Christmas is all around

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?

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!

---

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:

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

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

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

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!

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Laundry Aldea Style: Rainy Season Edition

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

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

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

Lactancia Materna Parade, Casero Chipuerta, San Vicente Buenabaj

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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.