I remember applying for Peace Corps almost two years ago and requesting to go to Africa. Peace Corps wanted to take advantage of the fact that I spoke Spanish (which makes sense) and decided to send me to Central America. Then by some luck I was picked to go into the Healthy Schools program in Guatemala and after training, I was placed in my wonderful site. Everything has just worked out for me and I LOVE GUATEMALA! I’ve always been a pretty happy person, I will always remember a money changer in Uganda mentioning to me that he could tell I was a really happy person, but I just find so much joy in being here and in my work. I don’t want to sugarcoat things-it’s not perfect (nowhere is perfect). There are days, of course, when I’m a little grumpy or tired, maybe because some guy has said something annoying to me or because I found a giant spider in my house or, more often, because the poverty of so many people just gets me down, and in my angst I avoid saying my Buenos Días to people in town because I just don’t feel like it and I know that they aren’t going to take the initiative and say it to me. I’m hiking up the giant hill to my house, perhaps lugging up some groceries or market buys, avoiding eye contact, when some kids emerge from a field or a house or from nowhere and scream my name. When I turn to look at them, they wave and say Adios and I feel energized again. Just little things like that make me love life here. Saying Buenos Días to an old woman who looks like she’s having a really bad day and having her smile widely and say it back, hearing birds calling from the electrical wires, starting the day out with beautiful spring-like weather and ending it like a crisp fall day while having some summer in the middle, visiting a school and seeing kids wash their hands and brush their teeth (or lately, seeing the finished projects some schools have put together so rapidly), always having these beautiful mountains to surround me, chatting with some neighbor kids and doing our special fist pump move, getting a “cuidese” (take care of yourself) from my host mom, getting a “Buenos días señito” from one of the older taxi drivers in town, listening to a first grader sing the refrain to that ridiculous Justin Beiber song while a fifth grade class dances to it, waving to kids as they walk to school in town, successfully negotiating my way through the market without getting frustrated and finding some good avocado, finding some great steals at the paca in town, all the little things that fill up my life make it so great. I just can’t rave enough about how great my life has turned out to be. When I was graduating and excited to get into the world, I never imagined my life would be as full and as happy as it is now.
Ok. Enough talking about how great my life is. I’m sure you don’t want to read about that. On to more Guatemalan happenings. Independence Day was last Wednesday. I spent the days leading up to the fifteenth celebrating with different groups of Guatemalans: first a school; then the superintendent and his compañeros, teachers, and community members; and then my host family. On Monday I visited one of my schools intending to visit classrooms and revise hygiene (a normal visit) but they were preparing for an acto cívico (a civic act) for Independence Day. Kids were all getting props ready, teachers were decorating the school and building this map out of moss and dirt. I helped put some maps on the walls and get things set up a little and then settled down to watch the program. Every class had a unique part in the activity. A few classes had dances, some sang, a few kids represented their classes with poetry. The older kids had a play of sorts about giving offerings of the earth to a priestess to represent the indigenous culture. The teachers also played their parts, talking about national symbols (like the marimba as the national musical instrument, the quetzal as the national bird, the ceiba as the national tree, the monja blanca as the national flower, etc), geography, culture, the men and women who fought for independence. One teacher even talked a little more deeply about independence and explained to the by then bored and squirming children that the country isn’t really free politically and economically. I learned a lot and was glad to spend the morning with one of my favorite schools in a bit of a different type of visit. Then Tuesday I helped the Supervisión (Superintendent’s office) set up a display in front of the municipal offices in the center of town. There were maybe fifteen groups setting up patriotic displays to be judged by some prominent members of town (the mayor, some of the queens of the feria, the superintendent, etc.). Our display featured national symbols and a flag, surrounded by Mayan symbols, as well as some corn husk dolls dressed in traditional clothing set up on a corte (traditional skirt worn by indigenous women). My favorite display was done by one of my schools and it was a giant map of Guatemala made out of earth and plants, with volcanoes and the national symbols superimposed on it and surrounded by pine cones. It was really beautiful and took a lot of time to make. Other groups had Barbie dolls dressed in traditional clothing, more maps of Guatemala, kids dressed in traditional clothing. One of my other schools had a display about taking care of the environment with some parts made out of recycled material. It was a fun morning helping out my group and visiting with the others. I just felt a really great sense of community and Guatemalan patriotism. After finishing that I spent the afternoon and evening with my host family in Xela. My older host sister has been learning trumpet and played with her school’s band. They marched in a parade and then gave a concert of sorts in their school. There were lots of fireworks going off and girls twirling batons. They played the national anthem and then some songs that I didn’t recognize, but it was great. Afterwards they gave me some dinner and I hung out with the younger host siblings and cousin. Then we walked a bit through Xela which was crazy because everyone, it seemed, was heading to the Central Park to take part in the Grito de Independencia (when people scream for independence). I didn’t hang around for that, catching a ride back into town with the family, but hopefully next year I’ll be around and make it for the grito. It was a really great day and I got to see lots of different ways that people celebrate the country’s independence.
It is also feria in Xela and I haven’t really done much but yesterdayI did catch one of the parades. The beauty queens for Xela, other departments of Guatemala, and even other countries had their floats and paraded down one of the main streets in Guatemala. I was in town with Yuna and we saw a really sweet old man who lives in town and watched the parade with him. His granddaughter was on one of the floats and we saw the doctora from the Centro de Salud walking in the parade. It’s nice to see people we know out and about in Xela. Anyway, we watched the parade until the end and then went shopping in the market before heading home.
I am happy and healthy here in Guatemala, loving life, the niños, the paisaje, cooking, lots of other things. And this weekend there’s a party in another volunteer’s town and then my site mate’s having a pig roast. There’s always something new going on here.
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