Just South of the Border...(The Mexican Border)

Pride Day and HIV Workshops

2011-06-22T10:23:00.000-07:00

So as I'm sure many people know, June is Pride Month, - I honestly did not expect to celebrate Pride Day or Pride Month in Guatemala, and I haven't for the last two years. This year however, due to work with the transgender community in Xela, we were contacted by an organization there whom PC volunteers had worked with during their PEPFAR (The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) workshops and programs. We were therefore invited to participate in Xela's FIRST EVER Pride Parade. It wasn't huge, but it was a success. We had a great showing from the gay, lesbian and transgender communities, as well as talks about being gay in Guatemala (a VERY conservative country), coming out in Guatemala and more. The theme was mainly, acceptance, peace and non-violence, and from what I witnessed there was no negative reactions from the crowd.

Due to the hard work of our HIV committee, each project received a lot of money from the US government to work on HIV education. (PEPFAR funds). We have therefore had trainings for health center staff teaching them how to give our 3 hr HIV/AIDS workshop, and have had to set up, as a team, a workshop for a PEMAR (high risk) population. Therefore this past Monday we gave the HIV workshop to about 50 municipal workers (all men) from San Vicente. They were actually a great audience, very participatory, they asked great questions and they were (well seemed) genuinely interested in the topic. It wasn't my normal HIV workshop crowd, but it was a very important population to educate, as they are the community leaders, and can therefore disseminate the information to many people within the community.

I've been staying so busy, it's hard to believe I have less than 2 weeks left in San Vicente, and less than a month of service left. It hasn't hit me yet that I'm leaving as I'm constantly so busy, but I'm sure it will, if not here, then for sure when I get home. It has been a great two years, and I am going to try to start winding down my work, so I can focus on saying my goodbyes and sorting out my house and packing up all my stuff.

Winding Down

2011-06-01T14:32:00.001-07:00

My time in Guatemala is quickly coming to an end. I fly out on the 19th of July, however, I will leave San Vicente in about a month.

It's amazing how much stuff one accumulates in two years, especially in my big house that I have had all to myself. Between spices and vitamins, moisturizing creams and plates, I have a LOT of sorting out I'll have to do in the next few weeks.

Luckily, my sitemate Caitlin is moving into the house this Saturday, so I will be able to leave most of the stuff to her, without having to move it (ultimate laziness!).

That's not to say I haven't been working. Peace Corps has recently received a LOT of money to work with local populations about HIV/AIDS prevention, we are trying to reach out to PEMAR populations (Poblaciones en Mas Alto Riesgo - High Risk Populations) so I am working with a couple nurses from the health center to set up an HIV workshop with our new local police officers as well as the employees of the local bus companies. We are hoping to do the workshop in early June.

I also hope to finish off all the required paperwork for my project this coming month as well as all of the paperwork needed to leave the Peace Corps. We need to write a DOS report and a COS report, Description of Service and Close of Service Reports. The DOS is an official report saying that in fact you were in the Peace Corps for 27 months, this is what you completed etc. and is signed by the Country Director. The COS report is something all volunteers write up about their work and their communities to pass on to future volunteers who may live in and work in that site.

However the despedida season has begun, which means that all the volunteers from my group are leaving so every weekend from now until I leave I have a going away party to go to. It's loads of fun, sad as well as we're all starting to say goodbye and keeping me very, very busy. People in my town have started talking about throwing me a despedida as well, so I'm sure it'll start on my end soon enough.

It's still strange to think of leaving this place forever, living and working in San Vicente for 2 years has been such a powerful experience. I've made a little home for myself, with neighbors, friends and a small community. Kids coming over to say hi, young women coming over to knit and chismar (gossip), going to dinner at Arale's house and teaching her kids English. While everyday has its challenges, I have learned to live and co-exist here within the community.

Of course I'm not finished yet, and I hope that this next month isn't all about goodbyes, but also about hard work and continuation, however there is a sense of winding down and change to it that has a very distinct flavor.

2 year anniversary

2011-05-03T08:42:00.000-07:00

On April 27th I celebrated two years in Guatemala, which means I'm on my last 3 month stretch. After finishing construction on my project, I am afraid I'm bogged down in paperwork and will also have to write up reports for the government about my service and town. So the last three months of service will be winding down community work and focusing more on reports, conferences and health stuff.

On my 25th birthday (May 11th, I take cash, check or credit!! just kidding) I will head down to Antigua, Guatemala for my Close of Service Conference, which is three days that wraps up my training groups' service. It will be the last time all of us that came here in April of 2009 will get together. Many people in my training group are leaving in June, however I will stay till the very end and am not leaving Guatemala until July 19th, completing all 27 months of my service.

I've also been setting the site up for my replacements. I have organized it so that I am replaced by two volunteers, one will live in the center of San Vicente where I live and work, and the second will live up in Xetena (pronounced She-te-nah) where the health post is (we have one health center, where I work and one health post which is smaller and only has two nurses and visiting doctors from Medical School) and work in the further communities (and dare I say it, colder!) up on the mountain of Tena.

So I have been working to figure out where they should work and have been setting up new promoter groups in new communities. I hope this is helpful for them, because I spent the first three or four months of my service walking around trying to create groups and starting charlas, however, as I have five groups already made and am starting two more, they will be all set to start working on their charlas and promoter training right away.

The "replacement" group has in fact already arrived, 37 new Healthy Homes volunteers arrived in Guatemala for their 3 months of training on the 27th, so I will be working with their training group a little bit (not as much as last year as I just don't have the time!) doing presentations about the Gender and Development Committee and hosting a couple of them in my site for Individual Directive Activities (IDA) working with me for a week. Then at the beginning of July is site visit, where the two volunteers who will be living here for the next two years, come and get to see where they'll be working and start moving into their houses (I've found them some great houses so they won't have the trouble I had when I got here finding a house!).

Regardless it will be a busy last few months and I'm sure they will fly by, and while I am excited about my last few months here, I am also starting to look forward to the summer in Madison, CT with my family and of course starting University in Sussex next fall.

The Little Things

2011-04-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

This morning my counterpart Romeo and I had a meeting with all 180 food vendors that sell food &/or beverages in San Vicente (mainly tienda owners). We talked about safe food preparation, keeping their kitchens/frying stalls clean, garbage, water safety etc. It was a three hour long workshop and attendance was mandatory in order for the vendors to keep their license.

I guess my job doesn't really sink in most of the time. I give hundreds of talks, workshops and trainings and I assume that only about .5% of the information is actually digested. I still think that. However, every now and then someone surprises you and that happened this afternoon.

I was walking up to Chihuitan to check on the progress of the project (100% done with the stoves about 80% done with the floors!) - and I walked past a french fry stand. The owner, who had attended the meeting earlier in the day, was making a makeshift cover for the french fries with wire hangers and plastic wrap to keep the flies off. He also had a brand new garbage can, with a lid - AND he had his wife scrubbing the frying bowl with disinfectant. I felt my heart swelling up with pride. I am even thinking about breaking my diet and buying some french fries from them later to show solidarity!

Win!

Progress

2011-04-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

After hard work for about 10 days, we're showing some real progress. All of the stoves are done except for one and we're finishing all of the floors today in Chihuitan, and then the contractor is moving on to Xemuj. So we should be all done by mid week next week!

I'm not going to lie, it has been hard work. Up really early to get up to the communities at a reasonable hour. Working lifting block and mixing cement can get really tiring. My back and legs are always sore and my hands are all blistered and cut up. But with the end in sight it really seems worth it. Some of the families even wrote my name "Recuerdo a Lic. Abril" in their floor to remember me by! That was really sweet.

So things are going really well, so far we haven't had one big problem with the materials or building and the stoves are looking really, really good! It's so great to know that the women have really learned a new skill and have worked with their neighbors to help build each others' stoves. They have helped everyone who has needed it, for example there are a couple widows who don't have husbands or families to help them build their stove, so on a chosen day four or five of their neighbors who are project participants have show up and built the stove with her, always finishing that day.

They are super efficient and due to that it looks like we'll be 100% finished with the project before Holy Week!

It's hammer time

2011-04-04T19:20:00.000-07:00

Two out of three stove demonstrations have been completed. During the demonstrations the contractor Don Diego (pictured left) teaches the women how to build stoves. They then work as a team building their own.

As you can see, we've been hard at work, and the stoves look great!

Tomorrow is the last stove demonstration before the women are on their own!

Wish us luck! (Floors start on Wednesday!)

Construction

2011-04-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

After many bumps in the road and a ton of paperwork, we are finally beginning construction on the cement floor and stove project. This past week I have buying and delivering materials to the communities of Chihuitan and Xemuj, tomorrow (Sunday) we will distribute all the materials to the families who are receiving the project and the stove building and floor demonstrations start on Monday. We received many generous donations and a Small Project Assistant grant from USAID of over Q27,000 (about 3,000 USD), so a big thank you to all the donors! The communities have been busy preparing and have consolidated all of the materials they contributed, such as sand, gravel and construction equipment. They've also helped to unload the trucks of materials that have arrived. I will keep the blog updated with photos of the construction and any new updates!

Success!

2011-03-07T09:17:00.000-08:00

So last night's Vagina Monologues were such a success, the venue (El Sitio Cultural Center, Antigua, Guatemala) had to turn away over 30 people!

The show was flawless, and the backstage running was smooth and stress free. We had various resturants and bars donate food, coffee and booze to sell, and we made over Q4000, most of which is going to Abriendo Oportunidades - check out the site here. The rest is going to the VDAY organization who is donating the money to various aid organizations in Haiti.

I'm exhuasted, but I'm so glad the show was a success. But now I have to get back on a chicken bus for five or six hours and head home in time for my huge International Women's Day event - whiiiich.... I haven't really started preparing for, I've just booked a huge room and a few hundred woman are going to show up. Vamos a ver.

Los Monólogos de la Vagina

2011-02-16T19:14:00.000-08:00

First, I'd like to note that this is my 100th entry! Yay!!

Ok, moving on.

My life has basically been taken over by the GAD (Gender and Development) Committee's production of "The Vagina Monologues". If you had told me that one of the things I would learn while in Peace Corps is how to spell the word Monologue, not only in English, but also in Spanish, I would be impressed with my future fictional self, and a little doubtful. But it is true, I have been so wrapped up in this production, (March 6th, 3PM El Sitio Centro Cultural, 5ta calle poniente no. 15, La Antigua Guatemala) I can now spell "Monologues" without thinking about it.

Impressive.

The show's official blurb says this:

The Gender and Development Committee of Peace Corps Guatemala in collaboration with Abriendo Oportunidades is pleased to present the Vagina Monologues on March 6th from 3- 5:30pm in Antigua Guatemala! V-Day, the creator of the award-winning play, The Vagina Monologues, is a global activist movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money, and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM), and sex slavery. All funds raised will go directly to Abriendo Oportunidades, a program dedicated to empowering rural indigenous girls across Guatemala.

----

The show will be bilingual as we are working with HCNs (Host Country Nationals) from The Population Council - the overarching NGO for Abriendo Oportunidades, in FACT one of the HCNs doing a monologue is in fact the President of Guatemala's niece, Alejandra Colom, true fact. (She works for Pop Council).

The idea is that all of the money raised from this event will go to creating GLOW (Girls Lead Our World) Camps, where PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) work with HCNs from Abriendo Oportunidades in rural communities (probably in Totonicipan) and help educate young woman and girls about their rights, opportunities and health.

On the logistical side, I've been working on soliciting food/drinks/space etc. for the production and will be heading back into Antigua tomorrow to work on it some more. We're getting bars and restaurants to donate food/drinks/booze to sell at the show.

Have I mentioned that I have a really big stove/cement floor project coming up? - Also, Kitten is pregnant again. So there's a lot going on. Annd, I still have to do my taxes and FAFSA form.

SPA Fund Update

2011-01-28T14:09:00.000-08:00

Yay my SPA grant has been fully approved! Money should be coming in the next two weeks, the project is a go for early March!
SUCCESS!

The last long haul

2011-01-27T14:26:00.000-08:00

The last six months of service are here.

Wow, I’ve been living in Guatemala since April 2009, and here I am on my last long haul. With all the thinking I’ve been doing about my life after Peace Corps, it has been really hard focusing on my work here. Between scholarship applications and FAFSA reports etc. I feel as though my work here has been put on the back burner.

I hope to be changing that now as I’ve had a full couple weeks working in Chihuitan, Pasac and Xemuj with workshops, charlas and meetings. I’ve also been working with my counterpart organizing HIV workshops in the new schools in towns and working in training my health center staff on giving the workshops themselves.

Tomorrow is THE BIG DAY, it’s the SPA meeting (Small Project Assistance) and they will announce whether or not the money is coming through from the US government to fund my project, fingers crossed!

I will keep you updated on the progress of the project and all that jazz, hope all is well and that 2011 is going well.

Christmas and New Years Family Trip!

2011-01-14T14:29:00.000-08:00

Happy 2011! I can't believe I've been in Guatemala since April 2009 -

This Christmas and New Years I was blessed with the best present ever: a visit from my family! Even though the trip was threatened by various weather conditions - after rescheduling and flying through Amsterdam, the family made it on time!

Here are some photos of the trip's highlights!

A temple in the old Mayan city of Tikal.

Happy New Year from San Jose! (looking glam!)

Meeting the woman' in my Woman's group in Chihuitan, San Vicente

At the top of Pacaya Volcano (it just exploded this past May, thus the 'v' at the top)

We went zip-lining through the monkey infested jungle in Panajachel, with GREAT views of the lake.

At a restaurant in Chichicastenango, El Quiche.
(Alex is looking particularly excited about this!)

Christmas Dinner at Casa del Mundo at Lake Atitlan

Our first night all together in Antigua, Guatemala.

For more photos click here, or look at Nicola's facebook profile! Happy 2011!

Project a go!

2010-12-13T06:44:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-30T11:04:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-14T18:46:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-08T14:39:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-10-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-03T14:26:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-09-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-08T13:59:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-06-22T14:58:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-06-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-27T06:41:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-05-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-21T20:07:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-15T18:28:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-12T20:45:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-05T12:23:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-21T19:29:00.002-07:00

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

2010-03-08T10:45:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-06T13:21:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-02-23T07:26:00.003-08:00

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

2010-02-22T16:36:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-02-18T06:55:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-07T11:25:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-26T18:48:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-19T10:07:00.002-08:00

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!

2010-01-12T11:58:00.000-08:00

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).

Christmas is all around

2009-12-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

Today is my final push before I peace out of San Vicente tomorrow - One of my woman's groups is throwing me a going away party (even though I'm only going to be gone for about 3 weeks), so I've been busily baking cookies and cakes all day, as none of them have ovens (the last batch are in the oven right now!). The ladies however are providing sandwiches and drinks.

I had a crazy weekend, on Saturday we had our final camp fiesta, I had to make all the food - except for the bread and butter and sprinkles which I delegated to Ferney - and at the same time, the house was FULL FULL FULL of indigenous women preparing for a huge lunch they were having on Sunday. They were preparing for a welcome home party for the brother of the two girls I live with, as he's returning from the States.... So cooking was a little difficult. I was also on a tight budget (mine - and we really get paid nothing) to prepare bastante food for (what turned out to be) 90 kids. I did all the crowd pleasers, cake, cookies and cream pudding, jello, rice krispie treats and of course bread and butter with sprinkles (a favorite of Fiona's for our birthday parties growing up!). This was of course baked with the most campo of ingredients, but it turned out well, the only thing we didn't have enough of was plates as we only bough 75, thinking only about 50 kids would turn up. Our mistake as free food in Guatemala always draws an enormous crowd.

It was a full day of camp as we had food, an activity which included glitter and glue - we were sweeping up glitter for hours afterward - games on the basketball court, the pinata and giving out diplomas for the kids that had good attendance. The Pinata however was quite nearly a disaster, if you think about it, 90 kids, one pinata...yeah, we should have seen that one coming. I had crying babies on my lap who had been hit or pushed, the kids literally ripped the pinata apart with their hands and Ferney was in the center picking up children by the collars and belt hooks and tossing them out of the center, trying to find all the babies that were buried underneath...Luckily there were no lasting injuries and after a few minutes of chaos we got them under control again...as best as we could.

Anyway, that was done, we had the huge family party here at the house yesterday where about 100 people came (Estella had to buy 100lbs of corn flour for the tomales...it was insane). There were videos of the family that live in the States, fireworks (I hid inside for this portion) tons of food and soda. Today is my final event, this going away party in Centro Sur, I'm sure it will be fun and then I'm back tonight and I'm going to clean and pack in preparation for leaving tomorrow morning for Guatemala! PHEW....

Really?! I'm in charge of like 50 kids?! who's idea was this?

2009-12-10T11:31:00.000-08:00

OK - so Thanksgiving has come and gone - and there's already a Santa hanging out in the mall in Xela (he looks almost albino and super freaky - I really hope it's makeup, but I don't have the nerve to get close enough to check it out).. You know what that means - Christmas is almost here-

With two weeks before I'm in England, I have one major goal: - survival....

I told Ferney I'd "help out" with his summer camp, which is every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday until the 19th of Dec. I figured there'd be about 20 kids, about 7 or 8 years old, and we'd sort of make up activities for them to do which we would make up on the spot.

INCORRECT...

There are about 50 kids that come every week (more some weeks but never fewer than 50) and they range from the age of 2-13....

what the heck are we supposed to do with that?!

Not to mention Ferney's already left me alone with all of the kids once, and is planning on doing it again this saturday so he can go into Antigua and get a tattoo- seriously that's his plan... Luckily I've convinced my friend Anna to come from her site to help me out (bless her heart), so I won't be alone alone, but still - me + 50 kids = me with even more gray hairs.

The strange part is, the kids seem to LOVE the camp - they get their EARLY (unheard of in Guatemalan culture) and hang out way after we're done (until I say, if you want to stay you have to help us clean the room...they usually disappear quite quickly after that) - and I have no idea why.

I wouldn't say that Ferney and I are at all what you would call "enthusiastic" teachers - we usually just have them paint something, or I give a charla, or they play football and/or basketball - and the girls usually get into little fights with one another - I've stopped listening to the reasons and just tell them to figure it out - and the guys usually cuss at each other, but I use my bad spanish to explain I have no idea what that word means so I don't know if it's bad or not...

Anyway, it's enough to drive a saint to drink, and I'm no saint.

PUES....

The next two weeks are going to make me earn my trip home for a nice relaxing (Alex...) Christmas and New Years -

I just spent the last two hours with my hands inside a Turkey!

2009-11-25T17:49:00.000-08:00

---

It's official, Turkey the Ginny is dead.

We bought Turkey the Ginny about two months ago (mas o menos) and since then he's consumed a large amount of liquor (apparently it pre-marinades the meat). Let me tell you how entertaining a drunk turkey is, super entertaining.

He will be missed, however, at 12:15pm today, Wednesday, November 25, Turkey the Ginny was hung from his little feet and his neck was cut. It was quick, and I'd like to think he was too drunk to really realize what was going on - but it had to happen, in order for our thanksgiving feast to be complete.

I get home, and cut him open and take out the inside parts. Take a while cleaning the stomach and put the gizzards in to cook (Nitz had a WONDERFUL dinner tonight, of stomach, liver and legs!). I cleaned him out and stuck him in the fridge.

Tomorrow I'll make Ferney's birthday ice cream cake (well, we'll see about the ice cream part as it melted on the camioneta ride home from Xela, and dripped all over my costal.) and cinnamon cake. In the evening (after the camp of about 40 kids, which I'm going to have to do alone because Ferney's out of town) I'm making the stuffing and going to sew dear ol' Turkey the Ginny back up.

We're not celebrating 'till friday, as it's easier for everyone to get here on friday (yay!), and we're hoping to have about 15 people come to our site to celebrate! It's going to be awesome.

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving, I wish I could be at a giant table filled with everyone I love, however know that while I'm devouring dear old Turkey the Ginny, I'll be thinking of everyone I love and knowing that I'll see you soon!

Just to end this post the "right way"...Turkey the Ginny's head is in a bowl in my fridge, I'm giving it to Ferney as a birthday present. I'm am for sure, the Best Sitemate EVER.

Letter to myself:

2009-11-18T07:46:00.000-08:00

Dear Philippa,

If in the future you ever decide to climb the highest mountain in Central America, or any mountain in that case; please, please, please, DO NOT go out the entire week before you go. You will regret it.

Good luck with this challenge,

Yourself.

DIGRESSION:

Last week was a HOT MESS. It was great fun and a lot of work, as we all headed back to the Peace Corps office near Antigua for Reconnect, celebrating our 3rd month in site and our 6th month in country. We all stayed at a really cheap hostel called 58B (it's actually just the address, the hostel itself doesn't really have a name) and had a great time. However, we also worked really hard as we had more training and spanish class. We did however party just as hard as we worked, as it's very rare that our entire training group is together. Anyway - I headed home on Saturday (not feeling 100% - and the LONG, BUMPY camioneta ride did not help - it takes about 6 or 7 hours to get home from Antigua).

Anyway I get home, totally exhausted - pick up my kitten from Ferney's, make some food, pack for sunday, chat with the family and pass out.

On Sunday I was up at 5 AM - grab my bag and head out to catch the bus, still feeling a bit off (I'm def. not 18 anymore). We make it to San Marcos (after a short stop in Xela for food and supplies) and prepare to hike Tajumulco, the highest mountain in Central America.

This is us at the bottom, before the pain.

We had big packs, as it gets really, really cold at the top and I was therefore exhausted and winded after about five minutes of walking. As it's an old volcano, so it is all uphill. ALL OF IT.

We walk for about 4-5 hours (I'm about to die) before we get to base-camp. We set up the tents, make a fire, eat some food and pass out.

Monday morning we wake up at 4 AM, and with flashlights in hand head up to the peak in time for sunrise. At this point I'm exhausted and sore from the day before, and thinking what on God's green earth, could be worth this amount of pain.

Then we get to the top and see this:

And I think...oh, wow, this was WAY worth it, and although I'm still in a bit of pain, I feel like this:

It was a GREAT hike, painful, long, but great, and here's a group shot of us all at the top, because we made it!!

Rainy Day

2009-11-05T16:01:00.000-08:00

So apparently there's a hurricane down in Nicaragua that has caused some very unpleasant rain storms up here. However as I live up in the beautiful mountains, this morning, the rain was actually sleet. Nothing better then waking up in the morning and heading out to the pila - soap and towel in hand - for a nice face wash (as it's the only running water at the moment) only to realize that it's sleeting out. Regardless, my face is a little dirty at the moment.

Pues, I had the, "do I really have to walk to work today" speech with myself, and decided against going up to the centro de salud, as I had to work on a charla anyway, and could do that at home without walking through the now icky wet rain.

So, for the first time really, I spent the entire day hanging out with my kitten. Just the two of us. I found out many things about him:

A. He likes Negro, the mean dog with one eye that lives in my compound and likes to growl at me. They're actually 'friends' and I saw Negro share some food with Chum - something that is not only unnecessary as my little muffin is getting rather fat (true to his name: Chum in K'iche means chubby) but also UNHEARD of in the world of chuchos, I've seen dogs get seriously beat up over a morsel of food they try to grab from another dog.

B. Chum likes spicy food, especially "fuego" flavored Takis, a delicious if not somewhat overwhelming flavor of chip here. In fact, if I'm eating a bag and don't share I get an awful (and by that I mean awfully loud) telling off.

C. Chum has been sneaking food from the family that lives upstairs, apparently his adorable charms are not spent all on me, and when the family's eating, he finds his way upstairs and sits under the plancha (the stove/table where the family sits) and has bits of food slipped to him by EVERY member of the family (no wonder he's living up to his name so marvelously)

Anyway, it's certainly been an informing day - I write this now with Chum draped over the back of my neck like a mink shawl, purring ridiculously. If not a little cold and wet. So I think I'll retire from the computer for a while and make myself some hot chocolate, Guatemala style (read: about a pound of sugar).

Todos Santos Pics - All Saints Day

2009-11-03T07:34:00.000-08:00

Todos Santos, or All Saints day is a day where most Guatemalans go to the cemetery and pay respects to their departed relatives, however in Todos Santos, Huehuetenango, it is a day for horse racing in traditional traje.

We hiked up to Huehue saturday morning, (after spinning class of course) and had a Halloween party at a house we rented that night. There were TONS of volunteers, most of whom I've never met before as I usually only see volunteers from the Xela/Toto/Chimal area.

We also woke up Sunday morning to a bit of a surprise. I was heading out of the bathroom (which is outside on the patio) with no shoes on, and hair that looked like I had been dancing till goodness knows when, the evening before, when I see 2 big suburbans and a few men with earpieces and guns hanging out outside of the house.

Great...The American Ambassador decided to visit the volunteer who lives next door, luckily A. he didn't come into the house we were renting and B. He brought brownies.

After a delicious breakfast we headed down to the races, and after a few hours of watching the races we hiked back up to the town for some shopping (please refer back to the pictures of Ferney in Traje...priceless).

Rights, fights and the freedom to live

2009-10-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

I've noticed here in San Vicente, most women get pregnant at age 15 or 16 (sometimes as early as 13 or 14) and spend the rest of their lives in their house. They never leave, Amas de la casa as they're called, never, ever leave their house, they feel like they have to be there in the house all day every day. The kids go to the market after school for anything they need, and the husbands go out and work. I've started to purposly have my charlas at Ferney's house, instead of one of the houses of the women, to force them to walk across the market, and by the muni. Just to get them out. I then talk about the different foods they can get at the markets in Sija and Xela, and the health benefits of eating different types of food instead of beans and tamalitos everyday. I'm not sure if this is working, but I did notice that many kids had pasta salad packed for lunch the other day, one of the recipies we made in my cooking class with lots of veggies and no fried food!

I've also started to have protemas (freeze dried soy protein) stocked in some of the stores in town, it's good because it's easy to make, and is much cheaper then meat but has the same health benefits without the fat. Today one of my cooking classes and I made rice with protemas and salsa de tomate - putting the three main food groups together, carbs, veggies and protein. And best of all, no need for oil (everything people cook here requires at least a cup of oil). I think it went well, and I'm glad the women will be able to buy protemas here in our aldea.

On a "my kitten is adorable but kind of nuts" note: My kitten is working up to catching and eating the mice out of my room by catching and eating insects. It's sort of cute, but I don't really want to cuddle when you have a few spider legs hanging out of your mouth thank you very much.

He also had to get his first rabies shot today (he was so brave!), but I couldn't watch. I walked him up to the centro de salud in my bag and we got there and I had to hand him over to someone else while he got the shot, because I couldn't stand to watch! But he survived and was very brave, and even let a two year old torture him for about fifteen minutes while I had a meeting with ver few complaints.

New Kitten!

2009-10-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

So Ferney and I had a meat-fest BBQ last night....OMG so much food, we had corn on the cob, roasted red peppers, spring onions and tomatoes, all done up on the BBQ (quite a challenge to get going, I think BBQs are going to be easier once the dry season starts, but we won! and got the coals lit,...eventually).

We also had tons of meat, potato salad and beer (alcohol free beer for Ferney).

I get home at about 730PM, and there's a little kid waiting for me - he's like, the kittens are ready...I've been talking to his mom about adopting one of her kittens for almost a month, and I suppose she's ready to get rid of them now.

It's been over a year since Penny's died, and I feel like it's an appropriate time for me to get another cat, even though I'm not sure if I'll be able to take him back to the States with me, or wherever I end up going after my 2 years here.

So I walked over and there were two, one orange and on black one. I play a bit with the two of them, and pick the little black one. He kind of looks like a street rat, but he's adorable, and already friends with the two disgusting dogs that live in our house and roams around the compound with the turkies and chickens like he owns the place (even though he's about 1/3 their size!).

I've named him Chum (or Chumy) which means fatty in K'iche, in hopes that maybe he'll put on a few lbs, which I'm sure he will after living with me.

So I'm totally unprepared for this little furball to enter my life, no kitty litter or cat food (he's been going outside, THANK GOD - and eating whatever I eat) And he wouldn't stop crying last night until he was snuggled nice and warm in my bed (I JUST got rid of my fleas, oh well!), so he had a bath today with lots of flea powder, but with his new best friends (the gross animals on the compound) and my unwillingness to make him an indoor cat, fleas are most likely and inevitability.

Here are some pics:

Peace Corps Loony-ness

2009-10-10T19:33:00.002-07:00

We have this joke, that after a few months of living in an isolated Aldea for a few months, you begin to go a little nuts. Not badly, just quirky.

It's ok though, because we're all going nuts together, Peace Corps Volunteers have a tendency to talk about things that wouldn't be normal in a conversation outside of our little world. We also accept life here as normal, as we're all living it together, rather than the weirdness it is.

I got a call from Ferney my site mate the other day, he just got cable so he's been watching all sorts of TV crap, the convo went something like this:

F: I'm watching this new show on MTV where they take the spoiled brats from "My Sweet 16" and send them to developing countries as a form of punishment.

Me: that sounds sweet

F: Yeah, there's this one girl, she got sent to India, and walked into her room and there was a chicken sitting on her bed - it made me think of you.

Me: aw, thanks!

----

I will admit, while the chickens that live in my compound are filthy, needy and often-cannibalistic creatures, we have, in our own way - bonded. I mentioned that I recognized a chicken from my compound walking around town the other day; well apparently the recognition goes both ways. If the chickens are let out, they go and feed out on the "street" in front of the compound. Well, if I am walking home while they’re out, they come scurrying up to my feet and I can herd them back through the door. They recognize me too.

Not sure if I'm proud - but it's certainly interesting to see that chickens can recognize people.

The Lake etc.

2009-10-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

After making myself ill from gorging on chocolate and salt and vinegar potato chips that were sent by my family, I took the weekend off and went to the Toto and Solola welcome party at Lake Atitlan.

It is really beautiful there, a blue lake surrounded by mountains

We stayed in Panajachel - which is sort of the touristy town - which was fun as there were lots of bars and clubs, and it was also the Feria - so music, rides and food through the night (not to mention fireworks at 4am!). But I want to go back and stay away from Pana and have a nice relaxing weekend there without the craziness. Not that the craziness wasn't appreciated, as it was, but I would quite like to see the more peaceful side of the lake as well.

As it was a tourist town, there were lots of street vendors selling things that you will never, ever need. And let me tell you, after a few daquaries, bargaining is the funnest game ever.

Vendor: 25 Quetzal

Me: 2 Quetzal

Vendor: What? This is good price, I give you good price

Me and/or Courtney: We want the BEST price, five Quetzal

Vendor: No! I can't too low

Me: (walk away) - it's ok I didn't want it anyway

Vendor: (running down the street after me) Fine...OK, I give for Five Quetzal.

Me: Snap, I'm going to have to buy it now aren't I? -

***

Thus, I ended up with some ridiculous star earrings, a stud for my cartilage piercing and the most outrageous and random pipe for Ferney with a smiley face on it, made out of wood and rosin - I thought i was the most (and I quote myself) "freaking awesome pipe from here to the lake". The next morning I realized it was kinda weird, but it's all part of the experience.

Besides that, things have been quite peaceful here, getting back into work and starting some new woman's groups in Pacoj and Santa Lucia.

On a "I'm a crazy person" note - the other day I was walking through the center of town, recognized a chicken as one that lives in my house (yes, I can recognize chickens now), wondered (outloud) what it was doing so far from home, scooped it up, and carried it back to the house. - True story.

Best part - On my way home I ran into someone I knew from town, we stopped and chatted for about five or ten minutes, and while we were chatting the chicken wasn't even mentioned. Like it's normal for a Gringa to walk down the street with a chicken tucked under her arm. Who knows, maybe it is?

Kind of like my birthday, Christmas & cinco de mayo in one

2009-10-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

I spent last weekend in Antigua, Guatemala which was loads of fun. I met up with Stephanie Fisher who lived in New Canaan and went to GW with me (she was Nick's friend in New Canaan, and therefore was two years ahead of me at Uni). She's an immigrations lawyer now, and is therefore learning Spanish here in Guatemala.

We spent Saturday hiking up Pacaya, an active volcano near Antigua. When we got up to the top we roasted marshmallows on the lava...it was pretty neat!

On Sunday I went back to San Miguel Duenas to visit my homestay family I lived with for the first three months during training. It was SO MUCH FUN, it was the Feria there, so we ate tons of Churros, and rode on rides that were either human powered or powered by what looked like truck engines from the early 1900's...AMAZING. The ferris wheel was going at about 30 MPH, I thought I was going to die, but once I got to the top with Leo (my 11 year old homestay brother) we had a yo yo competition with the yo yo's we won (by shooting actual rifles at cabbage patch kid stuffed animals...seriously that was a fair-ground game) to see who could get the yo yo to go up and down the most number of times while spinning thru the air on a precarious (at best) wooden wheel. He kicked my butt.

On Monday I made it up to the Peace Corps office where I had THREE amazing packages waiting for me. My amazing family sent me everything from butterfingers to embroidered pillows. It was so wonderful. I had to buy a HUGE grain sack from a hardware store to carry it all back home (it's about a five or six hour trip from the office back to my house on chicken busses!) but SO worth it, I've been gorging myself on good books, homemade chocolate chip cookies, english chocolate, Reeses, Butterfingers and salt and vinegar crisps for the past week. So much so that I'm going into Xela tomorrow and Saturday to go to the gym...I need it.

This weekend is our welcome party at The Lake, so I'm really looking forward to that. We're all staying at the same hostel and going out for dinner and going dancing Saturday night. SO much fun.

Also today the Peace Corps Director for Latin America came to visit our site. She and two other PC employees drove up (they were going to a few sites nearby today) and sat and heard about our work (Ferney and I made a sweet powerpoint presentation this morning...some skills are universal) and our site. I think it went really well, they seemed reasonably impressed with our work and our progress so that's nice.

Other than that it's been the same old stuff you know, chasing chickens, kicking gross dogs out of my house, making beans and tortillas (I now make my own tortillas) and hanging out with preggers indiginous women. Not too shabby.

Karma

2009-09-21T12:40:00.000-07:00

So the day after my last post, I burn the S*&%t (sorry Granny) out of my finger while making soap with one of my women's groups...I am totally aware that that's karma for burning the dog, no matter how gross and dirty the dog is.

Live and learn.

It still burns though, so warning chemical burns hurt for a long time, and don't put anything greasy on them...it just makes the burning worse.

PUES....

It's pouring with rain, and I got stuck on the phone with the Peace Corps language teacher, and am therefore not going to go to work this afternoon....I was meant to walk up to the Puesto de Salud (not the centro where I normally work) which is about 7 km UPHILL from here and give a charla to a group of women who may or may not show up (it's my newest women's group), but honestly the thought of walking uphill for an hour/hour and a half in the pouring rain does not appeal so I'll go when it's sunny and reschedule, as it is the rain is probably sleet up there as it's so high, (As I told Shivvy, work ethic is my middle name).

So, the plans for the rest of my afternoon go as follows:

Eat homemade bean and rice burritos
Soak underwear to hang up later
Do some spanish work in your spanish workbook
Prepare charlas for this weeks visits to schools
Make shopping list for items needed for women's cooking class in Chihuitan
Clean chicken poop off of floor underneath computer table
Do washing up (preferably after the rain, as the Pila's outside)
Buy cheese from Adalee - as I saw her milking the cow earlier today

My life is pretty exciting.

Oops

2009-09-17T18:06:00.000-07:00

Just FYI....If you are ever making soap with lye, it is better NOT to use a metal saucepan to stir the lye in with the water, and let it sit for an hour. And if you do, and you leave the room for the hour while it's sitting, be prepared to have a hole in your table when you return. It would also be advisable not to have any live animals in the room, as it tends to burn flesh (dear PETA...Capi will be fine, I cleaned his wounds).

Just FYI.....

Live and learn.

Some Videos from Battle of the Bands in San Vicente

2009-09-15T15:58:00.000-07:00

Laundry Aldea Style: Rainy Season Edition

2009-09-07T17:39:00.000-07:00

So some of my women groups have been asking about making laundry detergent to clean their clothes, as it is too expensive for most of them to buy. I've therefore been trying out different recipes (some of which require the use of Caustic Soda...a toxic corrosive...Ferney was not entirely pleased when I asked to use his kitchen pots for that one)...trying to find the one that makes the best soap. On top of that I have perfected my laundry skills PILA style so I've decided to give you step by step instructions (rainy season version) of how I wash my clothes...because I'm lazy...

1. Fill plastic container with Pila water and pour in powdered detergent
2. Leave container by Pila and dip first item of clothes into the soapy water, making sure it is soaked through
3. scrub the item of clothing on the serrated bottom of the pila getting the dirt out
4. Place item in bucket of soapy water
5. repeat steps 1-4 with all items of clothing
6. Leave clothes to soak overnight and through the morning in soapy water
7. Hang clothes up on clothing line approx. .5 hours before rain begins to fall (you don't want to get wet while hanging!)
8. Allow rain to rinse all soap from clothes
9. Allow inevitably sunny morning to dry clothes
10. Remove cloths from line BEFORE the rain begins again.

crazy weekend

2009-08-30T17:06:00.000-07:00

So this weekend Ferney started his TB medication so we went to Xela and met up with lots of friends and went out. It was great fun, and I got to meet Dani, Courtney's boyfriend who's visiting from California, as well as Courtney whom I haven't seen in ONE MONTH! It was really fun, we went to an AMAZING Chinese restaurant where I had some amazing sweet and sour chicken and chow mein. YUMMMMMMMM.

We then went out dancing and crashed at Casa Argentina only to wake up at 7 AM and go to Spinning class, (with the super hot instructor, score). While it was a little bit painful, it was definitely worth it. We then met up with tons of other volunteers at Hyper (the Guatemalan Walmart) went nuts, buying meat, stuff for guac, beer, etc. everything we need for a BBQ, and headed out to our site. There were about 15 people, and we had a great BBQ I made chocolate chip cookies, cheese biscuits and brownies (all things people on TB medication can't eat...they also can't drink for the duration of the medication...which is nine months). We had a Pinata, lot of booze, good music, and great friends. It was a great night, and now we're recovering wonderfully watching (appropriately named) The Hangover, a mindless comedy, and eating yummy beans and salsa with pasta. Now it's after 6 PM, and I have to get ready for work for tomorrow....great, and take a nap...a nap that may last till tomorrow morning.

New Peace Corps Director's Welcome Message

2009-08-26T14:53:00.001-07:00

Obama's newly appointed Peace Corps Director's message to the Peace Corps Community

Lactancia Materna Parade, Casero Chipuerta, San Vicente Buenabaj

2009-08-25T15:25:00.000-07:00

At the School at Chipuerta

The Pinata

Nina de Deportes (Ms. Sports) de Chipuerta

The Front of the Parade

Some more of our 'artwork'

The Kids with their "intervida" T-shirts, getting ready for the parade.

The Senoritas of Chipuerta

Posters Ferney and I made being held with "pride"

The front of the parade

The Picturesque San Vicente

2009-08-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

Ryan and Grant out in Xela

Ash, myself and a bottle of hairspray...all in preparation for a night out in Xela

An exorcise class I'm teaching, for pregnant women in the Salon

Charla giving....with Ziki Ziki there for moral support

Ladies at my Charla

Giving a Charla to a Woman's group

Two San Vicente Flies... having a good time on Ferney's patio

Invaders (champipas or turkeys) getting the "boot" from Ferney's house, with the hose

The Pigeon

2009-08-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

I am writing from my own laptop with my new Tigo internet stick which allows me to have (incredibly slow) internet at my house. (It takes about an hour and a half to download a song from itunes....seriously).

But, at least I have internet now as the internet cafe in town (generous words for the small dark, damp room cramped with six computers stuck at odd angles.) has closed.

However, even with the recent closure, San Vicente has not been without action, in fact on Thursday there was the Senorita Indenpendencia pageant in the Centro, and Ferney was a judge. This wasn't just any pageant however, (trust me there are a LOT of pageants here), the girls each had to dress in a different type of traje (traditional dress) and reenact the signing of the peace accords in Guatemala, and they often reenacted some of the violence during the war.

So picture this: three or four women (girls really, no older than 14 or 15 dressed up as older women) in traditional traje on stage pretending to cook/clean/care for babies, the scene is really quite nice. Then all of a sudden, bangs come from the left and guerrillas (or rather male students of the same age dressed in camouflage) storm the stage, pushing over the women, burning the "crops" and stealing the babies. Three seconds later they're signing the peace treaty and I have no idea why. I was still upset about the baby stealing.

But I digress - the peace treaties are signed and what do you think comes next? Let me tell you (at least in rural Guatemalan schools) what is a peace treaty without peace pigeons? - obviously nothing.

Almost all of the reenactments of the signing ended with one of the young girls "releasing" (read: throwing) a "peace pigeon" to fly free (into the rafters of the building and then poop on the audience). One of the reenactments however had three peace pigeons, and as the third one was "released" it flew into the air in a large arc, and then began to plummet, fast, towards my head. What was I to do? A dirty rat with wings - I mean peace pigeon - was flying at my face... Without thinking I take my notebook that is sitting on my lap and swat the pigeon away. It falls to the ground, and begins to shake. Not for long however before a group of about five children dive on top of the quivering mess of what is left of this symbol of freedom, and proceed to "play" (read: torture) it for the rest of the pageant. Right after this incident, I glance over at Ferney, sitting at the judges table, and his face is bright red and in his hands. I thought he was having an episode of some sort, but it turns out he (and the rest of the judges table and the school administrators, and the students) were in fact in hysterical laughter because the crazy new gringa almost killed the peace pigeon - with amazing speed and accuracy (OK, I made that last part up, but my reflexes were pretty good).

All in all, it was a super interesting afternoon, and a wonderful cultural experience - for the town of San Vicente.

A few weeks in

2009-08-12T08:03:00.000-07:00

So the most exciting news is the extremity of my flea problem. I look like I have small pox and am afraid of getting skin poisoning with the amount of bug spray I use. Apparently fleas live on the floor, and so this weekend my number one job is to buy some bleach and a mop and to drown the suckers while I also wash all my bedding. Not sure how successful my plan will be but I am reaching a point of desperation.

I am not so worried with how I look, but the itching is so bad I can barely concentrate on anything. I am a hydrocortazone cream maniac and use about half a pound a day...I am not sure if it helps, but am only worried about how bad it would be if I ran out.

On top of that, this week has been quite pleasant. Ferney is in Guatemala for a workshop organized by Peace Corps, so I am dog sitting Ziki Ziki. He is grounded at the moment as he followed me to the mayor´s office, interupted our meeting, and then jumped on me. He also "helped" with my charla about leche materna and HIV-AIDs to a group of women on Tuesday by sitting at my feet the entire time. He is sweet, but has no manners.

I should probably go check on him and give him some brekky before I head to my first charla for the day!

Some Events that have Occured

2009-08-05T09:31:00.000-07:00

1. On Sunday I woke up to a chicken in my bedroom...twice.

2. I have fleas, everywhere

3. I got a bacterial infection in my lungs, but am on medication so am feeling much better

4. I got a new bed!

5. I have a chest for my clothes!

6. I had to give a charla on leche materna - lactation - ew, the only thing I find grosser then that is the actual idea of giving birth...did you know that Aug. is Leche Materna awareness month in Guatemala?

7. I hung up a poster in my 2nd room (kitchen-eating-guest room area) for ambiance...it´s a map of Guatemala, feeling a little more civilized.

8. I just bought about 50 pieces of poster board to start preparing more charlas! yay!

9. I have started to boil water every night and pour it into my Nalgene water bottle to put under my covers as a make do hot water bottle so my feet won´t freeze, it´s wonderful, i´m a genius.

10. I am seriously considering getting a kitten. They´re so cute and good for keeping you company and Ferney said he´d cat sit while I was away and I know that they´re expensive but I REALLY want one and I can feel my determination to be responsible crumbling...plus now that my parents have a house in CT...I could bring it there with me when I´m done. Maybe...I don´t know...but I really want one.

11. I´ve stopped using conditioner for my hair, it´s expensive and I never have enought hot water to take the time to use it anyway, regardless I´m obviously looking my best at the moment.

Adjusting and all

2009-07-27T17:09:00.000-07:00

So I’ve moved into my new house…it seems like it’s going to work out well (fingers crossed). I’m living with a family, however I’m living in the bottom floor of their house. So have my own space, and my own bathroom….I just need to fill it with stuff now. As all I have are my bags and a bed. BUT…I have two years right? Oh and my shower doesn’t exist yet, I was promised that it would be put in today…fail, but I’m ASSURED it will be put in tomorrow. Regardless I’m super sucio right now and living a la tiempo chapina.

I had a weird/good/interesting weekend. On Friday I got a call from my boss, Wendy, saying that the Ambassador to the United States was going to Momostenango, the capital of my district and she was asking all volunteers that live in the area to come. Now, I may live in Momos, but getting to the city of Momos for me is difficult as all the buses that pass my town go to Xela, which is south, and Momos is East of here. So I have to go about an hour south, then get on a bus to Momos and go about an hour and a half north east. BUT… it was pretty cool because I met the other Momo’s volunteers and we also got to hang out with the Ambassador, who is super interesting and interested in the Peace Corps. At one point we just chilled on one of the volunteer’s roof and talked about his job and working in the Foreign Service.

On Sunday I had to get up early to go to Xela to get rent money (closest ATM) and then chilled out a bit with Ferney and then moved into my new house.

I’ve been working with primary schools. Introducing Salud Preventiva and just getting to know the kids. I’ve also attended a few meetings with the various communities near by and am going to start going house to house with an impuesta to see how their living conditions are and what their most urgent needs are. So I’ve been staying busy which is good and my boss is coming to visit me on Wednesday (great)…but the employees of the Centro de Salud are going on an excursion to the beach on Friday (yeah!..and bring the sunscreen), so I’m looking forward to that!!

I may have been sick...

2009-07-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

I may have had a bacteria infection, but Courtney (thanks!) insisted we still get a photo with the US Ambassador during our swearing in ceremony.

I think he´s talking or something....

Life as a volunteer has begun

2009-07-21T15:57:00.000-07:00

So here I am, I just finished my second day as a Peace Corps volunteer in my site, San Vincente, and let me tell you...I´m exhausted.

My work is great, so far I´m busy writing up schedules, and scheduling meetings, finishing paperwork and getting to know people.

GOOD NEWS

I have a house!

I looked at it yesterday, it seems to be the best of both worlds as it´s the ground floor of a house with a family. But I have my own entrance and bathroom. I move in this weekend (now I just need a bed and drawers or something...)

I have work!

As trainees we´re told over and over that the first three months of our service is difficult as we have nothing to do...this is NOT my problem. I just wrote up a tentative schedule for next month and every week day (and some weekends) are FULL...I should be home working right now.....

I like my site!

San Vincente is SUPER rural, and beautiful. The people are friendly and except for a number of bolos (drunk people) there doesn´t seem to be much crime or anything (minus one incident a few weeks ago that included a mob, surveyors and my site mate having to leave for a few days...but that seems to have blown over!)

BAD NEWS

If you ever have the option...try not to ever, ever spend 6 hours on a chicken bus with a bacteria infection and three very large bags... it is super unpleasant...
I think I also have ameobas
I have no furniture for my empty 2 rooms, nor am I sure how to aquire furniture here, as I have no car and live in the middle of nowhere
I had a bacteria infection and was SUPER ill over swear in weekend...our first opportunity to go out together...well played.
I have a really bad head cold and cough

So all in all life is interesting...But I´m surviving and once I heal I´m sure all will be well!

Some quick events

2009-07-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

So...

I just thought I'd throw down my introduction to my site, so you could get a feel for it.

First, my first day on my site visit.

It was NUTS, I didn't really know where I was or what I was meant to be doing. I show up at the Centro de Salud and meet Sara a GREAT social worker who I am excited about working with. She says we're going to go up to one of the communities, and asks if it's alright if we walk. I say yeah walking is great I'm excited and we head out.

We start cutting up through a milpa field and climb up over a hill and walk down the other side in an empty river bed. I'm in boots, and not at all prepared for this hike, and it is a hike. At one point we have to climb up over boulders and jump off. After two or three hills (going up and down, on various forms of paths) we finally get to a river. As we approach the river I see a dog laying in the grass and a cow tied to a tree grazing. Next to them is a man in full traje (traditional dress) with a really old worn cowboy hat on.

It was such an idyllic scene, I thought we could have been walking through time, and seeing an image from hundreds of years ago. I admire it before I start to ford the river, and then he turns a little bit and I notice something. The man is actually talking on his cell phone.

That pretty much sums up my site I think. Everyone has cell phones, but no one really has flushing toilets. People have relatives in the States who send back money. With that money hug houses are built with ten or eleven rooms. However, the houses don't have running water, lights or a bathroom. WHY?!!

I think some of my charlas are going to be on financial planning.

Some Photos

2009-07-15T08:44:00.000-07:00

It's our last week of training, we swear in at the Ambassador's house on Friday. This week we've been wrapping up, mainly up at the Office.

But here are some photos of my site from last week!

Some PCV (Peace Corps Volunteers) hanging out in Xela

The main road out of my Aldea

A view from Ferney's roof

San Vincente

Site visit

2009-07-13T07:04:00.000-07:00

I don't have much time and I hope to post some photos later today or tomorrow, but I just wanted to write down about my week long site visit.

For the past week I've been living in my site in San Vicente Buenabaj, Momostenango, Totonicapan. My site mate Ferney is great, and there are some great people to work with at the Health Center.

Mostly a Social Worker called Sara, who took me out to many different communities (there are 14 in San Vincente) to introduce myself and get to know some of the groups.

On Friday I also helped to give the 4 hour HIV charla with Ferney to a school of kids, which was tiring but great practice.

I still don't have a place to live, but I'm hoping something will come up before I move back there on Sunday...we'll see. But I sort of want to move in with Ferney as he has two extra rooms in his house and a flush toilet and a shower that is almost luke warm...sometimes.

The site itself is really rural, all dirt roads, and is in beautiful mountainous countryside. And it is really, really, really cold (for Guatemala). You need lots of blankets and layers to stay warm, especially at night.

Must run, but I hope to upload some photos soon!
xo (and happy birthday Shivvy!)

Just because

2009-07-05T11:24:00.000-07:00

First of all:

Second of all:

We had a great 4th of July party yesterday near the Peace Corps office in Santa Lucia. Beer...boxed wine....hamburgers...potato salad...dancing...chaos...good times where all included.

I hope everyone else had a happy 4th!

The good, the bad and the ugly

2009-07-01T17:11:00.000-07:00

The past eight days (or so) have been absolutly insane, I don´t even know where to start so I´m going to break it down by good and bad and insane.

Good:
We had a GREAT weekend at the beach (not counting the sunburn I brought home on my legs, but it´s not THAT bad).

All of our families (and extended family) from Dueñas rented a 28 person microbus and the four of us from Dueñas as well as Courtney from Pastores and Anna from San Lucas, piled in (I think there were 29 people) with all of our stuff and headed down to Las Lisas, a beach near the El Salvedor border. It was NUTS...we get there and the first thing we see is their pet Racoon on a leash...it´s name is Jackie.

To get to the house (the ¨house¨we stayed at was in a compound owned by Doña Vila´s family, she is the homestay mother of Katherine here in Dueñas...) we drove about 2.5 hours and all of a sudden the road ended...it just ended, and we were clearly in a town, not where we were staying. But, the entire family got out of the microbus (not an easy task), and bags and logs were thrown (literally) off of the roof. I had no idea what was going on, but before I knew it, we were being herded into a small covered boat...all 29 of us

(see the covered boat on the right...exactly like that, the engines were 15 horse power and we had a LOT of stuff).

We finally stop at a beautiful sandbar island with a lagoon-bay in the back and the Pacific Ocean in the front. It was beautiful!

We had amazing food (including a caldo which had surprise animals in it, most of whom still had their eyes) and relaxed under palm trees and drank Cuba Libres. It was perfect.

In addition to that...

I FINALLY GOT MY SITE!

(way to bury the lead right?)

I will be living in Aldea San Vicente Buenabaj, Momostenango, Totonicapan

Ver mapa más grande

It´s an indígena community that speaks mainly Quiche...good luck!...it´s a farming community that produces corn, trigo, potatoes, habas, arvejas, beer and pears.

I will have a site mate who has been there for a year and is in the Youth Development program, I will meet him at the 4th of july party on Saturday (can´t WAIT!).

ok so now to the BAD:

I think that many times people don´t understand what a Peace Corps Volunteer is. We´re not volunteers, not really...we volunteer to work abroad, but once we´re here, we have a job, we get paid (not alot, but enough to eat and live) and we have a lot of real work. So like any job, the Peace Corps has an interview, however, it´s interview is 3 months long and called training.

During training we´re watched, talked about and judged as to whether or not this country and program is right for us. It´s hard.

Recently our good friend Haley was asked to leave. It was sad, because she didn´t break any rules, it was just decided that she wasn´t a good fit for the program and sent home.

We will miss her and I wish her all the best in her future endevours.

Waiting...waiting...gone

2009-06-22T15:44:00.001-07:00

So, things have pretty much turned back to normal, spanish class and waiting to get our site assignments. BUT, we had a great, great Saturday with Grant (you're the best!), a volunteer who invited us up to his house in a muni just outside of Chimaltenango

View Larger Map

for delicious homemade food (what a homemakers!) and drinks!

I met up with some people in Antigua to pick up some drinks and we hopped on a Camioneta and headed towards Chimi. About fifteen minutes into the ride the bus pulls over...and doesn't start again. We hear the driver and the ayudante (the driver's assistant who squeezes his usually bulging body through the masses of people crammed onto the camioneta to collect the fare) screaming some stuff at each other and wait...and wait. Finally we decide to try to get off and hail a passing camioneta, Anna wants to hitchhike....vetoed. We try to hail down a passing camioneta but it's too full (that never happens) so we hang out on the side of the road for about 40 minutes, and then we hear shouts from inside, see everyone get on, climb onto the back of the bus through the emergency exit (as it starts to move) and head back on our way...Either the bus broke down or the driver had to take a REALLY long dump in the milpa.

Regardless, we FINALLY make it to Grant's amazing house where he's prepared homemade cookies, homemade hummus, baked pita bread, veggie dip and homemade salsa. WHAA??! can you say heaven? It ended up being the girls from Pastores, Ryan, Anna and Kiki from San Luise and Marta and myself from Duenas. It was a pretty fun time, not to mention Stacy had her first solid poo in about a month (she has some tropical disease and amoebas, it's nuts).

In addition, life with the family has been pretty nuts.

We've been partying it up like nobody's business. It was my brother Pablo's Birthday on Saturday, and we also went to a fiesta in a nearby town, Alotenango, Saturday night, where my homestay Dad Alvero tried to find me a husband. Unfortunatly, none of the applicants were above five feet tall so they were all rejected, but it made for some pretty awkward dancing (think middle school slow dancing with a small person...but more awkward). Thank goodness Alvero always seems to know who's supplying the booze, so that helped with the social lubrication...a little.

We then went to Dona Christina's house yesterday night for dinner. We ate delicious food and then watched Guatemalan music videos (my favorite is one where two people hace amore en la milpa) and talked about how the youth today is being led astray by vulgarity and promiscuity.

Today was also Alvero's birthday, so the celebration started at breakfast when he told everyone we were having cuba libres and cornflakes...I denied as I was already late for class, but I don't think anyone else got as lucky (even Erica who's still breastfeeding...awkward). But, as soon as I return I'm sure the party will still be going on.

Enough ranting for one day, I find out my site on the 1st of July so can't wait. Until then....

Post FBT pre Assignments

2009-06-18T16:44:00.001-07:00

First off some more Field Based Training recap:

We spent the week working and playing pretty hard. The girlies on the trip with me were AMAZING...We went with the Pastores crowd, so quick shout-out to Stacy, Haley and Courtney. Stacy who had the Big D (diarrhea) all week and Haley who single handedly put back a bottle of wine, and Courtney for making some BOLLA guac. We put together delicious stuffed peppers in our swanky hostel in Xela as it had a kitchen.

The hostel itself in Xela was great. We were supposed to be in a different hostel, however when the first group arrived, it was quickly discovered that this 'hostel' was in fact a brothel and they were quickly evacuated (apparently Ryan still had his open bottle of vodka in hand) and moved into Xela to Casa Argentina.

So we lucked out.

Secondly, post FBT fallout:

OK, so as of now I feel like we're almost in limbo here. We've gone through field based training, we've given and are giving charlas, we've worked with volunteers and are ready to go...however we still have to wait until the 1st before we get our assignments. I'm not saying we don't have stuff to do, we're still very busy and always working. But our brains seem to always be thinking about the future, we're not really focused on our work here in Duenas because our future is elsewhere, we just don't know where yet. We're meeting with our Tech Trainer David tomorrow, and I THINK with our program manger Basilio as well (communication could be better at the moment, I think he came to our town this morning, but we were down in Jocotenango at a La AzoteA Finca y Centro Cultural....obviously -which was really cool by the way, it had a Mayan Music Museum and a coffee tour which included FREE coffee at the end...lord it tasted good). But I suppose that's what you get for living in Guate.

Also, I am really excited for the 4th of July party being held in Santa Lucia. We'll be able to meet more volunteers and by then we'll know where we're going and we can meet up with people who live near us (our future neighbors!). It should be a great time.

Until next time, Peace!

Some things about Field Based Training...

2009-06-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

This past week our group was split into two and we visited two sites, one in Quiche and one near Xela (pronounced Shay-la). It was a lot of work and we had a lot of fun, and today I am exhausted. We gave charlas and visited Puestos and centros de salud, but there are some things from FBT (Field Based Training) you can't describe accurately with words....that's why I love videos:

Yeah...that's right...she just killed those chickens then handed them off to her sons and killed two more. I watched that.

Second, I have some great footage of CRAZY GRINGOS dancing around a group of scared Guatemalan children:

But after nine days of giving charlas and working with the Puestos and Centros, we had a nice break and went to the hot springs that were AMAZING!

Rolling out

2009-06-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we gave our first charlas to a school here in Dueñas. I had a class of about 25 to 30 sixth graders. Considering my major language barriers etc. I think it went alright?

Today however we´re leaving for nine days to start our field based training (or FBT).

We leave today at noon from Antigua and head up to San Antonio Ilotenango Quiché.
There will meet up with current volunteers, have some "Medio Ambiente y Salud" classes and get intoduced to the Muni there. After a few days we´re going to have to give our own charlas there as well.

On Wednesday we´re heading down to San Martin Sacatepequez where we give some more charlas, and learn about that Muni (municipality or town/pueblo) and learn about an HIV taller (pronouned tyre and means workshop) we´re meant to be giving when we get back to Dueñas.

We get back on Sunday, just in time to start getting ready for the four hour taller and classes on Monday. It should be an interesting trip of meeting new volunteers and hostelling fun with fellow trainees. The Dueñas crowd is going with the group from the town Pastores so there will be eight of us in total, plus a volunteer and Basilio our APCD, a driver and a spanish teacher, so we´ll still have Spanish classes throughout the week.

It´s going to be busy and I expect to return on sunday exhausted and dirty.

Charlas

2009-06-04T16:31:00.000-07:00

I've had a few emails asking me what exactly a Charla is so I thought I'd throw up a post to clarify.

To define: the literal translation of a charla is "chat"...however we 'give' charlas as lessons because our audience is usually made up of barely literate adults. Therefore we "chat" with them about certain aspects of health and have participatory activities, making it not a lecture but a dialogue between the facilitator (me) and the participants (them). It's very Peace Corps.

You will notice here in Guatemala, that breakfast is a synonym for dinner

2009-06-02T08:48:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd post a normal meal here in Guatemala, it is what I had for breakfast today:

Frijoles Negros Volteados (Fried Black Bean Paste)

Ingredients
2 cups black bean puree (canned refried black beans)
1 Tablespoon oil

Procedure
Heat oil over moderate heat in a skillet.
Add bean puree and mix well with a wooden spoon.
Stir until the puree thickens and the liquid evaporates.
Continue until mix begins to come away from skillet and can be formed by shaking the skillet to give a sausage shape.
Serve warm with tortillas, cheese, sour cream, or bread.

Now, take a few loafs of pan francés and slather them with butter and stick them in the microwave for one minute thirty seconds.

Once the beans are ready, put them in a bowl and put a dollop of cream cheese in the center and stir until melted.

Enjoy!

Beach Day

2009-05-30T10:56:00.000-07:00

We headed out to the beach last weekend.

It was great fun, we were practically the only people no the beach, and it was beautiful. The sand was black and really hot, and the waves were huge (and quite strong).

We rented two mini busses and stopped off on the way to buy beer and snacks.

Overall a really great day out!

What's in a name?

2009-05-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

Today we had our practice charlas and feedback interviews with our program manager Basillio. Overall I think both went well, and I feel pretty confident about our "real" charlas (in front of an audience of actual people in the community and in Spanish) next week.

However, during the interview Basillio decided to tell me that he though it would be better and easier (for me of course) if I went by my middle name.

"Do you have a middle name?" he asked quite innocently. "yes," I replied, "it's April".

"Oh that's a great name, you shall go by that from now on. It will be easier, and there will be fewer connotations if you know what I mean...."

"connotations?" I reply

He didn't answer, put according to my Spanish teacher Sandra, Pippa, and certain forms thereof can sometimes mean prostitute. I've been here for a month, I'm so glad I'm being informed of this now.

So now I simply have to get used to saying: "Hola, mi nombre es April" and responding to the name in due course. That should be easy enough...right?

Moving along

2009-05-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

Time seems to be flying by. Tomorrow we're watching a health charla at our health center as well as giving a charla in the afternoon to our advisers. On Friday we're meeting up with our promoters to discuss their charla, and next Wednesday we're giving one (in spanish) to our promoters and others at the health center.

In less than ten days, we're going on our Field Based Training, where we're split up into two groups and sent out to live and work with other volunteers for a week. I am really looking forward to that.

Last night however, after class Meredith and I stayed late and watched an ultimate frisbee game with a volunteer Juanita (Jane). She's been here for almost a year, and is one of the most frank and honest people I've met. I think this is a good thing, but she definitely doesn't sugar coat things, which I ultimately appreciate. The three of us had a nice chat over a beer, and she talked about how she didn't know any spanish until she got to her site. Once she arrived (it's a tiny, tiny indigenous town) she admitted that she couldn't understand anything, but she quickly learned. She's super fluent now and seems to be progressing with her project which is good and even starting to learn a Mayan language.

Contact

2009-05-19T15:58:00.001-07:00

Really quick, if you want to (because you love me and I'm poor, lonely and sad), please send letters/candy/hatemail/beauty products/divorce papers/anti-gas medication (frijoles!)/books!/ anything else that you think I may need to:

PCT Philippa Wood
Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 66
Antigua Guatemala
Sacatepequez 03001
Guatemala
Central America

I would really appreciate anything, especially a real 'snail mail' letter letting me know what's going on in your life, and filling me in on the gossip!

Getting dow n to business

2009-05-18T15:37:00.000-07:00

After a great afternoon out in Antigua with the other 30 volunteers on Saturday, this week really marks our first week of working in the health centers in our towns.

We went in on Friday and this afternoon and will be returning on Wednesday to meet all of the health promoters we are meant to be facilitating...in spanish.

As of now we´re really trying to get to know the people who work in the puesto (health center = puesto de salud) and see where we can help out. It´s a lot of asking very shy women questions, and then trying to understand their very quite mumbled answer. It is a bit frustrating, but we´ve only just started, so hopefully we´ll only get better.

On top of that we´ve upped our technical training to at least 3 or 4 times a week, so we can actually have something to teach our health promoters. It´s pretty intensive, but at least we had Saturday to blow of steam:

Some quick pics

2009-05-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

I thought I´d post some quick pictures from life here! Here´s my Mamá Silvia, she´s great! This is the image from outside my bedroom door of Fuego, the active volcano that smokes a lot: This is a pretty street in Antigua Gutemala it´s a really pretty city. These crazy Gringas are Meredith and Lauren, two of the three girls who live in Dueñas with me. This was our day in Antigua with our Spanish teacher. Another street in Antigua Gutemala, and a church we went into.
This vidoe is nuts, it´s from a mother´s day event we went to at the school of our spanish teacher´s daughter, so great.

Site Visit!

2009-05-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a really really interesting day. It was our first "field trip" up to visit other volunteers who have been in country for 1-2 years.

We split our group into smaller groups of 4 and drove to different sites.

My group went to a site of a girl who has been serving for just over a year named Ellen. Ellen was a very interesting person to visit due to her amazing streak of luck...bad luck.

In her first year of service Ellen was:

-In a serious chicken-bus accident where multiple people died
-Robbed at least five times (she showed us the jeans where one guy cut into the pocket with a knife to get her wallet while she was on the bus)
-Threatened by locals with large knives because they thought she was kidnapping children
- Her grandma died
-and had a really unhelpful counterpart to work with.

So...while the other people met people who were having a great time, and nothing much had happened to them but illness or petty theft, we met someone who really, really had to struggle. But honestly it was cool, because we talked and she was telling us about her experiences and we met the women and clinics she was working with and even after all of that, she stayed.

It was really nice to see how hard she worked and what she had accomplished, and while of course I hope that I won't have to struggle quite as hard, and I won't have quite as many obsicles, it was cool to see what we could get through if we had to.

On an unrealated note, yesterday was also my birthday (23?!) and my homestay family was so wonderful.

They made an ENOURMOUS special dinner for me including (but not limited to...) Tacos, BBQ, Fried Chicken, Cake, Pie, Fried Plantanes, rice, Chilie and lots of orange soda!

When the cake came out, they sang to me in English and Spanish, and then Leo, my 11 year old brother shoved my head into the cake (thus the pie...it was kinda like the second cake).

It was so nice and delicous!

OK MUST RUN as I've used up most of my lunchtime!

Earthquakes, Lava and Food...oh my!

2009-05-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

So...

A. No swine flu in the area yet....luckily the US government has given me tamaflu, so no need to worry.

B. There was an earthquake yesterday. Super interesting, I´ve never felt an earthquake before, it wasn´t too strong (thank goodness), but it went on for about 30 or so seconds. It felt as if there was water underneath the solid earth I was standing on, and there were like small waves pushing the earth up in rolls...does that make sense? yo no sé.

C. Spanish is going alright. Right now we´ve been divided into groups of four and sent out to small villages. Our village is called San Miguel Dueñas

Ver mapa más grande

and it is me and three other girls. They divided us (the original 32) up into two groups of 16. One is the youth development program, and one is the health (mine) program. They then divided those sixteen into four more groups of four based on our level of spanish, so we are living in a village with three other people who are at a similar level.

We have about eight hours of spanish a day, except tuesdays when we go back to the Peace Corps headquarters in Santa Lucía for a day of technical training. Then on thursdays we go to another village or stay at ours for technical training in the afteroon. Add on top of that lots of reading and spanish tarea. I´m a bit busy (but not too busy to procrastinate in the internet cafe!).

C. My village is located near two volcanos, Fuego (fire) and Agua (water)...sometimes if the night is clear you can see lava flowing out of Fuego and down the side of the volcano. It´s quite pretty, as long as I am FAR, FAR away.

D. The food is great, lots of beans (made everywhich way, yum!) y tortillas y huevos (eggs) y jalepeños. My homestay family loves feeding me and telling me I am not eating enough. Let me tell you...I am.

That´s it for now, up to Santa Lucía tomorrow for a full day of training

Another Quick Update

2009-05-01T16:03:00.000-07:00

OK, so I have a bit more time now, sitting in an internet cafe in Santa Lucia (a small town which is just outside of Antigua . The buses are lining up outside, getting ready to take everyone home. They are pretty much the only form of public transportation here and look like pimped out school buses (see below) that grind around the corner like a tractor stuck in second gear trying to get up a very large hill.

In addition, stray dogs roam the streets, just as hungry for tortillas as I am and construction workers click their tongues at you as you try to go to work.

Work itself is going well. Although it seems as though the Peace Corps does its best to try to scare you out of staying. The horror stories are great. We have 2 hours of spanish in the morning, then two hours of medical training-education, one hour for lunch, two more hours of spanish and then two hours of either IT, practical, or technical training.

Tomorrow however we move out of Santa lucia and into smaller villages further away from the Peace Corps headquarters with three other trainees. We will live with a new family and have spanish training everyday, and technical training every day, and then every Tuesday, we have to make our way back (on the infamous buses) to the Peace Corps headquarters for a day of training with the rest of the group (we are 32 in total, although statistically by the end of the 27 months we will be down to 24).

After 11 weeks of that, it is our swearing in ceremony and we are sent off on our own to start our service....yay!?

We will see.

Bienvenido A Guatemala

2009-05-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

So I have been here for a couple days, and all is going well. Training is busy, lots of spanish, medical and security training as well as living with a family that only speaks spanish (I think I have already improved a LOT, but it's still a bit rough).

I am late for Spanish class but I just wanted to get a few points across.

A. I am alive
B. I had a great time in DC thanks everyone who participated in making my extended weekend awesome
C. Guatemala is going well
D. I am learning spanish!

alright, must run.

Back in DC

2009-04-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

Today Tim is driving me to the Arlington Holiday Inn where I will officially start my training for the Peace Corps.

The last few days have been great, we had a picnic where Max brought the parachute from his preschool and we played with it on the mall.

Shivvy came back on Monday and after having about one hour of sleep hung out with me all day (I got sunburned). We ended the evening at JR's for showtunes. (If you're unfamiliar with this wonderful establishment, think of a bar full of gay men singing along to the classics). It was nice because there were tributes to Bea Arthur as well as other great music.

Must go pack.

Heading to DC

2009-04-22T02:32:00.000-07:00

So I fly out to DC today. I'm PRAYING my bags aren't going to be too big/heavy etc. I tried to weigh them, but the weighing scale broke....I'm taking that as a sign from God that I am not meant to weight them, not that they are too heavy.

I'm thinking a picnic on the Mall on Sunday afternoon, let me know if you're around!

Just South of the Scottish Border

2009-04-15T19:22:00.001-07:00

Easter 2009.

As a sort of “last hoorah” I drove up to Newcastle for Easter with Nathan where we celebrated Easter with Granny, Uncle James and Aunt Janet and the entire Australian contingent of the Wood family (including, Uncle Ben, Auntie Liz, Alice and Harry).

View Larger Map

The drive up was great, other than the fact that Nathan and I were a little under the weather (some people call it being “hung over”, I call it living a little) and the weather itself seemed to feel the same. The dreary rain chased us all the way up to Scotch Corner, where we turned off the motorway and were suddenly faced with a breathtaking sunset and the MOST adorable baby lambs EVER:

So I’m carefully watching the beautiful-ness and cute-ness all around me and therefore (obviously) stop paying attention to where we’re going and end up 45 minutes west of where we were meant to go (we were about 2 counties west…oops!).

Luckily we made it there and back in one piece.

Now I am back in Brockenhurst and figuring out how to pack all my stuff for two years into one bag…any suggestions?

And we're off...

2009-04-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

So in 16 days I will be flying out of London and heading over to DC for a weekend of frivolity before 12 hours of pre-departure training which includes (but is not limited to): team bonding, government paperwork, immunizations, more paperwork and packing.

On the 29th (very, very early in the morning) we will be flying out of Reagan and on our way to Guatemala City (via Miami), where we will start our three month in country orientation.

During orientation we live with Spanish speaking families, have language and cultural classes and work with people who will prepare us for our jobs once we begin. I have been practicing my Spanish on the Rosetta Stone program (free from the Peace Corps, and quite a perk), however, I'm still super rusty and know that the first few weeks/months will be a struggle.

Anyway, it is going to be a crazy few weeks but I'm really excited, (well, more nervous excited, but excited anyway), and can't wait to finish up all the preliminary stuff (paperwork/ insurance/ packing/ shopping etc.) and roll out!