Guatemala

Let's use this blog to keep up with each other! Excited to be in Guatemala, but also missing everyone! Post whatever!

Monday, March 19, 2007

As a celebration of our completion of two months in country, on the 18th a bunch of us decided to climb Volcan Pacaya located in san Vicente Pacaya, Escuintla. Such an unbelievable adventure, but more than I think any of us bargained for. I left with my site mates at 6:30am and did not return home until 9:00pm, mind you we had heard that the hike would only take the morning. First let me say that Guatemala has no internal railroad system; to travel throughout the country one relies on “Chicken buses,” “Minibuses,” or hitchhiking, thus the following digression.
The chicken buses are old U.S. school buses whose owners have fixed them up by adding, in additional to mechanical tune-ups, radios, speakers that blast Bachata music, interesting color schemes, and several bumper stickers stating “Dios nos bendiga,” “Jesus es mi senor,” “Jesus Cristo vive,” or any other religious message. Each bus has its female name in big bold letters on the front window such as Brenda, Marisol, Esmeralda, Ana Maria, La Reina del Sur… the list goes on. It’s like the buses are the women of their fantasies! These buses sit three to a seat, and pack in so many passengers that many times people are hanging out the front door… absolute culture shock when I first arrived. Growing up, the idea of opening the back door of the school bus was very taboo for me (only in case of emergency), but not in Guatemala! To beat the line in the front, people pop open the back door and climb right in, it’s also an easy exit out of the crowded buses. Each bus has two staff members: the driver and the ayudnte. The driver's goal is to drive as fast as he can (even around if not especially around sharp curves), and he barely stops long enough for you get on or off. The ayudante collects the fare, remembers all desired stops, and also sometimes accomplishes acrobatic feats in order to climb over passengers on packed buses. There are several bus companies, but no national standard for the companies, therefore fixed schedules and fares don’t exist, and buses will try to make as many stops as possible in order to make the most money. Also, while the interamerican highway runs right through Guatemala and provides a nice paved road for travel, other similar roads are lacking, as well as roads connecting more direct routes. While two places may exist fairly close to each other on a map, there exists no direct road connecting the two.
So even though we left Volcan Pacaya at 6:30 we didn’t actually arrive there until around 10:30 or 10:45. The trip included 4 different buses, one hitched ride in the back of a truck from about 10km , and a 1 hour hike to the start of the volcano hike because we missed the early morning shuttle. Needless to say, by the time we got there, we were tired – definitely hadn’t planned on hiking to the hike. After we rested for about 20 minutes, we began the real hike, and we must have hiked about an hour or so before we even saw lava. So to make a long story short, we all worked incredibly hard to get to the lava... and it was worth every minute of it!!! We hiked back down and took two of the four buses, before we realized that the last two had stopped running. My site mate called her family and they offered to come pick us up. The day ended with the three of us riding in the back of the family's truck, admiring the star-filled night sky while recalling the day's events.
Monday we received our site locations for the next two years. On April 13th, the day after our swearing in, I will be relocating to the department (equivalent to what we consider a state) of Totonicapan. My town is small with only about 2,500 people. All the men and only 10% of the women speak Spanish. The rest of the women speak the indigenous language Q'uiche, which I guess I'll also be learning. I'm the first volunteer ever to live in this site, so I will be setting the tone and establishing my program's reputation in this area. I'm pumped! I would much rather be in this position instead of following in the footsteps, work ethic, or legacy of volunteers before me. I'll be house searching for the first time in my life for the first two or three months in site - interesting that this would happen here in Guatemala as opposed to the states.
Last thing. The teachers in Guatemala are on strike! The government wants to privatize public education, or should I say get rid of public education, and the teachers aren't having it. I asked my Spanish teacher why the government would want to do this, and he gave the obvious answer being that it wants to make money!The only problem with this change is that probably half of all Guatemalan children would be unable to afford schooling. We'll see what happens, in the mean time school has been out for two weeks.
Until next time!







Myself and other volunteers hiking Volcan Pacaya March 18, 2007. This was the longest, hardest hike of my life - but I should take into consideration that I don't normally hike up volcanoes. We're standing on hardened lava, but beneath the surface fresh lava does flow, making the area very hot. The reddish substance in the background is molten lava... sooo cool!!! Last picture is of Teo and I in the back of the pick-up on the way home.






This picture was actually taken at the Mayan Baptism ceremony. The guy standing in the center with a black jacket is the lead spiritual leader - his name is Tata Xico. He is surrounded by other spiritual leaders, and they all surround the bonfire which has been decorated with flower petals, chocolate, and sugar.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

So it seems that it's taken me about a month to get acquainted with my family. They invited my site mates and myself to the Mayan New Year celebration on February 23rd. I was honored to receive the invitation considering that these ceremonies tend to be exclusive. It was also pretty amazing to witness first hand an indigenous tradition thousands of years old. The ceremony begins with an introduction from the head spiritual guide welcoming everyone, stating the purpose of the ceremony, and outlining briefly the tenants of Mayan Spiritualism. Mayans believe that water, fire, earth, and air make up the four main forces of our worldly lives without which we could not survive. Fire for the Mayans is the most important natural force because it unites the family, cooks food, and most importantly, its smoke acts as a messenger to God. Therefore, the New Years ceremony took place around an intricately decorated bonfire. The Mayans have great respect for nature because they believe that God manifests Himself in all aspects of nature. Following the introduction, everyone present kneels and prays to the four directions (N,S,E,W) - all this occurred in the native indigenous language Q'uiche (there are many different Mayan languages, my family specifically speaks Kachiquel). After the introduction prayers, the spiritual leader leads a series of prayers to each of the nahuals (not quite sure of the spelling). The nahuals are protector spirits and each person has their own. When that person's nahual is called they kneel beside the bonfire as one of the spiritual leaders blesses them, and at the end of the prayer, the person throws candles into the bonfire. These prayers take up the bulk of the ceremony, which ends with the performance of the traditional dance called the Son around the bonfire to the tropical beats of the marimba (an instrument comparable to a large xylophone that three people play simultaneously).
Needless to say this was a very cool experience, and a crucial part to my integration into the lives of my family members. Since then we have become very close, and I will be very sad to leave them in April. As of now, I have 3.5 weeks until the end of training and I'm sworn in as a true volunteer. As much as I love my family, I can't wait to be on my own, cook my own food, and in general have more control over my life. Training has been fine, but the information they give us about the specifics of our job has been to abstract. I'll learn best by experience and probably some trial and error. April 12th is the swear in date, after which I will move to my two-year site. I find out this location on Monday... very anxious. When I get to my site, I'll be living with a family for two or so months until I find my own house. If I am placed in a site where a volunteer has already been I will inherit their house and possessions. I actually want to be the first volunteer in my site so that I can set the tone, do house searching, and not have to follow in the footsteps, work ethic, or legacy of the volunteer before me. My Spanish has really improved, but it takes a conscious effort!!! I definitely have no problem communicating my thoughts, but I need to work on being more gramatically correct when I speak - little by little (poco a poco).
Life is going pretty well, and time is beginning to go faster, or at least at a normal pace. My typical day begins at 7:30am with Spanish lessons that last until 12:30 or 1:00. I return to my house for lunch from 1:00 - 2:00 and then we have technical training for the healthy schools program for the afternoon. Usually this entails writing down our community observations. Some days for our technical training we go to the neighborhood school to observe and discuss educational issues with the teachers. We have given two health lessons to classes. For my first lesson I taught a 4th grade class about the five different kinds of nutrients and in which foods they could find them. I was pretty nervous, I've never taught a lesson, let alone in Spanish! The lesson was a success, and the children really responded to me. I was in the zone during the whole lesson, and I discovered how useful my adrenaline can be outside of the softball field. For my second lesson I taught a group of second graders about how to avoid germs, and that also went pretty well. So to say the least, I now feel like I can legitimately teach lessons in Spanish... interesting. I eat dinner with the family around 7:30. We generally have good conversation despite the T.V., and W.W.F. is huge down here! Absolutely unbelievable considering that I hate it. It's sad that I know names like Batista, Mr. Kennedy, John Cena, the Undertaker.. the list goes on. I tell my family that its trash T.V., or that its a man's soap opera, but then my host mother told me she likes to watch the naked men... she may be traditional but she knows muscle! I can also get bootleg DVDs down here for only 20 quetzales (a little less than three dollars). I'm usually not a fan of bootleg in the states, but it's so enticing to be able to see movies that are now in U.S. theaters - a little taste of home goes a long way.
The food hear is actually pretty good. I've been pretty persistent about fruits and vegetables, and my family cooks them regularly anyway. A new thing that I would suggest is boiling a banana (really its a plantain) in its peel for about 15 minutes. It tastes delicious because the heat exaggerates the banana's natural sugars. I have two every morning for breakfast, up from one. During my first month or so my digestive system was having a rough time of it. It just wasn't digesting as quickly. I would still feel full from lunch by dinner, but because refusing food here is rude, I would stuff dinner down. My stomach looked like I was about three months pregnant, and I could feel my intestines trying to work through the food. In addition to this, I guess as some subconscious adjustment thing, I was drawn to candy bars and sugary bread in between meals. I was craving food that I would never have even touched in the states - it was pretty crazy. Now I've calmed down a bit, and I hope to return back to my normal eating habits once I get my own place.

That's all for now!