Yummy

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!