Cara Piedras Guatemala: January 2010

Despite pressure/encouragement from friends and family back home to update my blog regularly, I am disappointed to just now have my first post of the New Year. It’s not for lack of things to write, but more because of pure laziness. I think that the chill and tranquilo Guatemalan lifestyle has definitely infiltrated my way of life, making me lazy about mostly everything; bathing, cleaning my apartment, washing clothes, exercise, cooking. I’ve even been too lazy to watch TV lately. But besides being completely “huevona” (chapin for “lazy”) these days, life is pretty great. I had a wonderful New Years, which I spent at beautiful Lake Atitlan, a crater lake surrounded my mountains and volcanoes - one of the must-see places in Guatemala. The main town on the lake is called Panajachel, but the lake is surrounded by lots of little towns that you can travel back and forth by public boat (kind of reminded me of Venice in that sense, except replace the well-dressed Italians with gringo hippies and Kakchiquel-speaking Guatemalans). A bunch of my training-group friends and I stayed at an awesome hostel in Santa Cruz La Laguna, which was a great place to relax, catch up, and eat good food. Unfortunately I was feeling rather ill the whole time, but the trip consisted mostly in laying around in hammocks anyway, so I couldn’t have chosen a better place to have a fever and respiratory infection for four days, plus it prevented me from drinking = big money saver! :) It was definitely strange to be in a place where there were so many tourists, after living in Huehuetenango for 2.5 months now where the only gringos I ever see are other PCVS, college alternative break-ers, or missionaries. It made me angry when we would get overcharged for things like food and boat rides at the lake, but also makes me realize how much I’ve gotten used to standing out, when back in a situation where I blend in with other people who look more similar to me (or according to Guatemalans at least!).

Right before we rang in 2010, I had my quarter-century birthday in Guatemala! It was a very nice and low-key day, and in the evening, I celebrated my 25 years of existence on earth with some other PCVs and ladies from the muni and local NGOs, with a “fiesta de traje” (potluck). Many thanks to everyone for the phone calls, emails, and well wishes – it all meant a lot to me!

Last week, I coordinated an activity that will for sure be one of the highlights of my service. It was a camp for 30 adolescent girls called GLOW (Girls Leading Our World, or “Estrellas de Hoy”, en español). GLOW is a Peace Corps global program, and the volunteer that I replaced in Chiantla had been working hard to organize a camp that wasn’t able to take place during the timeframe that she was still here, so it was one of the first projects that I jumped into when arriving in site. Given my previous work with youth, it couldn’t have been more of a perfect project to get involved in, so I feel really fortunate for having fallen into it. Nine other PCVs came into Chiantla to assist with implementing the camp, and we conducted workshops dealing with self-esteem, reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, citizen participation, small business development, nutrition and exercise, among others, and with fun activities like a scavenger hunt, t-shirt tie-dying, talent show and of course, campfire s’mores, which none of the girls had ever done before. We invited señoritas from all over my municipality, including girls from really rural communities in extreme poverty – it was shocking to me that two of the 16 year-olds who attended had never even been to the Chiantla town center before. The camp was a huge success, minus the fact that it was three of the coldest days I’ve felt in Guatemala, and we were able to reach the girls on some very important issues. Something that has shocked me in Guatemala, especially in rural areas, is how females are so de-valued in society. Machismo, in displays of cat-calls and such on the street is one thing, but families pulling their daughters out of school and getting married at very young ages is a completely different story. Through workshops and games, we were able to communicate to the girls that women are not born to “tortillear” (make tortillas) and have as many children as their husband thinks they should have, that a man controlling the family finances and demanding to receive all income is a form of domestic violence, and talked about subjects that are not taught in any public spaces, like how the female body works and forms of contraception. It made me feel really good that the girls were comfortable to ask questions openly, because they never receive any type of health or sexual education in school – things like “Is it OK to bathe with cold water when on your period?” and “Can having sex when you're pregnant make you have twins/become double pregnant?” En fin, it was a really great experience and I am looking forward to continuing to developing a relationship with the girls who participated and helping them to conduct their own workshops and projects in their towns – part of their responsibility for now being “Estrellas de Hoy” after the camp ended. And hopefully, I’ll be able to help other PCVs do GLOW camps in their sites too!

Now that the camp is over, work in my office is starting to pick up. We will soon begin our “trabajo comunitario”, or community visits, to our women’s groups and training them on various things (citizen participation, domestic violence, how to apply for development projects like water tanks, etc). We will also be doing campaigns to get the women to register to vote, which I am really excited about. Another big project coming up is planning a “jornada medica” (medical mission) for a rural community that lacks access to medical services.

Chiantla is also in the midst of preparing for Feria, which takes place in two weeks. It will be a weeklong party and celebration of la Virgen de Candelaria. This past Sunday, the first event took place leading up to the commencement of Feria, which consisted in a flatbed truck parading the Virgin through the streets of the municipality, followed by a bunch of men dancing in costume. It was a truly remarkable and entertaining experience. There are few words to describe, so just enjoy the photos and video clip!

Please keep the emails and blog comments coming, it is really nice to know people back home are actually reading!