour later, my friends and I were hanging around enjoying a rare sunny afternoon in the middle of the rainy season, when Xpint ran through the kitchen clutching the poor thing in his mouth. He must have taken my reprimand to heart. The mouse was a tiny, not much more than a baby, and I began to feel really guilty as Xpint tossed it about the backyard. He’d let it out of his grip and impatiently wait for it to attempt to bounce away before pouncing on it again and again. Eventually the mouse caught on and played dead. Xpint, irritated, just threw it about every which way, tossing it around, carting it up the ladder, down the ladder and through my house from the front yard to the back. In the end he got overly enthused and flipped it into a bucket of water. It was when it started to struggle and flounder that we learned the mouse wasn’t actually dead. Xpint, faced with a horrible predicament: get wet and continue playing with the toy, or just watch it drown, compromised by poking it with his paw every once in a while and then recoiling back in horror at the wetness. I ended the charade by fishing the half dead mouse out of the water and chucking it into the cornfield. I’m sure it met its match at the hands of some other animal, who would actually eat it.

Chucking small dead animals into the cornfield is becoming a very common occurrence. Two days later, I found half a mouse on my kitchen floor when I woke up (I’m still terrified thinking about where I will find the other half). Yesterday morning Xpint came careening into the house clenching a struggling bird in his jaws of death. I tossed him into the yard and locked him out of the house in my attempt to keep dead animals out of my kitchen. Convinced the bird was dead and gone, I let Xpint back inside later only to find upon my return from Corrales that he had retrieved the dead bird from the yard and decorated my kitchen floor with its plumage. I spent the evening picking off all the feathers I couldn’t sweep off the rugs. To top it all off, I was lying in bed last night trying to fall asleep, when I heard Xpint playing with a squeaky toy. Since he has no toys that squeak, I turned the light on to investigate, and there he was, bounding all over the kitchen tossing around another half dead mouse.

Xpint is either torturing me or teaching me to get over my squeamishness. Perhaps I should have thought about this outcome before moving in next to a cornfield.

2008-09-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

My site mates...

September 7, 2008

I have new site mates… although; they’re really not that new anymore.

Katy and Joe, a couple from California were assigned to Cabricán in July. There are now four of us just in the center of town. Of course, there are really more than four of us, if you count volunteers from other programs, and Aaron.

Aaron, is the equivalent of a new site mate, as he was assigned to the municipality of Huitan, a one hour walk or 20 minute bus ride from us. One of Katy and Joe’s good friends from training, we’re always inviting him over for group dinners.

I wasn’t very enthused when I found out there would be four of us. Gringos stand out a lot here, and it’s more than noticeable when they start to over take a town. It also makes it harder to find work for those that are here. Katy and Joe were supposed to be working with the health centers giving charlas on health, but there was already a volunteer from Japan who had filled this role. Also, having so many volunteers in a town makes it harder to integrate. Peace Corps claims to limit two volunteers to a site, but this is clearly not the case.

This is not to say that I don’t like having Katy, Joe and Aaron around (at first my frustration with Peace Corps came off to them like they weren’t welcome). They are great people and I love hanging out with them. We’ve continued the Cabricán tradition of group dinners and even added game nights. It’s especially nice to have Katy here because we get along so well (the only downside is that we apparently look so similar local people can’t tell us apart).

Katy and Joe have found a project in one of Cabricán’s small outlying towns: Mirador Los Corrales. They want to build latrines for this community that lacks both running water and electricity and are in the process of looking for funds. In the mean time, they are educating people on health and sanitation, and Katy is working with the older kids in the primary school on self-esteem and other related issues.

Pila Xpint

2008-09-06T14:45:00.001-07:00

September 4, 2008

Xpint for some reason doesn’t like his water bowl. He will check the toilet, empty glasses, puddles and the pila before he will check his bowl. His favorite is the pila, which I do not understand, because it involves some acrobatic moves and the danger therein of falling in. Maybe it’s the thrill. I have to admit I’ve been tempted more than once to just shove him and witness the chaos that ensues.

HIV/AIDS Training

2008-09-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

September 2, 2008

I held my first HIV/AIDS training yesterday and despite all my fears it was a smashing success.

Cabricán has 7 básicos (middle schools) in the municipality and, with funding from a grant Peace Corps received, I was able to plan a training for all the teachers and directors that work in these schools. More than 90 people were invited.

Needless to say, planning a training of this size requires more than a little leg work. There were materials to prepare, snacks to order, extra funding and donations to find, etc. Running the budget was more than a little stressful, especially because PCVs were coming in to help out from all over the country. As things in Guatemala almost never run smoothly I was constantly running back and forth between my house, the library and our CTA’s office checking and re-checking that everything had been completed as planned.

Luckily I was fortunate and had the support of my community. The local health center donated condoms for demonstrations, the Muni donated color diplomas, and the library helped me out with materials and labor. I also had the added benefit of my FOG fund (donations from all of you, my family and friends at home), which allowed me to print off and bind 7 copies of the program so that each básico will have a copy. This is essential to sustainability, because if they don’t have access to the program they will never attempt to recreate it.

Despite some bumps in the road, things worked out for the best. When two PCVs who were going to help lead the training fell sick and were unable to make it, my new sitemates stepped up to the challenge and helped fill their positions. This was crucial as it is hard to lead the training with more than 30 people in a group and we had more than 85 teachers attend.

In the end we had almost 100 percent attendance rate, which is unheard of in these trainings. In most cases PCVs get about 50 percent. I attribute this to the hard work of our CTA who put the full force of his authority behind the event.

In addition it seems the event was very well received, one of the básicos has already approached the library for help in implementing the program with their students before the end of September. As for the remaining 6 schools, we will visit each of them before the end of the school year in October to discuss how they can put this program into practice.

A special thanks to all those who helped out: Kutner, Katy, Andrea S., Andrea P., John, Rose, Michael, Aaron, Lic. Osorio Lopez, Neptali, Irvin, Hugo, Magdaly, Beatriz and Mary.

My Cat Has a Posse

2008-09-06T14:29:00.000-07:00

Aug. 26, 2008

My cat has a posse. This is perplexing. I admit I am new to pet ownership, specifically cats, but I get the midnight prowling, the insistence of sitting atop my keyboard when I am trying to work and the meddling with my knitting. Thanks to a book on cats given to me by my site mate’s mother, I even understand the Chewbacca noises and the kneading of my stomach (I previously thought he was just trying to make me feel fat).

But a posse?

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought cats were supposed to be solitary creatures? My dad is no help with this: “They’re probably just his girlfriends honey. Male cats like to go on the prowl.” Except that he’s neutered and, of course, my dad never seems to remember this. Maybe he thinks that because Guatemala is a third world country, neutering is impossible here.

It started out with a small tabby cat, which I assume is my neighbor’s. I’ve found him in my house more than once, which leads me to believe that Xpint has shown him how to get into my house through the window I leave open. As a true Guatemalan animal he is terrified of people and flees the minute he sees me. Then I came home to find another larger cat lurking about my yard. He looked rather guilty when I came in through the gate and immediately made a beeline for the cornfield.

I am not particularly pleased with this whole situation. I don’t mind that Xpint is hanging out with the riffraff; I actually think it’s kind of cool that he has friends. However, the other day he disappeared for a full 24 hours and came home with a giant gash on his face. I was in hysterics. You never know how attached you have become to your pet until it goes missing. I’m beginning to think he’s found friends in the wrong crowd. I have a feeling his posse is helping itself to his food and leaving fleas in my house. I’m not stingy, but I am on a Peace Corps budget and I did not sign on for three cats when I bought one. I can’t go about Cabricán frontlining every cat I see. And cat food is EXPENSIVE. Luckily he’s an outdoor cat and I don’t have to invest in kitty litter.

I bought Xpint instead of a dog because I knew I could leave him alone for long periods of time when I went on trips. I also thought he would be easier to handle (no potty training etc), but I forgot to factor cat posses into the equation. It just didn’t seem likely at the time. Maybe I would have been better of getting a dog, but I am beginning to realize that owning a pet regardless of species is a big responsibility and comes with the good and the posses.

Rain Drop

2008-08-16T12:03:00.001-07:00

Aug. 15, 2008

Rainy season… we had a nice little two week break, but its back in full force.

Results of Boredom...

2008-08-16T11:57:00.000-07:00

Aug. 15, 2008

I think I am on the path to actually completing one of my projects. I know this will shock my mother. I have a tendency to be fickle at best. It would take more than two hands to count all the sports I tested out during out my childhood. My participation was generally limited to a year or less, due to loss of interest. The same can be said for all the activities and art projects I have started through the years as they never seem to get past the first phase. Many kudos to boredom as it seems to have inspired me to form a more firm commitment. The pictures above are of the blanket I am knitting in my “spare” time.

Buses and Vendors

2008-08-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

Aug. 13, 2008

Buses are not always crowded, but more than often they are. Generally speaking I’ll be squeezed in between a slightly obese snoring Guatemalan male who is taking up half the seat while drooling on my shoulder and a nursing mother who is balancing three children on her lap, under her seat and in between her legs in order to avoid having to pay an extra fare. Rounding curves at lightening speed, it would be amazing that everyone doesn’t constantly tumble out into the isle, except we’re all pegged in place by the 30 or so people crammed standing into every last inch of remaining room on the bus.

This combination is made even more comical when stopped at a cola. Hoards of vendors come sprinting to the bus attempting to sell as much as possible before any one else can get on. They squeeze their way through the crowd, climbing over people and seats, slamming their baskets into unsuspecting heads and shouting their wares in the slow Spanish drawl typical of rural Guatemalans. ¡Chuchitos! ¡Hay chuchitos de pollo y de reeees! ¡Toma su chuchito caliente mamita! ¡Hay tortillas con carne, con pollo, chile relleno bien calentitos! ¿Qué le doy joven? I’m partial to chuchitos myself. My bus rides are no longer complete without one.

Colas are not the pain in my ass they used to be, now that I have gotten over my fear of street food and being left behind if I debarked the bus. They provide an opportunity for a snack, a bathroom break in the bushes and, best of all, a pause in the bouncing, swerving trip so I can actually read the Prensa Libre I bought with the intention of reading on the bus. I don’t get carsick from reading in a moving vehicle, but it’s impossible to read when you’re being thrown about like a barrel over Niagra falls.

I think I’m finally acculturating or adapting. Not that I still don’t have fits of madness where I swear profanities in English under my breath and elbow the guy in the gut who’s falling asleep on my shoulder. However, I am finally getting to the point where I can arrive at the other end of my journey without wanting to tear the head off of every person who looks at me the wrong way… or at least fall asleep on someone else’s shoulder.

Loud

2008-08-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

Aug. 7, 2008

Guatemala isn’t quiet. I often wonder where the affection for loud obnoxious noises stems from, or why deafness is not a more common result.

There are no sound barriers here. Houses are constructed out of cement block and insulation does not exist. Therefore, something that might have been slightly annoying in the states, but mostly drowned out, is suffered through in full blown clarity. Music is blared, religious sessions are screamed and howled, bolos stumble down the street serenading the town with unintelligible songs and stereos are set at maximum volume for all public events – regardless of whether there are two or two hundred people.

I once sat through a wedding where marimba music was blared so loudly at the reception that you could not hear the person next to you speak unless they screamed directly into your ear. We sat through the event in silence for four hours – and no one danced. It’s not my iPod that will destroy my hearing but this preference of ear-splitting levels of sound.

Even the animals here are in on the conspiracy. Roosters, do not crow when the sun rises, but three hours before and every half hour from then on out for the rest of the day. I swear that the chuchos schedule their snarling brawls for 1 am, directly outside my house.

My absolute favorite, however, is the pig next door, which I have never actually seen. The first day I moved into my new house I could have sworn that the pig was being slaughtered. It squealed, bawled and shrieked with such intensity there was no doubt in my mind that my neighbors would be sitting down to a breakfast of bacon. However, after a few months here, I have become accustomed to its daily death cries that occur like clockwork every afternoon at 4 pm. It’s either cranking out piglets daily or just really hungry.

Home

2008-08-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

Aug. 2, 2008

Home. Finally.

Some of my fellow volunteers were confused about what I meant by this. More than a few assumed that I was going home – to the States – rather than home – to Cabricán.

After spending in all practical terms the entire month of July out of site, I am ecstatic that I am HOME. Which makes me wonder: when did I start referring to Cabricán as home? Is it in fact my home?

They say home is where the heart is, but I cannot claim that my heart is here. My cat, my stuff, and my “life” are temporarily stashed here. Temporarily being the key word. But my heart? I suppose Guatemala is growing on it. More than a few lifelong friendships have developed here. I love waking up here and watching the sun burn through the fog, the mountains slowly rising out of the mist, but I think my heart is back in the States, with my family, my past and my future. Perhaps my heart would be here, if it was committed. However, knowing this experience is transitory keeps my heart at bay. For what is the point of forming a permanent attachment to something that isn’t permanent?

Yet, I am calling Cabricán home, even though I know it is only temporary, and even though I know my heart isn’t here. My home is where my stuff is. Or my heart is here, and I just haven’t realized it yet.

Last Visitor

2008-08-04T10:25:00.001-07:00

July 30, 2008

The last couple of months have been a whirlwind of visitors. Having just said goodbye to my sister, and last visitor for several months, I am both sad and happy.

Sad, because I love my sister. She has always been a mentor to me, someone to look up too and someone to aspire to be like. She has always been there for me and she is an excellent traveling companion, which is not an easy thing to be, especially in Guatemala. Showing her around Guatemala was fun and easy.

Happy, because I can finally spend some extended time in my site. I love having visitors, but it is emotionally and physically draining. It is hard to be away from your home, or stuff. It is hard when they do not understand Guatemala in the terms that I do, or cannot adjust to the differences in culture and amenities. It is hard living out of a backpack (and constantly losing your stuff).

I will not get to spend the whole month of August in Cabricán due to another training by Peace Corps. However, I think I am going to get three full weekends, and this is a feat in itself. I never thought I would say this, but I am not leaving my site if I can help it.

Changes

2008-08-04T10:03:00.000-07:00

July 21, 2008

One year as an official Peace Corps volunteer, one year to go, and significant changes.

I officially changed my counterpart agency to Cabricán’s Library: Biblioteca Nuevo Amancer. This has two benefits: first, the guilt of not working with my assigned agency has been lifted from my shoulders; second, I feel a more fixed work schedule will be more conducive to accomplishing more in my second year.

It is easy for me to place the blame on Peace Corps for my original placement, and to only see the negative side of the equation. However, this would not be rational. As a result of my first placement, I have learned to be more out going, more proactive, and more responsible. I have learned to seek things out for myself, rather than waiting for them to come to me. With the failure of my placement, came new opportunities that are more related to my interests and abilities. I was also able to choose them for myself, rather than wait for Peace Corps to find something that might or might not work out.

It would be easy for me to write off my first year as a failure as I have often wanted to do. But this would overlook all that I have accomplished and all that I have learned.

My APCD (Assistant Peace Corps Director) came out to visit a couple days ago to officially change my agency and to see what I have been doing over the last year. Feeling pressed upon to show some RESULT, I took him out to Loma Grande to look at my world map mural.

The result surprised me. Seño Amarilis, who teaches the classes I worked with for Fundamentos Empresariales, explained to my APCD how the children had taken over responsibilities for snack sales at recess after finishing this course. They picked out their own products to sell, including healthy items such as fruit which weren’t an option before, and were allowed to keep half the proceeds. They came up with the idea on their own. The teachers had not mentioned this to me, and had I not taken my APCD out to see the mural, I might never have known. This taught me to understand, although I might not see the results of my work, every action has a result, and I should not be so judgmental of my efforts.

Brian's Despedida

2008-06-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

6/28/2008

Brian’s time here in Cabricán is running short. Yesterday we did a short hike down to Las Barrancas and along one of the rivers and then up into Chorjale so he could have at least one last hike through some of the municipality. Andrea came with us and was able to see Los Rojas, where Brian did his first project of water tanks upon showing up in Cabricán two years ago. We spent the afternoon cleaning up the house for Brian’s despedida.

Juliana came over around 3 pm to teach Andrea and I how to make tamales, which seems to be a simple enough process, although lacks an official recipe and so will be hard to recreate. Additionally, with three people cooking and working at once they still took us two hours to make, so I can see how with only one person working they could take all day.

The few guests, Reina, Roberto, Juliana, both Andreas, Saul and Gary arrived around 8 pm and we sat down to enjoy the tamales and celebrate Brian’s experiences and work over his two years here. Reina, Juliana and Roberto gave Brian the traditional shirt worn by men in Cabricán which he was very excited about, although this one is particularly shiny and not exactly traditional. He and Roberto were twins for the evening.

Brian leaves Cabricán de una vez (as they say here) this Thursday and will head down to Antigua and Santa Lucia to finish up all his final paper work and medical documentation. His flight home (New Hampshire) is on July 9th. He is leaving a little early to surprise his mother for her birthday and will be in New Hampshire until the end of July. Aneth is flying out to visit him there for a couple days and then they are driving across the country together back to Los Angeles. Cabricán to Los Angeles will be a big change, but Brian is very excited about it, mainly because of Aneth.

I will be sad to see him go. He has been such a great friend and support during my first year here and it is hard to imagine Cabricán without him. However, after more than two years he is ready to go, and I can understand that (as long as he remembers to send us packages once he is gone!).

Tamales

2008-06-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

6/28/2008

The tamales we made used a rice dough and are typically made for Christmas. Generally speaking tamales are made from some type of dough placed in a maxan leaf or corn husk (maxan leaves, a very large green leaf, are used for special occasions) with a red sauce (made from tomatoes, miltomate, sesame seed, pumpkin seed, several different types of dried pepper, onion and chocolate), a piece of chicken (or turkey on special occasions) a prune, and some red pepper and then wrapped up. All the tamales are placed in a big pot and steamed. Reina claims she can put the creation into a recipe for me, however, most people here just go by instinct, taste and future experience.

Aguas Calientes

2008-06-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

6/25/2008

Reina took Juliana, Roberto, Brian, Andrea and I out to some hot springs in the north of the municipality of Sija yesterday. To get to Aguas Calientes, San Carlos Sija we woke up at four in the morning and hiked an hour out to Cienaga Grande where we caught a bus at 5:30 that takes a route through the department of Sija into Xela. From where we were dropped off it was another 30 minutes to an hour hike downhill into Aguas Calientes.

These hot springs are different from those of Aguas Georginas, near Xela, in that they are not a tourist attraction and are used only by locals. They are not as pretty as Aguas Georginas, but they make up for that by the lack of tourists. By happenstance, we arrived on their feria so the town (which isn’t much more than one road) was overrun with people. A band had come in from Totonicapan, and there was a parade for the patron saint.

I think I managed to scandalize the town in my bikini, however, with all the blue-eyed, fair-skinned children that were running around, I think more than a few people have spent some time in the states and were a little more used to it than Cabricanecos would be.
Andrea and I spent a lot of the morning trying to teach Roberto how to swim, and he was catching on really quickly, putting his face underwater and giving it a try. I think if he had a couple days in a pool he would quickly pick up on it. Unfortunately, pools are hard to come by in this area, and the chances of that happening are slim. Most people in Cabricán, including Juliana and Reina, do not know how to swim.

Tilapita

2008-06-29T10:24:00.000-07:00

6/22/2008

A few of us went out to Tilapita this weekend, an island off the coast of San Marcos, near the Mexican Border. One of the Peace Corps staff was kind enough to lend his beach house for Kody’s birthday, so Brian and I decided last minute to head up there.

Tilapita is very isolated and yet to be discovered. Houses have thatched roofs, the beach is empty of trash and we were probably the only gringos on the island. This will probably change soon as small hostel was recently created and the beach has just made it into the most recent version of Lonely Planet.

It was a very chill weekend. We spent the days out on the beach swimming and playing frisbee, eating fresh seafood cooked by one of the neighbors, and watching gorgeous sunsets.

All in all, it was a perfect break, if you don’t count the fact that I lost my wallet on the way home. I must have a problem with Karma because, in the last week and a half, I have lost my wallet, my iPod, broken my cellphone, broken Brian’s Sirius radio and somehow managed to make iTunes not work on my computer. Go figure.

Creative Drying

2008-06-18T14:54:00.000-07:00

6/18/2008

Rainy season frustrates my attempts to dry clothes outdoors...

Estufas Mejoradas

2008-06-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

6/18/2008

Brian has officially finished his last project in Cabrican. Working with a women’s group in Corrales he has helped them build 73 estufas mejoradas. These stoves allow women to still cook using fire, but prevent them from cooking over an open flame, which not only prevents fire hazards, but also lung disease as smoke exits through a chimney.

Brian worked with the women, teaching them how to build stoves, and proving to them, that they were perfectly capable of doing this without their husbands’ help.

Today the women had their stove inauguration to celebrate their new stoves and thank Brian and Juana Xoquic, the president of the women’s group, for all of their hard work.

Doña Juana and I are also planning on setting up a community garden with this women’s group. We already have the seeds donated from echonet.org and will hopefully get things organized by the end of June before I have to leave for my mid-service conference.

Cate and Miguel Visit

2008-06-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

6/16/2008

I’ve just ditched my second set of visitors. Miguel left yesterday for Mexico, and Cate headed back to the states today.

Cate and Miguel were an excellent set of visitors and got along famously, especially considering they’d never met in person before. (The explanation to people on how they ended up in Guatemala at the same time usually involved some version of “we met on the internet” – all of you on the LS will appreciate that one.) It was so nice to have two people so interested in the culture and seeing more of Guatemala than just the tourist sites. Luckily for Miguel and I, Cate was camera happy and I am sure her well documented trip will be up on the internet soon for all to see.

John Visits

2008-06-01T10:05:00.000-07:00

5/29/2008

My little brother John arrived this month, beginning several months of visitors.

I really enjoyed showing him around Guatemala, torturing him with the chicken buses and lack of water pressure. It was wonderful being able to share what I have been experiencing and to see him after so long and he made me realize that things here aren’t as normal as I have come to accept them.

It was also a great precursor to his study abroad in Ecuador. Being able to practice his Spanish here for a week made him realize he can communicate if he needs too. He held a whole conversation in Spanish with one of my Guatemalan friends, which I think was more than he realized he could do.

Next up: Miss Cate Elander: 8 days and counting.

Teacher Training

2008-06-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

5/27/2008

I complete my first teacher training today with the help of my friend Carolyn who came up from her site in Cantel to help me. Carolyn has been in country for almost three years now, so her experience is invaluable.

We trained twelve 5th and 6th grade teachers in Rio Blanco, San Marcos on the program Fundamentos Empresariales, which I have been working with both in Rio Blanco and Cabrican. Fundamentos, teaches children basic business techniques: how to save, how to plan ahead, how to calculate your earnings. We hope that the program will reach many more children by training teachers and providing each participating school with the program materials. I doubt that all the teachers will implement the program, but I am hopeful that at least some of them will.

Now that I have done one training with Carolyn, I am planning to do at least one on my own in Cabrican. I am also hoping to set up an AIDS training for teachers here in Cabrican, although given my visitor schedule, and other AIDS trainings scheduled by PCVs that may have to wait until August.

Xpint´s Gift

2008-05-30T12:15:00.000-07:00

5/26/2008

I arrived home exhausted today after dropping John off at the airport, my friend Oscar’s birthday, and night of planning for my teacher training tomorrow in Rio Blanco, to find that Xpint had brought me a gift: the most giant disgusting bug I have seen since living in New Orleans. I didn’t realize they could get so big here, given that it never gets much above 70, but apparently they can. I loved when Xpint started killing the bugs inside of my house, because it meant that I didn’t have to, but I am reconsidering this benefit now that he is bringing large ones home from outside. I am waiting in dread for the day when he comes home with a dead bird or mouse and leaves it in my bed.

Airport

2008-05-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

5/26/2008

I am scarily programmed to arrive early to everything. I can make a concerted effort to arrive late to an event and still get there 15 minutes early. Given that my mother was freaking out about my brother’s safety upon his arrival last week in Guatemala City (a notoriously unsafe area), I planned to arrive 15 to 30 minutes early, which resulted in my arrival 2 hours before his flight got in.

Guate’s airport is undergoing major renovations. An excellent plan, considering when I arrived in country (over a year ago now), the airport was nothing less than a hole in the ground. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of work to be done. The waiting area contains no seating and nothing to do besides sit on the floor (if you are as disorganized as I am and always forget to bring something to occupy your time).

Fortunately, the airport is a great place to people watch, especially tourist watch. They come stumbling out of customs, weighed down by their giant backpacks and suitcases, dazed, confused and easily trapped by the first person to shout ANTIGUA! SHUTTLE! ANTIGUA! Much to my chagrin, I am constantly looped into this group and had to fight off several overly eager drivers who relentlessly tried to convince me I wanted to go to Antigua, Panajachel or Chichi. I thought it was quite obvious I was waiting the arrival of someone considering I had only a purse and I arrived by taxi, not through the arrival gate. Clearly they missed the memo.

While the tourists are fun to watch (and to make fun of), the most interesting part was watching the arrival of people who had obviously been gone for years, at best. Something to the effect of 1/12 of Guatemala’s population lives in the United States. Children here grow up without meeting their father, some women spend more than a decade without seeing their husbands, and mothers spend an eternity hoping their children will one day return and they will be able to see them again before they die. It is an amazing site to watch a family greet a member who has been gone for such a long period of time; to watch children meet a father who they have no real memory of. You can see the joy in their eyes, and the relief in their smiles.

On top of this, the airport is a place where you can see all spectrums of Guatemala’s population converge and mingle in one place. Given that racism is still so common here it is a rare sight to see every group, from rich Guatemalan’s dressed to the nines to indigenous families, the women in their traje with ribbons braided into their long hair. It gives you hope seeing such a wide array of cultures grouped in one place all happily focused on one thing: welcoming people home.

Rainy Again

2008-05-15T08:08:00.001-07:00

5/12/2008

My new site mate is from Seattle, so I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised today when walking home from the gym in the rain and cursing my luck at having forgotten my umbrella and having left my clothes out on the line she states her excitement at this sudden downpour.

I’ve never been a huge fan of the rain in the first place. Not that I don’t mind the occasional storm, but when it happens everyday for six months it gets a little depressing. While the change in season will bring back things that I love: greenness and lack of dust… the list of things I don’t love is considerably longer: always having to wear waterproof shoes and carry an umbrella or raincoat, my clothes never drying and smelling like mildew, being trapped indoors, mold, not being able to hear yourself think… I could go on, but I don’t want to be too negative. I can only attribute Andrea’s excitement to her lack of exposure to rain without drying machines and houses that properly drain.

Xpint on the other hand shares my chagrin. Effectively trapped in the house due to his aversion to anything wet, he spent the afternoon running circles around the living room and biting everything (literally everything). So this rainy season might not only cause me mental distress but physical pain. This afternoon has already resulted in a few new future scars.

Spring

2008-05-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

5/7/2008

Springtime is here again, or if you’re Guatemalan: wintertime.

The rains are beginning to start up again, and while I am already irritated with the thought of mold, smelly clothes, and never being able to leave the house without my umbrella … there is one benefit. Things are beginning to turn green. Preparation began weeks ago and now the clouds and fog are rolling in and all those empty brown cornfields are slowly changing color. It is weird to think this is my second time witnessing this process.

Xpint's New Digs

2008-04-30T14:58:00.000-07:00

April 30, 2008

Earth Day

2008-04-25T15:13:00.001-07:00

4/22/2008

Today was international Earth Day and to celebrate we organized activities in Cabricán’s library. Children in primary school participated in a picture drawing contest, and those in secondary made clothes out of trash. The idea was to foment the practice of throwing trash away in its proper place and to raise awareness of the destruction of the environment. Several people gave speeches, we played videos on global warming and Andrea Pérez (Art Corps), Esben and I were judges of the contests. Unfortunately, I think there was a little to much focus on the contests and not enough on Earth Day, but I have next year to perfect and, on the bright side, Esben who works in the forestry office in the Muni is trying to plan activities for Tree Day on May 22.

Electric Slide

2008-04-25T15:11:00.000-07:00

4/13/2008

Plumbing is primitive in Guatemala, which may explain why I have to flush my toilet twice to get it to drain, my shower requires plunging after every use, the bathroom has a strange odor that never leaves, and the sink leaks. However, the scariest part about the bathroom for most foreigners is that water is heated by a “calentador,” a small contraption attached to the pipe which heats the water with electricity. Contrary to what we all learned in school, water and electricity mix. Due, I suppose, to the average height in Guatemala, I have to duck under my showerhead which means I am knocking into it on a regular basis. This makes me wonder if smacking my head into the calentador will one day result in a new form of the electric slide.

Amoebas

2008-04-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

4/19/2008

Peace Corps gives you lengthy advice to avoid amoebas, bacterial infections and other nonsense, including: boiling your water, washing your produce with bleach water, peeling or boiling vegetables, brushing your teeth with bottled water and avoiding street food. While I can adhere to most of these precautions, street food is something I haven’t been able to avoid. Three tacos for Q10 on your way home from a bar is hard to resist, and Q2 chuchitos when stuck in a cola are a godsend. Having indulged in just about every street food offered, I was beginning to think that I had worked up a resistance to these illnesses… Alas, this was not the case.

I discovered much to my chagrin this Wednesday, that I have a serious case of amoebas. After spending most of Monday and all of Tuesday in misery rushing from my bed to the toilet (I’ll spare you the gory details), I finally worked up the courage to risk the two and a half hour bus ride into Xela to get things checked out. I had delayed in the hope that things would improve on their own, and because they rarely find anything to treat in the tests anyway. However, since the next two weeks are packed full of activities that I have to attend: Earth Day, AIDS training, and a Fundamentos teacher training in Cabricán, I really didn’t have a choice. Now, on the road to recovery, I am chugging three liters of Gatorade a day and starting a month long treatment to rid me of these pesky critters.

While I will definitely be taking more precautions in the future, I doubt that this week’s pain is enough to make me give up the delicacies of street food. I can’t even prove I got them from street food in the first place. Even though I ate some over the weekend, it appears from the size of the infection, they were sitting latently in my stomach for quite a while before they decided to flare up this week.

Asphalt!

2008-04-25T14:59:00.000-07:00

3/31/2008

Asphalt reached Cabricán yesterday. Celebrated with much fanfare (complete with a marimba band) the newly paved road means the end to traveling down dirt roads… if you are headed in the direction of Sibilia. Unfortunately, most buses take the route through Sija, which means the road is only paved until the next municipality of Huitan and then it is dirt again for the next hour until Sija. On the bright side, they have gravel down on most of this route now, which means (hopefully) it will be paved shortly.

World Map Mural

2008-03-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

3/29/2008

Work has begun on Loma Grande’s world map mural. Each of the kids from fourth, fifth and sixth grade were asked to pose for the mural doing different activities and will be painted in, to give them ownership in the project. We have almost finished sketching the world, and Andrea (Art Corps) and I started painting on borders today so that the kids can fill in the countries and characters with colors. The mural will display the phrase “Mejora nuestro mundo. ¡Tú puedes hacerlo!” (Make our world a better place. You can do it!) to encourage the children to work to improve the world and to foment the idea that they can initiate change. Thank you so much to those who are contributing to my fund with Friends of Guatemala and making this project possible!

Friends of Guatemala (FOG) is a voluntary organization whose members include Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) in the U.S. This is a tax-exempt non-profit organization (501c3 status); donations can be tax-deductible. The FOG Scholarship Program (Category I) funds scholarships for children in Guatemala who need assistance and are nominated by current Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs). FOG also provides an extra resource (Category II) that current volunteers can request to benefit projects in their community.

FOG Scholarship Program funds are comprised of donations from families and friends of PCVs and RPCVs.

For those who would like to make a donation and help fund my projects:

DONATIONS should be sent directly to FOG in Washington, D.C:

Friends of Guatemala
P.O. Box 33018
Washington, D.C. 20033

Donors should include the following information on the memo line of the check:
“PCV Sara Knechtel – Cat. II”

Semana Santa

2008-03-30T10:51:00.001-07:00

3/24/2008

Semana Santa is the celebration of the week before Easter. In Guatemala it is celebrated with huge processions, the most famous being held in the colonial city of Antigua. For volunteers, it is the opportunity to explore parts of Guatemala not yet seen. Volunteers are given one weekend out of sight per month, but this is not enough time to do much more than head to Antigua for a night or Lake Atitlan (if, like me, you live in the western highlands). Since most host agencies shut down for the entire week, it gives volunteers the opportunity to see places that are farther from their sites. Marissa, Laura and I used the week to travel up to the Peten, the jungle of Guatemala that reaches up into Mexico and borders the Yucatan and Belize, to see the Mayan ruins of Tikal, and to the Garifuna town of Livingston on the Caribbean Coast. This is much too long to be contained into one blog post, so I have divided into several different sections which are posted below.

El Remate

2008-03-30T10:50:00.002-07:00

3/24/2008

After a night of fitful sleeping in an ice cold overnight trip from Guatemala City to Flores, stepping down off the bus into the warm humid air of the Peten was a relief for all of us. We had been warned that the advertised air-conditioning on the bus was more of an annoyance than a benefit, but this had been torture.

Quickly surrounded by the usual mob of taxi and shuttle drivers we were able to negotiate a cheap price by shuttle to get to El Remate, a small town halfway between Flores, the capital of Peten, and the ruins of Tikal, where we would be staying for the next two days. Laura, who had been up the week before with her father who was visiting from the states, assured us this was a better deal than staying at the park, because it was less expensive and there was a beautiful lake.

Beautiful does not begin to describe it. Pure turquoise and surrounded by tall green grass, the lake is calm and tranquil. Small rickety wooden docks extend out into the water. The area of El Remate has yet to be developed; there are no motor boats to disrupt the serenity of the area, and it is easy to see how one could loose track of time in this lazy little lakeside town.

Exhausted from our trip and lack of sleep, Marissa, Laura and I headed down to one of the docks. With the warm rays of the sun beating down upon us, the lullaby of the water lapping against the dock soon had us all fast asleep on the wooden boards.

As good as this sounds, it only got better. For lunch we stumbled upon a small Italian restaurant off the side of the lake. International cuisine is not Guatemala’s strong point, so we were shocked to find the place churning out homemade pasta made by an adorable old little Italian man. Food was clearly his passion as he shouted out specific details on exactly how the food should be prepared and cooked to the woman he had helping him. An hour later stuffed on tomato and (get this) REAL mozzarella, fresh bread, homemade pizza complete with fresh tomato, mushrooms, onions and NON-CANNED black olives and limonada, we could not believe our luck.

Lunch, of course, was followed by more lounging on the dock and swimming in the clear lake water before we headed back to the hostel to get an early night sleep. We needed our rest for our early morning rise at 3 am the next day to catch the sunrise tour of the Tikal ruins. The trip could not have begun in a better manner.

Matagringas

2008-03-30T10:50:00.001-07:00

3/26/2008

At first impression, he wasn’t the friendliest fellow on earth.

“Let’s go, everyone in the vans. There are supposed to be 11 of you. Peace Corps, where’s Peace Corps?” he barked. We cautiously signaled that we were the three volunteers. The day before we had signed up for the sunrise tour of Tikal, the most famous Mayan ruins of Guatemala. Being a Peace Corps volunteer has its perks, as we get a generous discount to enter most national parks, so we were able to negotiate the usual price of this tour down from 300 Quetzales to 200. Little did we know this would cause so much consternation with our tour guide, who was not convinced the Peace Corps discount actually existed.

“Okay, you three in this van, everyone else in the other.” All 11 of us hesitated, the boxed lunches we had paid for were no where to be found, and the hostel owner was passed out in a drunken stupor in the hammock. Not to worry, our guide had no qualms with waking him up before the crack of dawn so we could be on our way. Marissa, Laura and I piled into the small van, while the other 8 had to squeeze into the other. Although there was space in ours to seat two more people comfortably, the guide wouldn’t have it. Only the three of us in the first, everyone else in the other. The couple we met the day before gave us a dirty look, before cramming their way into the stuffed van. We assumed our separation from the rest of the group had to do with the uncertainty of our cheaper entrance rate.

To assume makes an ass out of you and me.

While our guide treated everyone else with brazenness and disrespect, he was amazingly civil to us. He did point out the obvious and explain that he wasn’t a good tour guide because he didn’t have patience and wasn’t a people person (duh!). After watching the sunrise from temple number 4, we broke off with another guide who gave us the entire tour of Tikal in English. We were told to meet up with our original guide outside the park at 11 am.

Sweating profusely, exhausted and in desperate need of re-hydration we stumbled out of the park to meet up with our original guide. I’m almost certain it was 11 am on the dot mas o menos a minute or two. He was sitting there waiting, and upon catching sight of us snapped “Peace Corps! Let’s go!” (We were a little tired of being referred to as Peace Corps at this point…) He herded us into the small van once again, despite the fact that the entire group from our hostel hadn’t exited the park yet. When two people tried to hop into the van with us, he quickly negated their attempt by informing them they would have to wait and return in the other van. Our ride home was something of a nascar race through the jungle back to El Remate. A little perplexed at our guide’s brashness and our VIP treatment, we quickly put it behind us and headed off to the lake to enjoy what was left of the day and the sun.

Later that day, enjoying a cold beer (amazingly, they use refrigerators in El Remate) on the hammocks back at the hostel the owner stopped to chat with us a bit. “So, how did you enjoy your tour with matagringas?” DIRECT TRANSLATION = GRINGA KILLER. “Excuse me?” our mouths dropped. “Yea, matagringas. It was never proven, but he probably killed his druggie gringa girlfriend who was cheating on him a few years back,” he replied while laughing hysterically. “He did it with a machete, and now everyone calls him matagringas” (behind his back, I assume).

“AND YOU LET US CLIMB SOLO INTO A VAN WITH HIM AT THREE IN THE MORNING???”

Tikal

2008-03-30T10:48:00.000-07:00

3/27/2008

The Tikal ruins are the most famous Mayan ruins in Guatemala. The area of Tikal was originally settled in 200 BC and grew in power and control until its unexplained demise beginning in 900 AD. Most of the great temples that surround the main plaza (and are the ones most often photographed for publication) were built around 700 AD.

The center of Tikal is over 16 square kilometers, contains over 4000 structures and, at its peak, once housed a population roughly estimated at 100,000. The park itself is about 550 square kilometers in size and upon walking around it is easy to understand how a tourist once got lost inside the park for 12 days.

The official “discovery” of Tikal by the Guatemalan government occurred in 1848. Excavations began in 1881 and continue to this day, as Tikal is located in a jungle, new growth is rapid and hard to contain. Most of the structures in the park are still concealed simply appearing like small hills to the untrained eye. Even most of the larger structures are not completely uncovered, with only their tops cleared of the foliage. Throughout the park you can see excavations in process, small temples that still have the roots of enormous trees bearing down on top of them.

Marissa, Laura and I chose to do the sunrise tour as it is when the wildlife is most active. Needless to say we found ourselves stumbling through the jungle of Petén somewhere around 4:30 in the morning with one headlamp desperately trying to make it to temple IV (the tallest in Tikal at 64 m) for the sunrise. Sweating in the heat (before the sun was even up) we booked it across the park, only pausing once to catch a glimpse of one of the temples that suddenly appeared right in front of us with the commencing light. Roars erupted through the jungle, a sign that the howler monkeys had awakened for their morning romp.

Out of breath after running to the top of temple IV, (Most of the temples, including all of the large ones, have wooden steps constructed up to their peaks, as too many people have fallen to their deaths attempting to climb the slippery stones) we arrived just in time to watch the first temples appear miraculously out of the mist and above the canopy.

Kodak moment x 400

It was truly the most amazing experience watching the temples appear out of nowhere, while the jungle clamor of howler monkeys, spider monkeys, tree frogs and the cacophony of bird calls erupted in full force. Our English speaking guide (not matagringas) was kind enough to point out the toucans to our right, and consequently every toucan during our 5 hour tour, by proudly exclaiming “Look! Toucans! Fruit Loops!” (Fruit Loops got a little old 30 minutes in, but the toucans continued to be fascinating). If the tour had ended there I would have been content.

Our luck didn’t end with the toucans; we left the beaten path and made off through the jungle, caught both the howler monkeys and spider monkeys in action (due in part to the uncanny ability of our guide to imitate their shrieks), and climbed to the top of all the largest temples braving steep shallow stone steps, rickety wooden ladders and nearly perpendicular ascents.

I’m sure the sunrise tour of Tikal will be one of my most vivid memories of Guatemala.

Livingston

2008-03-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

3/28/2008

With Tikal under wraps, we headed off to Livingston to continue working on our tans. Livingston is four and half hours by bus plus one hour by boat from Flores. Located on the small portion of Caribbean coast that remains to Guatemala after the British made off with Belize, it is an area unique to Guatemala. If asked to select which of these things do not belong in this country, Livingston would be it.

Livingston contains the largest population of the Garifuna people in Guatemala. The Garifuna are descendents of shipwrecked African slaves who mixed with the local indigenous population of the island St. Vincent in the Caribbean. When the island was finally conquered, the British deported its surviving population to Honduras and their descendents spread along the Caribbean coastline.

Needless to say, Livingston has a decidedly Caribbean feel and culture which starkly contrasts with the conservative Mayan cultures of the western highlands. There is a large black population, palm trees, brightly painted wooden houses, an abundance of seafood, people who are taller than me, Garifuna music (mostly composed of drum rhythms), and actual dancing!

[To get to Livingston you have to take a one hour boat ride in from Rio Dulce (sweet river), or a 30 minute boat ride from Puerto Barrios. Having arrived from Rio Dulce and exited to Puerto Barrios, I strongly recommend taking the boat ride in from Rio Dulce. The ride down this river was one of the most beautiful I have seen in my life. The hills fade from green to blue to purple and the water is calm and gorgeous. Houses are constructed along the shoreline on stilts with palm roofs. Rounding the curves of the river you catch glimpses of hundreds of birds and I’ve heard there are manatees in this area, but we didn’t see any. It is easy to imagine this area uninhabited and teaming with wildlife. The ride out to Puerto Barrios is through the bay waters, rapid, and rather non-descript in comparison. In addition Puerto Barrios itself is a rather ugly, seedy port town and not much to look at.]

Upon successfully arriving in Livingston (three Belgian tourist were kidnapped a few weeks back on their way in from Rio Dulce by a rebellious indigenous group, but were released unharmed) we made our way to our hotel; a rather large dump, but the only place that was still taking reservations by the time we got around to planning our trip. Quickly dropping off our stuff, we raced to the nearest restaurant to begin gorging ourselves on seafood.

This portion of our trip mainly consisted of eating, dancing, eating, exploring, eating, sleeping, and eating. Unfortunately it was cloudy both days we were there so we did not spend much time at the beach, on the bright side; Livingston is not renowned for its beaches anyway. We did watch live Garifuna music and the Caribbean waters at night from the dock of a seaside bar. I think that my favorite part of Livingston, besides the seafood, was its strong contrast of culture against that of Cabricán. It is amazing that there is such a wide spectrum in a country so small.

Hotel Henry Berrisford

2008-03-30T10:33:00.001-07:00

3/28/2008

Hotel Henry Berrisford, while grand in name is nothing but a dump in actuality. I should have known from the description in my guide book “Beware, it often runs out of water and/or electricity,” that it was not the best place, but it was the only place still taking reservations, and the book also claimed that it had clean rooms (albeit this book was published in 2004).

On top of being burdened with noisy neighbors and paper thin walls (although this did not bother me as much as Laura and Marissa because I’m still lucky enough to be able to sleep through everything) we had the added addition of roaches. If nothing else, this reminded me why I am so lucky to be living in the cold highlands, because the largest bug I have seen here was a spider and couldn’t have been larger than my thumbnail.

Insects are not one of the things I tolerate well, especially roaches. I think this dates back to when we lived in New Orleans and roaches infested pretty much everything. Upon discovery of our roach, Laura and I reacted naturally, screaming and jumping up onto our beds, as it scurried out of the bathroom and into a corner. I promptly exclaimed I would never be able to sleep with roach in the room and Marissa looked at both of us like we were fools.

Luckily Marissa being the sweet, caring, loveable girl that she is, decided to rectify the situation by initiating a roach execution. This of course depended upon us being able to locate the pest, so Laura and I shoved beds around the room screaming while Marissa chased it with a shoe. I’m quite sure passersby might have thought we were the ones having our lives threatened from all the noise we were making.

An eternity later, the speedy devil met his demise in the bathroom with a resounding smack from Marissa’s shoe, and I was able to sleep peacefully through the night without worrying that some large insect would crawl across me in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, Marissa was not as fortunate. Arriving home from the bars at 3 am, our neighbors decided to have a scream fest of their own.

Shrimp!

2008-03-30T10:23:00.001-07:00

3/28/2008

If there was a theme to Livingston, I think it was food. I have recently developed an appreciation of seafood, and the ridiculous amounts of fish, shrimp, crab, lobster and other maritime critters being served put me on cloud nine. I’m learning to cook for myself here (I’ve got eggs, pasta and stir-fry down pat), but I’m finding it hard to be creative using the same ingredients every week and food is getting boring. As a result, I consumed an unhealthy amount of shrimp in Livingston, simply because I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it again anytime soon. I reminded my self of Bubba from Forest Gump because I was talking about shrimp so much. Jumbo shrimp, fried shrimp, lemon shrimp, garlic shrimp, shrimp ceviche…

My favorite restaurant there was Tilingo Lingo. A Mexican woman, who has lived pretty much everywhere in the world, including India, runs it, and, although she lacks a certain social finesse, cooks an amazing array of food. I think I licked my fingers and my plate clean. Laura made the winning selection, ordering tapado, the local speciality, a stew made from fish, shrimp, crab and coconut milk. While it looked a little unappetizing, a bowl of green broth with an entire fish garnishing the plate, the tapado stole the show.

Roboniños

2008-03-30T10:09:00.000-07:00

3/29/2008

Guatemala, most recently, has had the second highest rate of international adoptions in the world, next to China. While this may not seem all that weird, consider Guatemala’s national population, around 13 million, and China’s, around one billion. The US has been working with the Guatemalan government on revamping their adoption process, due to huge amounts of fraud and the not entirely uncommon practice of paying people for their children, or worse, stealing them.

Given this level of corruption, it’s not surprising that the rumors have sprung out of control in isolated rural areas. In many remote indigenous communities, foreigners are viewed as roboniños (child stealers) who kidnap children for adoption or to sell their organs. This belief has resulted in violence in several areas. A few years ago some Japanese tourists and their guide were murdered by a mob in Todos Santos, Huehuetenango, after the tourists took photos of a young girl. The town, assuming the worst, took matters into their own hands, an act not uncommon in communities where the traditional law enforcement and justice system has failed them.

It is surprising to me, that people searching to adopt children would adopt from Guatemala knowing the corruption that permeates the system (any google search on Guatemala and adoptions will return articles on its shadiness). Last weekend, however, due to lack of transportation and lack of lodging as a result of Semana Santa, Marissa, Laura and I spent the night at the Marriot in Guatemala City on our way back to our sites (I had to call in an early birthday present). The place was teaming with roboniños. Middle and upper class white Americans were running around comparing their new Guatemalan children in the lobby and the restaraunts. “Oooh, she’s adorable,” one couple cooed to another. “We’re getting ours tomorrow, we hope she’s just as pretty as yours.” There was a giant club of them swarming through the hotel. We would pick them out from across the room and whisper “roboniños” as we stared at each other in amazement. The whole process seemed sick and the people appeared oblivious to the corruption they were contributing too. I understand and commiserate with other people’s desires to have a family, but the manner in which the Guatemalan system is run makes me hope that people would look elsewhere for a more honest and open system, even if it meant having to wait longer for a child. Unfortunately, it appears from our Marriot experience that this is not the case.

Andrea(s)

2008-03-15T10:02:00.001-07:00

3/14/2008

We now have two Andrea volunteers working in Cabrican: Andrea Pérez, our Art Corps volunteer living in Rio Blanco, and Andrea Stanaway, our new Peace Corps volunteer working with the healthy schools program.

Although their names are pronounced differently, (Andrea Pérez is from Ecuador, so you pronounce her name with a long soft a, and soft e) this doesn’t really make much difference to anyone except to us four volunteers because every Cabricáneco pronounces them the same way (we are in a Spanish speaking country after all).

I can already see the confusion setting in across the town. First, because there are now two extranjeras named Andrea. Secondly, because Andrea S. looks exactly like me in the perspective of Guatemalans (we are both “tall,” with blonde hair and blue eyes, which clearly makes us twins). I can see all three of us being confused with the other.

I have been showing Andrea S. around Cabricán and the novelty of having two gringas wandering around is practically causing hysterics. I think the town was just beginning to get used to the idea of having me around, but TWO gringas? Crazy. The stares have set in again.

After looking at a couple places, Andrea S. has decided to live with Reina, at least for the first couple of months. This is great because she’ll be right across the street from me, and perhaps occupy a little of Roberto’s time. I’m very relieved that she has turned out to be such a sweet, down to earth person, because I was slightly concerned we would get a volunteer we didn’t get along with.

She returns to Santa Lucia tomorrow to finish up training, will swear in on March 27, and officially moves here at the end of the month.

Rewards

2008-03-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

3/14/2008

I taught a class at Loma Grande the other day, and when I finished the lesson, the kids wanted to continue instead of going out to recess. How often does that happen in life? Granted, part of the class involved making paper airplanes, but we were long past that exciting point. I couldn’t believe it!

Despite myself, I am kind of enjoying teaching classes. I swore it was the one thing I would never do, (I negated going abroad to teach English because I didn’t want to teach) as the thought scared the Bejesus out of me (ME! TEACHING? No way!). Surprisingly I find it really rewarding, mostly due to the kids. There is one little girl at Loma Grande who I love. She is constantly disheveled, her clothes are on at least their third hand-me-down, and she won’t say more than two words to me, but she has the most adorable smile in the world.

The other day we made the 30 minute hike into the center of Cabricán to the library to begin our world map project. The kids were divided into groups and began to research the different regions of the world. Unfortunately due to the form of education in Guatemala (listen and repeat after me) the kids are having a bit of a hard time with the freedom of this project (I didn’t tell them specifically what to research on their region). I hope that it will help them think more creatively and outside the box. Each group will present their findings to the rest of the school, thereby allowing everyone to learn a little about each region of the world.

Painting begins at the end of March.

GO BAMA

2008-03-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

3/10/2008

I cannot confess to being completely updated on the elections going on at home. My access to news in Cabrican is limited. The Guatemalan newspapers are barely following the primaries and do not offer in depth analysis of what is going on. I have to settle for their short blurbs which do not provide much more information than who won which primary. The internet costs money, and I rarely have the time to check online news sources after revising my email. I do have people at home who take the time to update me on things, but this comes mixed in with their opinions and impressions. This being said, my candidate for President is whole-heartedly Barack Obama.

Lately our politics have desperately lacked inspiration. Partisan fighting and infighting have taken over our halls of leadership and little is accomplished without cooperation. We have grown disillusioned with our government which appears to value party politics more than the good of the nation and important institutions like our education system are suffering as a result. Not to mention, the past eight years of fear-mongering and the constant threats of “you’re with us or you’re against us.” Lack of openness to new ideas has only made our country suffer and our relationships abroad deteriorate.

I think it is rare you find people like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr. and John F Kennedy who have the power and the vision to inspire so large a portion of our nation. I believe Obama is one of these people. Change does not come solely from the change of presidencies; it comes from getting the nation and its people invested in change, invested in improving the status quo. Obama has the power and the vision to do this. True, people sight his “lack of experience,” and perhaps that is so, though I do not believe it, but experience never guaranteed a good leader, (look at our current one) and there are plenty of people who lead well without that “required experience.” Leaders have to be able to compromise, to make tough decisions, to unify and to lead by example. Obama has already proven he can do all of this.

Thomas Wolfe writes in You Can’t Go Home Again:

“I believe that we are lost here in America, but I believe we shall be found. And this belief, which mounts now to the catharsis of knowledge and conviction, is for me – and I think for all of us – not only our own hope, but America’s everlasting, living dream…

I think the true discovery of America is before us. I think the true fulfillment of our spirit, of our people, of our mighty and immortal land, is yet to come. I think the true discovery of our own democracy is still before us. And I think that all these things are as certain as the morning, and as inevitable as noon. I think I speak for most men living when I say that our America is Here, is Now, and beckons on before us, and that this glorious assurance is not only our living hope, but our dream to be accomplished.”

This quote strikes a chord with me, because it reminds me of Obama’s rhetoric of hope, of change and of accomplishment. This is not to say that Obama is going to be the savior of our country or achieve all of this on his own. Obama’s power is not necessarily his ability to achieve change on his own, but his power to inspire people to help him achieve this change. He has the power of organization and inspiration and I believe he can convert this into group action.

It is rare to have an election so full of qualified and exemplary candidates. I do not doubt the ability of Hillary Clinton or John McCain to lead this country. I have often said in the past I would vote for either of them, but in this election I believe that Obama is the better candidate. Clinton unfortunately at this point in time is too divisive and has too many enemies to unite the country when this is desperately what we are in need of. Not to mention, that her election would result in 24 years of the same two families ruling our country. Now is time for a change, not more of the same. I would love to see a woman in the white house, but I do not think Clinton is the best candidate and cannot vote for her solely because she is a woman. McCain is also an excellent and experienced candidate and his domestic policy for the most part is inspiring. He has proven to go against the grain of party politics for the good of the country. However, due to the past eight years of leadership, we need someone who can mend our international relationships and foreign policy and McCain unfortunately seems too centered on the big stick to be able to achieve this.

All this stated. GO BAMA!

Guatemala That I Love

2008-03-15T09:52:00.000-07:00

3/10/2007

I can feel the sun beat down upon me, its warm glow enlightening my spirits. One can sense the change in season; the sun’s strength is growing rapidly. The difference is felt on your skin, burning hot and hotter, red and redder with each ensuing day. This is not to say that it is hot outside. The temperature lately is never anything but perfect or slightly chilly. It is only the harsh rays of the sun at this high altitude that cause any discomfort.

I sit outside in the afternoons basking in its light and admiring all the beauty that surrounds me. The breath-taking views of Guatemala will never be one of my complaints, nor something I could grow tired of. While I have seen the different views from Cabrican hundreds of times, they never cease to amaze me. It is no wonder there are at least 12 towns in the municipality named Buena Vista (Good View). Despite my bitterness at my isolation, I am constantly thankful that I am in a rural area, that I avoid the excessive pollution of larger areas and the never ending concrete.

The sky, Carolina blue in all its glory, extends into oblivion, colliding with the mountainous landscape and rolling hills. Hawks soar in the distance rising and falling with the wind. In the foreground dirt roads and adobe brick houses dot the landscape, growing smaller and smaller until my flawed eyesight can no longer distinguish between them and patches of trees and empty brown cornfields, and everything merges into one large picture of splendor. Large puffy white clouds roll in and out, interchanging warmth for chill. And in the distance I can make out Huehuetenango, San Marcos, Tajamulco and, with any luck at all, Tacana and the Mexican border.

The sound of civilization: of hammers, chainsaws, cars, bus horns, children playing in the street and someone’s stereo blaring Julieta Venegas, mixes in with the sound of the campo: of roosters crowing, cows, dogs snarling over leftovers, the wind in the leaves and the random words in Mam I can decipher.

This is the Guatemala that I love. This is the Guatemala I will not be able to forget.

Tigoland Pictures

2008-03-15T09:31:00.000-07:00

2/28/2008

Due to popular request....

Feria

2008-03-08T08:04:00.000-08:00

3/5/2008

All Guatemalan towns celebrate their feria once a year. Feria is the week long celebration of the town’s patron saint and quite the event of the year. Vendors come in from all over the country… or in Cabrican’s case, from Xela. The town is inundated with people from the surrounding area and you have more street food options to choose from than ever before: street tacos, hot dogs, pizza, fried chicken… which is a dream or a nightmare depending on whether or not your stomach can handle all the extra bacteria crawling around in the vendor’s cart.

I am still not clear on exactly who the saint of Cabrican is. The most common response, besides saber (who knows?), was Cristo de Akapetagua. I have no idea what Akapetagua is or means, but I am quite sure that the saint is some form of Jesus. This perplexes me; because I was not aware that Jesus could be the saint of a town, but you learn new things everyday.

Regardless of whether or not Jesus is the saint of Cabrican, there doesn’t seem to be much celebration of that saint during the week anyway. Kids run around the game areas and spend a fortune on video games and foosball. Teens frequent the excessive number of dances and the Ferris wheel propped up on wooden blocks and racing around at a speed uncommon to Ferris wheels. There is a brief parade with religious figurines.

My favorite event was compite. Crowds with straight faces gather around to watch a group of people dance around in masks for four hours repeating the same steps. I could never manage to watch for more than five minutes before boredom set in, but I believe the local Guatemalans found it very entertaining. Despite their expressionless faces, they would remain there for the entirety of a show.

Feria, coincidentally, is also an excuse for a soccer tournament. Cabrican, Sija, Palestina and Huitan bring out their teams to battle for a trophy that rivals me in size. Being that this is no ordinary soccer tournament (Cabrican no longer invites Sibilia to their tournament because one year they ran away with the trophy several years back even though it was a tie), the town pays players from other parts of the country to join their team. Again, despite the fact that their education is among the worst in the nation and many of the outlying aldeas (suburbs, if you can call them that) do not have running water or electricity. Unfortunately this year, Cabrican lost to Sija in the finals, so Sija got to take off with the mammoth of a trophy.

I will hopefully have pictures up soon. While I failed in documentation of feria, I had a couple of friends come up to partake in the festivities and Shanna is an exceptional photographer.

Accomplishments!

2008-03-03T09:43:00.000-08:00

2/14/2007

I’ve been in site for six and a half months and I finally feel like I am accomplishing something!

Before she left, Aneth introduced me to Avaleni, one of the librarians in Rio Blanco, the town next to Cabricán in the department of San Marcos, in the hope that I would be able to collaborate with her. I have to admit I did not have much hope in the matter, as I had been introduced to several people who feigned interest but never followed up. I was pleasantly surprised when Avaleni contacted me without me having to contact her first.

We discussed a few of the programs that Peace Corps offers and she offered to organize a group for me to teach. I was shocked to discover when I called her this Tuesday night to confirm that we were meeting the next day that she had already found two classes for me! Not having anything planned, I quickly pulled out the program we had to teach in training called Fundamentos Empresariales (Basic Business) and thanked my lucky stars I hadn’t tossed it in the trash bin or given it away.

The next morning I climbed on the Camioneta dreary-eyed at 6:30 am and headed over to Rio Blanco. I was met at the bus stop by a cheerful Avaleni who rushed me over to her home and made me breakfast (beans, eggs and of course tamalitos). By nine that morning, I was in front of my first class of 26 sixth graders. This was followed by a class of 30 fifth graders. Frazzled by the speed in which I had been thrown into teaching a class, I was surprised at how well everything went and how well the children participated.

Since the bus does not return to Cabricán until 5:15 pm, Avaleni and I discussed the possibility of teaching a course to the older children in seventh and eighth grade on Wednesday afternoons as well. I had the added benefit of talking to Andrea, the new Art Corps volunteer who replaced Aneth, and she said she would help me with painting a world map mural if I find a school willing to participate.

On top of all of this, I am beginning to volunteer in Cabricán’s library. Today I helped out in a special session they had organized for Valentines Day, and I am going to start working with their youth group next week.

In a nutshell, things are starting to look up in Cabricán. I might not waste my two years here after all!

Xela Bike

2008-02-12T09:49:00.000-08:00

2/11/2008

This weekend Laura and Justin, being the extremely active and outdoorsy people that they are, biked over to Cabricán from San Lorenzo. This, while only about 7 miles, involves grueling up-hill climbs that I would never venture to attempt on a bike. (Brian, Aneth and I hiked to San Lorenzo in December and that was hard enough.) I was extremely excited to have my first visitors, and Laura and Justin make excellent guests as well as cook delicious (albeit vegetarian) food.

During the course of the evening Laura and Justin talked me into biking with them to Xela on the premise that we bus from Cabricán to San Carlos Sija, thereby passing the worst of the hills and the unpaved road, and bike from Sija to Xela. Justin put my bike together that evening (the wheels had been unattached ever since my APCD dropped the bike off in November), and the next morning I ran out to get the brakes fixed and put air in the tires. After throwing our bikes onto the top of a bus around 10 am, we were off.

Despite skipping the worst of the uphill climbs, the bike ride was challenging but beautiful. We stopped to eat lunch just outside of Sija in a beautifully forested area beside a small river, which unfortunately appears to have been adopted as a trash dump. The first part was easy going and downhill, but I was soon reminded that in a mountainous region what goes up must come down and vice versa. All our hard work paid off when we were able to cruise down the mountainside into Xela and witness an amazing view of the valley below.

San Miguel Visit

2008-02-12T09:41:00.000-08:00

2/11/2008

Last Monday I finally made it back to San Miguel, the site of my first host family. I had not been back since the end of July for Pablo’s birthday party, and I was a little afraid the family would think that I had abandoned them. I had little reason to worry as they greeted me with open arms and their usual full array of teasing.

Much has changed since I was last there. The twins, Fabio and Shirley, are walking and almost talking. Pablo is no longer a shy two year old but a talkative and rebellious three year old. The family has put on an addition to their house, and now has three rooms instead of two. San Miguel is receiving volunteers again, probably due to the road being paved and buses running regularly from San Miguel to Magdalena. Luvia and Chepe’s new volunteer is in the environmental program and they claim, slightly spacey.

Most notably, however, Luvia is pregnant again. The baby is due in March and will be her fourth child. It is difficult for me to imagine being 22 and having four children, all under the age of four. This last one unfortunately is unplanned, but they are nonetheless excited about the new addition to the family, although they swear that it will be the last.

It was so nice to be able to see the family again, especially Shirley, my favorite. Her constant smile makes it impossible for you not to love her. I’m hoping to return in March or April to meet the newest addition.

Volcán Chicabal

2008-02-12T09:34:00.000-08:00

2/11/2008

Last month Marissa, Kelly, Carolyn and I hiked up Volcán Chicabal. It is an extremely short hike, only about 45 minutes to the top, with some beautiful scenery. Kelly rightly observed that with the cold climate and thick vegetation it was extremely similar to the rain forests of British Colombia.

The crater of Chicabal contains a lake sacred to the Mayans. For this reason, you are not allowed to swim in it once you reach the top, but it is a little too cold for swimming anyway. Sitting at the summit looking down into the lake, or walking around the shoreline, you can imagine why the lake holds such religious significance. The rolling fog brings the lake in and out of focus giving it a mystical quality.

Although we were able to witness a few Mayan ceremonial activities, we’ve been told the first week of May attracts thousands of Mayans to the lake, but outsiders are generally not allowed in the park at this time to avoid interference.

Rainy v. Dry

2008-02-01T12:58:00.000-08:00

1/22/2008

For your viewing pleasure: The view from my roof, rainy season and dry season.

The rain stopped more or less at the end of November, and probably will not start again until late May, early June.

Tigo Land

2008-02-01T12:57:00.002-08:00

1/30/2008

Tigo is taking over Cabricán.

In Guatemala, there are three main telephone companies, Moviestar, Claro and Tigo. During the presidential elections there was a joke that whichever candidate you were against: tiene que ser un movie star, porque no habla claro ni esta contigo (translated: has to be a movie star because he doesn’t talk clearly and isn’t with you). This of course was a play off of the slogans of Claro (habla claro: speak clearly – i.e. you always have a good signal, or: talk Claro) and Tigo (Cabricán* está ConTigo: Cabricán is with you, or, it’s double meaning: Cabricán is with Tigo).

*Substitute current location for Cabricán… you get the picture.

Actively engaged in price wars (since arriving in Guatemala, Tigo has begun offering triple minute days) and always searching for free advertisement, all three companies offer free paint jobs for everyone. The catch of course, is that your free paint job is in the selected company’s colors, complete with their logo.

Within the past week Tigo has begun painting over Cabricán. So for example, CabriPan, the bakery down the street (pan means bread) now exclaims in dook blue and white: CabriPan está con Tigo. Every street I walk down has at least three new stores, walls or houses painted over with the Tigo insignia. Inexplicably, Tigo has also been able to convince the municipality to paint the entire soccer stadium Tigo. (Yes, we have a soccer stadium. We might provide the worst education in all of Guatemala and leave several outlying communities and schools without running water, but we can afford to spend millions of Quetzales building a new giant stadium).

I can only assume Cabricán is about to be renamed Tigo, or this is some perverse practical joke where someone wants me to live in a sea of dook blue for the next year and half.
On a side note: UNC vs. dook
Wednesday, February 6, 2008

I’m a Tar Heel born and a Tar Heel bred and when I die I’m a Tar Heel Dead! Rah rah Carolina-lina! Rah rah Carolina-lina! Rah rah Carolina-lina! GO TO HELL DOOK!

Randomness

2008-02-01T12:57:00.001-08:00

1/27/2008

Random News from Cabricán:

Aneth is gone. L
Andrea, the new Art Corps volunteer, is living in Rio Blanco, the town over, and will be visiting next week!
We are getting a new Peace Corps volunteer in April. She will be in the healthy schools program, replacing Amber, who left in July right as I was arriving. Brian says I should save my enthusiasm until after I meet the new volunteers in case I don’t like them, but I am optimistic!

Random entertainment from Cabricán:

Xpint is currently sitting on my head and making Chewbacca noises. He is pissed off I won’t let him walk all over my keyboard.

Sitting in the office, the temperature drops a good 10 degrees, clouds roll in and it begins to rain. This is very odd, because it is January and it is not supposed to rain until May. So I question Norma, “It’s a little weird that it’s raining isn’t it?” to which she replies, “oh yes, very strange. I read about it in the newspaper the other day. It’s some weather that came in from another country. It’s not Guatemalan weather.” I found this explanation lacking, but unsurprisingly everyone else I questioned had similar explanations, or simply replied, “saber.” Later on, talking to Brian, I discovered the real source of the mystery rain: the remnants of a hurricane that hit Mexico.

I couple months ago I made my cooperative an excel spreadsheet to calculate the interest for their members’ accounts. It only works for 6 months at a time, so the other day Elizabeth asked me if I could make a new one. Since my job as a Peace Corps volunteer is to train, not to do, I explained to her that I would teach her how to make them, so that when I leave they can continue to use them. We settled on Thursday to start on the project, but when I showed up, Elizabeth had taken the day off. I returned the next day and asked if she wanted to work on it then. “I’m really busy today,” she replied intently studying Nuestro Diario, a Guatemalan mix of the Enquirer and USA Today. Frustrated I sighed and asked if Monday would work for her and she answered “it depends on how busy we are… but you’re still working on it by yourself right?” I repeated that my responsibility as a Peace Corps volunteer is to train, that we’re trying to create sustainable development. She stared at me blankly.

Leaving Brian’s house someone ch, chs me and yells “¡seño!” His neighbor runs out of her house and asks me if I know where Brian is. She explains they knocked on his door earlier but he didn’t answer. Since I don’t knock and just let myself in, Brian will ignore knocking if he doesn’t feel like talking to people. His neighbor explains that her daughter is studying to be a bilingual secretary in Xela, but she needs some help with her English homework. I’ve never been very good at saying no, so despite the fact that I was on the way to the market I get shuttled into her home. I spent the next hour not explaining English, but basic grammar. This girl, who is at least 16 and studying to be a secretary, has no idea what nouns, verbs, pronouns, prepositions, adverbs and adjectives are. That’s the Guatemalan education system for you.

Listening to Guatemalans talk, I’ve noticed they have a habit of repeating things they’re saying three times in different ways. For example, someone explaining that they went to the store would say, “So we decided to go to the store, we were going to the store, we went to the store.” This must be why it takes three times as long to accomplish things here.

El Futuro

2008-02-01T12:45:00.000-08:00

1/26/2008

Living at the end of the world gives me a lot of time to think, especially at night. And what else is there to ponder, but my future? I suppose some people would chastise me for not living in the present, but it is kind of hard to live in the present after seven o’clock when the whole town shuts down. In order to entertain myself for the next three or four hours I watch movies on my laptop, read books, write blog posts, work on puzzles, muddle over what projects I can start so that I am not such an ineffective volunteer, crash in on Brian or fret about what I’m going to do with the rest of my life.

Being that I had NO idea what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, the last 6 months in Cabricán have been very useful in narrowing down the possibilities:

A) Writing – My mother loves this idea. I’m not certain. I’ve never believed myself to be a good writer, but recently it’s become not only therapeutic but also extremely enjoyable. Travel writing would be my dream job. How great would it be to travel for free?

B) International Development – Broad category, I know. To broaden it even further, development in general. I would love to go back and work for the Latino Community Credit Union again, but I also want to work in a big city for a while. Washington, DC captures my attention because of all the opportunities in development. San Francisco as well, not because of development, but because I would love to work on the west coast and San Francisco seems like it would be a great city to live in.

C) Masters – Go back to school and get my masters in…? (Obviously not well thought out).

D) Veterinary School – This would clearly take a little extra work, given that my last science class was intro to biology my Freshman year at UNC and my last math class was AP statistics… which, scary to say, was five years ago now. I’m currently reading this book, “Mountains Beyond Mountains” about Dr. Paul Farmer a graduate and now professor of Harvard Medical School who spends half of his year providing free medical treatment in Haiti. He is also, coincidentally, a Dookie, so I guess some people who graduate from that place turn out okay. I think it would be neat to do the same thing but as a veterinarian.

E) Dirty Hippie – My definite plans upon completing my service, are either motorcycle diary-ing it backwards to Tierra del Fuego (sans the motorcycle, although I haven’t ruled that out completely) or buying a piece of junk car and driving up through Mexico back to the states and hitting all those places I’ve always wanted to see like Yellow Stone National Park and the Grand Canyon. Of course, by that point, maybe I will be ready to come home… or maybe I will become a professional dirty hippie and book it around the world on a shoestring budget for the rest of my life or until I get bored of seeing new things.

Of course, maybe I’ll just be a professional dirty hippie with a masters in (fill in the blank), who travels the world providing international development in veterinary care and writes about her experiences. Perfect!

2008-01-23T14:05:00.000-08:00

1/22/2008

I am the proud parent of a new kitten! Xpint (pronounced Shpínt) is quite the devil child, not to mention an expensive addition to my Peace Corps budget. He enjoys climbing up my pant legs while simultaneously clawing my leg, dumping over the trash bin, chewing on electrical wires and my books, sitting on my face while I’m trying to sleep, and chasing all manner of things around the house. This is not to say Xpint does not have his benefits. He keeps me warm at night, he’s entertaining when he is not getting in to trouble, and, just yesterday, he killed his very first spider! I was getting used to killing my own bugs by letting them starve under mugs, but I am ecstatic that I won’t have to do that anymore.

Xpint in Mam, means manchas or pintado in Spanish, and stained or painted in English. I was toying with calling him Chewbaca because he makes the Chewbaca noise when he gets excited, but I decided since he is a Guatemalan cat he needs a Guatemalan name. Because I’m obsessed with my new baby, I’ve posted pictures of the adorable little devil below.

Juliana's Quinceanera

2008-01-11T09:33:00.001-08:00

Why you should come visit me!

2008-01-11T09:16:00.000-08:00

Christmas and Costa Rica

2008-01-11T08:53:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving... and the Death of Tonto

2008-01-11T08:17:00.000-08:00

Kites!

2008-01-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

12/3/2007
Kites decorate the electric wires in Cabricán like garlands down the stairs at Christmas. They hang there in deference to the dead.

Instead of celebrating Halloween like we do in the states, Guatemalans celebrate All Saints Day and the Day of the Dead on the first and second of every November. Being biased to my own culture, I much prefer Halloween, dressing up in goofy costumes and scarfing down candy. I suppose that the original purpose of the holiday has been lost in our consumerist culture. In Guatemala they spend the days cooking huge amounts of food which they bring out to the graveyards to offer to the dead. Family members clean off, repaint and decorate their relative’s graves. Graveyards in Guatemala are not filled with the creepy grey tombstones of the states, but a bonanza of brightly colored tombs.

These two days are also celebrated with huge kite flying festivals. Kids roam the streets with kites they’ve fashioned out of tissue paper. Most of them end up on the electric wires and I’ve heard quite a few stories of children getting electrocuted trying to get them down. In towns like Sumpango and Santiago in the department of Chimaltenango the kite flying festivals have become quite famous and large tourist attractions. Kites created out of bamboo and tissue paper and so large it takes eight or ten people to carry them are set loose in the skies. It’s amazing to see them go up; especially considering we PCVs could not even get a normal sized kite off the ground. It’s amusing to see them fall; as the massive kite plummets toward the earth people set off screaming and running trying to get out of its way. I imagine you could be quite seriously injured if you were actually hit by one. The towns also create even larger kites that actually do not fly but are dedicated to various social, environmental and other worthwhile causes. My favorite was one about global warming.

The kite flying is not limited to these two days, and has only recently begun to taper off. The kites, however, will probably remain up in the wires until the elements bring them down.

Ranchero Music

2007-11-26T12:59:00.000-08:00

11/19/2007
Ranchero music: Take two cups of Spanish, add four cups of country music, two table spoons of whining, three tablespoons of off key crooning, 12 fat men wearing horrendous matching cowboy outfits complete with fringe and sequins, and throw in a couple of accordions to taste. Mix thoroughly. Best when served with a side of bobbing.

This is Guatemala’s favorite music category. It’s the Spanish equivalent to country music. It certainly has the “my wife cheated on me, broke my heart and left me for a rich yuppie” theme down. Most songs either relate to illegal immigration or being left by a cruel hearted wench. My favorite is a song about running from La Migra. They do an excellent and hilarious imitation of a gringo accent. As much as the music can be amusing, five songs into a bus ride I get the urge to go on an accordion killing spree. (¡Gracias a Dios por iPods!) I thought they went extinct in the early 1900s, but it’s become clear they just migrated to Mexico and Guatemala. There is certainly no shortage of them here.

It is beyond me how any of these bands become famous. The lyrics are nothing special, the songs contain about three different guitar chords and the band members are all fat, short, old men with mustaches and cowboy hats whose size increases in relation to their ever increasing egos. They decorate their music videos with incredibly good looking women whose boob sizes increase in relation to the size of the cowboy hats. It’s really mind boggling! … But, then again, so is country music. The videos tend to focus on the lead singer, customarily an overly dramatic and poor actor, but each of the 12 to 200 band members gets a close up shot. I’m not entirely sure why there are so many band members. I’m not even sure they all play instruments.

The best part, however, is the dancing. Whoever started the rumor that all Latin Americans can dance was seriously deranged. Dancing in Guatemala, unless you are on the coast or in a major metropolis, consists mainly of bobbing back and forth. Directions: Bend arms so hands are at a 90 degree angle from shoulders. Make hands into fists. Peg elbows to waist. Shift weight from one foot to the other on beat with the music. Add to the bobbing effect by slightly bending at the waist toward which ever foot your weight is on. Now you’re dancing like a Guatemalan!

We, ranchero music and I, have a love hate relationship. As long as you’re with another appreciative soul you can spend hours entertaining yourself watching the videos (just mute the television). If you’re on a bus by yourself it can be torture. But Peace Corps is all about sharing and learning about a new culture, so I’m collecting CDs of ranchero music like there is no tomorrow. I plan on exposing everyone to the rich musical creations of Guatemala and Mexico upon my return home. Guard your stereos; you never know when the need to bob might hit me.

A Day in the Life of Sara

2007-11-26T12:58:00.000-08:00

11/14/2007
I have 45 minutes to kill until I have to be at Brian and Aneth’s house for dinner, so I thought I would sit down and share a little about my day, because, as it turns out, I actually kind of enjoy writing. It’s surprising I didn’t figure this out after choosing journalism as my major, but after 18 years of swearing I hated English, I guess it was hard for me to come to terms with. I’ve determined my hatred of English must have developed as a result of being told I wasn’t a good writer at a very young age. Regardless, on to more interesting subjects!

Today involved the usual trying to drag myself out of bed and convince myself to go to work, where I am not appreciated and do not have much to do. I’m still struggling to improve the situation, but I am losing ganas, as they say in español. My APCD came out to visit last week and I finally ascertained that although my cooperative is a “cooperative” per say, it’s actually more of a corporation in disguise. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why the founding members were able to exclusively control everything, but my APCD explained that if it is written into the bylaws this is entirely legal. So, in fact, the remaining members are really nothing more than venerated customers. Needless to say, I am a little perplexed as to why I am in Guatemala helping people who aren’t people in need of help, as all 25 founding members are well off especially by Cabricán standards. (On a side note, the power just went out again. I wish I hadn’t lost my headlamp. At least I have Jack Penate to entertain me. Many thanks to my iPod and Andrea!) The point of the matter is; I wasn’t able to convince myself to leave the apartment before 10, at which point I had my Mam class. I was able to finish my book, “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,” and I highly recommend it.

In between my Mam classes today, where I learned such statements as “the dog has a lot of fleas,” and “My house has walls,” I intermittently worked on a brochure for my corporation in disguise and played too many games of spider solitaire.

This afternoon I opted to skip the gym in order to shuck corn with Juliana, Reina’s little sister. As the rain has finally stopped, (hallelujah!) the harvest has begun, and Reina, Juliana and various other members of the family spent all day yesterday collecting corn. Almost every family in Cabricán has at least one plot of land where they grow their own corn. Juliana has about 13 giant bags to shuck over the next couple of days. She figures since their mother is coming to help tomorrow, she should be able to finish by Saturday. Guatemalans use the corn to make tortillas, tamalitos (up the highlands they eat more tamalitos than tortillas, but there are always either tortillas or tamalitos served with every meal), and, on special occasions, chuchitos. They also eat corn on the cob, “helote,” and a million other things made with corn. (In writing this paragraph I realize that there is a lot to explain about corn and Guatemala and maybe I will make that my next blog post.) Juliana figures that the corn they harvest should last them eight months. They will buy corn for the remainder of the year. We tried to get Roberto to help out, but, being a mischievous six year-old, he declined in order to play fun games like: “mess with Sara’s hair,” “poke Sara in the back with sticks,” and “yell at Sara repeatedly until she responds at which point you decide you had nothing to tell her.”

I did have an interesting conversation with Juliana, even though it was reminiscent of almost every conversation that I have with Guatemalans about the US, revolving around the subject of September 11th and the question “why does the US keep deporting Guatemalans?” Generally speaking, I am all for immigrants illegal or legal (although I think the US should reform its policy so the immigrants can enter legally), but it’s really amusing to me that people here don’t understand that by entering the country illegally, “mojados” are breaking the law.

Anyway, my 45 minutes are up and I am off to enjoy a gourmet dinner cooked by my site mates. If nothing else, I really lucked out in getting placed with people that can cook!

Colas

2007-11-26T12:56:00.001-08:00

11/12/2007
Colas are the bane of my existence. The direct translation for cola is tail, which is fitting since the line of cars that amasses down the Pan American highway begins to look a lot like a tail after an hour and a half of standstill.

Road conditions in Guatemala are anything but great, and, rightly so, the Guatemalan government has decided to remedy this, at least in part. However, in the act of widening and repaving the Pan American highway they have made getting up to Xela a massive headache for all involved. Since the highway is currently a two lane winding road through the mountains, to make any progress they have to cut off traffic; hence, the colas. While the trip from Xela to Chimaltenango should normally take three hours, depending on your luck with hitting or missing colas, it now takes anywhere from four and half to six hours.

Camioneta (bus) drivers like to improve upon this situation by driving the wrong way down the highway, bypassing the whole cola, only to block all oncoming traffic at the front. The mass of camionetas that accumulate at the front then proceed to try and cut each other off when the road is reopened causing me a massive heart attack. In their zeal to be off down the highway they get within inches of each other, and the ayudantes (these are the guys who throw bags up on top of the bus, help the bus driver change lanes and pass cars, and collect your fare, or, if you’re a gringo, try and rip you off) scream profanities at each other while shaking their fists and attempting to appear all sorts of manly.

To avoid colas I have found it is best to either leave before the crack of dawn (think 3 am) or travel on a Sunday, this way avoiding all road work. However, lately I have been foiled twice in this attempt. Once I took the 3 am camioneta out of my site only to hit a two hour standstill somewhere before reaching Nahuala. The cause of my pain and annoyance: a mudslide. My mistake this day was leaving too early because we had to wait for the work crews to show up to clear off the road. On the bright side, the rainy season is now over, so I don’t think I should have to contend with this again until at least June. The second occasion occurred this weekend. I was traveling back home on a Sunday, only to find that road work is now no longer contained to Monday through Saturday. After hitting one hour and a half long cola and another 45 minute cola I was barely able to catch the last camioneta back to my site. But I caught it! My reward: the two and half hour camioneta ride down a dirt road back into my site… and of course, sleeping in my own bed. After spending 11 hours trying to get home I swear I will never ever travel to Chimaltenango for only one day again (this month). (It’s amazing how quickly you get used to traveling long distances… two and half hours is nothing to me, I start balking at about eight hours depending on how long the trip is for).

On the bright side, the rumor is the road into my site is being paved! I have witnessed all sorts of machinery digging away at the mountainside on the way in from Xela. Of course, this also means, I am now contending with colas not only between Xela and Chimaltenango, but also between Xela and Cabricán. If you thought it was impossible to have a traffic jam on a dirt road in the middle of a cornfield, you were wrong.

Mam

2007-11-26T12:54:00.000-08:00

11/8/2007
I began taking Mam classes this week. Mam, the local Mayan language, is spoken by most of the people in my town but is not needed so long as you are staying in the municipality of Cabricán and not heading out into any of the aldeas. My teacher, Doña Aida, is in charge of bilingual education (Mam and Spanish) in Cabricán and I really lucked out finding her because she has so much experience teaching the language. Hopefully I don’t tire of having one hour of classes every day for four months, because I think it would be really cool to be able to speak at least part of a Mayan language. I say part, because there is no way I’ll be able to master this. I’ve spent my first couple of days butchering the pronunciation as the language requires a lot of clicking and hacking from the back of your throat. I make a fool of myself every time I try to pronounce a word with a Q or a J in it. I think it sounds like I’m coughing up a lung. In any case, it will keep me occupied as the language is so complicated and I’m learning it from Spanish and not English. On the bright side, Doña Aida swears I am better at it than most of the gringos she has taught. We had a little laugh today as I explained to her I learned to roll my R’s studying abroad in Chile by repeating the phrase “para ti” on the buses, as this is what someone had suggested to me. She said people were going to ask me if I had something stuck in my throat if I tried practicing the Q and J on the buses in Cabricán.

Some phrases in Mam:
Se’nta’ye – ¿Como está? – How are you?
Tz’oka – Pase Adelante – Please come in.
Lweye – Adios – Goodbye
Chjontiye – Gracias – Thank you
Qal tb’iye – ¿Como se llama? – What’s your name?
Jantume’ tzajniye – ¿De donde viene? – Where are you from?
Atz tzajneqine’ kyxol xq’en* – Vengo de los Estados Unidos – I am from the United States
*(Translated directly, this actually means: I am from the place of the blonde people.)