Mackenzie's Peace Corps Adventure- Guatemala Style

All good things must come to an end...

2009-11-03T05:05:00.000-08:00

After having spent two years living and working in San Martin Jilotepeque, Chimaltenango, Guatemala, I now call it home. It has been a tremendous two years, many things, good and bad, have happened! I have experienced numerous things I never thought I would get to do but I have also experienced difficulties. Through it all I have been extremely content with my life, it has been full of friendship, love, laughter, heartache and pain but realizing that my life can be full and rich with no more than a cinder block house, a cement floor, running water for an hour a day and less than $300 a month was the ultimate experience.

As I say good bye to the place and the people that have become my home and family, I am reflecting on what I have learned, how I have changed and what I have experienced. The following are some of things I have learned…
Patience
Humility
Genuine Generosity
Loneliness
Happiness
Needs vs. Wants
Coffee grows on a tree
Friendships transcend cultural differences
I love doing laundry by hand
Cooking
A love of fresh fruits and vegetables
Nothing is ever as it seems
To relax (most of the time)
Spanish
I am not always right (hehe)

Some things I have done…
Hiked a volcano and felt the heat of flowing lava
Ran a marathon
Picked, processed, roasted and ground coffee
Hike for three days in the mountains of Guatemala
Went to Panama and Honduras
Scaled ancient Mayan temples at Tikal
Burned my feet on the black volcanic sand of the Guatemalan beaches
Pooped my pants
Built 15 improved wood burning stoves (with the help of family and friends)
Formed some amazing friendship (with both volunteers and Guatemalans)

How have I changed:
This may come as a surprise but I have become much more laid back…I can go with the flow more often than not! I have realized that you live one life and you should do the things you want to do. Family and friends are the most important thing in life and nothing should stand in the way of that! Simplicity has given me a rare gift, the gift of being content. Over the last two years there have been very few things that I have desired or lusted after. Although my shower wasn’t always hot, at least I had a shower. Although my toilet didn’t always flush at least it wasn’t a latrine. Although my clothes were always damp and musty during the rainy season at least they were clean. There are a lot more “althoughs” so I guess what I am trying to say is that I have learned the difference between a want and a need. I want a hot shower or I want a flushable toilet but I need other things more. I am a different person than when I came but I wonder how this different person will fit into life in the States!

There are a number of things I am going to miss:
Tortillas – the intoxicating sound of women making tortillas
Beans
The kids I have watched learn to walk and talk
Drunk guy on the corner by my house
Market days
Fijase que – expression used to prefaces something bad
Saber – Who knows
Puliki (sp?) – the best food in the world
My brother, sisters, and my host mom and dad- they are amazing, loving and generous people
Someone driving me everywhere – aka the bus drivers
My volunteer friends who remain, Candy, Rachel and Kate – you have been amazing friends Thank you
All of the women who became my friends and confidants- to you I am truly grateful
The parties everyone throws for anything and everything
Running on the dirt roads outside of town

What I have to learn again:
How to use utensils – a tortilla is not longer going to be my fork, spoon and knife
Chu chu is not an except able form of communication
I cannot wag my finger at someone to tell them NO
No longer can I go three days without a shower
To throw toliet paper in the toliet
I must wear clothes that do not have holes in them
I can no longer speak Spanglish
I cannot talk in circles until someone understands my point
I can no longer be an hour late and still be early
No longer is reading a book in my hammock an expectable form of work

The lists can go on and on but this gives you some idea of what has happened over the last two years. Thank you to all who have read my blog, written me emails, facebooked me or have kept me in your thoughts, it means more to me than I can express.

I hope that you all have learned something about Guatemala and Peace Corps through my blogs. Although many of my entries have been uninspired I hope that each of you find your own way to contribute to the great global good, through service within your own community or in other communities across the nation and world.

I remember people telling me that when you leave you will feel like you have gained more than you have done…I always wondered if that was going to be true for me but it is! I have received more kindness, love, friendship and knowledge than I could have ever hoped to give. It is truly amazing how someplace so different can become so right, a place to call home.

As I board the plane tomorrow I know I will be excited but right now it feels like I am leaving my home, San Martin Jilotepeque, Guatemala.

Running, Running, Running

2009-08-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

I completed one of my life goals two weeks ago…I ran a marathon. I really ran it, no walking, not say I didn’t want to! The marathon was in Panama City, Panama. It was hot and humid even at the 5 am start. It was not a very big marathon but it was a great first marathon. There were a lot of international runners, including some Peace Corps volunteers from Costa Rica. My friend Rachel, who convinced me to run in the first place, started out together but got separated for most of the race which was a bummer. The first 30 km or 18 miles were ok, I felt good and kept a pretty good pace. Mile 19 I hit what they call the Wall, it was about 9 am and the temperature was rising, the roads were not blocked off that well so I was dodging cars, buses, all the rush hour traffic you would expect in a big city. There were few people along the last 6 miles so it was hard to keep going. Even though there were water stops every km I was so dehydrated that my joints started to hurt. I have never been so glad to finish anything in my life….but I have to say I cannot wait to do it again. It is addicting, wanting to know if you can beat your time, what is another course like, etc.!

There was a surprise waiting my friend and I at the end of the race…we placed 9th for international women! YAY! Now that will be hard to beat!

Panama City, is like no other place in Central America. It has the feeling of a major city in the United States, high rises, lots of cars, major shopping malls, and you can drink water from the tap along with flushing your toilet paper, weird!

I trained for 4 months, running almost everyday! I am known in my town as the gringa that runs. I have numerous people who come up to me and ask me if I am going to run today or why I run. It is one of the most difficult things to explain to Guatemalans, that I like to run for fun because most of think I am nuts! It is funny though because I feel like I know the people along my running routes even though we only exchange good mornings or adios!

The last couple of months have been crazy…my cooperative final became legal, I went to the Bay Islands Honduras, my parents visited and I am down to about two months left, WOW, time flies! I am going to try to update my blog as best as I can from the last few months.

Carolyn's Visit

2009-06-08T15:13:00.000-07:00

Last week I welcomed one of my best friends, Carolyn, to Guatemala! It is amazing what friendships can endure. We had not seen each other for almost 22 months but once she got here it seemed like we had never been apart or that our lives had not dramatically changed over the last two years.

We did the normal tour of Guatemala, the lake, Antigua, my site…but it never ceases to amaze me how each person sees the same things so differently. Each person has things that fascinate them or are more perceptive of certain things. I felt at times like a bad host because things seem so normal to me that I forget to explain to my guest what is going on or what to do. For example I just assume everyone knows how a chicken bus works. You get on, sit down and wait for the guy to pass by so you can pay him. Or how do you know which buses to take. But I rationalize that it is just like moving to a new city, you figure it out and that is that, the only difference is the language.

We had a great time sightseeing, hanging out and catching up. Although I have loved my time in the Peace Corps and would never change my decision for anything, I am ready to get back to the United States so that I am able to have my family and friends back in my life on a regular basis. Thanks for coming Carolyn, it meant a lot to be able to share my experience with you!

Cheese

2009-06-08T14:58:00.000-07:00

One of the many advantages of serving in Guatemala is the amazing opportunities that we have to see so much of this amazing country. Recently a group of us set out on one of the most amazing hikes I have ever done. We hike the 25 miles between Todo Santos, Huehuetenango and Nebaj, Quiche. The hike took two days and took us through some very remote parts of northwestern Guatemala. We began our hike in an area called the Cumbre, or the peak. It looks like Ireland, or at least what the pictures of Ireland look like. Gently rolling green hills, stone walls, and roaming sheep stretch for as far as the eye can see. The difference is that there is no running water here so you see women carrying loads of water on their heads while their children trail behind with buckets in each hand.

As we wander along the path we came upon little kids who scammered away with looks of terror on their faces and herds of sheep grazing from green patch to green patch. It continues to amazing that in this tiny country, no bigger than Tennessee there can be such a wide variety of landscape and culture. The first day hike entails hiking down one side of a mountain and up the other side. I am not exaggerating when I say mountain, it was a two and half hour hike straight up and by the end I did not think my legs would take me any farther. At the top of the mountain we encountered the weirdest landscape I have ever seen. I would imagine this to be what the world would look like in a sci-fi movie where the world has been deserted for hundreds of years. It was covered with odd rock formations and sporadic trees, giving it an eerie feeling. We hiked for about three hours without passing another human. Knowing you are all alone is a strange feeling, one I don’t think I have ever experienced before!

We spent our first night in a tiny village which consisted of about 10 houses. The nearest road or form of transport was a four hour walk away. The thoughts that kept running through my head were; what if something happens how do they get medical attention, how do they get food all the way out here, I can barely carry my basket of food a half a mile from the market to my house and what do you do for fun. I have to say that I have been in some pretty poor homes but the house where we ate dinner has to the poorest I have ever seen. Even after almost two years of working and living here it still amazes me how people endure.

The second day began with breakfast atop a beautiful lookout over the mountains and valleys that surrounded us. As we descended from our beautiful out look the landscape and environment changed dramatically. No longer were we in the barren waste land but surrounded by lush vegetation and wildlife. As came to the bottom and observed where we had come from I felt an amazing sense of accomplishment. For me this has been a rare feeling over the last year. Although I know I have accomplished something here the fact that the work is never done makes it hard to feel like you have accomplished something. I hope that in the end I can look back say that I feel like I did something!

At the end of the hike there is a wonderful little hotel that makes its own cheese so we settled in for a lovely leisure lunch. As you know I had to buy a pound of this amazing cheese because if there is one thing I truly miss is great cheese!

What you could miss....

2009-06-08T14:44:00.000-07:00

I think last month was the first time in 22 months that I have been here that I did not make a post. I want to think that I have good reason but in all honesty I don’t. So here is the update…

Winter is in full swing here. Yes, you geography buffs don´t start to question your knowledge, Guatemala is in the northern hemisphere but we only have two seasons, rainy and dry, instead of the glorious four you find in most of the United States. The rainy season, or winter, came about a month early this year. To relate this to terms most might understand it is like it snowing in early October in the Midwest, ahhh. I normally do not like the rainy season but this last dry season was so dry that by the end I was suffocating on the dust.

This past month was rather busy with work and pleasure. I finished more stoves, went on a 25 mile hike through the mountains of Huehuetenango and Quiche, had the first General Assembly of the cooperative and had one of my best friends visit from the States. Throughout the next few blogs I will catch you up with all of my activities.

Finishing the stoves was a great feeling. All the women who I am close with now have brand new, smoke free kitchens which leaves me feeling elated. I came here thinking I was going to help change the world but soon realized that it was impossible to change the world but it was possible to make a difference in a few lives Through these stoves, with the help you, my family and friends, I have been able to make a difference in a few families lives. I believe that the helping of another person brings one of the purest forms of happiness known in this world. Learning to give myself for the benefit of another is something that has truly had an impact on the way I view the world and myself. Realizing that no matter how much education one has or how much knowledge one has acquired the experience of putting yourself in another shoes is more valuable than anything a book or classroom can teach you. Open yourself up to what the world has to offer because if you don’t you might just miss something that can change your life!

This is life...

2009-04-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

It seems to be getting harder and harder to find something to talk about in my blog. I have a few theories on this, first my life is utterly non-interesting and I have nothing to talk about. Second, my life feels normal so I cannot distinguish the things that I think my family and friends would find interest. And third, I don’t think that people would be interested in my realizations about life. Of course that is exactly what I am going to talk about, kind of!

All in all life has been good. The board of directors I have been working with are really starting to come around. They are starting to understand the ideas and concepts that are going to make them successful. And they have finally realized that I do know what I am talking about and not just pulling ideas out of thin air. For example, we had a meeting with the NGO that is helping us legalize the cooperative and half way through the meeting one the guys raised his hand and told the dude giving the presentation that they already had covered this and discussed it with me and that they would like to move on to something else. It almost keeled over I was in such shock.

I have started two more stoves which is always fun because it means I actually have a full days work, I am a 9 to 5er now! Honestly it is the best thing I ever decided to do because you really get to know the women and their families in a way that you never can with a two hour meeting. When you are there all day you begin to see all of the petty things that make life, life. For example, the brother and sister who cannot be in the same room together without fighting, or the supportive husband who is always working during the meetings or how the young daughter’s husband ran off to the States never to be heard from again. It is amazing the conversations that while you are working. It is incredible, but things come up that are also hard to take.

I realized that they really enjoy working with me and like me but they also just see me as someone who can get things for them. I explained to the women that the stoves were only available for the women who attended the meetings on a regular basis and no one else. At lunch yesterday one of my women’s cousin had come to help, great, but then she proceeded to plead a case why he needed a stove too. I wanted to scream because I really thought we were over that stage of our relationship but obviously we never will be. It disheartens me to realize that as much as I think of them as friends we really aren’t and probably won’t be. That sucks, but life goes on….

I cannot believe it...

2009-04-07T09:48:00.001-07:00

It has been awhile since I updated my blog but it has been pretty boring here lately. Work has been slow and uneventful and well we all know my social life is non existent. But there has been a couple of “I cannot believe it” moments recently.

I have said it before but I cannot get over the wealth disparity here. I know it exists everywhere but it is just amazing clear here. For example, last week I was working in a new community and the women who showed up to the meeting were not wearing shoes. I mean I am not sure if they just didn’t wear shoes or they didn’t have any shoes to wear (I have learned to stop asking these sorts of questions because the answer is normally who knows or saber, as we say here). A couple of days later I am in Antigua at a procession where I see these 14 or 15 year old girls wearing $200 plus jeans standing next to people who have holes in their clothes. It blows me away that one day I am working with people who cannot even afford shoes and the next I am watching as the two worlds collide. CRAZY!

I have come a conclusion about development work, it is going to continue to be a long struggle until the education systems improve. In Guatemala the students are in school for only five hours a day, two of which is probably spent actually doing school work. The other three hours they are either having recess, cleaning, working on things for the big party they are having that month or just sitting in the classroom doing nothing while the teachers have meetings or talk on their cell phones (yes, the teachers here will answer their cell phones in the middle of teaching)! I love the work that I am doing but I have to say that the most frustrating thing is the lack of critical thinking skills. Many times unless I spell out exactly what I want to get across then it is lost on people. For example, I am currently trying to facilitate the development of the Cooperative that we are forming. I have been working on the procedure manual, when the meetings will be conducted, how long a president serves, what are the rights and obligations of the members and so forth. During these meetings I try to ask open ended questions to get them thinking about things but many times this does not work. They can’t seem to grasp the question unless it is a direct one with a clear answer so this has lead me to my conclusion that so much development work could be improved if the education systems were improved.

Another example is with my English class that I have started to teach. For homework I assigned five sentences in Spanish that they had to translate to English. They had all the information in their lessons, all the verb conjugations, the vocab and the articles that were needed to complete the homework. I got to class yesterday and none of them had done it because they couldn’t find the answers in the lesson. I explained to them that the sentences where not in the homework but that they had to use the knowledge and information in the lessons to translate the sentences. You would have thought I was speaking French because they just stared at me and told me they didn’t know how to do that. I almost fell out of my chair. Maybe I am being a little harsh but I really believe that until the education system improves it is going to be very hard for the development work to achieve its goal!

This past Sunday, Domingo de Ramas or Palm Sunday, marked the beginning of Semana Santa or Holy Week. This means that no one works, the kids do not have school and I have nothing to do. It also means that there are beautiful processions and delicious food. This past Sunday San Martin hosted a massive Youth festival for kids all over Chimaltenango and Solola, 10,000 people to be exact. All I have to say is that I was up at 5 am because of all the noise, I could barely get out of my house to go to the market and I have never felt so out of place in my life. My sitemante, Candy, and I decided to check out this massive festival which was held at the soccer stadium and let’s just say I never want to experience that again. Most people in San Martin have seen us and are use to us but the other 9,000 people gawked at us like we were aliens from another planet who showed up for the party! But what are you going to do but stare at the tall girl with curly hair and the blond, blue eyed chick, we are aliens!

Yummy

2009-02-20T08:11:00.001-08:00

We are approaching my favorite time of year in Guatemala…mango and avocado season! I heart mangos! I really have no idea what I will do when I cannot eat a fresh mango for breakfast, again for lunch and as dessert for dinner. I had never tried a mango before coming to Guatemala. Even if I had I don’t think that buying one in a grocery store in Indiana would have prepared me for the deliciousness of the mangos in Guatemala. I will admit I have become incredibly spoiled with the fresh fruit that is readily available everyday in the market. I have honestly asked myself if the fruit will be as good if it has to travel thousands of miles and days to reach my kitchen, will I ever enjoy fruit like this again!?

Avocados…I think I could end my paragraph with that one word. I do not know one Peace Corps volunteer who does not wait for this time of year. Guacamole galore! Avocados are so cheap here sometimes I feel bad paying so little for them…just for a moment! Today I bought six for Q3 which is roughly, $0.36. Now for those of you who buy avocados in the states you know that getting one for a dollar is a pretty good deal (at least in Chicago/Indiana), this is the reason I feel bad (a little I said) for only paying $0.36 for six! But for how bad I feel, I still haggle for the cheapest price I can get (where is the fun if you don’t haggle!).

If you couldn’t tell my life revolves around the seasons of food. Along with mango and avocado season it is lettuce season followed by apple and jocote (a fruit here in Guatemala)! But really my life is divided into two parts, rainy season and dry season! It is funny because I think that right now, the next month or so, is my favorite weather while, June and July are the prettiest times. Right now, the weather is just starting to get really warm (as in my clothes dry in two hours). The cloudless sky and is an amazing color of light blue that when you look at long enough begins to look almost fake. It is that time of year when you plan your day around sun because if you go anywhere midday you will be smelly when you get to where you are going, so that means market, work or errands first thing in the morning, with the rest of the day for what nots around the house or office. The only draw back of this time of year is that everything is turning brown because we are coming into the last few month of the dry season. It is ugly, dusty and downright blah! But I have got to say, I still love it!

Work has been interesting lately. I have been focusing this month on working with the Board of Directors for the new cooperative that is forming. This week I gave a talk on how to set goals, how to achieve those goals, and why planning is important. When they first wanted me to give this talk I thought they were joking, really you need someone how to teach you to make a goal and a plan, but in reality, yea they needed my guidance. The setting of the goals for the first year was quick but deciding on the actions needed to reach those goals was another thing. They had a hard time understanding why setting a goal wasn’t good enough, why the needed objectives stating how they would achieve the goals. I had a hard time explaining this because I never realized how I automatically make goals along with objectives on how to reach those goals. It was one of those experiences where I could look at the education system in the United States and say, thanks, you did a great job!

Home, Sweet, Home

2009-02-09T10:22:00.000-08:00

I have finally settled in after my long Christmas break. I have to say it feels amazing to be back! The following is going to make my mom cringe but honestly this feels like home now, surprising right! The smells, the noise, the food, the people, everything felt like I was coming home. I never thought, even six months ago, that I would ever think about San Martin as “home” but honestly I was ready to come back. I was ready to see my friends again, slept in my bed again, go to the market and to get to hangout with my women’s group!

As most of you know I was (I still am) raising money for a stove project. I am happy to announce that out of the first eight, we have completed three. It was an amazing project to take part in. Everyone in the family got involved, the kids would help carry the supplies, the women would mix the cement and help lay the brick while the men would help teach the women how to use a level or how to wet the brick before so it doesn’t soak up all the water. It was amazing to watch the women go from timid and unbelieving in their abilities to taking charge and helping each other while we stood by and watched. If I have achieved nothing before this and achieve nothing after this I would still think that my Peace Corps service was a success for the sheer fact that those women, even if for a day, felt they were equal to the task of men!

It is incredible how fast word travels in a small town (much like rumors fly in high school). By the second week of the project 10 other people from the community had inquired about how to get a stove. This is one of the hard things about Peace Corps, limited funding. I had to tell them that I only had enough for these women but that I could provide a materials list along with instructions but also that three masons had learned how to build them so they could inquire with them. As much as I would like to give everyone who needs one a stove I feel that teaching the women and men how to build them is more sustainable than continually giving the stoves away. The more active part someone takes in building a better future for themselves and their family the more of sense of pride and achievement they feel.

This project has also brought me closer with the women I have been working with. When you spend a whole day 8 am to 6 pm with a family you begin to see who they are. I learned that most of the women, contrary to popular belief, want to know more about birth control and that many of the women watched their brothers, parents, and friends slaughtered in front of them during the war and I also learned that they have a long list of suitors lined up for me to meet (because I have to marry a Guatemalan so that I will stay here with them)! The generosity of Guatemalans is extraordinary. They would make my friends and me huge lunches that probably stretched the family budget for the week. In one instance, the program director of my friends came to visit to check out the project and they would not let him leave without having lunch. The “amable” or kindness that they show towards strangers has made me re-evaluate the kind of person I thought I was and the kind of person I want to be. I hope that one day I can invite people into my home and share with them the way that the Guatemalan women have shared with me.

As I enter into my final nine months of service, I realize the things I am going to miss the most are the things that I was the most scared of in the beginning. I was scared to live life without, now I am scared to live in a society of continuous wanting. I was scared that I would not be accepted, now I am scared I will never be accepted for just being me. I was scared I would never be able to survive without my family and friends, now I am scared I will forget how lucky I am to have those friends and family. I was scared that I would not feel content with life without the constant go, go, go, now I am scared that I will never feel this kind of contentment with my life again.

New Years

2008-12-31T21:11:00.000-08:00

I am sitting with three best friends right now waiting to celebrate the New Year! We are sharing stories and catching up!!! As much as I love Guatemala I miss my best friends! they are soooo incredible, they make me feel like me! WOW I have the best friends!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-05T12:57:00.001-08:00

I cannot believe Thanksgiving has already come and gone, WOW! Sometimes time flies while other times it snails by!

I had an exceptionally great Thanksgiving (for being away from my family). Some of us decided to head down to the beach for some rest and relaxation! I actually felt like I was on vacation, far, far away from Guatemala! The beach was beautiful, clear skies, warm weather, and great people, what more could a girl ask for!

For Thanksgiving dinner, we did really well for being in Guatemala. We had mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, stuffing, pasta salad, broccoli salad, pumpkin cookies, carrot cake, and cranberry muffins, wow, and for the entrée we had grilled Maui Maui, what a way to top off a beach Thanksgiving!

We just lounged and hungout for two days. Played some beach volleyball, watched some baby turtles be released into the ocean and over all a great time hanging out and chatting! I was seriously depressed when I got back to site but life goes on and I am looking forward to December 17, when I get to come home and have another great vacation, only I hope that this one includes SNOW!

Yesterday I went out to my site mates aldea to help with a kids camp that she was putting on. There were about 16 kids who she divided into two groups to do art and sports. I was helping out with the sports end of it, which was fun but hard because there is a whole other set of Spanish words that go with the playground! But we jumped rope and did relay races and then finished up with some basketball! It was great to see the kids just enjoying themselves, with no worries or cares in the world! You don’t see that very often here in Guatemala. Most of the time kids are working with their parents in the fields or girls are taking care of younger brothers and sisters or helping with things around the house. The girls were feisty, they all wore their shorts instead of the corte and you actually can see the difference between personalities when the corte comes off! The girls are much more aggressive without it, so good to see! I hope that they can learn to mix the two personalities, that would make a world of difference one day!

More visitors!

2008-12-05T12:56:00.000-08:00

Part 3: A little late but better than nothing!

My crazy month ended with my best friend, Juliane and her mom visiting! It was incredible to see Juliane again, she is the first friend to visit me here and it was exciting to get to share Guatemala with her and her mom, Marlies!

We hit up the normal “hot spots” the lake, Antigua, my site and the volcano. At the lake we took a boat tour, but the wind god was not on our side that day. The waves in the lake were huge. Our boat kept getting air and our butts hurt a lot the next morning! But we got to take in an incredible sunset and great food! Actually the whole trip centered around great food, what a surprise right! While Juliane and Marlies hit up the ruins at Tikal where in true Guatemalan fashion they had a drunken tour guide who continued to get more drunk it seemed as the tour went on, smile and nod moment!

While Jules and her mom were at Tikal, I had more Spanish classes. Now I have to admit something, I am perplexed by Spanish. It is the first time in my life that I cannot just get even the jist (sp?) of something. Normally if someone explains something I might not really understand but I will have a general idea what is suppose to happen but Spanish just really gets me, AH!

We finished off the trip by a visit to my site and a little time in Antigua. It was funny though because Marlies described my house and living situation the same way my mom did, camping. They think it is a lot like camping which in a way it is but come on people it is not as bad as camping, camping is uncomfortable, and dirty but I am comfortable and clean (well most of the time)! But really we checked out the market and had a meeting with one of my women’s groups. The kids were fascinated with Marlies’ camera which resulted in a ton of great photos!

We we got back to Antigua we hike volcano Pacaya, which is one of the active volcanoes here is Guatemala. This was my fourth time up so I felt like a pro but because the lava had shifted positions on the volcano we had to hike a different way, a crazy way, a I cannot believe I am doing this way! But all ended well, after our trek through the volcanic Sahara desert sand and made our way up the moon rocks we got to the lava! Juliane and I thought it was hysterical our ridiculous it was so we had a photo shoot at the top, Theta kites were involved to give you an idea!

All good things must come to an end but I had a great time with them, so a huge Thanks to Juliane and Marlies for making the trek down here to see me!

Feria...

2008-11-26T05:53:00.001-08:00

Novermber 11 was the day of Saint Martin, the saint that my town is named after. Feria is a big deal here. Food vendors, arcade like places, bumper cars and ferris wheels, which they call the wheel of Chicago, all set up about two weeks before the actual day of the feria. I have to say that it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I actually liked having all the food vendors because it spiced up my meals and I got to have churros whenever I wanted them! There were also a bazillion vendors from out of town selling different things. It is funny because I could tell right away if they were from out of town or not because of how the treated me and the price that they gave me, ugh for out of towners!

So the weekend before is when feria actually starts. There are lots of things going on, processions, dances, concerts, lots of things! There was also a Expo-Feria this year where stores and organizations could display their products and organizations. My organization SID and the new cooperative had a booth. I have to say that it was not organized like I would have liked it to be but it got the job done. We sold about a 100 lbs of coffee and made a great profit, which was good for the guys to see that there is a local demand and market for our product!
**If anyone is interested in ordering some of our coffee it is Q 25 ($3.50)/lb. plus shipping which varies depending on weight! Just let me know!**

The actual day of feria is crazy. Everyone comes into town for varies things, church, processions, the market or the dance! My site mate and I attended the processions and wandered throughout the market during the day and then we took the plunge and rode the ferris wheel that night. The ferris wheels here are somewhat old, rusted and rattle a bit but it was feria so we thought what the heck! We also enjoyed all the great food that feria has to offer… street food baby! Well this was my first and last feria, tear!

Just a funny thing that I have realized in the last month or so…they are obsessed with fantasmas (ghost) here. They keep telling me that there is an old woman who haunts our office. Every time the guys stay over night there they have another story about this women and what she does to them during the night. I remember learning about how Guatemalan culture is full of tall tales but to actually hear my guys talking about it and totally believing in it is a whole other thing. I mean no disrespect here but growing up in a culture that finds these kind of things ridiculous it is hard not to chuckle a little. But seriously I cannot get over how serious they are about this women and what they need to do to get rid of her!

Few side notes…Chula is getting so big! She is now three months old and becoming very independent and rambunctious. I am going to be sad to leave her for Christmas vacation. On that note, I will be home Dec. 17th – Jan. 7th, YAY!

Todo Santos

2008-11-25T09:08:00.000-08:00

I have not written in a long while so this is going to be a three part post…

TODO SANTOS…wow, it was a great weekend. For those of you who don’t know Todo Santos is all saints day here in Guatemala which means it is a day of remembrance for all of the people who have pasted away. They visit the cemetery and decorate with flowers and other what nots. I spent the weekend in the town of Todo Santos, which means it was feria, yay! Each town is named after a saint so on that saints birthday it is called feria (more about that later)! Back to Todo Santos, there were about 40 volunteers there which as so much fun but the best part is the town. It is totally indigenous, everyone wears the traditional traje even the men and young boys. It was cute because the teenage boys really rocked the outfit, they popped their collars and wore John Cena t-shirts under the jacket, it was funny to see the traditional culture mixed with the culture from today!

So they whole reason to go to Todo Santos is that they have this horse race…well kind of a horse race, there is no winner except those who do not die! So the men and for the first time this year the woman, ride back and forth along this dirt road but they are also drunk as drunk can be. They try to stay on their horses as long as they can before they have to be replaced! This goes on from 8 am to about 7 pm and it continues to get funnier as the day goes on! They also wear these amazing outfits that just complete the whole festive atmosphere… I would recommend this to anyone looking to really experience Guatemalan culture!

A couple of funny stories…first, I was out in a community that was about 25 km outside of my town giving a charla about cost of production a few weeks ago that gave me some laughs. The charla went great, everyone seemed to understand everything but instead of asking questions about the charla they started to grill my about the US, our lives, our children, etc. This is totally normal behavior if it is the first time the group meets me but not during the charla. At lunch they launch into this crazy interrogation. First it is the obvious question but then they start asking me about birth control, men that is, and what I think about it, how it works, if I could tell them all the different forms, etc. all I have to say is awkward! This is not the end of it, at the end of lunch I am chatting with this grandma and her grandchildren when the father comes up and tells me he wants to regalo, or gift me, his daughter to take back to the states with me so she can have a better life, Whoo, buddy, I am 24 and do not plan on having kids anytime soon! I politely tell him that I cannot do that, after a look of disappointment he agrees and asks me if I can help him find someone to do educational charlas on family planning! At least it ended up a good situation!

The joys of life...

2008-10-21T10:13:00.001-07:00

One really nice thing about my Peace Corps experience so far has been the joy that I get out of the little things! One little thing can make my day or even my week sometimes. For example last week I went to the store to buy milk and got overly excited because my milk carton had starting putting the plastic opening tab back on the cartons. It was exciting because they had been missing for a couple of months! I know it sounds ridiculous but really it made my day.

Another example, I was in the market looking for blackberries to make jam when I happened upon this women selling what looked like zucchinis, mind you not that exciting but I have never seen them and have craved them so much since I got here. So I asked her what they were just to double check and sure enough they were zucchini. At this point I was willing to pay almost any price for these but when she told me they were Q1 per large zucchini I bought five…I think she thought I was incredibly weird! Now for those of you who don’t know the conversion rate, one quetzal is equal to 13 cents. It was a glorious day!

I wonder what it is going to be like to come home…and not get excited when they change my milk carton.

Now where there is joy there is almost things that can totally ruin a day. Traveling is the most common thing that will ruin a day. There are many things surrounding traveling that can achieve down right nervous breakdown status. These include, a packed bus and having to stand, getting suck next to a puking child, sitting in the seat where the window is broken and it is either raining (or more like down pouring) or it is so incredibly hot, they bus breaks down and you have to wait or either cram on another already packed bus with all the people from your crammed bus and the for me the worst waiting for a bus at the bus stop in Chimal and being told that you want to go somewhere because obviously because you are white you have no idea what you are doing, PEOPLE I am have been living here for 14 months I know where I am going and how to get there. More than once I have had some harsh words for the ayudantes (helpers/money collectors on the buses) who grab me and/or my things. The thing that is hardest to accept is that no matter how long I live here I will always be a tourist because I am a white, blah!

Chula, my kitty, is getting so big. I cannot believe how fast she is growing and how mischievous she can be. I know that when she does something or gets scared by something she comes bolting across the patio and into my bedroom or in the morning if I have slept to late she starts out by patting my cheeks with her paws and then if that doesn’t work she nips at my nose. The cutest thing she does is when I am reading before I go to bed is she will sit in between my arms and put her paws up on the book next to my thumbs like she is reading with me!

My Stove Project!!!

2008-09-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

Hola and Greetings from Guatemala!

As I start my second year here in Guatemala I have been reflecting on the things that I have done and learned over the last year. I set out on this journey to help change the world but instead of me changing the world, it has been the Guatemalans that have changed the world for me.

When I first arrived in Guatemala I had many aspirations, to many to count. I stayed up nights thinking about how I was going to help change people’s lives. It soon became apparent that very few of these ideas would ever materialize. In my ten months in San Martin Jilotepeque, I have received more than I have been able to give. The women who I work with on a weekly basis have shown me it is not what you have but it is how you use what you have that makes your life what it is! They have never asked me for anything other than knowledge and understanding but I have asked for so much more, I have asked them for their trust.

It is because they have never asked for anything that I want to give them something that would transform their lives…STOVES!

Stoves, something we all take for granted that everyone has, but in Guatemala that is not the case. I would like to share with you my story of fire, flames and cooking!

Five months ago in my small Guatemala town of San Martin Jilotepeque, Chimaltenango, I was a lost and down Peace Corps volunteer who was sick of being a secretary. So I talked to some women about coming out and working individually with them. My first meeting was about Peace Corps and what a volunteer does. Being the custom in Guatemala, there was of course a snack at the end of meeting for the women and children. I had brought banana bread. It was such a hit that I told them I could show them how to make it at our next meeting. Born was an extraordinarily rewarding and fun experience.

Now, the twenty women that I work with, are no ordinary women. First, they are indigenous, most do not have more than a 6th grade education, if that, all of them have 3 to 10 children and have more desire and motivation than most people I know. The idea of learning something new is so exciting to them that they take time out of their busy day to come and learn.

The women desire to be able to provide a better life for their children and themselves but many of them lack the knowledge or resources. I have showed them with a small investment in some key ingredients how they can make more nutritious food for their family. I started by only teaching them how to bake but then I began to teach about the different vitamins that each dish contained. Recently I have begun to teach them how to do a cost of production for each dish and we will soon start a market survey to see if there is a desire or niche for baked goods in our community.

Cooking with indigenous women has been interesting. I was naïve enough to think that all of these women would have stoves (of some kind). To my surprise all of the women cook over open fires. I am sure you all at one time or another have sat around a camp fire. Remember all the smoke, how hot it gets and most of all how dangerous it is, now imagine cooking over that everyday of your life, for me it seemed impossible. But that is what these women do. The fire normally sits on a shelf made of adobe, which is in a kitchen like room with no ventilation. Starting to sound pretty miserable, that’s not all, most women cook with a small child swaddled on their back, who inhale the smoke all day long.

The smoke that is created has no where to go except, their eyes and lungs which has lead to horrible health conditions not only for the women but the children too. One of the leading causes of death among young children after malnutrition is lung disease. There are also a high number of burn victims both young and old from these open fire stoves.

Insert the “aha” moment here.

I decided these women deserved better and easier life and so I want to build them stoves or a plancha. A plancha is still a wood burning stove but is completely cover on all sides with a metal plate on top for cooking. There is also a chimney connected to route all of the smoke out of the house. To us these planchas are inexpensive about $120 (Q900) for each one but when a family only has a monthly income of Q1000-Q1500 ($133- $200) a month it is a lot. So in order to make this project a reality I am looking to my loving family and friends for help.

You can make this project a reality by donating whatever you are able to give. I have asked the women to contribute a Q100 ($15) which can be paid upfront or in Q20 ($3) installments. So for a $105 you can give a family a new stove and a new leash on life but all donations, large and small, are greatly appreciated.

Donations can be sent to: Friends of Guatemala
P.O. Box 33018
Washington, D.C. 20033
Memo: Mackenzie Knowling (Please don’t forget this)

All donations are tax deductible. Friends of Guatemala will send you the necessary papers.

Please feel free to share this with anyone you think would be interesting in donating to this project.

Thank you for allowing me to share with you my experience and passion. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

I am a mommy...to a cat!

2008-09-27T13:27:00.000-07:00

Wow….I have a lot to tell you guys!!! So to start off with I got a kitty…YAY! I have been wanting one since I got here and finally found one I liked! Her whole name (the guys in my office told me she could not have just one name since she was Guatemalan)…so her name is Chula B’alam. B’alam is tiger in Kaqchikel and Chula is a term of endearment…she is sooo cute! Although she is super cute she is not so cute when she wakes me up at 5:30 am and won’t let me go back to sleep! It is nice to have someone to talk to instead of just sounding like a crazy person who talks to themselves all the time!

Last week was Independence Day here in Guatemala and it was such a great time. Two days before Independence Day I went with my sitemate and the school she works in to get the torch from another muni about 2 hours away. The torch…as the story goes (or how I was told and understood it)…was sent to all the towns across Guatemala so when people woke up on September 15 they would see the light of freedom. It is also tradition for people to line the street and throw water at the kids (and the gringa in this case). So I was soaking wet by the end of this event, but it was still a blast! The day before Independence Day all of the aldea schools come to San Martin to get the torch for their schools so the kids and I sat outside the house all afternoon throwing water on the other people running! It was one of those moments that you know really is only for kids but you cannot resist joining in and feeling like a 10 year old again! On Independence Day I got up really early and watched the four hour parade which my host brother and sisters participated in, which kind of was boring but fun was hanging out with my family! Later that afternoon I headed to the main plaza to watch more bands and the greased pole contest but we ended up just watching the Tigo guys play all of these funny games with the kids! Later we went and got street food for dinner and then had to walk the 10 minutes home in the rain…yay for not having to take a shower…haha kidding, kinda!!!

I have to say that Guatemalans have an extreme amount of pride in their country. Everyone participates in Independence Day activities, everyone watches the parades and everyone has the flag flying outside of their homes. I might get in trouble or offend people by saying this but here it goes…If we as Americans had half as much pride in our country we would be a much better country! When we were hanging out in plaza they took down the flag and played the almost five minute long national anthem. Everyone stopped, took of their hats, place their hand over their heart and sang, even small children, it was incredible! After the national anthem they then pledge allegiance to Guatemala until the day they die. It was a pretty incredible and moving experience.

So work is good, busy but great! We are moving along in the process of forming the co-op, tons of work and they are starting to listen to me and ask me for advice, soooooo cool!

Well that is all from me…hope all is well back in the States!

busy, busy, busy....

2008-09-09T11:16:00.000-07:00

So it has been a while since I last wrote…many reasons, one being the internet has been faulty lately and the other being I am actually really busy, crazy I know!

I have been working, traveling and getting things organized. Work has been great! We are finally starting to organize our group which has been exciting but stressful because they want to do it as fast as they can and I am trying to tell them they need to slow down and make sure everything is organized and ready to legalize. Organization is not something that is appreciated or seen as necessary down here. I mention things that go into organizing such as…defining the jobs of each person on the Board of Directors or that they need to put all the harvest information in the computer so that it is easier to access and pass on, I get a nod of the head and a moving right along. Ahhh, so frustrating but so exciting!

I have done a good amount of traveling since getting back from the States. I had this amazing hike from my friend’s site to the lake. I have to say that afterwards I felt like I was about 100 years old, neither of us could walk properly. I have seen a lot of beautiful things in Guatemala but I have to say some of the views on this hike were right up there with the most beautiful if not the best. I also went to these mini hot springs right on the lake. It was really fun to be able to swim in the lake. You forget how much you miss doing simple things like that. This past weekend was our “One year” celebration! Wow, I have been here for a year that is incredible to believe! We went to these wonderful hot springs outside of Xela. We spent the night up there so we got to hangout all night in the water…by the end of the night I thought that my skin was falling off my feet because they were so wrinkled! It was great to get to catch up with everyone and just get to hangout with no worries!

Independence Day is on Monday so there has been a lot of activities going on throughout town. They celebrate all the major holidays for weeks in advance! I have to say though I am going to be glad when it is over because my host kids love to practice their drums before school at 6:30 am….as many of you know I am not a morning person, ah!

All in all, things are good, busy and moving right along!

Fun times...

2008-08-15T09:23:00.000-07:00

As I am writing this entry I am sitting here waiting for our pizza bread to rise. Nancy, my host sister, is doing a puzzle and Rigo and I are playing “trompo” which is pretty much a spinning top that you wrap with a rope and throw (see picture, if that helps)!

This week has been a lot better than last week. Last week I was really sad to be back because I had such a wonderful visit to the States and I didn’t have a lot of work to do. I forgot how much time I had on my hands and what I did to fill it! But thank goodness this week got better. I had a great meeting with one of my women’s groups, it reminded me why I am here! We made apple pie which the women loved. It was really cute because one of the little girls asked her mom if she would make it for her birthday in two weeks! In addition to this adorable thing, the leader of the group told me that she had gone out to her sisters aldea, or smaller village and taught them how to make zucchini bread. The big surprise was that not only did she make zucchini bread, she did a cost of production with them too. (We do a cost of production for everything we make so that they get use to and know how to make one for their coffee.) I almost fell out of my chair when she told me this, wow they are actually learning something!

Not only am I the pastry chef, I am the fashion icon for the little girls. One of the little girls was arguing her mom about wearing tennis shoes with a skirt when I showed her that I had tennis shoes on with a skirt (no laughing, I have to in order to make it through the mud.) It is funny because most of the outfits I put together here I would almost never wear it in the States but here I am the fashionable one (yes, all my friends are laughing because I don’t think fashion and Mackenzie are ever used in the same sentence.)!

I have also been spending a lot of time with my host brother and sister. Rigo and Nancy taught me how to use the “tromop” and Rigo has been trying to run with me too. We have also been playing a lot of soccer and kickball in the street. It reminds me of playing basketball in the street and having to move every time a car came by. It has been amazing how much work has picked up in the last month or so, I have hardly any day with nothing to do which is anomaly for me. Lets hope it lasts!

Where I come from....

2008-08-06T11:52:00.000-07:00

I don’t even know where to begin to describe my recent trip to the States….overwhelming, wonderful, scary, exciting, overloaded, relaxing and well quite frankly, fun! I got to see everyone that I wanted to see and more! I flew into Chicago to spend the weekend with my best friend Shep and a bunch of friends from college! It was a little overwhelming coming from San Martin to downtown Chicago. To make matters worse, Shep lives right behind the left field line of Wrigley field and Friday my first full day in the States there was a Cubs game and let me tell you when I stepped out of the apartment I was consumed by Americanness (sp?)! There were too many people, things, colors, and activities going on that my brain forgot how to take them in and interrupt them! I have never felt so out of place, even here, than I did at that moment!

But things got better. I quickly adjusted and life went on as normal, well as normal as possible! I spent the day eating and shopping, taking in the enormous amount of choice that I had! At the restaurant I could not decide what I wanted because for the last year I have either had no choice or had about three choices when I went out to eat. The shopping came back much easier than decision making. I think that I might have seemed to the average shopper like a crazed woman who had just been let out of the mental hospital. I have to say that it is tough to shop when you know that you cannot or more so should not buy most of the things in the store. I spent the rest of the weekend with friends, barbequing, bar hopping and hanging out!

Finally I made my way back to Lafayette to surprise my grandma, Grammy, who had no idea that I was coming home! It was really fun to surprise her! Of course she starting crying which then turned to anger because she was the only one that did not know that I was coming home, but then gave way to happiness, I think!

I went on a food tour of Lafayette, eating, socializing, and shopping til my heart was content! While I was home I got to see my two best friends from high school! I got to help Krystal work in her first classroom! And I got to have dinner with Shaina and her parents which is always a pleasure! I also went to the bar with my brother for the first time, which was a surreal experience! I guess I still think of him as a little boy (sorry Bubba)! As it worked out my cousin was passing through on his way to his new job in Denver so I got to hang out with him and my other cousin and his family, which was an extra bonus!

All in all I had a great trip home. Some things that I forgot how much I missed: one stop shopping, the social life and clean air. Some things that I have realized I can do without: air-conditioning (I was freezing the whole time), all the choices at restaurants and excessiveness.

I did have one surprise waiting for me in Guatemala when I got home…I had a dead bird in my kitchen…eww…but you know what, you have to laugh because where else would that happen!

I´m a ROCK STAR...almost

2008-07-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

When you first start training they talk a lot about what your life if going to be like. The conditions, the loneliness, the frustrations and the idea that you are going to be a rock star for the next two years. What they mean by this is that you are going to be that person that everyone wants to know, talk to, shake hands with and you will inevitably have groupies (a.k.a the kids)!

This week I went out to two new communities. These communities were way, way, way out there…I am talking an hour and a half truck ride out there! When we showed up and I got out of the car I was mobbed, I imagine that is what celebrities feel like but on a daily basis! I was a little overwhelmed and quite frankly a little scared! But things died down and we went on to give our presentation (which went quite well)! We got to use the new computer that Caterpillar donated (thanks!) and the projector that we recently purchased for such uses! The people were really impressed, it looked like we had our stuff together, and little do they know what really goes on…lol!

After our presentation they served us lunch, tamales, which are good but not my favorite! I had one but that was not enough for them. They kept shoving more and more on to my plate. I was trying to tell them that I could not eat that much but they were not going to have it because as one older man put it, “Gringa, you are from America, everyone is fat and eats a lot there.” You have laugh sometimes because honestly they are kinda right!

Anyway back to the whole “rock star” thing! After lunch we went to look at the coffee of various families. Normally this would consist of dirt paths and a little bit of trekking through the fields but this community did it a little differently. We were hiking through who knows what kind of forest of coffee, banana, pacya, corn, beans and who knows what else to see these fields! I was jumping over barbwire fencing, over flowing rivers and well of course, cow, horse and chicken pooh! I have to say that being a “rock star” in Guatemala is really different, you have the fame yes, but not the fortune and on a daily basis you are not being pampered but instead you are covered in dirt and cow pooh! Like I said I am ALMOST a ROCK STAR!

The 4th of July minus fireworks...

2008-07-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays…I don’t know why, all the patriotism or something like that! Surprisingly spending the 4th of July in a foreign country was a lot of fun! I had one of the best 4th’s in recent history, even though it was missing my favorite thing, fireworks!

The Peace Corps put on a 4th of July party which was a blast! We had hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, pasta salad, fruit, and brownies to eat, which for the first time in Guatemala my eyes were bigger than my stomach, YAY for good food! We also had, of course, lots of beer, drinking games and a raffle for free stuff to our favorite places (we poor people need a luxury here and there)! There was also a lot of good ole’ American music and for my LFC friends, an APC style dance, minus the drunken hook ups! I even had an LFC friend there!

Funny story…I was sitting in a bar with some friends the night before the 4th and this guy walked in that looked really familiar but I thought nothing of it until he turned around and said “Mackenzie?” I was a little spooked but it turned out to be a guy that I knew from little ole’ LFC! It is really funny how small the world really is because what is the chance of both us being in the same bar at the same time, really people, come on!

I have finally gotten back into the work thing again! But I have to say I remember why I was ready for a break! The disorganization of everything here is getting to the point that it might send me over the edge! We are starting to do inspections for the organic certification process, oh my gosh, I have never been in a situation where people didn’t care to be more organized! Every time I suggest something that might make a little bit more work right now but in the end will make things easier they say, “bastante” or “its ok, this is enough!” I want to pull my hair out!

On the bright side my women’s group is going really well! I planted seed with one group which will hopefully turn out well but I do not have the greenest thumb! My other group is super “pilas” or “go getters!” They are so incredible! They constantly want to know about what they can do to make things better for their families! I am looking into a stove project for them where they have to pay Q100 of the cost and provide the labor! Stoves are really important here because all of my women cook over open fires without ventilation! Translation, the smoke fills the kitchen, their lungs and eyes, along with the baby’s lungs on their back! Also there are a lot of burn injuries here due to the unsafe cooking conditions! So that is exciting…

Well that is it for now….

Mixing my two lives...

2008-07-07T15:20:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone, its been a while but I am still alive and kickin’…

I have had a busy month, my parents visiting, starting a new project with my women’s group and turning 24, wow! It was wonderful having my parents here! Visitors are amazing because you finally get to connect your old life with your new life (and now my parents understand when I complain about things)! They also help you remember all the things you thought about when you first arrived! I had become conditioned to the beauty that I woke up to everyday (well if it isn’t raining)! My dad especially could not get over that I got to wake up and walk out on my patio and see two volcanoes extending over the horizon. He helped me remember what I had forgotten, that I live in the most beautiful place in the world! Although I live in a place full of beauty I also live as my mom said, “It is (a lot) like camping.” At first I was kind of insulted because I thought I had made my house pretty nice compared to a lot of other volunteers but the more I thought about it the more I realized how accustomed I had become to the way of life down here!

My mom was a trooper for the three weeks she was here! I started her off early on her grand adventure by picking her up at the airport and immediately putting her on a chicken bus! But the chicken bus was the least of her experiences the first day! We arrived at my house and immediately started making dinner when the rain arrived. It was a crazy storm that knocked the power out in my whole entire town, needless to say we had a candle lit dinner and a candle lit unpacking session! We visited the beach, hot springs, had meetings, a lunch with my women’s group, painted two rooms and even had a round of strep throat all in two weeks, not bad!

My dad arrived for the last week of my mom’s trip and I have to admit I was a little nervous about him coming. He had never been out of the country and there was no Mt. Dew here so who knew what kind of affect that might have on him! It actually was a blessing that he came later because by the time he arrived my mom knew the ends and outs of getting around. She knew how to get off the chicken bus quickly so that it wouldn’t leave her and she knew how to function in a world where she couldn’t communicate! That just left me to take care of my dad which honestly he really didn’t need. He assimilated very quickly to my daily routines right down to greeting people on the street with a “buenas días,” who knows maybe he will even greet you with a “buenas días!” (side note: the day after my dad returned home he was at the grocery and almost said “gracias” to the meat counter guy…thought it was funny)

My dad’s visit started off with a trip to the lake. Although it is rainy season we had pretty good days for visiting the lake! It was a great time shopping and explaining the culture to him! It was also nice to get to shop with my mom again. They were mesmerized by all of the vendors selling the same thing…my brother also commented on how they could make any money when they all sell the same thing and the answer is a giant “saber” or who knows! After the lake we headed back to my house where my dad was quickly put to work! He went with my site mates and me to collect a bunch of furniture from another volunteer who is leaving! It ended up being quite a day, a truck ride for an hour, packing the truck as full as possible, squeezing into tiny spaces left between furniture and heading home while admiring some of the most amazing views in San Martin!

The next day we decided to head to Antigua for a day of sightseeing. It turned out to be a bigger adventure than intended! The day before my muni told the chicken bus drivers they needed to pay Q5000 ($700) per bus to run. Well this did not sit well with the drivers so they tried to lynch a man (not sure who or why). Thank goodness this was broken up before anything could happen but the next day, market day, the busses were not running! Needless to say I put my parents in the back of a pick up and headed out of town only to be greeted by a swarm of angry drivers who were regulated who could pass. I was a little nervous about the situation but what was I going to do (insert another “saber”)! This was not the first uneasy experience they had had, our bus the week before broke down on an incline that was well pretty straight up, and so with good reason my parents were becoming leery of the transport situation! But things turned out ok and we had a great day!

My parents got to see me in action too! I had a meeting with the guys I work with so they got to see how inefficient things are! They also had lunch with them and saw how alcohol is involved in everything they do! After the meeting I had a meeting with my women’s group where we were cutting and flipping tires to make gardens! This is actually very hard work but my dad was amazing, working hard to help the women who were having a little trouble but came around and were doing it by themselves by the end! HUGE THANKS to my dad and my who photographed the whole event (amazing pictures I have to say)! This is not the end of the day; we came home to 7 slabs of wood that we needed to turn into a bed! My dad was amazing and got straight to work (side note: while my dad and I were doing this my mom was making GRE flashcards for me because she knows that I wouldn’t)!

Our last few days were spent in Antigua! My dad and I hike Volcano Pacaya, which up until the point of heading home was a pretty fun experience! We hiked up the side of the volcano for about an hour and then the lava appeared! It was still as amazing the second time around! The downhill was interesting because it was pouring rain, dark and my dad glasses were so foggy he couldn’t see anything so I was leading him by the arm down a very rugged path, needless to say we were ready to go home when we got to the bottom but there was a surprise in store for us! Our bus’ clutch went out and so we were stuck for 2 hours in a little town in the middle of nowhere Guatemala! We had no idea what was going on or what was going to happen, while this was all transpiring my mom was anxiously waiting in the hotel room thinking we were dead! Finally they got the bus into first gear and we coasted down the side of a mountain, on a dirt road to the highway where another bus was waiting for us, thank the lord everything turned out ok because it was a terrifying experience! This experience solidified my parent’s thoughts on the transportation situation here!

The next day was my birthday and we spent the day hanging out, shopping, people watching, etc.! That night my parents were gracious enough to take me and some of my friends out to a wonderful restaurant where we got to indulge ourselves in good food and wine! Thanks! Having them here made it an extremely special birthday!

It was hard to say good bye to them the next day but I knew they were ready to head home to “real life,” a hot shower and a good nights sleep, without fireworks, roosters or dogs! Although they are gone and I am sad, I am glad that I had the chance to share with them the place that I call home (for now) and the reasons why I am here! I am happy they got to see my work and where I live because now it is a real experience not only for me but for them too!

Brother time...

2008-06-03T12:53:00.000-07:00

The rainy season is in full swing, blah! I had forgotten how much I hate rain. Everything get so wet, things mold over night, you are stuck in doors every afternoon, your laundry never dries and most of all there is no sun, depressing!

My brother, Brandon was here for the last 12 days. It was sooo much fun (most of the time)! We have not gotten to spend that much time together, I think, since I went to college and it was the first time that it was just the two of us! I had a blast with him! It was interesting to see the things he thought were cool, different, and interesting. I don’t know if it is just things that I have forgotten that I thought or if it is the difference between male and female or age difference! For example the traditional clothing, I think, is one of the most beautiful things about Guatemala and my brother could have cared less but he thought the machetes all the men carried were cool, and he thought it was fun that I had to burn my trash, were I see that as a hassle.

We did a lot of hanging out at my house doing nothing. We helped with the cooking and did a lot of cleaning for me! He built me a water drainage tunnel so that I would not get so much mud on my porch, all while I sat around and read! I am going to miss having someone to do stuff like that for me! He even helped with the laundry, couldn’t believe it!

We did a lot of traveling too. We went to this amazing beach in Sipacate! The first night we were there, we were the only ones on the whole beach! The beach is a black sand beach with great waves for splashing in, which we did a lot! We also find completely whole sand dollars, which for as many years as I have been going to the beach in Florida have never found. The lodging was a little rustic, think bungalows and mosquito netting! But all in all a great, relaxing weekend away!

We also hiked Volcano Pacaya, which is amazing! You hike up for about 45 minutes to this massive cooled lava “mountain” and then you hike to where the lava is flowing on the over side! I was so incredible; I cannot believe I was 10 feet from flowing lava, wow! It was so hot up there is actually melted the shoes of one of the guys we were with! Brandon was scared that his pants were gonna burn!

Brandon also got to go to one of my meetings with my women’s group. We made corn bread, which is one of his favorite foods so he was happy but bored because he could not talk with the women. The fact that Brandon could not speak Spanish did not stop the women from talking to him! He thought they were laughing at him the whole time but they were just talking about how cute and tall he was! They just thought he was the most adorable thing ever!

For his last weekend here I took Brandon to Panajachel on the lake! Normally it is incredibly beautiful but unfortunately tropical storm Alma brought rain, rain and more rain so it wasn’t as cool as normal! Plus we were stuck with each other in a hotel room for two afternoons straight, which by the end we wanted to kill each other!

I was sad for Brandon to leave but I was also ready to get back to my normal routine and I know that he was anxious to get back to start summer baseball! All in all it was amazing to finally see my brother and get to hang out with him so much, without family or friends around! It was great bonding time and we are both alive to tell about!

I miss my family....

2008-05-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

This past week I had a very eventful week. Two Thursdays ago I got really sick, fever, horrible side and shoulder pain that lasted through Monday. So on Monday afternoon I went to the Peace Corps doctor in Guatemala City and he decided to admit me to the hospital for test, thinking I just had a kidney infection! Well it turns out that all my test came back negative for everything so I was a medical mystery! In the end he decided that it was a viral infection on the lining of my lungs that had started to affect my liver and kidneys somehow and that is why I had so much pain there! It was a somewhat scary experience because it was the first time that I can remember that I was in the hospital and then him telling me he didn’t know what just a little to much for me!

But on the other hand the hospital was great. I had a great bed, comfortable, hot shower, CABLE (got to watch all about the election as it was happening and not a month later) and good food ( I know hospital food is normally horrible but this was really good)! It was a little difficult to communicate with the nurses not because it was only Spanish but because city Spanish is soooo much different than pueblo Spanish, faster, more educated, etc.!

The city it another country within Guatemala. When I got to the city I can get, find, do almost anything that I could want or need! There are movie theaters, malls nicer than most in the states, fast food drive-through, and just in general a huge city feel! But then you will look out your window and see little women in corte, with a huge load of something on her head weaving her way through the suits and designer jeans. It is a mind boggling experience, seeing the two worlds collide is wild!

I am so EXCITED because my brother is coming on Wednesday! It has been nine months since I have seen anyone in my family and it feels almost surreal that he is coming! I think it is going to be a good experience for both of us! For him because he has never been out of the country, let a lone to a developing world. And I am anxious to see what he notices that I have become accustomed to and had forgotten is different! I just cannot wait to see him, I have missed him so much, especially watching him kick butt this season in baseball! He was pitching of the week for his conference twice, a feat never accomplished before! Sorry just had to brag a little!

So the rains have started to make their way in every couple of days and I already hate it! I don’t know what I am going to do when it is everyday…ahhh! But I guess that I have to learn with this too!

Until next time…..

On the move...

2008-05-07T10:04:00.001-07:00

Well it has been a while since I last updated but I have been quite busy! First I moved into my new house about two and a half weeks ago and LOVE it! It has given me a new start here in San Martin. I am living in a family compound but my house is separate from the family’s but the kids come over all the time to play cards and “talk” with me in my broken Spanish! I really enjoy having people around more and I feel more integrated into the “neighborhood” I will try to upload photos as soon as I can!

My organization moved offices last week and let’s just say it was an experience! I work with all men so they told me that they needed the feminine touch “toca feminine” to set up the office! I was really excited about this because the other office’s disorganization drove me up a wall. So I started to move things around where I wanted them and they almost had a heart attack that I was moving things on my own. They kept telling me “No, you don’t need to do that.” “No, you aren’t able to do that.” I did not know how to respond to this because, as most of you know, I am really bull headed and stubborn so my first reaction was to tell them “Hell, no I can do this.” But then I realized that it was just the Guatemalan thing, that kind of stuff is a man’s work. It is times like that, that I have to sit back and be the “Guatemalan” Mackenzie, which I can tell you is hard! But I do have to say the guys that I work with are awesome, they really make sure that I am ok, I have everything that I need and that I am happy!

So decorating is tough with Guatemalans because they like things very cut and dry. What I mean by this is that they put everything in a corner or lined up exactly with the wall! There is no angling of a table or having something away from the wall so my ideas were not really well received but they went with them, so I am anxious to see if it is still the same when I go to the office today!

I have started to work with two women’s groups, which has been awesome! I pretty much just bake bread with them but I am going to try to start tire gardens with them towards the end of May or early June! The food prices here have sky rocketed and most of these women were barely making ends meet before so now many of them are not able to afford vegetables! Malnutrition is the highest here in Guatemala even though we are not the poorest country here in Central America. I keep telling the women that instead of giving the kids a Q1 to buy Tortrix (the preferred snack here) they should give them a carrot or beets or what not because then they will not have the white splotches on their faces! Working here is a, sometimes, painfully slow process, but when things work out it is an amazing feeling!

This past weekend I was able to travel up to Uspantan, El Quiche, to help build school entirely of plastic bottles stuffed with trash! It is a really cool project. It is a great project to do in Guatemala because littering is second nature here and it helps clean up the town/village! For the school they needed thousands of bottles filled with trash to the point that you could walk on the bottles without sinking in! I am attaching pictures because it is difficult to explain!

That is about it from San Martin, but I will try to get better about updating this thing!

Moving on...

2008-04-14T11:38:00.000-07:00

The coffee harvest is finally finished, thank goodness! We ended up selling more than we had originally thought which is wonderful but we still have lot of work to do! The biggest problem is that people need money right now, they have to buy food, clothing, and have other expenses, so they end selling to the coyotes for a lower price because the Co-op does not pay until the end of the season.

There was an article in the national newspaper recently describing how bad the economy is getting here (I know this is happening all over)! The price of bread, tortillas, rice and corn has almost doubled in the last two years while most families’ incomes have not. I know that this is happening in the United States too, but in Guatemala there are not government agencies to help the low income families or banks to give loans to those who can afford them! When people don’t have the money, they don’t eat! Even though this years coffee prices were the highest they have been in years, many people sold at lower prices because they needed the money, just one obstacle of working in a developing country!

This past week I have what the Peace Corps calls reconnect. It general it is pretty boring, lots of talking, sitting and listening but all that aside it was nice to see that I am not the only that has thought about going home, who has good days and bad ones, and who is sometimes so frustrated that I don’t think I can handle it anymore! I also thought that I was the only one who had to deal with “harassment” (not necessarily the kind that happens in the states). Here in Guatemala is the more the constant “shhhh shhh” that you get from guys on the streets or the dirty jokes that men make to one another that really starts to get under your skin! But I also had another 3 days of Spanish which was wonderful since I feel like my Spanish has been getting worse since I came to site, which is I didn’t think was possible!

It was funny though because I was so excited to see everyone but by the end of the week I was ready to get back to San Martin. I never realized how use to being alone I had gotten but I felt like I was on overload being around that many people for that long, it was weird! Also, San Martin has become where I am comfortable! It is kind of like when you take a vacation and it is wonderful but you also so glad to get home; that is what it was like!

I am moving this week to a real house! It has three rooms and a bathroom, cute little porch, and is with a great family! I am really excited I will try to upload pictures as soon as I get everything settled!

First Visitors

2008-03-21T12:43:00.000-07:00

First Visitors…

This past week Carolyn and Dorothy were here with me in Guatemala! I cannot even describe how I felt waiting for them at the airport…I felt like I was seven again waiting for Christmas morning to see what Santa had brought me! Having them here was almost like a dream, I could not believe that someone from the States was here…in Guatemala, it was surreal! I couldn’t sleep the first night they were here for fear I would wake up the next day and they wouldn’t be there!

We had a great week though. We traveled to the lake, my site and Antigua! It was so relaxing just sitting around talking, catching up and showing them “my country.” It was fun having them in my house, making dinners and just showing them what an average day in the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer entails, which sometimes as they saw is unpredictable! I was really sad to see them go but oddly enough I was ready to get back to work and San Martin, it has become home! It feels good after I have been gone for a weekend to come back and just relax, and know where everything is…kind of like coming home from college for Christmas Break! I never really thought that this place would feel like “home”

This week is Semana Santa and I am spending Thursday and Friday in Antigua to see all the processions there! Antigua has the biggest celebrations in Guatemala during Semana Santa. I am going to spend Saturday and Sunday here in San Martin! I am really exciting to see all the processions and to see how active San Martin becomes!

It is interesting how some things are the same no matter where you are in the world! I don’t know how many of you learned to player the recorder in 4th grade but I sure did! I loved learning, it was so much fun, although I am sure my parents didn’t enjoy it as much! Where am I going with this…the other day I was sitting in the office and I hear a young boy playing the same song that I learned to play when I was in 4th grade and it totally took me back to my days of innocence! The next day the streets were filled with kids and their recorders and that is when I began to understand how much my parents probably hated it! There were way to many kids that did not know how to play it, many groups of boys who just wanted to see who could make the loudest sound and still others who just played random notes, someone help me!

What a week...

2008-03-04T11:50:00.000-08:00

Last week was the week from HE double hockey stick…haha just had to throw that one in for a little humor before I begin my rant! So here is how my week went…

1. My counterparts did not have any of the stuff typed up I had left them for the
weekend and on top of that they lost the papers!
2. My camera got stolen out of our office.
3. I broke a cup and a dish at the house of one of the guys I work with.
4. I thought I had lost my grandma’s ring (found it three days later).
5. The zipper on my favorite skirt ripped.
6. My charger died so my computer is not able to charge.
7. The camera I was going to buy off of amazon.com sold before I could buy it.
8. I could not get my packages at the training center (then did by sheer luck).
9. They changed the password on the computers at the training center so I could not use it.
10. Worst of all, I didn’t have minutes to call anyone and cry, sad!

So this was my week last week, probably one of the worst of my life. I was so sad that I tossed around the idea of going to the airport and buying a ticket home…I was in a bad state!

But then I met my sitemate in Antigua and had a great day hanging out, laughing and eating of course! We went back to San Martin and made Mac and Cheese (the real stuff, courtesy of Courtney, THANK YOU)! That mac and cheese made all the other stuff seem like it was far, far away! We went to Marc’s restaurant (an American that lives in San Martin) to make our mac and cheese and watch a movie on the big screen/projector thing that he has and it was idyllic compared to the rest of the week!

This week has started off much better! We sold half of our coffee yesterday which is about 400 lbs of dried beans which is approximately 1800 lbs of the coffee fruit! I was like a proud mother at a school play while they were loading it into the truck! The farmers were so excited and proud of what was happening that it was hard not to be beaming like them! Some of the farmers got checks for Q1200 – Q1500 ($160-200)! That is something here!

I am really excited too because I am going to have my first visitors on Saturday! Carolyn and Dorothy, the women who I lived with this summer, are coming for Carolyn’s spring break (Carolyn was my professor at LFC, well more like one of my closest friends)! I cannot wait to show them San Martin and Guatemala!

Amazing...

2008-02-25T10:53:00.000-08:00

You know how your parents always asked you “If your friends jumped off a cliff would you?” Well this past week I did just that, I jumped off a 10 meter cliff because my friend did! We were at Semuc Champey which might be one of the most amazing, beautiful and tranquil places I have been! Semuc is in Alta Verpaz about 3 hours from Coban and is an amazing natural wonder. It is located in this huge gorge and I don’t know how to exactly explain it but it is a river that actually runs under this limestone plateau. The plateau has a bunch of natural pools, waterfalls and great places to jump off cliffs!

When you first get into the area you hike up the side of the mountain that forms the gorge, I mean straight up, it was hard but so worth it! When you get to the top, there is an amazing view of the whole gorge, the pools and the river! The hike down was a lot easier and you could hear the water rushing under the plateau, which was incredible! We then spent the next 4 hours lounging, swimming and exploring! At the end of our time there, our guide took us to where the plateau ends and he had us climb down this rope ladder to the cave like area under the plateau! You could see the river’s strength and how fast the water was moving out from under the plateau, it really made wonder how things this powerful and amazing exist because it is so unreal! So after the terrifying experience of climbing down the ladder, he took us to a spot where you can jump off into the water below, not my type of thrill but my friend and I decided to take the plunge after 10 minutes of building up courage! So he told me if I jumped he would, so I told him ok, you go first! The next thing I knew he was jumping and it was my turn, what was I thinking! It turned out to be an amazing adrenaline rush and cool experience! I am so glad that I did it!

The rest of my weekend consisted of PACA shopping, which I am proud to say that I came away with a new pair of jeans for Q10 (Q $1.30) and two new shirts! I love the PACA shopping here, anyone who visits, I promise will love it too! I also got to hangout with a bunch of people from my training group, most whom I have not seen since New Years! All in all this past two weeks have been great! My farmers are doing great with their processing and the coffee market is soaring, the highest it has been since the 1980’s!!! All in all things could not be better!

Finally...

2008-02-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

In recent days I have received many anger messages for not updating my blog so here it is…

Work is keeping me busy, which has been good and bad! I love what I am doing so I enjoy most days but I have not been able to read and relax like I would like too! Sometimes I feel like I am back in the States working because it is a constant go, go, go, attitude in my office! This past week my organization signed a contract with a cooperative here in Guatemala to sell our coffee for Q 800 (about $100) per hundred pounds of processed coffee! This is a really good price because it is about Q 50 ($6.45) more than Free Trade price, yay! My groups also started harvesting full force this past week; one of them processed about 700 pounds of coffee in about 3 hours, which is about Q 1120 ($ 144.50)! So 700 pounds seems like a lot of coffee but really it is not all that much because 470 pounds of “uva” or the red fruit that contains the coffee beans only equals 100 pounds of actually coffee beans, so what this means is that you need a LOT of coffee fruit to equal a small amount of actually coffee!

This month and next month my communities will be processing about 40,000 pounds of coffee, wow!

Other than work I have been reading (keeping up on my favorite politician, O’bama and I recommend the book Three Cups of Tea), cooking (a southwestern black bean soap , attached if anyone wants to try it), and watching tons of DVDs! You may think it odd that I watch tons of movies but when you have a store that sells them for Q 10 ($ 1.45) you just have to stop and buy some every time you pass. I am really lucky too because they are normally not the bad versions that were filmed in the theaters but are good quality (meaning no reflected heads, no moving, etc.)! I highly recommend the current hit, Juno, very different, humorous and enjoyable movie!

I have also been able to travel a lit bit this month. After being in site for almost a month, which will make anyone go crazy, I went to Quetzaltenango or better known as Xela ‘shayla’ a K’iche Mayan word that means, 10 ideas or 10 wise men! It is the Guatemala equivalent of Chicago, I think! It has a very modern scene, lots of young professionals and also a wide variety of ethnic food, Indian, Middle Eastern, and even sushi! It is also very close to many ecotourism sites, an active volcano, the highest point in Guatemala, and other incredible hikes, which will be ventured upon by myself hopefully sooner than later (Brandon get in shape)!

There is not a whole lot of exciting things happening here, other than the fact that our new Mayor has decided to paint our Muni building, a bright blue! Also it rained here the other night for the first time since mid-December, which was highly appreciated on my end because now the dust will some what be dampened, YAY! I won’t have to do as much laundry this week.

I will try to be better about updating my blog but please be patient with me, I am a workin girl now, lol!

You never know what you are gonna get...

2008-01-21T11:56:00.001-08:00

Everyday here is so unpredictable! For example, I have been trying to go to my post office for the last two weeks! I would pass by about three times a week, always in the morning because I knew for sure it was not open in the afternoon, and it was never open. I was thinking to myself that people must never get their mail or mail things to other people because how do they do it! This week I told myself I would go by everyday until it was open and if it was not open at all this week I was going to find out what was going on from the Municipal! Well to my luck it was open, finally! I introduced myself to the guy that works there and told him I needed to find out what my address was so that I could have my mail sent here. This conversation led to another about what I was doing here, what Peace Corps was, what was my state like in the US, did I like living here, and what did I think of the Mayan culture, random, don’t ask! I proceeded to tell him that I was learning Kaqchikel, the indigenous language spoken here and that I wanted to learn more about the history and culture. He then pointed to a Mayan statue that he had on the counter and told me about it and then gave it to me as a gift! I tried to insist that he did not need to do that but then it was forcefully put in my hands and I had not choice but to take it with me! I am continually surprised by the generosity and giving nature of most of the Guatemalans that I encounter, never would this have happened in the States!

Like I said before I started Kaqchikel classes this week! Wow, that is about the only word to describe my experience! The language is beautiful when spoken correctly, which means not by me! For many of the words you have to use your throat, a lot, but it is also kind of fun learning a language that is so unique. It is also difficult because they do not have a lot of the words that they have in Spanish and the verbs do not have one nice, simple conjugation but instead each one is different! All the guys in my office speak Kaqchikel and are so excited that I am learning it, finally! It also surprised a lot of the groups I work with that I would want to learn it because many of the adults my age do not know it and refuse to speak it if they do know it! It has helped my site mate’s community because now people who never spoke it or did know it are learning it because if the gringo is learning it I should learn it to!

More coffee picking continued last week. I helped pick coffee three more time and I am telling you all that I have never been so tired in my life! I do not know how they do it. If they are women, they get up make the fire, breakfast and dress the kids for school, pick coffee all morning, make lunch, take the coffee to be processed, go to the school to make the snacks for the kids, come home, clean, make dinner and put the kids to bed and somewhere in between do laundry and other things around the house! I am just tired picking coffee for an hour, there is no way I could do everything that they do, they are superwomen!

Coffee Picking

2008-01-14T15:21:00.000-08:00

This month has already been busy…a whole week of planning and meeting about the upcoming harvest! I felt like I was back in the United States working because my guys wanted to work from 7 in the morning to 7 o’clock at night, can we say loco! I didn’t know that signed up to work til I could work no more! All of the other people in my group keep complaining that they do not have any work, they have nothing to do, I on the other hand can barely make dinner at night because I am so tired!

I spent this past weekend out at my sitemate’s house! While she was home for Christmas, someone donated a solar oven for her to bring here, so we invited some of the women in her women’s group over to bake some bread! When they saw the oven they were really skeptical but thankfully the corn bread and zucchini bread turned out fabulously! The women were amazed, they could not believe that it worked! Now they are asking her how much she would charge them to use it! It is funny the things that happen haphazardly are the things that work out the best here!

Today I picked coffee for the first time, it was interesting! I can see why people do not have a lot of coffee because it takes so long to harvest. We picked for about a half an hour and my coffee barely covered the bottom of my basket! You have to handpick every bean and you have to feel them all to see which ones needed picked! You have to pick the soft, squishy ones because they are the most ripe and ready! After my adventure picking coffee we tried out the desulpador (the machine that takes the shell off the coffee bean. It was really cool to see how in less than 10 minutes you can take the shells off almost 10 lbs of coffee fruit (which means an increase of about Q 200 for the farmers)! I cannot wait until the harvest really gets going, I think it is going to be exciting!

Tomorrow I am having breakfast with the Director of the Peace Corps! He is going to be in country for 4 days and he is traveling around meeting all of the volunteers! It should be interesting to get to talk to him and hear what he has to say about his future plans for the Peace Corps! I know that his main goal is to increase volunteer participation for adults 50 years and over!

Happy New Year

2008-01-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

HAPPY 2008!

I hope that everyone had a great New Year and rang in 2008 with style! I was in Panajachel (sp?) which is on Lake Atilan for the new year! It was a lot of fun, hanging out at the lake, swimming, shopping, and getting to see everyone from my training group! I brought in the new year with a bang…food poisoning! I was sick all night and the whole next day, what a way to start a new year!

After new years and feeling a little better, I ventured about 45 minutes north to visit my friend Natalie at her site! She is living with a family in an adobe house with a latrine and a tomas gall, which is the most amazing thing when you are sick! It is a small, sauna like thing made out of adobe! There is a small fire on the inside and a large bench where you site and bath! Natalie and I took an hour long bath/sauna session! It is those kind of things that make you realize that the Mayan people knew what they were doing way before we did! They knew how to live the high life!

On my way home from Solola, the department capital of the lake region I was one of many fortunate souls to get stuck in a “cola” You ask was a “cola” is, well it is a wonderful part of life here in Guatemala, a road block! When there is construction on the road they stop traffic on one side for an hour or two at a time while the other side goes! I was on a crowded bus, meaning I was standing on the steps of the bus because there was not where else to go, so I had a great view of when they let us through! It looked like the start of the Indy 500! There were three camionetas lined up to try to be the first out and behind them three more and so on! Let me tell the start did not just look like the start to the 500 but it also resembled it! As soon as they moved those cones, we took off and I mean took off! We were flying and racing around corners just to be able to be the first to pick up more people, yes more people! I honest had not been terrified of camionetas until then!

I have had a full year already, sick, terrifying camionetas rides and I experienced my first real tremor! It happened last night while I was in bed! My bed started to rock back and forth! At first I did not know what was happening but as it continued I realized what was happening so I jumped out of bed to head for the door! When I got to door it was still going on and then the lights in the street went out, and I freaked! I was totally freaking out and no one else seemed to notice it or care about it! I called my Dad to ask if I should go to bed on the second level, if I was going to die, etc…I am so glad that I did not grow up with earthquakes, I would have never made it through childhood!
Well I go back to work on Monday after a wonderful 17 days off work…relaxing, cleaning, laying out, you know all those fun things! I think I am going to need to rest because the coffee harvest starts in about 15 days and I have no idea what that is going to

A Christmas to remember...

2007-12-26T13:25:00.000-08:00

A Christmas to remember...

First off as I said before I spent Dec. 23rd cooking tamales and then the 24th I cooked even more food! I am telling you that I thought that my family ate a lot of food! We ate apples and grapes, the big Christmas fruits and on top of that we had mega amounts of tamales and cookies and pastries!

The evening of the 24th is when all the celebrating is done! I went to a Christmas program and then to church and after church we went home and ate more! We were eating because we were waiting for midnight...midnight here is like the 4th of July in the US expect everyone lets off their fireworks at the exact same time, you can only imagine! It was cool though to look out and be able to see fireworks across the mountains, and the sky was lit up with some many colors and everyone was out on the streets huging and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! It was actually really cool! After midnight everyone goes to visit their family, I did not partake in this activity because I could not stay awak, it was way past my normal bedtime (9 pm)!

The 25th is just another day but without work, so we just lounged around the house and watched tons of TV! Although I was sick with the stomach flu which kinda made the day suck!

I am fine now and got it all out of my system, thank God! I hate having to travel on the buses with a sick stomach, not a fun experience!

Well I hope you all had a great Christmas and have an even better New Year!

Christmas in Guatemala

2007-12-24T08:36:00.000-08:00

Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano Nuevo! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I have been so busy these last two weeks that I have not had time to update my blog, sorry! We were delivering the gifts to all the communities this last week and having lots of fiestas for the end of the year in the office, my boys love a reason to drink! Now that I think about they are kind of like college students and this time I am the responsible one, weird how things change!

I am in Magdalena spending Christmas with my host family! It has been nice so far being with a family for the holidays because it has been harder than I thought it would be to be away from my family! I miss the weirdest stuff, the cooking, the SNOW, the crowds at the mall, the fighting that always accompanys the holidays, the feeling so full you think that your button might pop off and most of all (other than my family) the candy and sweets!

So the first night I was here the posada was at my host family´s house so I got to see the ceremony of moving it from house to house! Here Christmas is still very traditional! There are places that it is more commericalized but here in Magdalena it is still very much what Christmas is suppose to be about, celebrating the birth of Christ! In the US we have forgotten why we gather with friends and family but here the people know why they are celebrating the day! But the festive atmosphere is still the same!

Yesturday I spent the whole day cooking with my host mom! I got to make the mixture for the tamales and the salsa! Then in the afternoon we actually made the tamales! You use the big leaves of the tree that produces pacya (a type of veggie here)! Then you put the corn mixture in the leaves with a piece of meat and salsa then you fold it up and then tie it with string made from some more leaves! That was my job the tying of the tamales! It was fun because it reminded me of making the chocolate preztels we make at Christmas time!

Today is the big celebration lasting I guess until 1 or 2 in the morning so I will be one tired girl tomorrow because my noramal bedtime is around 9 pm! It will be a different Christmas but also one that I will never forget!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Kappa Alpha Theta Pride...

2007-12-07T07:13:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that it has been three weeks since I got to site! All the over volunteers have said that the days will sometimes be slow but large chunks of time will go fast, they are totally right! I have been really busy, visiting communities, still setting up my house, laying out in the 80 degree weather reading, and washing my clothes (by hand)! It has been really fun going out to the communities because I have met so many people that way. It is awesome because this week I hardly had to buy any food because every time we went to visit people they would give me, corn, limes, oranges, this other kind of fruit you find here, and all other kinds of veggies! It is great! Things are still kind of hard in the loneliness department but now I am starting to like the time I have to myself, I get a lot done, such as reading and cleaning, I know, me cleaning there must be something wrong! I have also really enjoyed cooking for myself! Although I cannot make much right now because of my limited space, I have been doing what I can! It turns out that I really enjoy cooking, it is something that I look forward to doing every night!

So a couple of things that I have noticed/experienced while I have been here in San Martin…

First off, the story that relates to the title of this blog! I was in the community of El Platanar the other day visiting some of the coffee producers and we passed this “construction site” and one of the guys came down to say hello to the guy I was with. When the guy got close enough I realized that the front of his t-shirt said “Kappa Alpha Theta,” I almost lost it but stayed composed but probably looked really weird trying to see the back so that I would know where it was from! You may be wondering how a man in Guatemala got his hands on a Theta t-shirt well, here in Guatemala there are these wonder stores called PACA! They are pretty much like a huge rummage sale (we all know how much I love those, right girls)! They have used American clothes and sometimes you can find real gems, for example, I found a pull over NorthFace fleece for Q 20 ($ 3) in the PACA market in Antigua! You can find almost anything in these stores/markets, including “Kappa Alpha Theta” t-shirts!

My main form of transportation here in San Martin are “jalones” which are just pick-up trucks that people use to take people to and from aldeas, or San Martin and Chimal! They are now, Q1 cheaper than the bus because of the rising gas prices! The other day, being the cheap person that I am, I decided to take one from San Martin to Chimal! I was at the front of the bed of the truck leaning up against the metal bars that they have put up around the bed of the truck! Taking a jalones has its advantages and disadvantages, the advantage being you get to take in the amazing views that you cannot see from the bus but the disadvantage it that many times you come away with some sort of injury! Mine, which resulted from bumping up against the metal bars was a huge BLACK bruise on the side of my hip, gotta love the fun times!

Chimal, which is short for Chimaltenango, the capital city of my department! Chimal is hard to describe because it is one of the dirtiest, polluted, disgusting city ever, but then it has this nice mall with a food court, a Gap, and a movie theater! It is amazing that you can go from communities that little to being able to find almost anything “normal” you want in Chimal! It blows my mind!

Well, that is about all for now! Nothing to exciting but you know life in San Martin is not all the exciting, wink!

2007-11-20T13:23:00.000-08:00

I am here, San Martin Jilotepeque! I am in my first “apartment” really it is only two rooms with a bathroom. I moved in on Sunday, but moved in really isn’t the word since I didn’t have anything but clothes! I had to hit up the market for everything, plates, bowls, forks, food, a stove, etc.! I had to buy purified water which to buy your first one is expensive! I know that I probably got a “gringo” price for a lot of my things but when you don’t have anything you are willing to buy it at any price (supply and demand at its finest)!! Sunday night since I did not have any gas for my stove so I went to eat at a restaurant owned by another American! He married his wife and moved here and started this awesome restaurant/ homemade movie theater, where he shows whatever movies you want with a projector and a big screen, kinda like drive in theaters but no cars!

Everything went really smoothly moving in and all, expect for finding gas! It took me two days to finally get some. On Sunday I went to the electronic store to buy my stove and the guy there was really nice but I thought he was ripping me off by offering me the stove, the connector, the tube and the gas for Q 600 ($85), so I only bought the stove, the connector and the tube (Q395). Come to find out, it is expensive to buy your first cylinder of gas (Q 325) so I went back to the store to see if I could buy the gas for the extra Q 200. At first the guys were like no, sorry it will be Q 275! Of course me being me was not going to have that, if I could have bought it on Sunday for Q 200 more then I should be able to buy it now for that price! Well after a few minutes arguing and a call to the manager, they were going to sell it to me for Q 200! Victory for me and my Spanish! Well then they tried to give a cyclinder that only had like 5 lbs of gas (it holds 25 lbs.) and of course I was like, I don’t think so! I will not pay for this! So then I think they decided they did not want to deal with me any more and they gave me one that was significantly heavier although still not completely full, but hey I got a bargain!

My first day of work was yesterday (Monday)! Things went a lot better than they did on my site visit a week earlier! They had cleaned out an office for me and gave me a computer (like the first one my family owned when I was 11), but it works! They gave me a bunch of cost of productions that they had done with the farmers and told me to put them into Excel. At first I was thinking, I am not a secretary, but then as I went through and realized that the farmers did not really get what a cost of production was and that many of them were losing money, I realized my first job, to teach them about cost of production, to make sure they can all do it and to help them achieve a profit! I am a person who jumps to conclusions right away but my Peace Corps experience has been teaching that everything really does work out and that you have to just with whatever comes your way!

I went out to lunch with my two counterparts and a technico from San Joes Poaquil (where our other office is)! We went to a great comeador, carne asada (yummy) and I had a smoothie! Well instead of having a smoothie the men opted to split a liter of beer or so I thought! In the end, lunch ended up being 2 hours and 15 minutes long containing four carne asadas, one smoothie and four liters of beer (between three “Guatemalan” men, think shorter than me)! Let’s just say it was an interesting afternoon at the office, my counterparts were acting like “bolos” (A bolo is a drunk, normally sleeping on the sidewalk or somewhere in public)!
So I cannot believe that it is Thanksgiving already! I actually get to spend Thanksgiving with about 20 other volunteers in Guatemala City at the Ambassador’s house! I am pretty excited because I am sure it will be great food and I think since it is such an outrageous thing that it will make me miss my family a lot less (kind of tearing up just thinking about not being there)! We get to swim in the heated pool and play tennis if we want, kinda cool (actually I think it is really cool)! On that note, again I wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

What did I get myself into?!

2007-11-14T13:52:00.000-08:00

The last week has been incredible busy! I had counterpart day, which is were all of our counterparts come and we have two days of workshops! It was actually really fun, I really liked my counterpart, Nazario! Then we actually went to our site for four days, whole other experience. My other counterpart is only a year older than me and is very serious and is a non-game playing kind of guy (totally opposite of me)! I will be working in an office of ten men (in the States I know that would deserve a Holla but here not so much)! It is actually intimidating because they are all trained in coffee production and then there is me, the white girl in the corner with her broken Spanish trying to give suggestions, talk about feeling out of place, wooo, wake up call for me!

Another aspect of my site visit was to find a place to live, which I did! I am really excited my very first apartment (if you can call it that)! I am going to be living on the second level of a family’s compound! I have a front porch, two rooms, a private bath, my own pila and a large back patio for drying my clothes and a tire garden! I am really excited about being on my own but at the same time I am terrified! Also I am the only one in my site! There are three other volunteers in the aldeas of my site but they only have transport two days a week so I will not see them all that much! I really experienced loneliness for the first time this past week! In three days it is going to be me, Spanish and a town full of Guatemalans! It really hit me that I am either going to be talking Spanish or not talking at all, and for all of you that know me well, the not talking part is probably not an option so my Spanish should really come along!

So I am going to let everyone know that I am scared SHITLESS (I know I said I would not cuss on this blog but no other words can describe this feeling)! I am so scared about my work, my counterpart, my site, being alone, knowing no one, having no friends, only speaking in Spanish and living on my own! I have never been so scared of anything in my entire life! Normally I am scared but know I will get through it but not now! In this situation there is nothing that I feel comfortable about and there is no one there to lean on, AHHH! I just wanted to let you all know that as happy as I am and as much fun as I am having here, I am also SCARED out of my mind! Mommy, Daddy….

I have a couple of funny stories…

Number one actually happened today while I was in Antigua with two of my guy friends! We were walking along and we happened upon a group of 6 men trying to unload a “tuk tuk” (a mini cab like thing)! Being the nice guys that my friends are they offered to help unload this “tuk tuk” from the truck! I thought it was the most hysterical thing that I might have experienced here! I could not resist taking pictures so here they are…

Number two: Some volunteers stumbled upon this dive bar in Antigua who always has really cheap deals on beer! With our limited income (Q26.00/ day durning training, which is equal to $3.75/day) we were totally excited and have become frequent (once a week) customers! We had an afternoon free this week and decided to grab a cold beer. When we got there they were having a special, two beers for Q8 which when you change that to dollars, we were drinking $0.53 beers! I just thought that some people back home, aka my friends and brother, would find that amusing!
I cannot believe it is almost Thanksgiving, WOW! If I do not get to post again before then I want to wish everyone a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! I will be thinking about all of you and safe travels to all! And to my family I love you and miss you (P.S. Eat a lot for me and make sure to do a lot of shopping on Friday for me!)

My Site!!

2007-11-05T13:55:00.001-08:00

I found out my site this week…I am going to be living in San Martín Jilotepeque, Chimaltenango! It is about a hour and a half from where I am now, located in the middle of the mountains, which are beautiful! I will be working with an organization called SID (Strategies for International Development), a US run NGO that works with farmers to help them organize so that they can sell and export for higher prices. I will be working in about five or six different aldeas (smaller communities around the municipal)! I am really excited because I think that I will learn a lot, from Spanish to legalizing here in Guatemala! I also get to learn Kaqchikel, one of the 22 Mayan languages here! I don’t know much more about it right now except that it is a new site for a marketing volunteer and that it is a new SID office! I meet my counterpart on Tuesday and leave for a five day site visit on Wednesday! I am just really excited to get started now that I know where I am going!

This has been a busy week, received our sites, had a final presentation and it was Dia de Muertes/Todos Santos! So Thursday the marketing gang headed to Santa Maria (three other trainees live there) for the kites! The Guatemalans believe that flying the kites allows them to be closer to the deceased! Families build these huge kites, 8-12 feet in diameter and then they go to the cemetery to fly them! We walked to Santiago to see the biggest ones in the area, it was INCREDIBLE! I cannot believe that they had kites that big hundreds of feet in the air! They are not just the diamond shaped kites these are octagon shaped kites with elaborate designs on them, seriously I cannot even begin to describe them! They also build four huge kites for different things within the community; these do not fly because they are like 50 feet high…and the same across! They are also elaborately designed with the history of Santiago and the Mayan traditions of the day!

When I got home I had the chance to go with my family to the cemetery to decorate their family graves! It is one of the most beautiful celebrations I have ever seen! Everyone brings flowers and wreaths to the graves of their deceased family members and it is a time to remember the family members and what their life stood for and who they were! They are so open about death…they still see it as a sad time but at the same time they see it as a happy time! My mom was asking me if we had the same holiday in the States and I was telling here that it would not be ok for kids to be running around flying kites in a cemetery in the States, the cemetery is sort of a different place for us! Then she continued to ask why do we not have a day to remember our family members didn’t we love them! I had no response for this statement, except that we remember in our own way! She also asked if we were scared of death in the States…I told her there was somewhat of a fear surrounding death but it was more of a personal thing! She then proceeded to tell me that I did not need to be scared of death because life is just a period of time before we began our everlasting life in the true Kingdom! I am blown away everyday by the my family’s faith…they believe that everything that happens in a good thing because God allowed it to happen therefore there is a higher meaning that we don’t know about! I am continually overwhelmed by their strength!

Well I swear-in in two weeks…I cannot wait! I will be officially living in my site on November 18th! I cannot wait to find my own house and set it all up so that I can start having visitors (come visit, flights are relatively cheap)! I have to say that if two years go as fast as the last two months, I am going to be home before you and I know it!

Random...

2007-10-23T15:44:00.000-07:00

*** Note to readers...this was written very quickly so please excuse all the mistakes!!!

Hey everyone…this update is not really about anything! What an opening sentence makes you really want to read right?!

First off I want to thank my mother, brother and grandma for being faithful scribes, they have made me the envy of my technical training group! I get letters, packages or cards every week without fail! Also a big thanks to my best friend Juliane for an awesome care package, love ya!

I have gotten a lot of emails asking me what I need/want so since you asked….
Target Brand raisins and fruit snacks
Trail Mix
Sticky tabs to mark my tech book (cannot find any here)
Pens
Reeses/Baby Ruths are always good (candy bars are expensive)
Books, any kind are welcome ( I have read six books since I got here)
Little Peanut Butter packs (hard to come by here)
A travel size Febreeze and Downy De-wrinkler
Surprises are always welcome

I know some of this stuff sounds superficial and stupid but when you are feeling down or sorta homesick, these things make all the difference!

Now that I got ME out of the way, I do have a few more observations! First off, the women here are unbelievable! They work so much harder than any other people I have every met in my life! They will hike up our mountain, like an hour, and not an easy hike for fire wood, food, etc, and carry up to 50 lbs or more on their heads back down the mountain! They never stop, no matter what age they are! For example, my 83 year old grandmother still chops her wood every morning! At first I didn’t realize that she was actually the one doing the chopping, so one Saturday morning, I asked her to show me how to chop wood, her response was this (translated) “I don’t think that you can do it…young people can’t do anything these days!” I mean I knew we were a lazy generation but to be told by this 83 year old woman who was chopping wood that I could not do it was a shock! I wish I was better with words so that I could explain better the women of Guatemala, I guess the best words I can find in the thesaurus is astonishing, astounding and remarkable!

Today, Monday October 22, the US Ambassador to Guatemala came and spoke to us! It was nice to see the stance that the US has here in Guatemala but at the same time I was thinking the Peace Corps goals are the total opposite. He made some very good points and has some great ideas about how to help Guatemala develop! I also like him because he bought us all pizza for lunch and let me tell you, pizza has never tasted so good!

Well three weeks and three days until I officially swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer! We are having our swearing-in service at the Ambassador’s residence in Guatemala City! It should be a good time, the exciting part is that our host families are invited which should be a nice treat for them! I have grown quite attached to my host family, mainly my mom! She is awesome! She is so cute, whenever I leave the house she always tells me to be careful, to watch my money and to call if I am going to be late! I know that I always complained about my parents nagging about stuff like that but now it is kind of comforting knowing that there is someone here looking out for me!!

You just might get what you wish for...

2007-10-15T11:36:00.001-07:00

Well, I just got back from our Field Based Training in Coban, Alta Verapaz! It was an experience let me tell you! We went to visit Chirrepeca Tea Co-op, one of the five people in my group will be sent there for the two year assignment, hope it is not me! I learned one very important lesson about the Peace Corps experience...never hope for anything, just hope you have a roof over your head and food! So before we got to Coban I told everyone that I just did not want fleas in my bed, I just didn’t think that I could do that again! Well I got my wish, I didn’t have fleas because I did not have a mattress, I slept on a wooden bed with a wicker like mat (check my blog for pics)! To get to the house with a mattress I had to hike 5-7 minutes through a tea/corn/ banana field to get to the house, which turned out to be pretty nice because it was build like 6 months ago and the just got electricity about three years ago! While they were showing me the house, we were walking to get to the kitchen and we walked through a room which had my bed and they were like here we go, that is when I realized that I should have hoped to have fleas just so I could have had a mattress! Now that I am back in Magdalena I feel like I am at the Ritz Carleton! I do not have to poop in a hole and throw some water in and I do not have to shower with the chickens.

Coban is a very beautiful city, along with the surrounding areas. The tea co-op as rustic as it was, was wonderful! I got to experience nature at its finest, the silence of the night, the stars and true natural beauty that was intended for this earth! I know that I probably sound super corny but it seriously was one of the most relaxing and soothing places I have ever been! You knew that you were by yourself, that there was nothing interfering with everything around you, it actually gave me time to think, which is something that I have been doing more often, Mom and Dad you can pick your jaws up off the floor, its true!

So the week at the Tea Co-op was an eye opening experience and now I understand why they wait to give us that experience! They put us up in nice towns and nice homes for training because it really is culture shock when you get out there into some of the small communities that we will be living in! If they would have dropped me off in that situation six weeks ago I don’t know how I would have re-acted, it would have been hard! It is just amazing how there can people Guatemala City and the 50 mile radius around it and then there can be places like the Tea Co-op, it is just amazing they exist in the same country!

While we were in Coban we got to give a charla to a women weaving group in Que’chi, which is one of the indigenous languages of Guatemala. We had to give it in Spanish and use a translator! It was amazing that some women could not speak Spanish, they only spoke Que’chi. Then there were some, mostly younger that spoke both! I was talking to the family I was staying with and they said that the first language is Que’chi then you begin to learn Spanish when you begin to go to school! Que’chi is a very throaty language and there are no words with three syllables, which is why they have a difficult time with Mackenzie! I am really excited to see if I will get to learn an indigenous language, I think it would be really cool!

Well that is about it for now, nothing to exciting has really happened here, same ole same ole!

Till next time...

Just another day...

2007-10-07T08:32:00.001-07:00

Sorry this is a really quick entry, bare with me on the explanations and spelling…

This week has been full of activity. I gave my first charla, which is like a mini talk/lesson on the channels of commercialization. There were about 15 women there plus the other trainees and my trainer. It went ok, the activity turned out really well because they really understood that they could make more money through selling directly to the stores than to middlemen which was the point so props to that! The best part was in the middle of my talk there was a woman there with a baby and he was hungry so she just took him off her back and whipped out her boob and stared breast feeding right there in the middle of the room in the middle of my charla. I mean it definitely not the first time that I have seen women just whip it out but I was kind of taken back that it was in the middle of my charla….that’s life I guess!

Saturday we went on another hike but this time we made it all the way to the top which is about 10,000 ft above sea level. We were up in the clouds, it was surreal! We could see the clouds below us moving and forming and you could smell the freshness of the air, it was so clear and crisp. At the top there is a really cool set up that was done by another Peace Corps training group. There are benches, swings, and a slide for the kids and some picnic areas too!

Saturday night we had our first real night out in Antigua. We went and had a great dinner for Q15 (about $2), then hit up some of the Happy Hours before going to this great bar that had dancing! Although I only danced a little it was fun being in that kind of environment again, the loud, somewhat packed bar where everyone is having a good time! It was so fun too because it was all Guatemalan and not over run with Americans. It was awesome to see some Guatemalans kick back, drink and dance (a very rare thing here)! We didn’t get home until 11:30, I felt so bad though because I was later than I expected and I felt like I was seventeen again and sneaking back into the house!

Today I am off to Coban in the state of Alta Verapaz for FBT (Field Based Training). We will be there for a week; working with a women’s weaving group, a tea co-op and another coffee group. It should been a fun and interesting trip. We have to give two more charlas, which sucks, but we also get to have a night out in Coban and on the way home we are going to some hot springs which will be a wonderful! When we get back I will only have 15 more days until I found out my site for the next two years, YAY!

I miss everyone and I am trying my hardest to email as much as I can but the internet is a rare thing here, or it cost me Q6/hour which is about one-third of what I make in a day! I am going to try to figure out a regular schedule once I get to my site and get settled in! Thank you to all who have sent cards, packages, emails and facebook messages, you do not know how much it means to me!

That’s right I have a life…

2007-10-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

I got to have my first “night out” on Friday…YAY! First off let me calm you down before you get to excited for me… I was home by 8:30 and asleep by 9:30! It was really exciting though because we got to go to Antigua on a Friday night and have some beers and dinner! This is really exciting because we never get to do anything…we are suppose to be with our families all the time, which is normally great but sometimes I really need to just feel like I am 23 years old again! It almost feels like high school again, having a curfew, having to tell your family every time you leave the house, having to sneak around to drink…I am having major flashbacks!! It was really nice to be in a social setting and not a classroom session with other PCT…personalities come out and bonds begin to form…it was fun!

Saturday was the most incredible day that I have had here so far…weird it was our one month anniversary of being in country! I started out the day with a kick-ass conversation with my host dad…it was my first really long convo (an hour) that I have had here in Spanish! Then because no one else was home I got some quite time to read and relax before I began the day! Two other trainees for the neighboring town came up and met me and my fellow trainee here in Magdalena! We went shopping for lunch…this included hitting up the local corner market/store to get some veggies…then the careneria (meat store) which is also a mini hardware store…oh yea it was interesting! Then we went on this amazing hike up the mountain that Magdalena sits on…it had the most amazing views I have ever seen in my life! We could see Antigua and Chimaltenango (an hour and a half drive away)! It was absolutely the most tranquil moment I have had here…it was untouched by humans so we were completely surrounded by nature, in its purest form!

On our way back down the mountain, one of my fellow trainees saw someone she knew working on his land so we stopped and said hello, which turned into an hour session on farming, fruits, vegetables, and other things! Let me just say that I cannot wait til March when all the avocados are going to be ready…YAY! We tried some many different kinds of fruits straight from the tree…these included, the sweetest pears, sugar cane (which he peeled with a machete), and then this other fruit I have never seen before in my life and I cannot remember the name worth the life of me! It was just amazing that is man, who knew only one out of the four of us, took us in, feed us so much, and taught us all about his land, produce and his life! All I could think about was how fabulous this was and how here your day never has a plan it just always takes its own course…you could plan on having lunch at one but not end up eating until three because you met the coolest farmer ever!!!

Does this bus have windshield wipers…?

2007-10-02T13:03:00.001-07:00

The day after the wedding I left for a four day trip to Tecpan, Chimaltaengo to visit Andrew and current PCV! There were two other trainees going to the same area, so we decided to all go together, so as we are waiting for the bus the flood gates opened up and it started to down pour! There was so much water that the road flooded and started to come on to the side walk, it was crazy! Finally in the middle of the down pouring our bus came…we ran to get on and were thankful for dryness! As we are pulling out, the other girl and I notice that our bus does not have windshield wipers…I could not see out the window and I am pretty sure that he couldn’t either…maybe just the outline of lights! All I kept thinking was, well this is just another experience to add to the list!

Tecpan is an interesting city…it is about 20,000 people but 98% of the people are indigenous and some do not speak Spanish, they only speak Cachikeal (sp?, it is one of the indigenous languages)! It was really good though to see how a PCV lives, works and spends a normal day! I learned a lot that I do not think I will learn from training…such as, how much work you will really do, how to cook on your own, what are the most important things to buy right away, etc! It was nice because I was able to see that not everything is going to go by the book and that not everything you do have to deal with your program…some the most successful things that Andrew has done have been with his secondary projects! One of those projects is organizing a children’s library for the town (way cool)!

When I returned for my trip I had to go to the training center to work on some “homework” so I finished up and was walking home with a friend when we came upon a huge crowd in the road, as we walked around and began talking to people, we found out that there was a “wreck” and the police were not letting people through! We decided to head back and see if we could get a bus back to our towns…we did find a bus but that bus decided since it could not get through, it would just drive up the wrong side of the Pan American highway and then drive down the other side the wrong way to our turn off! Let me tell you it is not a wonderful feeling to see a semi coming at you straight on with no control over the situation what-so-ever!

Here Comes the Bride…

2007-10-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

So my host sister got married this past Saturday…the one word I would use to describe it is LOCO (crazy for you non-Spanish speakers)!

Up until Thursday, the house was abnormally calm but I came home for lunch on Thursday and it was out of control…there were people everywhere, food everywhere, pots and pans everywhere, flowers everywhere, it was crazy! So that night was all about organizations and then Friday morning at 3 am my host mom and sister hopped a bus for Guatemala City to buy even more flowers! That afternoon while I was shedding pork by hand I asked why they left so early and they told me because you have to get there early during September because everyone is getting married and they wanted the best flowers! I guess every bride no matter where you are want the best!

Like I said before I was the human shredder for the pork that was going into the soap for the civil ceremony/rehearsal dinner…I always tend to become a human something here, I have been the human fan more than once! My family was cooking for ONLY a hundred people on Friday night, that was nothing, the grooms family cooked for 800 people on Saturday night! They set up a tent outside the reception to cook it all! So Friday night was interesting because it was the civil ceremony, which should be a great occasion, but it was weird because no one was smiling, everyone looked somber, like it was a funeral! I was not sure what was going on but I still smiled for all the pictures, even though I am probably the only one!

Saturday morning I woke up at 6 a.m. and my house was FULL of people! They were beginning to make flower arrangements, cooking, decorating stuff…they were doing anything you could think of that needed to be done for a wedding and they were doing it all themselves…I could not believe my eyes!

I need to explain here that when I first moved in they were handing out invitations and I asked how many she was sending out…between 80 and 100…seems normal right…wrong! Eighty to a hundred invitations turned into over 800 people being invited to the wedding. And in the words of most Guatemalans, “How nice that you want a small wedding!” I am a small wedding is 800 people, normally weddings are between 1200-1500 people, could you imagine…absolutely not! During this whole process I had to explain why I am the same age as Miriam, my host sister, and I was not married. I also was asked how many people I wanted at my wedding…when I responded with 80 or so, they were like oh so the same size…I had to explain that, no, I only wanted 80 PEOPLE not invites!

The wedding was like anything other Catholic wedding, except that they never kissed at the end, they just started taking pictures! The reception was decorated like any other reception that I have ever been to but the strange thing was there was no dancing and no booze (we all know that rarely happens in the states)! I could not believe there was no dancing, I mean my family is really fun and outgoing and there was just nothing! We just sat there and ate and talked…in Spanish!

Hot Water Please

2007-09-24T16:04:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more observations…

My main mode of transportation is old Indiana school buses. I take the Brownsburg, Crown Point and Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation buses on a daily basis. I think that I have found something to do when I get back, export old school buses to Guatemala. In addition to the daily yellow school buses I have to take “chicken bus” to get anywhere other than Santa Lucia. “Chicken Buses” are very colorfully decorated school buses that will take you any where you need to go. We all know that school buses are designed for 3 small children to a seat, well someone failed to mention that to the Guatemalans because they like to fit 3 large adults to one seat. Let me just say that I have become very intimate with several Guatemalans. For example, this past Sunday I, along with some other trainees, ventured to Antigua for the day. On the way home I was sitting with two oversided lovers with a little girl sitting on my lap and her mother straddling my legs. In about an area of one school bus seat there were four adults and one child! Another fascinating experience was my first trip to Antigua. When the bus left Magdalena all the seats were filled with three people and the aisle was almost full. Although the bus was bursting at the seams, we still picked up people, by the time we arrived in Antigua there were a good 120 people on the bus. Instead of thinking about money in terms of time, Guatemaltecos think about it in terms of people!

This past weekend I had my first experience with the drunks of Guatemala. My first experience was on the bus. I was sitting with this older gentleman and being nice was making small talk. Well small talk turned into a marriage proposal which I got out of by lying and telling him I had a boyfriend. My next experience was in Santo Tomas this past weekend. I had ventured down to meet some other trainees to watch as I described in my last post, people climb a greased tree. We had some time to kill, since we were on Guatemala time (Here in Guatemala if someone says it starts at 12 pm it will really start around 1 or 1:30 pm). Anyway, as we were enjoying our ice cream and cokes this drunk approaches us in fine form. As he gets closer it is apparent that his fly is down and he has decided not to wear any underwear. Oh yes this means that his “junk” was say Hey just like he was! The sad part of the story is he was not the only one not wearing underwear, there were a few more drunk who must believe it is easier not to wear underwear!

Guatemala is similar to the United States in the since that there are city people and non-city people. Today we had a trip to Guatemala City, the capital, with our Spanish classes. We had to visit the PC Headquarters, the hospital that the PC uses, and the bank. After all of this we had lunch at the mall! This mall was better than some in the States, a Zara, Bershka, Nine West, Nike, Apple, Tommy, and other big name stores! It also included a McDonald’s which provided a wonderful lunch (I don’t think I would ever say that in the States but man some hamburger sure tasted good)! After our wonderful lunch we went to the movie! We were all joking that our friends and family would ask what did you do this week, “Oh I ate at McDonald’s, did some shopping and went to a movie, sound like the Peace Corps to you?” The people I saw today were so much different than the people that live in the small towns throughout Guatemala. They are more liberal, dress just like us (maybe better) and are more progressive! It is amazing that there is such a difference, by that I mean, some people who live in the campo have and will never see a mall or a McDonald’s or anything like it!

I am really happy right now! I had this moment while I was riding the bus home on Monday where it just dawned on me how happy I am here! I know this was the right decision for me and right now I cannot imagine my life anywhere else! I might not love everything about my daily life but at the end of the day I go to sleep happy and fulfilled! (Although I cannot wait until I get a hot shower!)

A Litte Bit of Everything

2007-09-17T07:31:00.001-07:00

I have officially been a Peace Corps Trainee for three weeks now! When I stop to think about it I feel as if I have already been here two years but at other times it goes by so quickly! This past week was another week of 6 hour Spanish classes but on top of that we began having 2-3 hours of technical training! During tech we learn about the different markets, how to use them, where they are, etc.! We are also learning about the community structure and where to start when we get to our sites. I am really excited because I am going to visit a PCV for 5 days next week, so I think I will have a better idea of what it is like in the field, which hopefully will clarify things!

My dining situation here has been an interesting experience. To begin with, as many know but few have truly experienced, you eat a lot of tortillas, but the differences comes when you are not just eating tortillas because they are there but using the tortillas as your utensil. When I first got here they gave me a spoon, fork and knife, but I soon realized they rarely eat with anything but the tortilla, so wanting to integrate into the culture I began to do the same thing! This was a good idea and a bad idea because now I am never given any but my tortillas so I am forced to eat them with every meal and this means I pick my meat up (like chunks of meat) and eat them with my bare hands! Sometimes I just laugh to myself thinking about how many hours were spent teaching me to be a lady when I eat, well sorry Mom and Dad those days are long gone!

Saturday September 15^th is Guatemalan Independence Day! The festivities begin on Friday night with the running of the torch! The running of the torch is where are the school children for the town go to the capital of the state, and light the town’s torch with the “Fire of Freedom” This is done because on September 14^th the leaders signed the Independence document and that night runners were sent with torches carrying the “Fire of Freedom” to all the towns throughout Guatemala! The reason that September 14^th is not Independence Day is that most Guatemalans did not know until the next day that they were free, so the 15^th is considered Independence Day because that is day

Guatemala

woke up free!

The day begins with a parade of all the school children in the town. There are dancers, marching bands (they are really good and of great pride to the community) and little Independence Day princesses and queens! The whole town comes out, there is a huge lunch in the town square! Later in the day the neighboring communities have a parade through town with the same kind of things as the first one! The highlight of my day was going to a neighboring town to watch the pallo asado, which is oiled pole! It is a 60 foot tree that has been striped of its bark and greased up from top to bottom! The idea of it is to get to the top, if you do you get Q500, which is about $70, a lot of money here! At first all of the drunks tried it then about an hour and half into it the serious men came out and it was awesome! My friends and I watched it for a solid three hours, it was an entertaining afternoon! (I am attaching pictures and a tube video of the event!)

Side note, this is all been told to me in Spanish so if there are some things that are not exactly correct please forgive!

This past week I had my first adventure picking flowers and pears! My host mom and I started the day hiking about 30 minutes up the side of the mountain to their orchard! When I say hike, I mean hike! We were so far up the mountain that I could see the outskirts of Guatemala City which is about 25 miles away! As soon as we got there I was put to work picking the flowers which were scattered all over the place. I never realized that picking flowers involved so much work, my back ached, my arms hurt, my feet were so cold that I could not feel them and I fell about a million times because the land is not terraced it is just a straight up hill you have to work on! Anyway it was my first experience with what I will be doing at least for the next three months!

I have been enlisted by my family to help throw this surprise party for my host sisters this Friday! She is getting married on Saturday, so I have been the person enlisted to make sure that everyone is dancing and having a good time! I think they think that I am this crazy American that loves a good time because sometimes I will just turn on my Itunes and dance around my room! There are times here you just have to let loose! So while my host mom is explaining my job to me, my host days turns on the stereo and starts dancing (salsa) and then drags me along with him! Let’s just say they might be rethinking their decision to make me in charge of the dancing!

Ok another long post so I will cut it off here, but if any of you have questions either leave me a post or email me what you would like to hear about!

Hard Labor

2007-09-11T18:10:00.000-07:00

I had my first experience washing my own clothes today! I had to wash my underwear because our host moms do not do that, thank gosh that is all they do not do! So while I was washing them my host mom was washing clothes too and my jeans came up so I told her I need to learn how to wash my clothes because she would not be there to do it for me in three months! This learning/showing me turned in to me doing all the work, and work it was! They wash their clothes in the same sink like thing that they wash their dished, teeth, hands and food! It is called a pila, it is two sinks on either side of a large rectangle trough of water. My family is big enough that they have two back to back, so I was washing at one while my mom was washing at another when this experience happened. Let me just put it this way, I will not be able to help people because I will be washing my clothes all the time! In the time that she finished her bucket full of clothes I was just finishing my jeans! I will never again in my life complain about doing laundry!!!

I as I said in my last post my house is amazing! It is a two story house that opens up into a courtyard! Downstairs is the toilet and shower, along with the kitchen and living room! Upstairs is all of the bedrooms which all open up onto a balcony that over looks the courtyard! I am living the high life compared to most of the other trainees but with that said I am covered in flea bites and have to wear bug lotion to bed every night! I know that this is what I signed up for but it is really sad that I can sympathize with dogs now!

My daily routine will shock most of you that know me well! I go to sleep around 9 o’clock and get up…wait for it…6 or 6:15 every morning! I am actually the late riser in the house because everyone is out the door by 5:30-5:45 every morning, except my dona! I get up and eat breakfast, try to chit chat with my dona and then head off to my six hours of Spanish class. My 6 hours of Spanish is followed by another 2 hours of tech training! I have a distant memory of my Peace Corps recruiter telling my boredom is the biggest problem in the Peace Corps. I am really thinking he had no idea about the training program in Guatemala! I am so busy I feel like I barley say Hi to anyone in my family until 6 o’clock at night (oops, I mean afternoon)! Although the weekdays pass quickly the weekends are quite slow! There is not much going on other than hanging out or doing laundry or washing the floors so once those things are done which is normally by lunch time, they day is still young with nothing to do! This is when I totally understand about the boredom! You can only read, write in your journal or letters and study so much, which still leaves lots of time!

Magdalena is a very interesting town because it is a fairly large town with 2,000 people but it is primarily farming community! At first I didn’t think anyone worked here expect for in the stores but them my host family explained to me that most people in town that do not own a shop have land above the town on the mountain side and grow different products there! So pretty much they work in June and September then again in October and May, the beginning and the end of the growing seasons! There are two growing seasons here in Guatemala. The farmers plant one crop during the rainy season and a different one during the dry season.

For being a very conservative, mainly Catholic country the amount of PDA that young people display here is amazing! One afternoon after lunch I was returning to one of the other trainee’s house for our afternoon session of Spanish and there was a couple on the corner making out or sucking face as the Guatemalans called it! About 2 and a half hours later when I left they were still there “sucking face”! Every street corner you pass there is more than likely a young couple making out, I wish I knew how to stay “Get a room!”

Well again this is a long post so I will leave it with no more! I have figured out that I can save time in on the internet by writing a head of time and copying and pasting, which means I have a lot of time to write!

GUATEMALA!

2007-09-07T16:49:00.000-07:00

¡Púchica! Wow! I am finally here in Guatemala, the land of eternal spring! I think that this country might be a hidden treasure of the world! It is beautiful, the land and the people, everything! I arrived in Guatemala City on August 29th just in time for the mid-afternoon rains, something that occurs everyday here May thru October. We hopped on a school bus and made our way to Santa Lucia Milpas Altas, a small community about 20 miles from the capital but about a 45 minute bus ride away. My group and I then began our three day orientation to Peace Corps Guatemala. The orientation is pretty much an overload of information that you will not remember for the life of you but should. We had language test (AHHH), thankfully I was placed in intermediate which means I am where I should be by the end but also means I have to advance two levels by the end of the three months! After the three day orientation we beginning our training.

PC Guatemala has a new kind of training which is called community based training, which means that we are divided into ten communities around Santa Lucia based on our tech program and our language ability. I am part of the Agriculture Marketing tech group and I am living in Magdalena Milpas Altas, about a 45 minute walk to the training center in Santa Lucia! They do not call it Milpas Altas for nothing! Milpas Altas means Tall Corn and they are not kidding! The corn stalks have to be at least ten feet high, I am not joking! Magdalena is a community of about 2,000 people, primarily farmers so some kind (my family grows fruits and flowers)! It is situated on the side of a mountain which results in incredible views!

My host family is awesome! It consists of my mama and my papa along with my two sisters (23 and 20) and my brother (17)! In addition to them my papa’s mother and my mama’s father live here, too! So in all there are eight of us! My first day here, which was Saturday, September 1, my mama’s father moved in too. He had a stroke and is now paralyzed on his left side of his body. This came as a shock to the family and the Peace Corps because PCVs have been working with this family in the agriculture sector for about eight years (mainly with the grandfather)! It was a hard adjustment for me and for the family. Such a huge change in the living situation all within hours of each other! I live right in the middle of town so every morning around 4:15 or 4:30 I am woken up by the blaring horn of the bus to take people to work/school in the capital! What can you do, you gotta love it!

Guatemala is everything I expected and more! I expected the most obvious things, the lack of organization, the dirtiness (trash everywhere), homes made from different materials, but what I did not expect is the openness and kindness that everyone shows to one another here! I will walk down the street with another gringa and everyone will say Buenas Dias or Buenas Tardes, it is incredible! The view from my balcony and the street throughout Magdalena provide a view that is indescribable! In the morning the view is clear as can be but by mid afternoon the fog has rolled in creating a mysterious feeling around the mountains!

This has been a really long post so I will not bore you with anymore but I should be posting again soon so keep checking!

On my Way

2007-08-25T21:56:00.000-07:00

T-minus 30 hours! I cannot believe that I am finally leaving. Its seems like I have been awaiting/looking forward to this moment for the last eleven months never thinking it would come! Everyone keeps asking me how I feel, scared, excited, nervous, you know, the normal emotions, but in truth I cannot even put into words how I feel! The closest that I can come to describing my feelings would be for you to close your eyes (do it) and to imagine that excited feeling you get right before a big event, coupled that with that sinking feeling you get when you get bad news, in addition to that eerie feeling that you get when you think of the unknown...this my friends is how I feel right now (I think my body is going into overload)!

Enough about how I feel (I want to be a guy here and say feelings suck) but now on to more important things...the ground rules for my first blogging experience. I feel that laying some ground rules for myself and my avid readers (aka my DAD) will help prevent miscommunication and/or disappointment for my "avid" readers and myself! So the following is what you should and should not expect from my wonderful blogging over the next twenty-seven months!

First I want to let all my readers out there know that I should have never passed 10th grade English as my writing ability is not up to par (Carolyn can second this)! I am not insightful, poetic, deep or shall we say humorous but I am rather dry and factual (in addition to the worst speller in the world)! If you are reading this blog do not hold the expection of being monumental moved, emotionally altered, entertained or enlightened, I will mostly likey not be able to fill those expectations!

I love to use "..." and I tend to use them frequently as a result of never learning how to use correctly comma!

As I stated above, I could possible be the worst speller in the world (my 4th grade standardized test told me I was in the bottom 28th percentile of 4th graders)! I cannot guarntee that I will have access to spell check, with that said, please do not judge my intellectal ability on my spelling (I really am smart)!

I will try to refrain from the use of profanity (interject my friends and family laughing), YES I will try to refrain and keep this blog at the level of PG! I cannot guarntee that all subjects will be appropriate for all age levels but the content will be clean!

I sometimes think that odd things are entertaining or funny! If you think that my humor has gone astray please let me know!

On that note, I would love feedback (only postive of course)!

I hope you all enjoy!!!

Guatemala here I come!

Invitation

2007-06-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

I finally got my official Peace Corps invitation on Thursday (6/14)...YAY! It has been a long process but I am sooooo excited about my new adventure! I will be in Guatemala begining August 27th, 2007. I will be there through Nov. 2009 working as a Marketing Facilitator for the Sustainable Agriculture project!

So what does a Marketing Facilitator do...I asked myself the same question. In my assignment descriptions it says that I will be working with small to medium size farmers to help farmers increase productivity and efficiency along with trying to increase the money that the products bring to the farmers! I guess 10 years of 4-H and living in a farming community qualifies me to work in the agriculture sector...who knows, I guess I will find out!

I am really excited about working, living and helping abroad in Guatemala! I am a little nervous about my spanish and the level I am at but I got around Spain I should be ok, right?! I am going to post more about what I think my two years will be like and some expectations that I have for myself. In addition, I will post some facts and figures about Guatemala so that you have some background info on where I am!