Adventures in Alta Verapaz

Recently, life has just been really fun. I just returned home from a bunch of traveling, which was adventurous, exhilarating, and enough to make me not want to travel until the end of June when we have In-Service Training and the Peace Corps Guatemala legendary 4th of July party (which will be conveniently held on July 3rd, since our lovely PC/G Administration doesn’t want to work on a Sunday). I somehow spent my entire monthly living allowance by May 12th, but everything I’ve done this month has been absolutely worth it. I traveled to Coban, one of Guatemala’s larger cities, located in the northern, drizzly department of Alta Verapaz, to run my first international half marathon, as well as see the well-known tourist destination of Semuc Champey and also to visit a fellow Muni PCV in his site. The adventure started out here in my apartment in Chiantla, where I managed to pack a week’s worth of clothes and such into a backpack. I would not consider myself a high-maintenance person necessarily, but for those of you who know me, it was an impressive feat nonetheless. And makes me wonder what I even used to bring in that overstuffed duffel bag on those weekend trips I often used to make from DC to NYC. Although after a full week of wearing the same jeans to party, travel in the back of pickups, and hike through jungles, I think my lesson learned is to bring two pairs of pants next time.

Anyway, the race: the Coban Half Marathon is a renowned race, both nationally and internationally, and draws a lot of runners and tourism to Coban. While Coban is a great city, I would not say the same for the half marathon. There were literally eight port-o-potties for 4,500 runners. The water stations ran out of water. There were no mile markers along the way. Towards the end, people and cars were all over the course, to the point that we had to ask spectators which way we were supposed to go so that we could find the finish line. It was a mess, and although quite “typical Guatemala” once could say, it was rather shocking to see such disorganization in such a well-known event. But, it was also really fun. It was great to see so many Guatemalan runners and spectators on the street who yelled out lots of positive messages of encouragement, which was a nice contrast to the rather rude men that one normally encounters when attempting a pleasant jog through town. We also received super nice, dri-fit t-shirts, which are always helpful in a majority hand-washing country. I am hoping to run another few races before the year is over, since I will actually have the ability to keep training, as opposed to the past, when finishing a race then welcomes the beginning of winter and I use the cold and snow as an excuse to stay inside and drink hot chocolate for months on end.

The day after the Coban race, I took a vacation day to visit Semuc Champey with some friends. It is best described as Mother Nature’s version of Six Flags Great Adventure. We did a swimming cave tour, which was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. A guide led us through a series of caves in the complete dark, using hand-held candles as our only light source. In some parts, the water was deep enough that we’d have to swim instead of walking/wading through the water, and swimming with a candle in one hand was a challenge that I’d never before encountered. The tour definitely catered to the gringo’s desire for adrenaline rush, by giving us the opportunity to jump through small spaces, climb up a waterfall, and leap off cave ledges into completely dark water below. I actually feel a little scared all over again just writing about it, but it was a truly unique experience that I will never forget!

After experiencing the excitement and rush of the cave tour, our guide lead us out to the river (were we glad to see daylight again!) and as if the pain of bashing our limbs into underwater rocks during the cave tour wasn’t enough, we then jumped off a huge rope swing into the river. This was again a fun and terrifying experience, although less terrifying because at least this time, we could see the water that we were jumping into down below. After falling mostly on my left side and feeling the smack of my abdomen and thighs against the water, I submerged to the surface, assuring that my bathing suit was covering all the right places, and feeling thankful that I had planned the Semuc Champey visit AFTER running 13.1 miles, as doing the opposite would have been disastrous.

We inner-tubed down the river for a few minutes before venturing to visit the limestone pools of Semuc Champey, which is what makes the spot really famous. This part was absolutely gorgeous… and pain free. We swam and relaxed in the pools, and enjoyed the built-in pedicure. See, once you sit still, all these little fish come over and nibble on the dead skin on your feet. I am extremely ticklish which sometimes makes for embarrassing moments at the nail salon, but it felt really cool, and after hearing that people in Japan “pay hundreds” for this weird fish treatment, we really tried to take advantage. After sitting there for an hour, I definitely felt a difference on the bottom of my feet, and especially in this part where I have a mild fungus that the fish really seemed to enjoy (sorry if that grosses some of you out. If it does, you probably shouldn’t consider joining the Peace Corps).

I then traveled to visit another PCV’s site, who lives really far away, knowing that I may not make it back to this part of the country. His site is far, extremely hot (so much so that the gum in my purse literally melted), and as my boss called it, “rústico”, but it was also a really cool place to visit. He lives near a place called the Laguna Lachuá National Park, which is one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen in Guatemala (a that list is continually growing). From the entrance of the park, we hiked for about an hour to reach the lake and campground area, where you stumble out of the jungle into this little nature campsite with cabañas to sleep in and a little kitchen. The lake is perfectly round, turquoise blue, completely untouched by people and boats and garbage. The water was warm and smelled a bit like human sweat, which after noting to my friends, I learned that “Lachuá” is the K’ekchi (Mayan indigenous language spoken in this part of the country) word for warm, smelly water. This appropriately named lake is so clear that you can see all the fish swimming around you. We were also able to see a bit of crocodile swimming around the center of the lake, where luckily nobody ventured to.

We also visited the eco-park of my friend’s sitemate who is an ecotourism volunteer. He told me that the park is unique for its three “lagunitas” which change color according to the season. I couldn’t really picture what that meant until after hiking about 25 minutes through the jungle, we came upon a pink lake. And really, it was pink, almost Pepto-Bismol color, which I found really cool and surprising. During our nature walk, I collected an insane amount of mosquito bites, including bites through my hair and through my long jeans. But besides the pink lake, we saw howler monkeys, a crocodile, and turtles which made the park visit very cool. When we finally left the park and reached a clearing in the jungle, I sighed with relief that the mosquitoes would leave us alone now. And as I am offering some local kids the Trader Joes dried fruit that Mom had sent in a care package, my friend yells “oh s--t” and dives to brush the biting aunts that were swarming my legs. I was standing right on top of an anthill. My first thought was to tear off my pants and shoes, but knowing that would not be culturally appropriate, I just screamed and tried to convince myself that this is not the time to have a breakdown.

The next day, I traveled 11 hours from his site to Antigua, where I reached our Peace Corps favorite hostel and was told that I would be the only one occupying the two-person room that night. I could have hugged the hostel lady; I was so happy to not have to talk to or look at a single person after traveling so long. The next day I woke up, traveled another six hours to get home, and was extremely content to be back in Huehue. However, with every new experience I feel more and more thankful for where I am right now and the opportunity to travel and do cool things like this. And also to see the dramatic contrasts and realities that we PCVs have, living in different parts of the country. For example, in the beginning, Peace Corps warns you about the potential consequences of things like having members of the opposite sex stay with you and buying alcohol in your site. Once I reached my site, I realized that these concerns really don’t apply to me at all, since my town is pretty large for Peace Corps standards, plus there have been PCVs here for years so people are more used to gringos doing things “differently”. However in my friend’s site, I felt more in the spotlight, especially knowing that his neighbors were all asking who were the girls that were staying with him.

I will end this blog with a funny story dedicated to my sister-in-law Stephanie, who recently graduated with her doctorate from Yale and will now continue to rock the world of cancer research. Recently, I was wrapping up my English class, which I teach weekly to the employees of an awesome youth development NGO in town, when the skies opened up and it poured rain. We all sat around and waited it out, which ended up taking a lot longer than normal. So we were bored, poking around on facebook and looking at photos, and I ended up showing them all photos of Andrew and Steph’s wedding, which they were all psyched to see. However, they were totally confused about the concept of the “rehearsal dinner” and could not believe that there is an entire evening dedicated to “wedding ceremony practice and learning how to walk”. It was one of those things where the more I tried to explain, the dumber they just thought gringos are for following this weird tradition. But I suppose that’s what the beauty of cultural exchange is all about…


The Coban 1/2 Marathon
Getting ready the evening before with other PC-G runners. The race company may have screwed up lots of other things, but I loved having my name in huge letters on my number!


Inside the caves


Relaxing in the natural pools of Semuc Champey

Semuc Champey from above
Beautiful Laguna Lachuá
The pink lagoon in Parque Salinas, with a cute turtle resting on the rock in the middle

Almost Nine Months In

A week from today will mark my nine month anniversary of my arrival in Guatemala. While there are no official plans for a nine month celebration, to me it really does feel like a special accomplishment. As much as one can try to research a country, read random PCVs online blogs, talk to people who have visited a place, etc. there is really no way to completely prepare for what Peace Corps is and to live in another country. But all the unexpected and learning process is also what makes moving to another country fun. And challenging. There are certain things I don't think I'd ever be able to completely get used to, like the idea of eating spaghetti with tortillas, and how people give coffee to little kids at nighttime. And there are other things that I can't imagine myself living without...like the current price of mangoes at 15 cents each, having the convenience of little tiendas (stores) every which way you turn your head, knowing nobody would think twice to know I haven't showered in three days, and saying "good morning/good afternoon/good evening" on the street to every single person you see. I think that the experience thus far has without a doubt made me appreciate my life back home, but also has made me appreciate my life here. Whenever I go away for the weekend, I feel like when I return here to Chiantla, I am home. I feel that I am also starting to form more friendships, which has been probably one of my bigger challenges along the way.

The end of March was a really special time for me, because my best friend Becca came to visit, and it was Semana Santa (Holy Week) before Easter! Semana Santa is a really big deal in Guatemala. All over the streets there are processions and alfombras (carpets) made of colored sawdust and flower petals. It is all very dramatic and beautiful. I enjoyed traveling with Becca to Antigua and to Lake Atitlan, but the best part was having her in my site. We went hiking and running, she visited my English and my literacy classes, walked around town and ate "helados locos", which translates to "crazy ice cream"...it is really pineapple juice pops with lots of lime, salt, sugar, and chile. yum!

Only five days after Becca left, my friends Fiorella and Alex arrived. Their itinerary was quite similar, helados locos and everything, except with a "detour" to Tikal, which is a huge national park with really expansive Mayan ruins. It is in the northern part of the country, where it is a flat jungle HOT area...I think I might have even had culture shock, compared to my cool climate in the highlands. Tikal is expensive to get to, but it was either an hour flight or a 15 hour bus ride...so it was well worth spending over half of my living allowance on the flight! But Tikal is really quite incredible. As I said, it is in the middle of a jungle, with absolutely huge temples. There was also some very impressive wildlife, like exotic birds, monkeys, and "coati" which are like raccoon/dog/squirrel kinda creatures. Even though it is a super touristy place, it was well worth the visit. When you're sitting atop Temple V looking out onto the jungle below, you can't help but marvel at how the Mayan people built these structures so long ago.

The best part of my visitors were not the wonderful treats they brought me or having the excuse to visit awesome places with them, but the fact that I was able to share my life here and that they now have an understanding of what Guatemala is like. Alex and Fio, for example, said that visiting my English and literacy classes were their favorite part of the trip, because it's something that one could never do just visiting a country as a tourist. And how Becca helped me pick the theme for my literacy class to go along with the letter "t" (which ended up being "tiempo" with a discussion on how to manage ones' time well). Certain things that I think made the experience really worthwhile for all of us.

Something exciting we did recently in my English class was holding a baby shower for one of my students. I should mention two things: the Guatemalan word for "baby shower" is "baby shower", which is pretty hilarious, and just like in the US, mostly just women attend baby showers in Guatemala. My class consists of two females and seven males, so I think it was a "first" for all of us to have a majority male attendees baby shower. And it was a hysterical experience...I can say now why most baby showers do not invite men :) They got a little physical with all the silly baby-themed games, ran around popping the balloons, forgot to buy gifts, and being in charge of the food, brought nachos and orange soda. But they were also really sweet to Nohemy, the mother-to-be, giving her lots of encouragement and advice, and were so excited to sharing in their first baby shower with her.

Things in my office have been going well, although every week seems to have its different ups and downs. One thing I really miss from my old job was the ability to print whenever I wanted. Given that our Municipal Women's Office doesn't have a budget, nor does the mayor really care about what we do, when we run out of toner and paper, we're kind of s--t out of luck. My coworkers couldn't hardly believe it when I told them that in the states, when you run out of paper or ink, your boss gives you more. Sometimes I can't help but laugh about the differences in the professional environment between the US and Guatemala. In my old job, if you wanted to schedule a meeting, you had to consult everyone's calendars on Microsoft Outlook, and properly send an email with the meeting request, schedule the conference room, etc. Here, you send a little note (like, physically on paper) to everyone, and you are lucky if people show up within an hour of the meeting being scheduled. Most of the time, the note will say "8 o'clock sharp", people always show up around 9:30, then at 10:00 it is time for a 15-30 minute snack break since everyone hasn't eaten since breakfast, and then the meeting might go on for an hour or two before people get hungry again and want to leave to go home for lunch. Whenever I ask myself, "why does it take so long for anything to get accomplished here?!", I almost laugh at myself for wondering.

But on a positive note, my literacy class is excelling pretty well - we have now done all 5 vowels and 7 of the consonants. It is the most incredibe test of my patience to teach this subject. I am constantly repeating what the letters are called, what sound they made, and how to write it. And the women still have a hard time. For example, one woman can't remember what the letter "T" is called, but she does remember that the letter that makes the "t" sound looks like a cross. Although I've started learning little tricks to make it easier. I'm sure that if I were to learn Arabic or Hebrew or another language with a different writing system I would confuse letters that look the same also, like "O" and "D", or forget what they're called and what their sound is.

Another fun thing recently was Earth Day, which a bunch of us in the muni and different environmnental organizations planned an activity for kids. In front of a total of 700 kids (400 in the morning, 300 in the afternoon) I made an ass of myself by singing an environment song and doing a skit with my counterpart to show how water sources, like rivers, become contaminated. So that was really fun, and it was exciting to spend the whole day with kids, which sometimes I enjoy a lot more than working with adults (shh). We are going to plan another environment day activity in early June, so hopefully we can learn from this day and improve on the activities we did.

I hope that everyone back at home is doing well and enjoying springtime, which makes me homesick to think about, despite how much I hated the DC metro swarming with tourists for cherry blossom season. It's been raining like crazy here, and hopefully one of these days when my house floods, I'll actually take advantage of the opportunity to mop my floors, which my mom hasn't stopped bugging me to do since my parents' visit :) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading and continue to write to me and keep in touch!

P.S. Happy birthday Aaron!
P.P.S. When Becca sends me her pics, I'll post them on the next blog! (hint hint, hehe)


Temple I in Tikal National Park

Climbing down the steps of Temple IV, which was almost as terrifying as my first skydiving trip

Amazing view out over the jungle from the top of Temple V

A typical tourist shot, but I couldn't resist. Temple I is probably the most photographed site in all of Guatemala.

With my friends Alex and Fiorella on the day they arrived in Guate...celebrating with cold cervezas at the lake

My English students competing at one of the games - to feed your "baby" blindfolded. It got kind of violent at the end!

Nohemy at her baby shower!

Creating alfombras in the street

The cemetery in Huehue, so colorful!

The ladies in my literacy class, with "N" which was the letter of the day

The sound of Howler Monkeys at Tikal National Park

Yesterday, I had my blog entry all mentally planned, and even knew how I wanted to start it. But then today, I was in a pickup riding behind a bus, and a crate of chickens fell off the top of the bus and crashed onto the ground. Obviously, the ayudante (bus driver assistant) did not do too good of a job (or at all of a job) tying the crate down to the top of the bus. The chickens were squawking like crazy and feathers were flying all over. It was a rather comical and disturbing scene. Yet, typical Guatemala. Nothing ever really goes as planned, but it does all work out okay!

It has been an extremely fun-filled and adventurous past few weeks. First, with the 10-day visit of my parents, which was very fun. They arrived in Guatemala City and we spent the weekend enjoying Antigua, including a tour of a coffee farm coincidentally called “Filadelfia”, visiting a butterfly conservatory, trying traditional food, seeing pre-Easter/Holy Week processions in the street, enjoying restaurants I’d never normally have money to eat at, and marveling at the McDonalds’ beautiful gardens and tableside service (fast food in Guatemala is expensive to eat, unlike in the states, and it is a status thing to be able to eat food here, hence why the nasty greasy establishments are super high class here). Then, they spent five days in my town, which was a great experience. The Chiantlecos and Chiantlecas that I’ve come to know in my 4.5 months here embraced them warmly, and my parents were able to get a taste of my daily life: buying produce in the market, working at the muni, dodging crazy drivers, washing clothes in the pila, napping on my rooftop hammock, taking the bus up the cumbre, bucket bathing when the water gets cut off, etc. Finally, we spent the last leg of the trip at beautiful Lake Atitlan, where we stayed at the most gorgeous hotel I’ve ever been to in my whole life. It is cut right into the mountain on the lake, and up a steep hill – every room has a spectacular view of the lake and volcanoes, and the food was awesome. I really appreciated my parents’ visit and effort to come to Guatemala, and how open-minded they were about everything they saw here. It was definitely a test of my patience at times, and I felt a complete parent-child role reversal…I’d constantly be like, “where are you going? Who are you talking to? What are you saying? Why are you getting off the bus? Sit down right here!” Plus, having to read the menus, translate everything for them, I feel like it was definitely an interesting dynamic.

Right after my parents left, we celebrated International Women’s’ Day. This day is something I barely knew about in the US, but throughout all Guatemala there were celebrations for women – and with good reason. The women here have it TOUGH – not only because their lives are difficult in their daily labors, but also how they are so devalued in society. Here in Chiantla, we did a parade through the streets, a motivational talk to our women’s groups leaders, and had a nice little concert. The following day, there was an event in Huehue city that was also really nice. In the US, I take my liberties as a woman for granted and most of the time, barely even notice a gender difference or inequalities in gender. But it is really important to recognize that most women in Guatemala, and the world for that matter, do live with tremendous discrimination and deserve a day (or every day, for that matter) to celebrate their gender, and contribution and importance in society.

Two weekends ago, I visited one of the most incredible places I’ve ever seen in my life: Volcan Tajamulco, which is the biggest volcano in Guatemala and the highest point in all of Central America. Seven other friends were also crazy enough to want to hike the thing and spend the evening on the top (and three of the seven were crazy enough to be doing it for the second time!). As much as I love the outdoors, I have very limited camping experience, but this will be hard to beat. We hiked from the base of the volcano up to the top, reaching an altitude of 13,850 feet. I felt like I was literally gasping for air the entire way, and could barely take more than baby steps the whole time…probably the reason that it took us 5 hours to hike what is the equivalent of two miles. However, the views at every single point during the hike were absolutely breathtaking. Seeing the surrounding mountains and villages, and finally reaching a point where we were looking down on a layer of puffy white clouds, and FINALLY, at four in the morning, when we woke up to hike the rest of the summit in the pure dark, we saw the sunrise and the entire landscape of Guatemala and the neighboring part of Mexico, and a dozen of Guatemala’s spectacular volcanoes off in the distance. Perhaps it was the lack of oxygen to my brain, but I could feel tears forming when I thought about where I was standing at that moment and how opportunities to do things like climb the highest place in Central America make the whole Peace Corps experience totally worth it when I am frustrated with work, missing home, and craving some good pad thai.

In fact, there are many times that I am still surprised about how different my life is here and how I’ve changed with respect to that. An example: recently, a neighboring PCV’s brother was visiting, and she wanted to make a trip to a spot in my municipality called Laguna Magdalena. This lake is situated in the mountains, three hours from my house in the centro urbano of my town, on a very steep and rocky unpaved road. We drove three hours there and three hours back in the back of a pickup truck, and spent a total of 1.5 hours at the actual lake. Now, three hours is the distance driving between Philadelphia and Washington DC, a trip I did very often, and I would get so antsy and impatient to just “get there already”. I cannot imagine ever having driven home to PA from DC just for a 1.5-hour visit! But here, it feels like not a big deal at all.

I have a lot to look forward to in the next few weeks, including the arrival of my best friend Becca next week, then Fiorella and Alex soon after, the beginning of rainy season which means my water probably won’t get cut off so often, work being rather busy lately, and a half marathon which I just signed up for in the city of Coban. It is a nice 700 meters below my town in altitude, so hopefully it will feel rather easy despite the fact that I’ve been a huge exercise slacker lately.

Finally, I’d like to make a shoutout to Tricia, another Huehue PCV who just returned to the states to have knee surgery. Tricia – we miss you and can’t wait for you to recover and get back soon!



Mayan ruins in my town that I recently saw for the first time
The bus ayudante putting the fallen crate of chickens back atop the bus

International Womens Day celebration
School girls in the Chiantla International Womens Day parade
My mom with my counterpart Rosario's adorable baby boy

Mom and Dad at the luxurious gardens in...the McDonalds in AntiguaaView from halfway up Volcan Tajamulco

On the top of the volcano, watching the sunset. The view shows all of Guatemala's volcanoes in the distance, surrounded by a sheet of clouds
As the sun rose, the shadow of the volcano on which we were standing was cast onto the sky below
So glad to finally be at the top (and freezing!)
After a bit (or few hours) of hiking, we were above the cloud line looking down below on it

At the base of the mountain, about to begin the adventureAnd at the end, exhausted and excited for a shower, but thrilled to have finished it and spent the weekend on top of the highest point of Central America!

Reconnect

I just returned from six entire days away from my site, which felt like a short eternity (I know that’s an oxymoron, but whatever). On Tuesday, my entire training group reunited in good old Santa Lucia Milpas Altas (the town where the Peace Corps Guatemala Headquarters is, between Antigua and Guatemala City) for “Reconnect”, which is when Peace Corps brings us together after three-ish months in site for, yes you guessed it, reconnecting. We shared our successes and frustrations in site, which at first I was afraid would just turn into a day-long session of complaining, but in actuality it was a really nice day that left me feeling energized and hopeful about things that have frustrated or stressed me out at work and about Peace Corps life in general. I found myself appreciating my training group friends more than I ever had before, as we were able to offer each other good advice and support, and commiserated about things that drove us crazy about Guatemalan society and working in the municipalities (Disrespectful men yelling catcalls on street? Check. Corrupt and unsupportive mayors? Check. Lazy and unwilling coworkers? Check. Firecrackers going off at all hours of the evening? Check.) In the same room where we’d sit every Tuesday during training for the first two and a half months of Peace Corps Guatemala, the place where we were bombarded with information about parasites and diarrhea and bus robberies and the Guatemalan civil war and “being culturally sensitive”, my fellow Muni PCV gave a wonderful speech that made me reflect a lot on my service thus far and how I’ve changed since arriving to Guatemala. During training, all I could often think about during our various sessions was what my future in this country would be like. Now that I’m in my site and working, that question still remains but with a lot more things certain. I’ve definitely become more independent, patient, and appreciative of relationships, whether with my family or friends back home or here in Guatemala. I feel like I can at times be harsh on myself about how much I’ve accomplished so far (or not accomplished), in terms of work, cultural integration, etc, but as my friend noted in his speech, we have only completed 14% of our service, so we have to cut ourselves some slack too.

Without a doubt, the best part of Reconnect was the PACA t-shirt contest. You may recall from previous blog posts my explanation of how Guatemalans buy used clothing from the US at very cheap stores called PACAs (I don’t know what it stands for) and how you often see Guatemalans wearing t-shirts with ridiculous English phrases on them, and they don’t have a clue what the shirts say. So a few months before Reconnect, I emailed my whole training group (30 people) that we should have a PACA t-shirt contest and whoever had the most ridiculous shirt would win a prize (my delicious chocolate chip banana bread). Well, I was thrilled that people got really into it; I’d say about half my group was sporting the shirts on the day of Reconnect. The best part is that during training, Peace Corps is always lecturing us about dressing professionally - not wearing flip flops to the Center or to work, dressing conservatively, maintaining ourselves looking clean and well-groomed (easier said that done, especially for my friends without running water), etc. So the fact that we all show up with these shirts saying things like “Stop Picturing Me Naked” and “Looking At A Memorable One-Night Stand” was pretty hilarious. Everyone submitted two votes, and the winner was one of my fellow Muni volunteers, who found a black shirt with a hot pink unicorn that said “I’m Horny”. See photos for more fun t-shirt entries :) (I'm posting the link to my facebook album with the pics because my internet is too slow right now to upload them to the blog - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2187359&id=7400486&l=1d4cd8b2dc)

After Reconnect, I had some meetings at the Peace Corps center and doctors appointment in Antigua, which made it convenient for me to stay around Antigua all weekend and spend way too much money and enjoy the company of some friends. Then, I headed to the beach for the weekend in the southeastern part of the country. We rented a really nice house close to the beach and enjoyed some pool/sun/extreme laziness for the weekend. This particular beach is not at all touristy, so we were pretty much the only ones there, which was great. But you know how leaving your home always makes you appreciate it? Well, despite how awesome the beach weekend was, I really appreciated Chiantla after being there. I used to think I wanted to live in a hot site, but this part of the country was over 100 degrees and humid, so it made me thankful for the weather that I have here in the mountains. And although I’ve been suffering from fleas pretty much since I arrived, I really appreciated my fleas after being devoured by mosquitoes all weekend. Plus, after traveling 11 hours by bus/micro/boat/taxi made me really happy to be home in general.

So that’s the latest for now. I’m happy to report that things are still pretty busy at work, and that my parents arrive in Guate this weekend, which is very exciting. I hope that you all are doing well back in the states! Please continue to keep me updated….it really makes the distance feel a lot shorter :)

Six Months Already!?

I can't believe that I have been in Guatemala for six months now (well, on Friday, I will have arrived in country six months ago). It's amazing to think of how much I've learned and how much my life has changed since I arrived here, but also how much I still have to do/learn/accomplish during my time here, which is really flying by (although some days sitting in the office here, I wonder if I will even make it until lunchtime!) 21 months left to go now... :)

I recently started my literacy classes, which are going well. After Wednesday, my students will have learned all the vowels :) Some of the women have had some schooling, and others absolutely none. There is an older woman in my class who can barely hold a pencil. But she and all the others are trying so hard, which really encourages me as well. The literacy program teaches by means of a socio-political method, so that the students learn about important themes along with the letters. For example, I taught the letter "A" by discussing "A for Amor (love)" and what constitues a healthy relationship. And the letter "I" for "Igualdad (equality)" and discussing equality in gender roles. It is really nice to feel like I am "doing something", as compared to many other days during which I literally sit in the office and the women gossip and read the newspaper.

Another fun distraction in Chiantla has been the Feria, which is formally a week long, but there are still vendors and rides even though it ended over a week ago! The Feria is to celebrate the Virgen de Candelaria, who lives here in the Chiantla church :) and all week there are food vendors, games, rides, music, and fireworks going off every night (every night, ALL NIGHT, I should say. It was reallllly annoying) I enjoyed lots of street food, like milkshakes, french fries, pizza, churros, tacos... and went on the giant ferris wheel once which was a terrifying and exhilirating experience.

The best part of Feria was: on Saturday, my boyfriend and I went out for a jog, and this guy starts running alongside next to us, and telling us that on that Tuesday, there would be a 12 KM race, which they do every year on the most important day of Feria, and that they needed more women to enter in the race. Even though I have not been running hardly at all since New Years due to cold weather and laziness, I decided to give it a shot, for lack of better things to do on my day off :) So on Tuesday morning I show up to run, there were only two other females in the race of about 25 participants. The flag went down indicating the start, and everyone took off sprinting. Well, being the "seasoned runner" that I am, I figured they would all run out of energy after a few minutes. That was completely not the case - I was behind the entire time, lost sight of everyone, and the only one that followed me was the muni ambulence guy, who had to follow the last person in the race. So after a little over an hour, I came across the finish line, where the race directors and all the participants were waiting for me to finish so that they could conclude the race. But the best part was that despite finishing the absolute last place, I won THIRD PRIZE for the womens' category!! This included a 50 quetzal cash prize and a huge boost to my self-esteem - plus a good story to boot. And 50 quetzales (about six dollars) may not seem like a lot, but it's enough money for me to eat a nice dinner here, or travel on the bus to Antigua, or spend a night at Lake Atitlan, so it was kind of a big deal!

So what else...I recently found a sweet pool in my town, only 15 min away, which will be nice now that the weather is warming up a lot. I also had a party for the Superbowl with other Huehue area PCVs, which was fun. We pigged out on lots of junk food and watched the game with Spanish commentary. Since I never cared too much for football, it was disappointing that the Guate channel aired mostly Mexican commercials, so I couldn't even enjoy those like I usually do. But it was fun to hang out with everyone regardless. This month will be much busier with work, travel to Antigua for meetings at Peace Corps, a weekend beach trip coming up, and my parents' arrival at the end of the month!

This blog post is dedicated to 1) Fiorella and Alex, who booked their tickets to come visit in April, 2) Aaron Weiss, who is always demanding more frequent blog entries, and 3) Alaina, Stefanie, and Aaron, which whom I video-chatted with this past weekend. A great way to keep in touch and it's FREE - so anyone who has a computer and camera and/or microphone, let's make a date!



On the Feria Ferris WheelKeeping on the family tradition of Superbowl wagers
View of the Cuchumatanes mountain chain from the top of the Ferris Wheel
The kids of the women of my Literacy class. They decorated posters of the "letters of the day" while their moms looked in the newspapers for the letters to identify and circle
Feria treats for sale
The inside of the church with a million candles lit for the Virgen de Candelaria
Selling candles outside
My race number and prize money!

Feliz Año Nuevo!

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!


La Virgen de Candelaria, on the back of the truck
People literally hanging off the muni to watch the dancers
Chapin Michael Jackson!
More costumed dancers

GLOW Campers and PCVs
GLOW Camp Talent Show
Learning how to properly put on a condom (on a banana)
The girls in my bunk! They pushed the beds together at night because it was sooo cold!
Roasting marshmallows.
Giving the Domestic Violence workshop with my counterpart
Ice Breaker activity
With other PCVs at Lake Atitlan, watching the sunrise...definitely worth waking up at 5 am!
Beautiful volcanoes surrounding Lake Atitlan