Project a go!

I've finally got a handle on my stove and floor project. I've started giving classes to the families who are going to receive the project. They must come to every class in order to receive a project. The classes are about basic hygiene as well as upkeep of their technologies (cement floors and/or wood burning stoves).

I've received a few generous donations, the money from the donations will help for the materials for the stoves and will help to pay for the construction worker to come down from Huehuetenango and give demonstrations to the woman as to how to build the stoves. The reason I'm bringing in someone from out of town to do this, is that he's specially trained to teach people how to build the stoves. He'll be here for five days and give demonstrations to the woman, the women will then build their own stoves. By learning how to build the stoves themselves, they woman will therefore be able to maintain their stoves and fix any problems that may arise in the future.

We're going to begin the building in the beginning of March. Photos to come!

Until then here are some pictures of houses of those who will be benefiting from the project.




For more info please check out my fundraising website: http://southofthemexicanborder.webs.com/

Turkey Day #2

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

We had a GREAT thanksgiving here in San Vicente - SO.MUCH.FOOD.

I may still be getting over my food hangover (among other things). The turkey was delish, he was laid to rest on Wednesday, cleaned and stuffed and sewed back up to be cooked all day Thurs. We had Turkey, stuffing, fresh cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, spinach casserole, yam pudding, sweet potato and carrot pudding, mashed potatoes, cauliflower and cheese casserole, sweet potato bread, apple pie, apple cake, roast veggies, fudge, fresh gravy, home made cheesy biscuits, bean dip, rice pudding and whipped cream.

Here's a photo of me and my friend Melissa enjoying the turkey!

We kind of felt like we were at Medieval Times Restaurant

Here's a great shot of the whole gang, taken by my stellar home-stay brother Eddie (he's 11!)

Can you SEE all that food, it's out of control, and so yummy! - sorry I'm making a weird face in the photo, not sure why.

Anyway, thanksgiving was AMAZING we slept it off on Friday and went into Xela in the PM to hang out, then went to Antigua to see Harry Potter in the theater in English, and let me tell you, worth the chicken bus ride. While dark and violent, I really,really,really loved the new Harry Potter movies, and since the books and movies have been a staple in my life since I was 11 years old, I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with myself once the last one comes out. For almost half my life I've had a Harry Potter book and or movie to look forward to and it's all coming to an END... regardless, as I'm sure you can tell, seeing this movie was almost like a religious experience for me, so close to the end, but still one more to look forward to. AMAZING. (Did I say that already?)

But now I'm back in site and already counting down the days (21!) till the Wood family comes for their epic Xmas/New Years visit to Guatemala. I can't WAIT! - and we're talking the ENTIRE Wood fam, Nick, Alex and of course Fiona and Andrew, it's going to be so much fun (we're going to the beach for New Years!).

All Saints Day 2

The first day of November is All Saints Day. It's a day where Guatemalans go to their local cemetery and fly kites. It is right after the rainy season, and is the only time of year when it is dry and windy enough to fly kites.

Last year I went to Todo Santos Cuchumatán (All Saints) in Huehuetenango and watched drunk people ride horses. This year I went to Sumpango and watched them fly some of the largest most beautiful kites.

Here are some photos of the kites!


Each kite was made by an organization or group. They stood for things such as the environment or woman's groups. This one says, "It's not simply our identity, it's our indigenous pride".



To see more check out the whole album here.

Tuktuk mania

Many cities in Guatemala are taken over by tuktuks - in my mind tuktuks are motorcycles with hats on (see image below).

Looking back over the past year and a half, I've realized that tuktuks have played an interesting role in my life here. My first real "tuktuk event" was in Panajachel by the lake. One night a few of us (or more) were out on the town, when around 1am, someone decided we should have a tuktuk race about 1 mile down the road to the lake. The tuktuk drivers were more than enthusiastic and we crowded about 5* (or more) people into each tuktuk and off we went. The race began and we were in the lead, the other tuktuk was behind us and we thought it was a sure win, we drove for about two minutes at full speed, and suddenly the tuktuk behind us was gone! Figuring they had bailed out to buy some street food (we had passed about three delicious taco stands by that point) we headed for the win.

Around one turn, past a street vendor, down a small alleyway and we could almost smell victory. At the last moment however, it was snatched from us; as we approached the finish line we were tragically cut off by none other than the other tuktuk. The driver, knowing a shortcut had taken the other team down a series of small roads and narrowly won the race. Regardless, a good time was had by all.

Another tuktuk incident in my past was not nearly as enjoyable. I had just arrived in Antigua, Guatemala for a Peace Corps event and I had loads of bags and had been traveling for hours so was persuaded by my friends Anna and Kiki to split a tuktuk to our hostel. I have a stuffy nose and a cough, so I was not feeling 100%. After a couple of minutes in the tuktuk, Kiki starts saying, "Guys, this tuktuk stinks, what is that?" or "Anna, Phil, did you rip one what is that smell?", I didn't smell anything and thought she was making the whole thing up. We got out of the tuktuk, the driver headed off, I bent over to pick up my bags only to realize that the back of my pants were wet, from my butt down to my knee, I touched it, and smelled my finger, and sure enough, I had sat in diarrhea.

As you would expect, that last incident put me off tuktuks for a while. They're more expensive than walking and not comfortable at all on the cobblestones. However, this week, while back in Antigua for more Spanish classes and some presentations at the Peace Corps Office, I have been staying just out of town with my friend Aliyya. Close enough to walk in the daylight, but far enough to be a little sketchy at night. I've therefore rekindled my relationship with tuktuks, taking about four this past week alone with no incidents to report. Although there is a rumor that the tuktuks in Momostenango, the municipality of San Vicente is run by a gang that offer illegal tattoos out of the back of them. More research to be done, and I will write if I find anything interesting out.

Until next time - buenas noches y buena suerte

*real number may have been changed

Parties and stitches and kittens - oh my!

Hmm, where to start?

The past few days have been very strange indeed. And not in a good way, for the most part. It all started last Friday when I had a house warming party here in San Vicente for the house I have been living in since June (better late than never). My Mom sent me some curry powder in a care package earlier, so we decided to have curry.

About 8 people were at my house, the food was AMAZING, and we were having a great time playing cards on my kitchen table. Most people were in the kitchen except for two who were smoking cigarettes on the roof. We were wondering that they'd been up there for a while when one of them came running down frantically, saying the other had fallen off my roof...

That's right, she fell off my roof. Thank goodness my house is "only" one story, but it was still awful- I'd guess like 12-14ft high. - Luckily the party in question will be fine (over 40 stitches to the head, and pins in her broken toes later)...

We called the San Vicente Ambulance (driven by my neighbor, so it came in record time) and she was taken to the hospital immediately.

That Sunday, I come home from visiting the hospital, to find Kitten in labor. In fine Kitten form, she is the worst mother ever, and once the baby is born she runs outside and refuses to care for it. The next morning, sleep deprived as ever (but Kitten's kitten is still alive), I try to close my window to stop annoying children from yelling at me while I'm napping and accidentally put my left hand through the glass and cut open my wrist in two places.

Back to the hospital!

Luckily my site mate Caitlin took very, very good care of me, and wrapped my wrist very well and took me to Xela with her. We got to the hospital and I had to get 10 stitches in my wrist.

We head back to site that day, and I try to lay low, however Tuesday afternoon, what happens? Kitten goes into labor... again.

I had NO idea that could happen. I sort of thought, once a cat goes into labor, it sort of has the kittens in one go, not two days apart. But guess what, I was wrong. Kitten goes into labor (again) and during this labor, she (being the GREAT mother she is) smothers kitten number one, and it dies (can you say picking favorites?).

So, Kitten's first kitten is dead, but kitten number two is going strong (and looks less like a sea-monkey more like a rat see image below), and she's actually letting it feed off of her. (if the three of us sit on the bed together and I get her to lie down, but if I get up, she gets up...)



So that's my life, a few stitches and kittens later, and still going strong. I'm currently in the Health Center waiting for my counterpart to read through the new SPA papers we have to finish, and then we'll start looking at prices of materials for the projects.

Until next time, please, no more stitches.

US apologizing for medical experiments on Guatemalans

Sorry I haven't updated in so long. Things have been pretty hectic here, and also kind of rainy, very muddy and depressing, so while I've been working hard on HIV workshops, my SPA (Small Project Assistant) grant from USAID and of course university applications, I haven't felt very inspired to write about any of it.

However recently some very disturbing news has come out, it turns out that in the 1940's American researchers working with the government in Guatemala infected about 700 Guatemalans, without their knowledge or consent, with gonorrhea and syphilis.

It seems that the people infected were those most vulnerable, including prostitutes, inmates and patients in mental institutions. The point of the experiment was to see how effective penicillin can be in preventing syphilis infections. While the Sec. of State has issued an apology, saying, "the research conducted in Guatemala between 1946 and 1948 was clearly unethical...Although these events occurred more than 64 years ago, we are outraged that such reprehensible research could have occurred under the guise of public health." It doesn't seem like enough.

Who is going to stand up for the rights of these people who were so inhumanly treated? The Guatemalan government says it will try to see that the families of those infected will be compensated, but by whom, and when?

It seems that this is just another example of those who have, taking advantage of those who don't have, and while yes, the incident was exposed. It took almost 70 years to do so, and those with the most guilt, did get away with what they did, and remember, this occurred at a time, when the United States was reprimanding Germany for medically experimenting on their POWs, how is this any different?

To read the BBC news article on the incident, click here.

Happy Independence Day!

Sept. 15th (today) is Guatemalan Independence day, according to wikipedia, "On September 15, 1821, the Captaincy-general of Guatemala (formed by Chiapas, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Honduras) officially proclaimed its independence from Spain and its incorporation into the Mexican Empire, which was dissolved two years later. This region had been formally subject to New Spain throughout the colonial period, but as a practical matter was administered separately. All but Chiapas soon separated from Mexico after Agustín I from Mexico was forced to abdicate."

Last night we went out in Xela and saw concerts, fireworks, there were people in the street, street food and pretty good chaos. I'm going to head back to site today, to celebrate there with the community (read: lots of food), if I can get a bus back (fingers crossed!).

National Emergency

On Thursday morning I had to leave my site to go to the Peace Corps office near Antigua, Guatemala for a GAD meeting and a dentist appointment.


Over the next few days we had a lot of rain, and the roads were covered in landslides over the main Inter-American Highway (also known as the road back home).



Some busses were pushed off the road, and there is a huge effort to clean the roads up.

Photo from BBC.com

There is supposed to be another tropical depression coming in this weekend, but you never know with weather, hopefully it will be warm and sunny, the roads clear, and I will be able to get back to site (and to Kitten!)

Photos from BBC.com

Home for the Hols

I've just packed my bags, swept the floor, talked to my ex-homestay brother about cat sitting, and am almost ready to go to bed. Tomorrow, I'm heading to the gym at 530 AM (to get there around 7) then spending the day studying for the GREs, I then head down to Antigua on Friday to book a shuttle to the airport and say goodbye to my dear friend Laura Kutner (who has been here in Guatemala serving as a Peace Corps volunteer for over 3 years) and head to the States for a few weeks.

I have had a bit of a crazy few days this past week as we had our mid-service conference, which means we are half way (a bit more now actually) done with our service, I had a dentist appointment (2 cavities - boo, I blame the Guatemalan coffee which = 1/2 teaspoon of instant coffee, lukewarm water and 4-5 tablespoons of sugar (to taste)... which is served in every house I visit.) and a physical and have a clean bill of health.

For the conference itself we were down in Antigua at the Peace Corps office for the day, catching up with our bosses and their plans for the future of our project, newly named "Healthy Homes" (it was Rural Home Preventative Health, quite a mouthful), the nurses and our trainer (I had a 2 hour chat with out trainer, now security adviser David about my compost... riveting stuff). I stayed with some of my close friends at a SWEET house in Ciudad Vieja (near Antigua) that is owned by the parents of Courtenay's boyfriend, who are Guatemalan, but they live in California (did you get that? oh well... it was sweet!) we got to stay (rent free) in a house with (wait for it...) a pool, a washer AND dryer and hot showers. It was pretty much heaven, and I haven't been this clean in over a year. We spent our evenings cooking and watching movies and TV shows (thanks to Mom I almost have every single episode of Dr. Who starring David Tennant) and generally enjoying each others company.

We also went into Guatemala City and saw Inception in the theaters (the mall was pretty much reverse culture shock as we sat in the food court and people watched for a few hours). Great film, btw all should go see it!

I've been trying my best to study for the upcoming GREs, I'm taking them next Thursday in Connecticut (so many things about that last sentence are surreal for me) and I'm not sure I'm all that prepared, what with juggling work/doctors appointments/the conference/ cleaning the house/ travel etc. I haven't really been giving it my all, but I'll do my best, and I can always go to Uni in Europe where the GREs don't seem to matter that much.

But, I'm really excited about seeing the fam, and some friends up in CT (I haven't been in the US in a while, let alone CT!) so I'm planning on taking the test and enjoying the rest of my time with everyone without worrying too much about it. I will also be moving my baby sister into College, American University in DC, which is SUPER exciting, I'm so proud of her. So that will be a great time for all of us.

I won't be updating in a while, but until then...

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort. ~Jane Austen

Ferney left yesterday, for good. His sister came up to visit, so he spent ten days with her traveling around, and they ended their trip here in San Vicente. It was only for a couple days, but I think it was worth it, just so Maribelle could see where Ferney lived and worked for two years.

I'm slowly getting back into the routine here. While I still have to go back to the Peace Corps office a couple times next month, I'm trying to stay focused on my work here, with my groups and projects (still fund-raising!). I have a meeting with my counterpart and the Doctor at the centro de salud tomorrow, where I hope to fill them in with who I plan in giving the projects to, and my work for the next few months etc.

I've started to make the house mine, today I fixed the shower, got a spare set of keys for my site mate, cleaned and re-organized etc. It's a slow process (still need to buy tables, proving more difficult than originally planned) but poco-a-poco.

I know I've been really bad at updated recently, but I plan on getting my act together and updating more frequently. I have been frantically studying for the GRE's which I'm taking in August so that's where most of my free time goes.

Goodbyes and Hellos

I have now been serving in San Vicente for one year. Which means 15 months in country. Phew! I'm more than halfway done with my service and I feel as though I have so much to do.

Ferney has moved out and I am officially living in his house, he COS's (Close of Service) on the 17th. The new volunteers are finished with their training and swear-in on Friday the 16th.

It's weird, like starting over in the same place. My woman's groups are the same, but my focus has changed a little bit from only giving charlas, to house visits and talking about projects etc. (Still fundraising, don't forget to donate please! )

I'm excited to start my second year in San Vicente, I have a lot to do, and sometimes it feels as though there's not enough time!

Office Work?

Close your eyes, (except – continue reading)

Picture your life if you were a Peace Corps volunteer. Where would you live, probably some place warm, probably rather barren, a small town or village? What would you do? Work outside, work with an indigenous population, live and work with the people and the land.

The last ten days I have been in and around the tourist town of Antigua, Guatemala and working in the Peace Corps office. All necessary work, I’m happy to do it, I have been training the trainees and working with GAD (the Gender and Development Committee) but I am very ready to go home.

Today I had a presentation for the trainees about the GAD committee. What is it? What do we do? How can we help them? How can they incorporate gender in their projects and communities? What’s our role on the GAD committee and what do we do and if they’re interested, how can they get involved.

Gracias a dios, that was my last presentation I have to do at the office and I am returning to site tomorrow (phew!), with four (yes, four) trainees in tow. These four trainees (three are in my program, one in Ferney’s) will be living in our site and working with us until Saturday, luckily, as I’ve been gone for so long, we will have LOTS to do!

Field based training and training of trainees

PHEW......... Sorry I haven't written in a while, I've have been very busy in the past week with the current trainees.

To refresh, if you remember or were following this blog one year ago, I was living in a community called San Miguel Duenas, and was in "training", learning Spanish and training in preventative health. Therefore, at this moment, a new group of trainees for our project (previously named Rural Home Preventative Health) Healthy Homes arrived at the end of April, and is in the office for three months training to do our jobs in different locations around Guatemala.

One of the main parts of training is Field Based Training (FBT), where the trainees spend a week travelling to the sites of serving volunteers and work in their Centro de Saluds and work with their groups giving charlas etc. I was a host of FBT and therefore had 7 trainees, my boss Basilio, a Spanish teacher and a Peace Corps driver hanging out in my site for a week. First of all, the trainees were amazing. Their Spanish was top notch, they were energetic, wanted to learn and be there and made my job MUCH easier. That being said, it was a lot of work and pressure knowing my boss was around for the entire week watching how I interacted with the trainees and seeing my work.

We did charlas on natural disasters, nutrition, family planning, germs/bacteria and a 3 hour long workshop on HIV/AIDS to a high school in one of my communities. It was a busy week, and afterwards I just wanted to sleep for a couple days...Unfortunately, I did not have that opportunity, as the day after FBT Ferney and I were hosting a BBQ in San Vicente to celebrate Ferney's time there as a volunteer and to say goodbye (he is leaving in July!). It was a great party, with some good friends and good food.

The next morning I then got up around 6, drove down towards the coast, picked up a fridge, a stove and a toaster oven from Katy and Joe, two friends who are also leaving, and drove them back to my site with my friend Ana's home stay dad. We then piled back in the car (all the people still in my site from the fiesta) and her home stay dad drove us to cuatro caminos, where we hopped on a bus and went to Antigua.

This week, and part of next week, I am in Antigua. This week I am working with a small group of trainees to help them learn how to give the HIV/AIDS workshop, which we will be giving it on Friday to a high school. And next week I am giving a presentation to the trainees for the GAD (Gender and Development) committee, before taking 2 volunteers back to San Vicente to live and work with me for three days.

I KNOW RIGHT, I'm tired just thinking about it! But I'm also excited to be working with this great group of trainees, and know that my 2nd year here will be wonderful, as I'll have them to work with.

Volcanos, tormentas and sinkholes... oh my!

Obviously, this week has been a tough one for Guatemala. I'll start this entry by saying that I made it home safe and sound, and that (thanks goodness) San Vicente suffered little damage.

The weekend started off for me on Friday morning as I was meeting my friend Ben who was flying down from NY, in Panajachel that afternoon. In Xela on my way to Pana, I get a phone call from Ferney saying that the volcano Pacaya has exploded and that Guatemala city is covered in ash and the airport is closed. The lake however was not effected, so I continue on my way.

I met up with Ana and Dana (Ana is another Peace Corps volunteer and Dana works for an NGO called Mana International) in Pana. As the afternoon wears on, so does the rain, it simply continues, but there wasn't much wind so we didn't think much of it.

Around 4 PM, after we met up with Ben and his friend Leif and we are on a launcha (boat) over to the hotel we're staying at on the other side of the lake, we find out that Peace Corps has been put on "standfast" for security purposes due to the impending tropical storm. Standfast basically means that we can't go anywhere, where ever we are when standfast is called, we have to stay there until we are told otherwise.

We spend a fun but rather uneventful night at Casa del Mundo on the lake, and head back to Pana in the AM, as there are more supplies there in case the standfast lasts for a long time. It is also the location of a consolidation point (the next step after standfast).

The boat ride from Casa del Mundo to Pana is quite short, it's only about 1/2 an hour, however, that was long enough! The boat was full as there were fewer running that morning, and it was POURING with rain. I was sitting outside of the plastic "windscreen" and got drenched! Most of my clothes are still wet. It was gross.

Anyway, we safely make it back to Pana, and put Ben and Leif on a private microbus to Antigua so they can be there if the airport re-opened (nope, but they made it up to Flores so that's good!). The storm was the first tropical storm of the season, and is called Agatha. In Central America, 83 deaths have been reported so far.

Ana, Dana and I spent the rest of the standfast holding tight at a hostel in Pana, waiting for the roads to clear. They cleared up this morning (Tuesday) and we all made it safely back to site (phew!).

“He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home” ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

This week and next are mainly taken up by house visits. I'm going with my promoters to their homes, so they can practice doing the census. It's all images of course, because most of them can't read, they simply have to mark the box that most resembles the house they are visiting.

For example, the roof, is it lamina, adobe or block. There are three images. They have to mark the on that looks the most like what the family has.

Therefore this week I am going to the houses of the promoters, I've divided them up into groups of about three people who live near one another, and together we're going to go over the census for their house, seeing if any of them live in poor conditions. Those who do will be receiving projects, those who don't will not.

The idea is for them to then go out into their community and do the census to their neighbors and friends and find out those with the most need in their communities. The difficult thing will be making sure they don't just go to the homes of those related to them, ensuring projects for their friends and family. But I've been reiterating the fact that this project is FOR the community as a whole, and I keep reminding them, that by bettering their community will help them in the long run and I hope it sinks in.

I just have trouble finding the balance point of where do I step in and take over, without taking the project out of their hands. I want the promoters to feel as though this is their project, they have to work for what they are receiving, and what the community will receive, I'm not going to swoop in, do projects and swoop out, like so many NGOs have done before. I want them to feel in control, like they have important choices to make about this project. It is because of that, that I think I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt, and let them be in charge of the initial batch of recipients. Obviously, I will re-visit all the houses recommended and if there is no need there, they will not a receive a project.

The Fund-raising has Started!

So I've finally gotten my act together and I have set up a website for all of my fund-raising efforts. it is: http://southofthemexicanborder.webs.com/ please check it out, and if you are able, please donate!

This website talks about the projects I hope to do, the details of my site and work and how you can help by donating money. I would really appreciate any donations (of course) but also if you could please forward this link on anyway you can (post it in your facebook status, twitter it, email it to your family and friends) I would really appreciate it.

This week I've been head down and working in site, finishing up paper work for my promoters, getting my "promoter wall" in the Centro de Salud finished and working on the schedule for FBT. I think I have everything almost under control, so nothing will jump up on me while I am unprepared, but you never know.

I had a meeting with some people from the Area de Salud in Totonicapan who were SESAN representatives (Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional, they work with woman and families in Momostenango to help improve the malnutrition rate here in our department) to see how they can work with my promoter groups. It was quite successful, but as they're government workers, they have their own agenda and so I think we're going to be treading carefully.

As a shout out, (as I forgot to put it in my last post) I had a GREAT birthday party in Santa Maria Chiquimula two weekends ago, it was great fun so thanks to all who participated! I can't believe I was 22 when I got here, I am now 24 and I won't leave here until I am 25! There goes my early twenties, you're welcome Guatemala.

Mother's Day Hot Mess

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Mother's Day in Guatemala is a HUGE ordeal. Right now, I am sitting in a cafe, and outside there is a Marimba band playing for mother's day. People go out for lunch (similar to the US) make food, cards and gifts for their moms and generally spend the whole day celebrating (one Guatemalan tradition is to go to Pollo Campero for dinner or have it delivered - this way mom doesn't have to cook - Pollo Campero is like the Guatemalan McDonalds- dream big).

However, ONE day is not enough to celebrate the wonderful-ness of our mothers. Therefore in Guatemala Sunday is spent in a family celebration, and Monday is spent celebrating in schools. Therefore the schools all put on skits, performances, events etc. this week for mother's day. Even the Centro de Salud wants to have a mother's day event. - I'm not sure what, as I was super vague about my participation as I have TONS of paper work/ schedules to figure out and don't really want to spend my time at an event where I get gross food, and kids sing at me for hours and hours and hours (did it last year, I can put a big check next to THAT cultural experience).

Honestly though, I will be lucky to get one or one and a half good work days out of this week, I may have to hide in my house and not come out for anything but charlas. - Even then, I may be seen and dragged to some sort of mother's day event. This week is going to be interesting.

Time goes by

After a great weekend at San Marcos la Laguna with the rest of my training group to celebrate one year in country, I am starting to freak out at how little time I have left here (only 15 months!) and how much I have to do. (See photos below)





I've recently been elected to the Peace Corps Gender and Development (GAD) Committee, as our project representative. I am therefore the 'go to' person for all the healthy homes volunteers (we now have about 30 trainees in our program!) for questions on gender/development either personal or regarding work. For this, I will have to try to attend GAD meetings (as many as I can make) and do presentations for all volunteer conferences as well as to the trainees at the Peace Corps office in Antigua.

This week my friend Anna and I will be heading to Flores Costa Cuca to visit Katy and Joe again. This time we will be building cement floors, so hopefully more photos will follow. In addition, this Saturday is my Birthday party, being hosted by the wonderful Andrea and organized by my friend Adrian. I can't believe that I arrived in Guatemala when I was 22, and now I am turning 24! How time flies!

One Year in Guatemala

So our one year in Guatemala anniversary is coming up next week. I can't believe I've been here for almost a year! I feel like there's still so much I have to accomplish before I leave and there just isn't any time.

After In Service Training this past week, I've sort of been on recharge, trying to get all of my ideas going with real energy behind them. There always seems to be something in the way however!

I've been asked to host FBT or Field Based Training for the incoming trainees (they are in our project, just one year later) who will be arriving at the end of April. This means that 7 or 8 trainees will be coming to San Vicente in June, ready to practice their charlas and learn ... from me! (oh no! Who's idea was this?).

Anyway, I've been trying to focus on some good activities for them to do, and setting up a tentative schedule on top of my normal charlas and groups.

On top of that I'm pretty sure my kitten (who I'm 70% sure is a female) is pregnant. She's so young (and now a statistic)! But she's getting really fat, eating A LOT, being strangely friendly and has started to get morning sickness. And I looked it up, yes cats get morning sickness.

What am I going to do with kittens? I hope they don't get eaten by the scary dog next door, or the pig that wonders our yard! There are no doors in the house! (read: panic).

In the face of all of these challenges there was only one thing I could do today, (after my afternoon charla of course)... turn up the music on my computer and clean my house. I swept, mopped, dusted, scrubbed, washed, hung up, burned (trash) and of course bleached everything in site. I'm feeling better, but my hands are feeling a bit worse for wear.

I'll keep you posted about the events for the trainees I'm planning and the kitten "situation"!

In Service Training Photos

Here are some photos of us working on estufas mejoradas, cement floors and water tanks!

This is where the family was cooking...
The stove was made earlier by Favi, we completed this AMAZING cement floor.. (I kid).
Favi our mentor helping us out....
My BFF looking HAWT.....with her hoe.
Katie scraping cement onto the stove.

This was our training so we will all be able to build in our own sites, you know what this means: get your purse straps ready to donate to my great cause! (Thanks mom).

For more photos, click here!

In Service Training

What a long day! From 8am - 6pm we had a meeting in a hotel conference room in Xela with our counterparts. All of the Healthy Homes (our new project name) volunteers from my training groups and their respective counterparts came to Xela (anywhere from 15 min trip to about 24 hrs.) to participate. Oh yea, it was in Spanish.

We have another half day of meetings/conference with the counterparts tomorrow (although we are staying in a lush hotel with, wait for it... running water, cable and delish food!) then we (just the volunteers without our counterparts) are off to learn how to build stoves and latrines 'in the field'. (I'm spending the week at my friend Katie's site, in San Cristobal, Totonicipan, which is only about 30 min from Xela, an easy commute).

I'm looking forward to this week, hopefully I'll learn a lot, and I hope to post some pictures of us "getting our hands dirty" in the field as the week goes by!

Happy Easter!

Semana Santa, or Holy Week, the week before Easter, is kind of a huge deal here. There are huge parades in all towns with different themes. However, La Antigua is super famous for these processions, each Sunday in Lent, one of the local parishes sponsor a Procession through the streets of Antigua. Elaborate and beautiful artistic carpets predominantly made of dyed sawdust, flowers and even fruits and vegetables adorn the processions' path. ( I stole that from Wikipedia). However, I did not go into La Antigua as a. I was just there b. I couldn't afford it as the hotels up the price that week c. I was tired from spanish week still d. the tourists would drive me nuts.

That week the city is literally storming with tourists flocking to see the processions.

Instead I chilled in site, and had some friends over to hike up to some waterfalls on the other side of Tena (big mountain in San Vicente) and have a bbq afterward.

We got a ride to the waterfalls from Ferney's Landlord Cerjio, and chilled out there for a while, scaring the locals with our panty and bra "swimming attire" and generally splashing around. We then redressed, and hiked up the other side of Tena, and back down to our site. There was a dodgy moment when Ferney, our rough and tough Bear Grills wannabe guide - was convinced we were hiking up the wrong mountain. - Luckily we convinced him we weren't and continued up to the top of Tena in time to reach San Vicente before dark. It's hard though, as there aren't really "paths" or anything, so it's a lot of bush wacking and looking at the sun. But we made it one piece and had a great cookout afterward with beef, chicken, corn on the cob and mashed potatoes. YUM! We were really hungry.

Anyway, back to work today, up in the primary school in Chipuerta talking about basic hygiene and explaining how bacteria and (oh no I forget the English word!) - parasitos(?) get from the ground/your hands/ the latrine etc into your body, their effects and reactions (aka diarrhea) and how to prevent this from happening. (Oh I remember now! Parasites!)... Anyway that was great, and I'm off the the Alcalde to book a room for tomorrow for a charla I have in the PM with one of my woman's groups!

Happy Easter! (Especially to my family who must be having a great time in Morocco! I'm not envious at all!). xo

Promoters, Tallers and Kittens

This week was a bit mad. It started with me trying to prepare my charla for my first Promoter meeting. I found a group of women who are super pila about becoming promoters in my caserio of Pasac. I am very excited and hope they keep their enthusiasm up.

I started it by having them identify what they thought the dangers or the areas in need of change where they live, in three levels of the community. 1. the house, 2. Pasac and 3. San Vicente. It's good for them to feel like they're in control and making the decisions, because who am I, an outsider, to come in and start telling them the things they need to change within their lives. So I hope they got something out of that, and the next step is (once we've identified what needs to be changed) to start making changes.

Vamos a ver.

In addition I made a trip up to Kiki's site, San Bartolo Aguas Calientes, to help with a domestic abuse taller (taller = workshop), with a woman's group in one of her Aldeas. It went really well, and was totally worth going, even if we didn't have a ride back and had to walk for about 2 hours in the heat. (Peace Corps!).

Anyway, drama upon return, as the kitten climbed over Ferney's brilliant wall up to his roof and escaped. He was gone for about 24 hrs before we found him/her locked in a house under construction across the street. He didn't make it easy for us to get him either, but he's back and safe so that's good! In fact I'm watching him torment a chicken outside as we speak. All is back to normal.

Spanish Week Complete

This past week has been a whirlwind...

First we spent last weekend at an idyllic beach resort, with lots of hammocks and walk on access to the beach (for all of 50Q a night = about USD$12) at Tulate for Adrians birthday (photos to come, but are already posted on facebook if interested).

I then went to Xela Saturday night for a COS-ing party (COS = close of service, for the volunteers who have completed their 2 years) and on Sunday morning Kiki and I headed down to the Peace Corps Office near Antigua for a week of Spanish class.

I stayed with my homestay family from San Miguel Duenas which was SO NICE. Just to have a home with a family and to see them again and feel like it was still home was exactly what I needed. Unfortunatly there was a death in the family while I was there (Sylvia's nephew fell off of a camioneta and hit his head and died) but I'm glad I was able to be there and help out with the cooking, because here in Guatemala, when someone in your family dies, the entire village comes to your house and expects to be fed.

But apart from that sad tragedy, it was nice to go out in Antigua and celebrate St. Patty's day and see people who are based in Chimaltenango, a muni closer to Antigua.

HOWEVER, it is SO NICE to be back in site and in my own bed. And, while I was away Ferney made 2 discoveries about my kitten: 1. it's a girl 2. she's in heat...BIG TIME.

So right now she's wandering around the house rubbing herself against all sorts of objects and holding her butt in the air as she makes weird purring noises. It's quite off putting, I would put her outside, but am afraid of the neighbors' male cat (also most likely an uncle to mine, so ewwww) as I do NOT want kittens, especially if they're inbred. We really have to go to the vet.

Anyway, I'm back in site after a long week Spanish class (I almost cried whilst trying to understand past perfect subjunctive...) and am very happy to be here!

International Woman's Day

What a success! The last few weeks I've been organizing a parade for international woman's day, and got the Centro involved by having a Jornada, bringing in extra doctors to give out free pap-smears and HIV/AIDS tests. I thought about 25-30 women would show up for the parade, however about 100 women came!

It was so much fun, we started in the Centro by the Municipality building and marched behind the pickup (with a loudspeaker) up to the Centro de Salud. I had some of my women from my women groups make posters last week and they carried those with them (see example below!)



It says, "Women too, have the right to be the Mayor of San Vicente!"

The other women just marched with us, then up at the centro de salud, we had little charlas about domestic violence, HIV/AIDS and the importance of pap-smears.

Ferney and I put on a skit (socio-drama) about domestic abuse and then we talked about breaking the cycle of violence.



(above, image of women listening to charla!).

In addition, Ferney is working on a mural at the Centro de Salud, with paint donated by a friend of Esther (another volunteer who lives in San Andres Xecul), so he's started working on that with some of his students.



Great day! - also haven't had time to post the photos on picasa, but that'll come later, to check the photos out now, Click HERE!

Getting my hands dirty

Last week I went down to another volunteer's site, Favi, she lives in San Martin Sacatepequez, to help her build stoves. Favi has been in site one year longer then I have and has therefore been trained etc. in building projects (my IST or in service training will occur in April), and I really wanted to get some hands on experience in building projects as it seems I will probably be doing one (older relatives get your purse strings ready to donate and younger uni friends start saving up for a plane ticket down to Guatemala to help me build!).

It was great to see what materials we'll need, what we need to mix to make the different types of cement, to talk with the families receiving the projects and to really get my hands dirty carrying cement blocks mixing cement and generally building.

I think that doing a stove project would be needed in San Vicente, and I know that a lot of families are in need, but I don't want to be like Santa Clause and just regalar stoves, so I have to find a process of finding the families most in need (thus the census I suppose) and see what materials/labor they can provide and see who'll come to my charlas to learn how to use it and learn about preventative health etc.

It's going to be a long slow process applying for grants, finding the families, organizing the charlas, completing the censuses, getting the material and doing all the labor. However, I hope it will be worth it to the community in the end of the day if (fingers crossed) I am able to do it!

Earthquakes!

We've just had two earthquakes this morning - one just before 5 am and one around 9 15 am. The 9 am one hasn't been reported yet, but I think it was stronger than the earlier one.

To read about the 5 am one click here!

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update: Huffington Post mentions our earthquakes!

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Update: Tsunami warning after earthquake in Chile

Some little videos of my house

I've been playing with the bluetooth on my phone and have sent these videos of my two rooms! They're not great Calidad, but I hope they give you an idea!









Also, here's a powerpoint I made about my work here, that I'm presenting on Wednesday to my Peace Corps boss and the Area de Salud's doctor.

Fíjase que...

OK, si pues, I didn't end up going to Tikal, which is kind of a bummer (it didn't work out as the bus we were going to take ended up not running and our security officer didn't want us to take an overnight bus do to "dangers on the cross country road at night"). Amazing enough though, I'm not too disappointed as A. I know I will get to Tikal, in fact I may go in April with a friend of mine who is COSing (COS = close of service) in July and B. instead we went to Xocomil for Anne's birthday and it was maybe the funnest day ever.

Xocomil is a waterpark on the way to the coast so it's only about an hour from Xela. It was probably the nicest, cleanest, emptiest water park I've ever been to. We had a great day of running around going on water-slides, lounging in the lazy river, lounging in the wave pool, lounging in the sun...wow Peace Corps, what a TOUGH life!!

OK, but it really was a great break where we could play tourist instead of aid worker, and lay out and not worry about things like, contaminated water, malnutrition or work and just RELAX.

It was great.

Anywho, I've spent all my money now due to that luxurious break, so I'll probably spend the rest of the month moping around site, but it was WELL worth it!

House Visits Galore

So I've been super busy doing house visits this week, I've been going house to house to do a census in one of our communities called Xemuj. House visits are NOT my favorite things to do, mainly because EVERYONE only speaks K'iche (NOT quiche (qu-ee-sh) you awful movie 2012 you!-quiche is something you eat with yummy cheese and veggies inside.) and so I go with my counterpart Romeo, who lives in San Vicente and works in the health center with me. He speaks K'iche and usually does all the talking while I take notes. In addition, everyone wants you to 'eat' something or have a drink while you are at their house...I know, this seems like a very friendly offering, and I'm very grateful for the effort. HOWEVER, I have to take it, to help build confianza with the people, so they'll trust me and talk to me in the future, and about 70% of the time after I eat something made by the people in the campo I end up with some serious diarrhea and/or vomiticious vomiting. It's super. On top of that (you know because that's not enough), there are the dogs... no, they're not dogs, that's being too kind...there are the killer chuchos. They are 'guard dogs' NOT, I repeat NOT pets, their one job is protecting the house from intruders, like thieves, drunks and those evil people from the centro de salud trying to help the community live healthier lives. OH NO!

Anyway we carry around large sticks, and usually (not always) but usually after threatening to smack the dog it'll back off (slowly with teeth still out and a nasty growl as a warning) until you can reach the house... however there are times when you have to give the dog a good (not too good! ... oops) whack before it'll leave you alone. Anyway, nothing makes you fear for your life an angry dog coming at you with its teeth out. NOTHING. Luckily my counterpart Romeo is pretty talented with his stick, and I've yet to be harmed - fingers crossed.

Dogs, cats and chuchos

So sad news on the home- front, dear Beausie has been put down. I’m glad I got to see him one last time over Christmas while I was home, but it’s still really sad thinking about him gone. Thank goodness I have Ziki Ziki and Nitz Chum Vicente Wood to cuddle with. Although, thanks to those cuddles I now have fleas again (I blame Ziki as Nitz gets a bath about once every three days, to his displeasure).

I was up making re-hydration fluid with a few groups in some of the Caserios that are further away today, on the way home I stopped at the market in Paloma and therefore spent almost the entire day outside without reapplying the sunscreen… oh dear. My face is red as a tomato, however my scalp is the worst… there’s nothing sexier than applying aloe and moisturizer to your part. Living the dream.

I’ve decided that I’m going to scrounge together some money and finally head up to Tikal in February. Kiki (another PC volunteer who lives in Toto) has a friend coming to visit and Ana (another PC volunteer who lives in Toto!) and I have decided to crash their trip and head up with them. Sorry Nitz, your vaccines are going to have to wait another month (best pet owner award of the year). So, look out for pictures, I’m so excited, even if we are only going to be there one night!

Another trick I’ve been working on (as I’ve been doing a lot of house visits recently) is the “stop and stare” when chuchos try to attack you. My normal human instinct when a snarling, foaming dog runs at me is to run as fast as I can away, and throw rocks at it as hard as I can while running. That strategy however, seems to be failing, and therefore I’m taking lessons from my “unofficial” counterpart Zayra, on how to stand still as a statue and stare the dog down. If that fails, you always have a few spare rocks in your bag you can chuck at it. It’s horrifying and has probably taken about fifteen years off of my life, but so far, no fatalities.

Welcome Home

I've been back in site for just under a week, and it's back to work for sure! I've been up to four communities working and tomorrow I hope to go to another. I guess there's no time to really resettle back in, as I already have flea bites, a chicken has laid an egg on my spare bed (dinner! yum!), I'm out of Saldo for my cell phone and I missed the triple day, my newly bathed kitten is out rolling in chicken poo and I'm already tortilla'd out.

However, it's nice to be getting back into a daily schedule and getting back to work.

It's so nice right now, as although it's really dry (lots of dust on the roads, so I need to sweep ever day) the sun is out every day, so it's not too cool if you're out in the sun. Luckily, I was given lots of lovely moisturizers for Christmas so I'm moisturizing to keep from getting too dry in this weather.

Anyway just a quick note to say, I'm back in site, back at work and doing well (except that my cold came back...but I'm taking lots of vitamin C, so hopefully it won't last too long).

Happy 2010!

So it's back to reality. I've just come back from about three weeks (maybe closer to two) in England, for Christmas and then we went to France to ski for New Years (of course I got tonsilitis so I became a very talented Chalet bunny, if I do say so myself).

I flew into Guatemala city last night, spent the night at a very posh hotel near the outskirts (thanks Dad!) and am now back in the Peace Corps Office trying to get some paperwork done. I was REALLY hoping to get back to San Vicente today, but it doesn't look like that's happening as everyone's dissappeared for lunch and will probably not be back for a while, and I'm looking at a five or six hour trip back and it's already 2pm. ARG.

However, there is a silver lining as I will most likely be able to spend the evening with Robin and Jasmine, two volunteers who were in the same training group as me and have decided to ET (Early Termination aka quit). Robin got engaged over the holiday (congrats!) and Jasmine worked as a volunteer in Boliva before coming to Guatemala and I think she's ready for a normal life. So we'll have a nice send off evening (Ladies night at Mono Loco! oh NO!) and I'll get back to site tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a GREAT Christmas and New Years, I'll update once I'm back in site (if I ever get there).