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