You know you're in Guatemala when...

...there's a thunderstorm, it's pouring, and yet someone is still setting off firecrackers.

Walking through rivers

Well, finally got caught in a downpour, and I blame it all on two ayudantes (transportation helpers-people who get you on the bus and then collect your money). I took a nice trip up to the department of Huehuetenango to a friend's site where I went to see one of her schools certify as a healthy school. It was a really nice trip-it's good to get out of my site once in a while and I got to see somewhere new. Huehue is really beautiful-there are lots of mountains, and the school we went to was way up there along a road with lots of great views. The certification went really well--two groups did dances, the younger kids recited the promesa de vida, another class sang "Queremos una Escuela Saludable" and lots of words were given by all parties present. After a delicious lunch of caldo (chicken soup) (it was SO good-as food here usually is), we headed back down to town, then my boss gave me a ride to Cuatro Caminos, which is a nice chunk of my trip in the comfort and safety of a Peace Corps vehicle. This is where my day took a turn for the worse and two different ayudantes flat out lied to me and when I said I wanted to go to Tribunales, they both took me to a big yellow bus. I don't know one bus from another regarding where they go-some go into the city and some skirt it before driving to the terminal. I wanted a bus that does the latter because it goes right by the entrance to my town. So I got on the bus confident I would be home within the half-hour. But no, of course it wouldn't be that easy. I soon realized that the bus I was on was not going the way I had been told, so I rode it to another stop I knew and got off to get on another bus to the other side of the city (I wasn't sure where the first bus would end up and I've learned it's better to be safe than end up on some sketchy side of town). There was tons of traffic and the sky kept looking more and more ominous. Since I felt like indulging my mini pity party, I stopped at the grocery store and splurged on Chex Mix (haven't had that in over a year and a half) and later went to the bakery and got a doughnut (SO good). Then a short wait, during which a few drops started falling then stopped. By this time I should have been home and settled in for the evening.

Eventually a bus came and the heavens opened up as we took off down the road into town. It was pouring and the driver pulled up right under an awning, where the sensible people decided to stay put. I, however, totally saw a picture in my head of me rushing up the hill and arriving home safe and sound and only a little wet, thanks to my sturdy umbrella. This picture in my head was completely wrong. The moment I stepped of the bus I walked right through a stream dripping down someone's roof, and then proceeded to walk through yet another, fairly soaking me before I had a chance to open my umbrella. The kids were all laughing, probably at the face I was making, and I quickly rushed out of there, kicking up puddles as I left. I was wearing a skirt which was wet along the bottom and started sticking to my legs, while I was carrying two bags which took turns sticking out from under my umbrella and getting soaked. Things weren't all that bad until I started walking uphill. One of the roads I have to hike up is paved until the hill evens out a bit, where it turns to dirt and rock. The dirt washes downward when it rains and there was literally a river of water just coming down, covering the entire road and getting into my shoes. Though I tried to be careful, there was no avoiding all of the water. Once on top, there was just a lot of puddles to be avoided, and parts of the path where a puddle covered the entire width of the path. My legs were covered in mud, my shoes were soaked through, my skirt was sticking to my legs. Once the land leveled out, I hoofed it to my house and made it in, washed my feet, changed my clothes, and ate my doughnut.

Now I'm safe and sound and drying. I now know never to take the Myrita bus because they lie. I also now remember what rainy season feels like. According to what someone told me, it's going to be a worse season than last year. Hooray.

This is what a good part of the road looks like. But there literally was a river (or in this case two rivers) of water rushing down the hill.

P.S. Write me comments peeps! I want to know what you think, what you want to know more about, etc.

A little cambio

So I decided to change things up a bit. My blog's been kind of boring for a while and in need of a makeover. Since Yuna kindly left me her Tigo stick (modem), I've been using the internet in lieu of my daily reading (and other activities) and the design tab on my blog just seemed like the right thing to click on today. I spent a while searching through all of these attractive backgrounds and settings to get things to be just right. Or at least they're just right for now. I'll probably get bored with it in a week or so. Also look for more frequent updates-once I have internet for good (hopefully soon), I hope to update as kind of a catharsis. Things are always happening here in Guatemala and I need somewhere to store thoughts to reflect on once I'm out of Guate/Peace Corps.

Anyway, the picture is one I took last week while visiting a school. One of my favorite parts of the day is spending recess time with the kids, which sometimes I can't do if I'm meeting with teachers. Lucky for me the teachers at this school were meeting about feria stuff and I wasn't included in this, so I went with some of the girls to watch the school's small marching band prepare a musical number to play over and over again when marching in the parade in June. We soon got bored of watching the band essentially march a few steps and then argue over who was doing what wrong, so we just headed down the road and talked. I had my camera so the girls asked me to take pictures, so I took some posed shots and then candid shots and the picture above is one of the results. Trying to put bunny ears on someone in photos is not foreign here, so the girls were attempting it with both hands until choking the victim became necessary and morphed from bunny ears into one moose antler (or something like that). I love how much joy there is in the girls' faces-we really were having lots of fun.

I'm also finding blogs to read just to stay informed of the important stuff going on in the world, as well as some not so important stuff, like this blog article on Facebook courtship and how it mirrors courtship rituals from years ago: Jezebel: Facebook's Antique Courtship Rituals. Just something interesting to ponder for a second or two, and then move on with your life. Also, getting ready to fly again (16 days!) made me appreciate this: The Oatmeal: Airplane. And, from Information is Beautiful, OECD Better Life Initiative Index, a really pretty way of finding out where in the world life is better in different areas like safety, health and education. And talking about blogs, anyone have anything good to recommend? I'm interested in pretty much everything (minus technical stuff I wouldn't understand).

Also hoping to upload more pictures, will start with any new photos I take. That's all for now. I need to make some posters for my school visit tomorrow. I guess I will leave you with one photo of a poster I made for a school visit from last week:

Not the best picture, but just illustrating a really great teacher comment from last week. The question was: What does one do with trash? The answer: Gift it to your neighbor. I really love making posters, especially when it provokes good discussion.

Don't Make it Bad

Today wasn't a particularly bad day. I don't know why I got so frustrated when the Internet wasn't working well enough to simply upload a document to an email I needed to send. But I was pretty frustrated. So I slammed my computer shut, threw my USB into my bag, jammed my feet into my shoes and headed out the door and down the hill to the internet cafe. I got there and did what I had to do and was looking forward to viewing the newest movie trailers (I take my entertainment pretty much anywhere I can get it--that's what happens when you have no tv or fully functional internet or access to a well-stocked library). But Apple trailers, my site of choice, was of course not functioning. So I got more frustrated and left.

That's when my day turned around completely. I love how often this happens here in Guatemala. I was walking down this gross dirt and rock road outside of my preferred internet cafe and saw ahead of me one of the students I work with, one who stands out to me. She was walking with her grandmother. I had my eyes focused downwards to make sure I wouldn't twist my ankle on a rogue rock or step in some dog poop and could see her moving along in tune with me in order to intercept me when I got close. I was greeted by both her and her grandmother with an emphatic "Seño Cristina" and a genuine "Cómo está?" They even listened to my response and inquired further despite my automaton answer of "Bien" or well (what everyone says, even if you're like my overworked, terminally tired host mom who has spent two out of the past three weeks in the hospital with my now diabetically challenged host brother and despite all of these hardships says she is well). She asked if I really was well and asked to make sure I hadn't been sick lately. I replied that I was always healthy and happy to be here in Guatemala, all this taking place while holding and swinging hands with the girl. They asked where I was going and when I said to do some errands, she told me that next time I was going "arriba" (up), they would show me their house, by the school. Since I work in 15 schools in the town I didn't quite know which school they were talking about, since many of them are "up." I always feel really bad because I don't know these people as personally as I would like. It's just difficult to know anyone very well apart from my neighbors when I barely manage to visit these schools one every two weeks, if that. Anyway, they gave me some hints and I figured it out and told them I hoped I would see them again on my way to school. She also told me how she was on her way up with a basket full of bread to sell to people who didn't want to come down to the center to buy bread (and hiking up that hill, even without anything to carry, is a pain). She had to get going because it was starting to get late, so we said some "Feliz tardes" and some "que le vaya biens" and I threw in one last "Cuídense" and we went our separate ways.

Now I'm in my house, listening to some Ella Fitzgerald, eating some of my favorite cheap cookies, thinking that I'm a fool to get frustrated over stupid little things when there are much worse situations to be in. I tend to judge life here like I would in the States with the same standards, when the reality is that life here is not the same. Efficiency isn't the same, timeliness isn't the same, my view of success can't be measured in the same way. I know I'll continue to struggle with these things, but hopefully I can remember that people see life so positively despite the difficulties they face everyday. Simple kindness makes me appreciate life here so much more and really motivates me to keep up with my work and do what I can to make life here a little better.

Then on my way home I saw this man walking with his daughter. I used to see him all the time and haven't seen him lately, probably because my schedule has been a little crazy. Anyway, he has some sort of vision problem (I think) and always says a few "Que Dios le bendigas (God bless)" after we chat. He is also almost always walking with his young daughter (probably a first grader) and has a box about the size of a shoe box tied up with string. I love imagining what he has in his box. Maybe one of these days I'll find out, but I kind of like having a little mystery in my life. His kindness (and mystery) also makes my life a little better.

So that's been my day. If something is frustrating you, at least your life is better than someone else's. That's what I'll try to keep reminding myself. At least it's easier here with so much poverty and hardship just out there in the open.

Cuídense y que Dios les bendiga!

Just a quiet night

The only sound interrupting the rain right now is the thunder and my typing. It's been a good day. My partner and I met with the director of our one certified school (a Healthy School that complies with all aspects of the first phase of the program). We're trying to start up a recycling program in both municipalities that we work in, which is a pretty lofty project but vale la pena (it's worth it). We also met with the mayor who will likely support us in some way because he's a really great guy. Then back home for a lunch of leftover spaghetti with ground beef, veggies and cheese, followed by some laundry, an episode of "Twin Peaks", grad school research, and paperwork.

The whole process of working with the Healthy Schools program here in Guatemala is making me reflect a lot more on development work. It's been over a year and things have progressed. All of the schools have their rincones de salud (area where students store their toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels, soap, etc) and we are currently giving health lessons to the teachers for them to use with the students. The theme of the year is trash management, something that pretty much everyone asked for. As part of this curriculum, teachers are giving lessons on organic vs. inorganic trash, how long trash lasts, the three R's, where trash is in the community, etc. There are lots of fun activities, like making a map of the community outlining where most of the trash is located, playing a relay game involving correctly classifying trash, older students coming up with a trash management plan for their community, etc. We have contacts with a recycling center in the city who have agreed to come to our community if we collect enough recycling, which shouldn't be too hard because they take almost everything: glass, aluminum, plastic, paper, nylon, copper, general scrap metal. Unfortunately, the municipality I live in, which is closest to the city, has a mayor that doesn't do anything other than build hotels in other parts of the country and slowly build a road here in town. This means it will be unlikely that he will find a place where we can store trash, have a truck to pick up trash to bring it to the center of town, have support for raising awareness in the communities. But we'll start where we can, with the schools. Things won't work out unless Guatemalans take ownership of the projects and decide that it's a worthy cause, and some people have definitely shown interested and shared ideas of how to go about implementing the program. It will be a slow process, one that will certainly not bear any fruit while I'm here, but hopefully it is something that will change some mentalities here about trash. Changing mentalities is the hardest thing to do, so maybe nothing will happen with it. Vamos a ver.

So, I have internet for this week thanks to my partner/site mate/friend Yuna who is in the States for a bit. This means I can catch up on emails and write some blog posts. And I may have more permanent internet soon. It's kind of slow and at times makes me want to pull out all of my hair in frustration, but I have learned to be more patient, so it should be okay.

Those are my reflections for the day. Tal vez I'll post more tomorrow. Have a great evening!