On Sunday morning, I had the pleasure of attending a really special mass with my host family at a church in Antigua. I returned home from my daily early-morning run in a rush to get ready for Mass in my town when my host mother told me that we instead got a “special invitation” to a service in Antigua. Having no clue what was really going on that day, I went along with the family on the bus and we arrived at the Temple de la Merced in Antigua. It was complete mayhem! There were national TV channel vans parked outside, hundreds of people, and news reporters giving commentary outside the church. Pardon my lack of knowledge of the exact significance of this day, but they were taking out the Virgin to parade around the streets, and apparently they only take her out once a year so it was a really big deal. Inside the church was so packed that I couldn’t really see or hear what was going on to understand well what the service was about, but it was worth standing against a marble column for three hours to experience what happened afterwards. There was a parade of hundreds of people all from different area churches and dressed in robes and everything. They also lit a ton of firecrackers (a Guatemalan favorite pastime) and released small hot air balloons made of tissue paper (the second of the three balloons didn’t catch the wind correctly, and came flying down with such speed, luckily the people below were paying attention and were able to escape the fire quickly coming down on them!). The most impressive part of the whole thing was that a bunch of streets of Antigua were closed for the occasion, and “alfombras” (carpets) made out of ornate flower arrangements and decorated sand covered the streets. Basically, people spent over an entire day laying out a lot of sand, and then using stencils to create an intricate design that looked exactly like a long carpet covering the street. The people carrying the huge Virgin idol would then walk down the street and through the alfombras. I may not be explaining this so well, so see below for pictures! (click to enlarge) I was completely awed by how beautiful and impressive it all was. It was really cool to experience. And my family told me that for Semana Santa in March, the streets of the city are even more covered by the beautiful decorations!

Besides spending some weekend time with my family, my schedule has been pretty much completely devoured by Peace Corps’ trainings. Some interesting things we’ve discussed lately have to do with PC’s vision of sustainable development. Basically, our role as volunteers is to go into certain communities that have requested our help and guide them in different areas of work. So whichever municipality I am placed in to work with the municipal government will be because they have requested for a Peace Corps volunteer to be there and help them. This is a type of sustainable development that I really believe in, because we will be helping communities who both need AND want us to be there. And Peace Corps’ goal is not to send volunteers to different areas to do big grandiose projects, but to help people to help themselves. They call this “capacity building”. We should not be doing any work ourselves that we can’t just train others to do once we depart. Otherwise, once we leave in two years, whatever work we do will stop completely and if it’s not sustainable, it’s pretty much a huge waste. So in a way, Peace Corps kind of breaks the idealism that some trainees have to do big projects and shows us how to redirect those good intentions to be good capacity builders. So, much of what we volunteers do, whether we’re working in municipal development, agriculture, public health, etc. is giving community presentations and helping people find their own solutions to the problems which their communities face. And with the solutions that they chose to implement, we are here to support and guide them. Another important thing that PC has been discussing with us is how we can maximize the benefits of the experience that WE receive as volunteers. Will the people in the communities in which we serve always remember us and the work we do? Maybe. But will we always remember them? Without a doubt, yes.

On Monday, instead of afternoon Spanish class, we had a current Muni volunteer come speak with us about the work that he’s been doing in Guatemala over the last year. He provided us with some really valuable and practical advice related to our technical program, such as certain challenges of working within the culture here, the structure of the municipal government, specific projects which he’s worked on and plans to work on over the next year, and how to make the most out of training. While so much of what we do as volunteers depends on our actually site, these three months of training are intended to prepare us for volunteer service as much as possible (or as the Country Director here recently told us, “training is the engagement period before a marriage in which it’s time to decide if PC Guatemala is REALLY the right fit for you”). While the discussion with this current volunteer brought out many new anxieties and new excitements about working in my future site, one thing is for sure – that no matter the work we do, one of the best parts about being a Peace Corps volunteer is finding solutions to new challenges, and experiencing and being part of a different culture.

Now having been in Guatemala for two weeks, I feel that the training period is definitely an interesting adjustment and rather exhausting. But, it is not without fun! Today, we went to my Spanish teacher’s house for the first time and his mother taught us how to make tamales, which was really awesome. If you come to visit, I promise I’ll make them for you! A fun Guate fact is that if a house has a red light hanging outside, it means that they sell tamales there – a rather different meaning than red lights hanging in places like Amsterdam or other parts of the world!

Other thoughts…

- There is a dog that lives in my house, his name is Valentín, because they got him on Valentine’s Day. I never pet him because he’s really dirty, but I feel badly for him because he’s chained up during the day and for breakfast and dinner they feed him bread and coffee. It is one hyperactive animal! Toro seems like a comatose pet in comparison.

- One of my many “aunts” asked me to do some of her son’s homework because he was assigned with too much. And this particular aunt happens to be a teacher. Go figure. Fortunately I had plenty of Peace Corps homework of my own, so that gave me an easy out!

- I’ve been going running every morning and will be participating in a 10K race in my community in October!

- My fellow community trainee’s little five-year-old neighbor asked his mother “Why didn’t we buy a gringo?” Haha I guess we Peace Corps trainees are in hot demand!

Learning to make tamales

An awesome hike after Spanish class

The field where I run everyday

Why sit two per seat when you can sit four?

Creating one of the sand alfombras

Passing through the streets of Antigua

Some of my very large host family

what the alfombra looks like after the Virgin passed through it

The Virgin passing through Antigua. Note the awesome volcanoes in the background!

Leaving the church

Up, up, and away!

Lighting the hot air balloons

One of the flower alfombras

There’s Always Room for One More

I decided to name this post according to things I’m learning about Guatemalan society. There is always room for one more – always. I will explain the “chicken bus” as the main example. These buses are the primary mode of transportation in Guate, and they are very different than the city bus that come to mind when you think of public transportation. Guatemala, as well as other countries in Central America, use old US school buses that have been retired or deemed as no longer fit for taking American children back and forth from school. So, they send them down here, where the engines are replaced and the buses are painted with many colors and adorations and given a title based on the driver/owner’s personal affections (such as “Jesus Es Amor” or “Mi Princesa Nancy”). And they are nicknamed “chicken buses” because of the livestock that can sometimes accompany the human passengers – but in Spanish, they are just “camionetas”. Riding these buses can be quite the exhilarating experience. First, because they tend to squeeze three people into a seat intended for two school-aged passengers. When the seats are all full, they fill up the aisle in double lines of people. Through this packed mess of people, the “ayudante” (bus driver’s assistant who yells out the stops and takes care of the bus fare) somehow manages to finagle his way down the aisle to collect money from every single person, often jumping out the back door of the moving bus and running around to the front door to swing himself back inside. Seriously, these guys make the Cirque du Soliel performers look like wimps.

The other night, my 4 fellow community trainees and I took our Spanish teacher out for dinner in Antigua, which was a fun bonding experience for the six of us, plus nice to get out of our community for a night and be able to speak English and relax a bit. We had a delicious yet over-priced Mexican dinner, probably to be expected considering how touristy Antigua is. Although it was definitely worth it, plus we found some real ice cream after dinner which made the night even better! After waiting an hour for the bus that returns to our community, we decided to cab it. Finally, machismo worked in my favor for once, when I was given the front seat of a taxi and the five guys has to squeeze into the back!

I have really enjoyed my family here and spending time with them. Every day I am introduced to more and more family members but they are so nice and welcoming to me. Today was the baby shower of one of the nieces, which was held at my host family’s house because of its larger courtyard. Experiencing a baby shower in Guatemala was so great. Even here, they call it a “baby shower” which I found comical, but it really was just like baby showers in the US. We played some fun games, which was nice to be included in and showed me also that perhaps Guatemalan society is not as conservative in some ways as the Peace Corps makes it out to be. One of the hysterical games involved a race between two sets of partners, in which one sits on another’s lap in baby position and has to chug horchata (a delicious milky rice cinnamon drink) out of a baby bottle. I also met a really nice woman and her super cute five year old, who I chatted with for most of the party and they invited me to their house for dinner in Chimaltenango, a nearby city which I haven’t visited yet. This is indicative of some nice cultural differences between the US and Guatemala. Allow me to explain: one cultural difference between the US and Guate is frankness. People here are less likely to say what exactly is on their mind or to give flat out “no” answers for fear of offending others (which we now have to learn to do the same – surprisingly difficult to do, as we are taught in the US to just speak our minds, within reason, and be direct about what we feel and what we want). But I also feel that Americans sometimes offer or suggest things without truly intending to follow through. So when early in the party, this woman says, I’d like to invite you over for dinner, I was thinking that it sounds great but maybe skeptical that anything would come of it, but then at the end of the party, she found some notebook paper to write me the address and phone number to her house, along with more specific directions to get there.

The four guys in my town and I have been bonding with our community pretty well, considering we’ve only been here for nine days. We sometimes go up to the basketball courts by the main church plaza after our Spanish classes and technical trainings to play soccer, and have made many small friends in the process. On Friday, for example, was the first time that I ever saw younger girls hanging out there, so we played a fun game of futbol, girls versus boys, and then two hours more of freeze tag and hide and seek. It definitely goes down as one of the best afternoons I’ve had in a while. While us five huge gringos may have looked somewhat silly to the rest of the town, I feel that playing with these kids and connecting with them is really important for more than just mental and physical diversion. If we want to be successful volunteers, we need to show the community that we care about them and are willing to engage in non-municipal development related things as well as things that match more of our “job descriptions”. Plus, my soccer skills are actually somewhat improving. I still have no hope when it comes to shooting and scoring, but I’ve developed a technique in which I just full-speed charge at the person with the ball, which occasionally works out in my favor!

One of the most challenging parts of this experience thus far is allowing myself to just be humble and realize that I am pretty incapable in many areas. After six years of moving out of my parents’ house and two years of living alone, it is difficult to allow myself to really give into this fact. Here, I have to learn how to bathe differently, wash clothing differently, eat and cook differently, take public transportation differently, etc. And coming from the US, a country puts so much value on independence, it is kind of counterintuitive to allow myself to mentally give into letting others assist us so much and teach us life skills anew. But I am really thankful to be with a family who supports me in this way and with a lot of patience. Being in a new environment forces me to evaluate what it is that I do know, both in terms of my technical work and day-to-day living, solely because of a new cultural context in which work and live in. I am consistently reminding myself to stay positive and that moving to another country is not supposed to be easy, but in all honesty I am really happy to be here and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be right now!

With my fellow trainees and Spanish teacher in Antigua - we got real ice cream!

A famous street of beautiful Antigua

Waiting for the bus with our favorite old man in the community

At the bus terminal in Antigua

In Spanish class, learning Guate slang (like ¨bish¨, written on the whiteboard, which means pee-pee. oh the necessary things we have to learn!)

Community Based Training

my REALLY cute "nieces"


































My host "mother" Esperanza with her youngest niece

Now having been in my new town for a few days, I am bit by bit adjusting to what life will be like over the next three months of training and living in this area of Guatemala. My new host family consists of a single older woman, who lives with one of her sisters and her sister’s husband and son (so there are four people in my home altogether, plus me) although the entire families of the nine siblings in total live just next door and across the street. So I now also have many adopted aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and babies! It is difficult keeping everyone straight, but they have been extremely welcoming and kind to me. One thing that has been on my mind a lot is personal appearance, something that I cared about probably less while in the US although then I had more ability to do something about it! As we were warned by our Peace Corps training director, our clothing and personal appearance is REALLY important. This was immediately evident when I arrived at my new host family’s home. They immediately commented on my shirt, my toenail polish, my rainboots, my water bottle; how nice it all was. Lucky for them, I was wearing one of only a few nice-ish shirts that I brought, so I hope they haven’t been gravely disappointed in the way I’ve been dressed since! I wish I had thought things through a bit better before departing the US, but of course hindsight is always 20/20. Guatemalans take personal appearance really seriously. And for some, it’s surprising that Americans always want to dress casually. To them, why wear flip flops, faded jeans, and t-shirts when you have the money and ability to always wear something better? Even more so, a dressed-up look is important to work effectively as a volunteer if we want the people that we serve to take us at all seriously, because people won’t want to work with us if we don’t meet their professional and conservative standards, no matter the type of education and number of degrees that we may have.

Being with my new host family for this short time has also proved Peace Corps’ point about keeping a very clean and modest reputation and conforming strictly to the standards of Guatemalan society. Some members of my family went to a baptism during the day and later spent the entire afternoon back at home discussing who did what, who was wearing what, who ate and drank what, etc. This makes me a little nervous, because as I previously wrote, the only other PC people here in my town are four guys, and I’m afraid that to be known as the American girl who is a friend with all the American guys could hurt my reputation here. Women here just don’t have “guy friends” like in the US so hopefully there won’t be too much “chisme” (gossip) that would change anyone’s perception of us.

Otherwise, my experience in my new town thus far has been pretty calm and overall very positive. I went with my host mother to mass on Sunday morning, which lasted a few hours and was interesting to experience. Then, we met the rest of her family and spent the entire rest of the day hanging out at the home of her sister and the sister’s family. From 11:30 am to 7:30 pm, we stayed inside the house and just chatted and sat around. It was fun to hang out with the cute babies, dance to marimba music, and eat a big lunch, but I kind of felt like I was going to lose it, while at the same time happy beyond words to be spending time with nice people who so graciously accepted me into their family. I felt simultaneously lost and included, not knowing most of who and what they were talking about, but so thankful to have been taken under their wing. The families that host Peace Corps trainees do so really out of pure interest in knowing an American and for their belief in the Peace Corps cause, as they are paid about $6/day, in exchange for three meals a day, a room, and to do our laundry.

Another really interesting thing is the diversity of the six communities in which the 33 of us PC trainees were split into is just one example of the tremendous diversity of this small country. Within a one hour radius, some of us are in hotter climates, others in cold, some are in indigenous (Mayan) communities, others are ladino (mixed Indian and Spanish races). It’s so incredible how different towns are so close yet with such variation (a Cheltenham vs. Abington or Arlington vs. Bethesda comparison just can’t measure up!)

My current host family’s home is significantly more comfortable, by American standards, than that of my first temporary host family, but in reality, I hope to not write about all that so much because it’s irrelevant to my overall Peace Corps experience. I know that I will encounter many wonders and challenges here despite the fact if my home has running water or not. Although I will happily say that the chickens in the backyard that crow throughout the evening in such a horrible screeching that you’d think they were being tortured provided me with some delicious eggs this morning.

A few other comments:
- People here are completely confused by my name, which as a noun means “face” or as an adjective means “expensive” in Spanish. When I explain that it’s an Italian name that means “loved one”, or “querido” en espanol, they are even more confused as to why I have an Italian name but no Italian heritage. The family wanted to call me by my middle name (Alyse, which translates better to Alicia) but luckily that idea quickly faded!
- The women in the family asked me if it’s safe to use tampons and if they “get stuck or lost”.
- People here are extremely hardworking and maintain a sense of family and community that Americans could learn a lot from.
- I went to Antigua today for the first time and stocked up on some essentials - chocolate, hand soap, and a cell phone! Feel free to call or text me anytime! From the US, dial 011-502-5803-6240.

I will share more stories and updates soon!

First Post from Guatemala!

Wow – I am now in Guatemala and so much has happened and it has been such a week of many emotions that it is hard to decide how to even start writing. But here goes…

On my second day in Guatemala, I went to brush my teeth before bedtime and saw a cockroach hanging out on the bristles. I wanted to kick myself for forgetting to wrap my toothbrush in paper, and quickly ran outside to the pila (cement outdoor sink) to douse it with water and try and forget it ever happened. Then, I returned inside and finally had the chance to open the surprise package that my amazing sister-in-law snuck into my luggage. WOW…words simply cannot describe my amazement of all the letters she had collected from my family and friends. The words of advice, wisdom, encouragement, and humor put the hugest smile on my face – I know this will certainly help me through some tough times, like when I’m missing the people that I love, when I feel lonely, and when a giant crawling bug has decided to make a new home on my toothbrush. At some point soon I’ll get around to thanking you all individually, but for now, thank you Steph for orchestrating this amazing surprise! So, onto describing my life in Guatemala for the past five days…

All the Guatemala Peace Corps Trainees met in Washington DC for an intense day-long session orienting us to Peace Corps and what to expect in Guatemala – as well as talk about our own personal expectations, aspirations, and anxieties. It was interesting to learn of the same thoughts that we shared (such as worries about being an effective volunteer) and those that we didn’t necessarily share (like someone’s fear of falling off a cliff, or being burnt by lava from the active volcanoes in the country). Anyway, one sleepless night and a few hours later, we landed in Guatemala City, were greeted by Peace Corps staff, and made our way to Santa Lucia Milpas Altas, where the PC HQ is located. After some more meetings, we were off to our temporary host families. I lived three days with two other trainees in the home of a local woman and her family, which consisted of six kids, one son in law, and one granddaughter. It was really a packed house and I felt rather guilty about being there, although PC does pay the families to host and feed us, knowing that we were taking up precious room and resources (like water and bathroom time) in this home. However, the family was very kind and generous to us. Our last night there was spent playing soccer and basketball with my 9 year old host brother. Dad, you would have been proud of my soccer skills, which haven’t been utilized since about the 6th grade. While living in this home, I took my first bucket baths – you all who know me and how slow I am to get ready in the morning would be floored by how quick I was! It’s amazing how much of a time (and water!) saver bucket bathing us! I’d recommend you all try it at least once just to experience what it’s like :)

During these three days, PC has us stay close to HQ with local families so that we can spend the entire day in the offices in different trainings and sessions. During this time, we had Spanish language interviews and were separated into language classes based on program area (mine is Municipal Development – half our group of 33 is Sustainable Agriculture) and on language ability. My class consists of me and four other male trainees (probably the first time EVER that I have been outnumbered by guys – cough cough, AU and Partners of the Americas!) So, today, each class was relocated to live in different communities for the next three months. While it is sad to not be all 33 of us in a group together in the same community, especially after we were finally getting to know each other, it is better this way so that we have more of a chance to know a different community and begin fine-tuning the skills we’ll need to be successful volunteers once out on our own in our sites. Since I just arrived here today, I’ll write more about my training community in a later blog post to focus more on other things since my arrival…

I have been thoroughly impressed by the amount of work that PC Guatemala has done to orient and train us. There are training officers, language teachers, medical officers, security officers, you name it, meeting with us constantly to make sure we have a safe, healthy, and effective Peace Corps experience. For example, the medical officers spent about two hours discussing dehydration and diarrhea with us yesterday (don’t be too jealous). But seriously, I feel so comfortable here knowing that they are going to take such good care of us and in all honesty, I’ll probably never again have such good medical care.

They have also discussed many things that I have found helpful to remain grounded and motivated. Like to be able to reach the level of mutual understanding and respect required to be a successful volunteer requires giving up personal liberties (like not wearing flip flops in public, refraining from alcohol, or going jogging alone). But instead of looking at what we are missing, we should look at what we are gaining. Such as, when else will we be living among the poor communities of another country? No matter what we do after this, we will likely never be living this way again. And no matter how poor we think we are for these next 27 months, we still live better than the average Guatemalan – so embrace the differences, the simplified life, and just deal with it.

Some other things I have learned so far:
- 95.5% of Peace Corps volunteers report gastrointestinal problems within their first year of service (which likely means that 4.5% are just plain liars!)
- The ways in which people are robbed on the public buses and how to semi avoid it (but at least the bus only cost 12 cents!)
- Guatemalan babies are treated like adults (not under the eagle eye of their parents every two seconds, are spoken to like grown-ups, and seemingly behave a whole lot better than American kids)
- People light firecrackers at all hours of the day no matter the occasion. (any cause for celebration? Let’s wake up the neighborhood at 4 am and alert them!)
- Guatemalans take these beans and tortillas really seriously! Luckily, I find it all very delicious.
- Ways to be engaging and participatory in everything we do. This is a dramatic change from the US. For example, what would be the use in giving a power-point training to a room full of adults if they have never had a formal education and can’t read? We need to adapt our ways of thinking and communicating so that we can reach people on a basic level (and thus make them actually care what we do).
- Guatemalan society is very formal and conservative, which somewhat surprised me (like how they don’t greet with a beso (kiss) here. Working with so many Latin Americans, it’s something that I’m really used to so it is a bit different for me to not do that)
- I believe in God (while this may or may not really be true, our training director began our host family orientation session by saying “You believe in God.” When we were all like, “huh? No, not necessarily…”, he was like, “NO. You believe in God. If you want to be accepted here, you believe in God, regardless of what your actual religion is. Saying that you don’t is one of the most offensive things you could ever say to a Guatemalan”)

Anyway, I’m sorry to write such a long and scattered post, so much has happened in the past few days that it’s impossible to express it all here, and I am with many emotions but really happy to be here. As was written in my Uncle Lloyd’s letter, “success is not a destination but a journey” – probably the most important thing to keep in mind as I begin this journey here!

Muchos saludos,
Cara















Arrival in DC with life for the next 2 years packed into two bags















the main drag in Santa Lucia Milpas Altas
















The iglesia in Santa Lucia Milpas Altas (Peace Corps HQ Town)


































Taking a break with some other trainees at PC HQ














after playing soccer with my host brothers















With my Spanish Teacher, Chepe