Finally...

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!