Photos (Por fin!)

Ruins at Tecpán Iximché


With the first grade class I've been working with.


The class with the poster we made after they learned how to wash their hands, and why they should.


Coolest t-shirt ever-brushing teeth time


View from right outside my room


Covered in pica pica from the Carnaval celebration at a school during field-based training.


One of the most colorful churches in Central America, in San Andrés Xecul

We're not in Toto anymore.

It’s been a pretty busy week. The group of 27 Healthy Schools volunteers went out to Totonicapan in the Western highlands of Guatemala to spend some time with volunteers to know what it’s like being a PCV. We visited schools, spoke with the volunteers, and got to know each other better, so it was a pretty helpful week overall. All of the volunteers we visited were really great and were full of information and advice, most of which I have already forgotten. They all also live in pretty nice houses and have pretty comfortable lives, which surprised me. We’re not getting a huge allowance to live here because we’re supposed to live like the people we’re working with, but it seems to me like most volunteers live a little better off, with somewhat expensive wireless internet service from Tigo, nice fairly spacious houses, and even t.v.s with cable. It’ll be interesting to see where I’ll end up and how I’ll be living a year from now. Only two more weeks or so until we all learn where we will be assigned and with whom.

Visiting schools was pretty interesting. We got to see schools in all phases of the program, from being pretty far away from being certified as healthy to being already certified. In Toto, we were present to celebrate Carnaval at one school on Tuesday, which turned out to be pretty crazy. I’m a target for kids because I’m short and they can reach my face and head more easily, so from the start at the school kids were throwing pica pica (confetti) on me. I don’t mind this, as long as it’s not aimed at my mouth or it’s not picked up from the ground and then thrown at me. I even bought some to throw back at the kids. It was fun until I made the mistake of saying that I liked pica pica and a few boys heard me, so they went to buy some pintura stuff (like face paint, but metallic) and rubbed it all over my face and neck. I looked kind of like the tin man, even after rubbing it off onto my hands. It looked like I had spray painted my face and hands. They also brought out the glitter and started putting that on my face as well. How this works is the kids sneak up on you and then kind of slap your face to try to rub some of the paint or glitter on you from the packages it comes in. Pica pica is a little different because you can just shake it off, but it took a shower (and then some extra scrubbing) to get the silver stuff from off of my face, ears, neck and hands. Hopefully it didn’t seep into my bloodstream.

Another school we went to served us lunch and made us some recuerdos. It was a certified school, so we were using them as an example of what a certified school looks like, what resources they have. We saw all of their rincones de salud (little spots in the classroom where students store their hygiene things, like toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels, soap, etc.), which were pretty creative in some classrooms. One teacher used butterflies, and made the toothbrush the body of the butterfly. Other teachers used other animals, like bunnies, or kites for each student to store their materials. The kids also sang some of the Healthy School songs to us or told us what they thought having a healthy school meant. After touring the classrooms, we went to one room to hear some bienvenidos greetings and to receive a recuerdo from some of the teachers. They had made all of us (including the Spanish teachers who were with us and the training directors) a woven scarf made with the traditional colors of the area and a different woven design at the ends of each scarf. Then we ate a lunch made by the children’s parents. We had a really delicious chicken soup with tamales and rosa de jamaica to drink. Overall it was a good day and it was nice to see that the project was so well-received in this one school.

There are three phases in the healthy schools program, the first of which is ending with our group of volunteers. Only four of us are involved in this phase, and they already know who they are. They will be more directly involved in the schools, working with the students and teachers in two to four schools and helping get funding and starting the infrastructure projects necessary to be certified (latrines, hand washing stations, better ventilated kitchens, a water deposit if water is not readily available). I will be in phase two or three with a partner. Phase two involves working with a whole municipality, so between 20 and 40 schools. This involves more working with teachers and training them to carry out the healthy schools project on their own in order to make it more sustainable in the long run. Then phase three involves working with a whole department, so from between 50 and 400 schools. The way it is set up now, the volunteers in this phase will work more closely with superintendents, who will chose certain schools to participate and then become example schools for the rest of the districts once they are certified. In this phase, the superintendents take ownership of the project and have a more active role in implementing it in their schools. The last two phases also involve doing a lot of training sessions, in phase two with teachers and in phase three with teachers, directors and superintendents. So on the last day of training, we went to a training session given by phase three volunteers for teachers and directors in one region of the department of Chimaltenango. They went over the basic information of the healthy schools program, like what it is, what the requirements are to be certified as a healthy school, how to plan lessons, etc. A lot of the teachers were really enthusiastic so it was good to see that the program is well accepted by them. They had to plan pretend lessons and everyone seemed to be involved in trying to think of ways to actively involve students in the learning process. I’m now a lot more excited about doing these training sessions with my own schools once I get my assignment. My training group in Pastores needs to plan a shorter version (1-2 hours) workshop for the school we are currently working with, so it will be interesting to see how that goes this week.

I also got to know the other trainees in healthy schools a lot better over the past week. This is especially helpful because we will be partnered up for our assignments and the two years would be a lot more pleasant if we were paired with someone we can work well with. We had a brief “speed-dating” session to get to know each other’s work styles, what they were looking for in their PC experience, etc. so I feel like I know some people I could work well with and others that I probably couldn’t work as well with. It’s just a little difficult planning for two years of working with someone because we really don’t know each other that well (except for the people living within the same communities). I’ll just have to hope that Sergio and the rest of those in charge of training have been watching us and have some insight into the matter. Everything will become much more clear and certain on March 11 when we find out our site assignments and who we’re working with (which we might find out even sooner). I’ll let everyone know when I find out.

On to a more interesting topic (maybe), I haven’t really talked about food yet. I know that this interests a lot of people, so I’ll briefly write about it now. The food in Guatemala has been pretty good so far. To break up the day, I eat breakfast between 7 and 7:30 (usually), lunch between 12 and 1, and dinner around 7:30 at night. Breakfast normally consists of corn flakes with warm milk (made with Nido milk powder and hot water) or mosh (oatmeal with milk and water), to which is added a lot of sugar. Usually I have fruit in some form, mostly cut up. I often have pineapple, papaya or melon pieces or orange, pineapple or papaya juice. I can’t wait for mango season. Sometimes I also take tea with breakfast, and on the weekends we usually eat eggs and beans with tortillas and bread. Then for lunch, I eat a variety of different dishes: sometimes pasta with tomato sauce, sometimes soup with chicken, a lot of beef with a tomato salsa, occasionally tamales or chiles rellenos, sometimes a side of avocado, a really good soup-like dish with chicken called pepián, rice, carrot salad, always tortillas, etc. For the most part, everything is really good. Then for dinner, we usually eat half-scrambled eggs and beans with tortillas and bread with tea. There is usually sweet bread to dip in the overly sugared tea, which is especially good. Sometimes we have tortillas with melty cheese in the middle, which is probably my favorite type of dinner, or salty ramen-like noodle soup, which is also good. Talking about specific foods, first I’ll mention tortillas. Tortillas are to Guatemala what matooke is to Uganda. It’s the staple food that pretty much everyone eats with almost every meal (not with cereal, but with beans and eggs at breakfast). I typically eat between 6 and 8 tortillas a day, 3-4 with lunch and with dinner. One uses tortillas to scoop up beans or other soupy items, or to eat with avocado (my favorite use of tortillas). The dog and the bird in the family also enjoy tortillas. Many families make tortillas, but mine buys them fresh everyday. I also eat a lot of bread, mostly with dinner. The bread my family buys is called pan frances (French bread) and it’s bought fresh daily so it’s pretty good. There are also sweet breads which are good for dipping in tea or coffee. Eggs are the other food I’ve been eating a lot of here. My family has them almost always with dinner and occasionally we’ll have them for breakfast. I’ve been making them but I like to cook them all the way and my family doesn’t like them like that (too dry), so they’re usually a little soupy (and occasionally very much so). Black beans (frijoles) are also huge and we eat them with dinner and occasionally with breakfast and/or lunch. They can be a really soupy dish to be eaten with tortillas, volteados (like refried beans)-good with tostadas, and whole beans. Also, salt and sugar are used quite a lot here. If a food isn't salty, chances are that it is sugary. My family adds a teaspoon or more of sugar to one cup of coffee or tea, as well as to already sweet fruit juice. Meanwhile, salt is added to eggs, rice, avocado, other veggies, soup, etc. So I constantly feel like my teeth are rotting and my blood pressure is rising.

So far I’m not tired of these staple foods, which is a good sign. I’m pretty flexible when it comes to eating, so all should go well, as long as my family doesn’t start feeding my the chicken soup they feed the dog (with chicken feet and fully intact heads, along with tons of tortillas). This soup is supposedly good for her milk production for the puppies. I guess my favorite food would have to be pepián, which is usually served with chicken, potatoes, and other veggies. I also really love tortillas with avocado or toasted with cheese between two. I also ate pupusas while on field-based training, which are like tortillas with cheese, beans, or meat cooked inside, which is pretty delicious.

I haven’t gone out a lot for food because I’m trying to save money, but I have eaten at Pollo Campero 3 or 4 times. This is a Guatemalan-owned restaurant chain you can find in countries around the world (including the U.S.) that has really good fried chicken. I really like their chicken sandwich, which includes chicken, lettuce, tomato, beans volteados, and guacamole. It’s about Q25 ($3) for a meal with fries, a roll and a drink (a meal big enough to split), so it’s a good deal. We’ve also found a good cookie shop in Antigua where a reasonably sized cookie is Q2.50 ($0.30), so that’s a good find. I also like the McDonald’s chocolate sundae or an ice cream cone from Sarita or somewhere else for less than $1. There are tons of restaurants in Antigua that I want to try out (Italian, Indian, Guatemalan, etc.), but we aren’t supposed to be out of our communities after dark, and around lunch we’re usually around our communities and eat at home, so eating a good dinner in Antigua is going to be difficult.

Some other time I’ll write about my experiences in church, my fun camioneta (chicken bus) rides, Antigua, etc. If you want to hear about something, let me know in the comments. I’m also going to try to start putting pictures up, depending on how cooperative the computers I use and the internet are, so we’ll see. That’s all. Que todo vaya bien!

One month!

It has now officially been a month (and then some) since I got to Guatemala. Time has simultaneously flown by and moved at a snail’s pace, but I’m continuing to really enjoy Guatemala and training (for the most part). My continued positive attitude is certainly enhanced by the time spent in a local school, which is probably what the majority of this post will be about.

The Healthy Schools trainees started in their communities’ schools last week, and my compañeros and I go to a fairly small school on a hill. There are six classrooms for kindergarten through sixth grade (fifth and sixth grade share a classroom). The school is separated into two buildings, the newer of which is still under construction. An NGO was building another classroom below where the current new ones stand, but they went out of business in the recession and what remains is a pit with metal spikes sticking out of it and a really bad drop off with an eroding path leading to the classroom. This would definitely not fly in the U.S. School starts each morning at around 7:30 (although kids were showing up later) and then ends around 12:30 (in time for the kids to go home for lunch). This is typical of most schools in the country, though some private schools have more classroom time (but not much more). The walk to our school takes about half an hour and the last part is up a really steep hill, which provides pretty good exercise, but it also means I arrive sweaty and tired to class.

I’ve been working with first graders at the school. The first day there, last Wednesday, was mainly spent observing during class time and being swarmed by kids during recess. The first class the kids had the first day I was there was gym, so I walked further up the steep hill to the campo, where the kids ran around the field and did some exercises with their instructor. Back in the classroom they learned simple prepositions, like above, below, inside, outside. One thing that’s big here are dinámicas, or activities that involve kids in games or dances and songs to help them remember the lesson. We played cat and mouse, with the mouse inside the circle and the cat outside the circle trying to get the mouse. The kids also sang a song about these prepositions and drew things inside and outside of a circle in their notebooks. Eventually came snack time and then the kids had some more time for snacks and recess outside of the classroom. The other gringa in my group and myself were roped into playing cat and mouse again, and freeze tag. It was a little crazy, and pretty dangerous, because there were simultaneous games going on and kids were barely running by without knocking into each other. Some boys were rolling on the ground fighting. There wasn’t a whole lot of supervision (leading to my growing belief that it would probably be pretty fun to be a kid in Guatemala-playing with fireworks, being spoiled by your parents, having pretty nice weather all the time, etc.). It was a lot of fun, but really tiring. After recess, the kids in my class colored in a picture of a caterpillar and drew pictures of their families. The next day I was there was Friday and the kids continued to learn prepositions, like behind and in front. They also learned about rights, like the right to live, the right to eat, the right to breathe, etc. and drew pictures in their notebooks. After snack and more craziness at recess, the kids colored in pictures of elephants and drew pictures of things, which they all gave to me. It was really cute. They were really excited to give me their creations. I was also helping some kids to learn to write their names, which was going over really well with some, and not so well with others. Then this week on Wednesday I gave a presentation on hand washing as part of my training. The kids were pretty good throughout, but I definitely realized that I need to learn a whole lot more about classroom management. I started the lesson with an activity spreading glitter to the class in small groups to teach kids how germs spread. Then we talked about why you should wash your hands, what you need, how to wash, and when to wash. We practiced washing in the classroom and then went outside to the pila to wash hands. One of the problems that the school has is that there is only one pila (sink) to wash hands at, so it takes a while for a whole class to go and wash hands before a snack or after gym class. So it was a little hectic washing everyone’s hands at the same time, but we got through it and the kids were practicing the techniques I taught them. Then I finished by having the kids trace and color their hands to hang on a poster for the classroom. Of course I had to bribe them (which is pretty much the only classroom management type thing the teacher does) so they all got dulces I had bought from this cute old guy who sells a few things by the muni in Pastores. It was slightly unfortunate that I hadn’t done my presentation before snack time (snacks came much earlier than normal today), but hopefully now the kids will know all about washing hands. On Friday, when we went back to the school, the teacher for my class didn’t come because she had some doctor’s appointment with her baby, so I was pretty much on my own. Another teacher was supposed to help me, but she only stayed five minutes and pretty much said I could teach them whatever I wanted in my own “manera” (way). The kids were learning cursive vowels, so I did o and u with them, and then started on consonants with m, going on to ma (because some kids wanted to learn mama). It was interesting trying to manage them all because some were really into it and really wanted to write more while others (mainly the boys) just wanted to sit and do nothing. It was a little hectic getting them all to wash their hands before snack, but a lot of the kids were using what I taught them yesterday (while before they were barely washing their hands), so that was good to see. Then brushing teeth was also a challenge after eating the snack. Fortunately for them (and me) there was a weird pageant going on where they were crowning the queen of the school, so voting led to chaos and the kids just taking a very extended recreo with teachers and kids all in the concrete school yard just eating snacks and running around (and some fighting and climbing on the gringos). Things settled down when atol was delivered for the kids to drink (as their third snack of the day), but they started getting restless again so we went outside to play gato y ratón, which wasn’t working out. They went home early with all of the other students due to the fiesta, so I finished up the day without completely losing my cool. I just wish the teacher had left some lesson plans because it would have been nice to have something to go on.

It’s a little strange being in my position in the classroom. The kids really look to my approval on things as much as to the teacher. I was grading their work (putting the date and signing my name, as per the teacher’s instructions) and handing out candy to the kids who were behaving well. The classrooms are very different than in the U.S. The obvious thing is that there aren’t many resources. The kids provide notebooks and writing utensils and there is a white board, but there aren’t any books or maps or posters. When the kids color in pictures, it is from a traced outline that the teacher made (or that I made on the days I was there). Another thing is that lots of kids repeat grades because they pull out of school for some reason or another. A large number of the 13 kids in my class are 9, and the oldest student is 12, which are both old for first grade.

The good news about the school is that they have running water and electricity regularly. The bathrooms are also decent and have sinks with soap, and the kitchen is fairly clean (though it isn’t used for snacks). The snacks that kids can buy at recess include healthy things (different types of fruit, bread with beans) in addition to the things kids typically like (chocolate covered bananas, chocolate covered bread, cookies), and kids were picking the healthier stuff over the not-so-healthy snacks. Hand washing is not quite regular, but they do sometimes wash hands before snack time, and the teacher used a fluoride rinse with the kids on Friday to clean their teeth. The kids look fairly well groomed, with clean faces and clothes, and everyone had shoes. On Monday more will start wearing uniforms, which are mandatory, so it will be interesting to see which kids will have the uniforms right away and which ones will have to go without for some time. Although public school is free and any kid is allowed to attend, not everyone will be able to afford uniforms, which is somewhat problematic as the costs of these, as well as all of the school supplies, may prevent some kids from taking advantage of free primary education.

This past Saturday the whole group went to the ruins at Tecpán Iximché for a Mayan ceremony performed by one of the Spanish teachers, who is a Mayan priest. The ruins used to be the capital of the Mayans in the area and were still standing when the Spaniards came. The ruins consist of a couple of plazas and pyramids, though most of the structures that used to be here have eroded away. Towards the back of the ruins is where Mayan ceremonies still take place and the day we went was the beginning of a new year, so there were lots of different things going on. It always makes me feel intrusive when I just show up to these ceremonies uninvited, though we were there to take part in our own ceremony. There were tons of gringos just walking around, taking pictures, taping the ceremonies. One random gringa even grabbed a candle from the middle of our circle and dropped it in our fire. It’s kind of annoying to see these people tramping all over the culture and sticking their obtrusive noses into it, taking photos and videos without asking.

Before the ceremony, some groups presented short segments of Mayan culture, like the calendar, the most important values, etc. My group had nahuales, which are animal spirits that every Mayan gets upon their birth, determined by the day, month and year in which they are born. Our ceremony was to celebrate the end of one month here in Guatemala (to the day) and to celebrate the beginning of our projects (working in the schools for Healthy Schools). We all stood in a circle around a fire, in which there were lots of candles of different colors, each of which represented something different. Black for example represented peace, while yellow/orange represented hope (I think). The priest kept adding candles to the fire, as well as some type of grain and occasionally some aguardiente. After about an hour, we finished up. It was interesting to see a ceremony, especially because I may be living in a part of the country where they are common. I also really want to learn more about the Mayans, especially the language of where I will be placed (if I am placed in a part of the country where a Mayan language is spoken). We’ll see how placement goes in about a month.

After the ceremony we had a lunch of this really good chorizo sausage typical of the area, as well as tamalitos, different types of spinach salads, and two different types of tortillas (corn and bean). It was really good and the weather was perfect for a picnic. Afterwards we all took the hour-long trip back to our communities and I just relaxed for the rest of the day, watching Ice Age 3 with my family that night.

Also in the past couple of weeks, I have learned how to make chiles rellenos, which are peppers stuffed with a mixture of meat, tomatoes, carrots, green beans, and onions. They’re pretty delicious, but they take forever to make. I also had my last Spanish class, and next week will start more independent work. I’m hoping to learn about gardens and how I can build gardens at the schools I will be working with, as well as maybe looking into indigenous medicine and learning how this will affect the work I will be doing in the schools, especially if I am in an area that has a large indigenous population. I’ll have time to visit current volunteers and NGOs around Antigua, so we’ll see exactly what I will get to do. Something cool that I got to do as part of my independent time was go to a macadamia nut farm about fifteen minutes outside of Antigua, in San Miguel Dueñas, named Valhalla. It’s run by an American who just started this farm 30 years ago or so. It’s totally organic and sustainable. The macadamia trees are really good for the environment because they remove a lot of gases from the air and don’t require a lot of water. The trees produce after three years and remain producers for another hundred years or so, while they can survive in many different climates (although tropical climates work best, especially with rain-they can’t tolerate snow). The outside of the nuts (the cancha) can be used for compost while the branches that are cut back every year can be used for firewood. Moreover, macadamias are really healthy and could be a good protein source for those who have access to the plants. The farm is run without electricity, so the machines they use are pretty neat. The one that separates the nuts from the very outer shell has a motor (although there is also the same one with a bicycle that doesn’t use any gas), but the sorting machine needs nothing except for human labor. The guy who owns it gives trees to interested communities or sells them for reasonable prices to interested individuals and then provides education to help the people learn how to plant the trees and how to take care of them. He also has blueberries and bees. Needless to say, it was pretty cool to see this going on.

Next week is field-based training so Healthy Schools is going out to Totonicapan, which is about four-five hours away. We’ll be there for a week, pretty much observing what volunteers are doing and participating a little. I won’t have a chance to write until after I get back so have a great week.

Dar-ing Vueltas

Another couple of weeks have flown by here in Guate and I’m continuing to stay pretty happy, healthy and safe. It seems like once again in my life I’m dar-ing vueltas. When I was in Ecuador, my host moms in Valle de los Chillos and in Quito would often take me on vueltas. I would get in the car without any idea of where we were going, what we were doing, when we would return, etc. Sometimes we would end up at the supermarket, the mall, the Panecillo, a park, Old Town Quito, etc. I just had to learn to be flexible and just go with the flow. That’s kind of how life is around here. Though classes and lectures are all planned out, sometimes things turn up and I just have to go with it. Also, I dar-ed my first vuelta with my host mom this past weekend and it was quite an experience. But more on that later.

First I’ll write a little about my family. It’s pretty challenging living with a family in another culture because there really are a lot of little differences that just make things more difficult to get just right. However, my host parents consider themselves to be more “American” than others in the country because they are always working, like Americans, which is certainly the truth.

My host mom, Doña Aura, has a typing school that she runs out of the house. She teaches five hour-long classes a day-three in the morning and two in the afternoon. In addition, she cooks and cleans and washes clothing (though just recently when typing classes started up, a “Señora”, or housekeeper, has been coming to help with these things). She enjoys talking and spending time with her family. She isn’t a huge fan of telenovelas, but I turned one on the other day and she got into it and started watching it with me. It’s pretty horrible, as is evidenced by its title (“Fuego en la sangre”), but it’s become a bonding activity for the two of us. I won’t even try to explain the plot because I came into it at a late point, but she will catch glimpses of it while making dinner and I’ll fill her in on the parts she misses. Sometimes I help with dinner, though lately I have been sick with gripe (a cold), so I have been watching and relating.

My host dad, Don Hilario, works for the Ministry of Education by day and at night he teaches math classes at a local institute. He only has a few hours off in between jobs and gets home quite late. He also works on Saturdays teaching classes at a university in Antigua, so he really isn’t home that often. As such, I haven’t really gotten to know him very well. When he does relax, he likes to read the paper, watch fútbol, watch the news.

I have three host siblings. The oldest, Valesca, finished her first year of university (I think) and now wants to study German or French. I don’t really know what she’s doing right at the moment because she hangs around the house a lot or spends time with her friends in Antigua. She really likes the whole Twilight thing (books and movies), showing just how far and how fast American culture (however bad it is) has spread. Then comes José, who is eleven. He goes to the colegio and enjoys bicycling with his younger sister. He just got a new guitar to take classes at school so it will be interesting to see how music lessons happen here. Education is much more based around memorizing stuff, so I’m wondering if music classes will be the same way. Then is Angela, who is nine (I think). She goes to the same school as José but is in Tercera Primaria. She likes animals a lot. She has a bird and when we had a chicken for a few days, she got really attached to it and named it Cuckoo.

Last but not least is the family’s dog, Luna. Last I wrote I was skeptical of the vet’s belief that she was suffering a phantom pregnancy. I don’t know how a trained vet would have missed it, but she had eight puppies on January 20th. They’re doing well and growing quite quickly. I wasn’t allowed to see them at first because my family worried that they would die if too many people saw them, but now I have and they’re pretty cute. There are two white ones that will probably be Dalmatians, one that is brown, and five that are black with a few white spots. My host mom still doesn’t know how the pregnancy happened or who the dad is, but she’s happy that Luna is all right. She just has to figure out how to give all the puppies away to good families (she doesn’t want to keep any, Angela and José want to keep them all). I’m contemplating taking one to my site with me, but it would be kind of challenging to figure out all of the logistics. We’ll see.

Now about Pastores. We learned a lot more about our community for a community analysis project we did for training. Pastores has about 14,000 people total, including all of the aldeas and barrios, but the cabecera (or head pueblo) where I’m living has 2,000 or so people. Everyone typically knows everyone else because people often live here throughout their lives (like my host parents), so it’s common to greet everyone you meet on the street with a buenos días or a buenas tardes/noches. I like how friendly the atmosphere is. The main economic activity here is boot making, which about 80% of kids learn at one time or another. There is also a pretty big farm near town where some people work, and there is a coffee beneficiary where another good chunk find employment. Then there are people like my host dad who work in Antigua because it is so close. We talked with the mayor, Miguel Lopez, one day and he said that finding enough employment for everyone was one of the biggest challenges, as are cleaning up the Río Guacalate that runs through town and finding enough water for everyone. The community has a higher-than-national-average literacy rate, but has a really weird disparity between men and women, in that there are a lot more men in the community than women. This is probably due to the emphasis on boot-making, which is only for men, but who knows. In all, the town is fairly well developed and despite my dislike for politicians, Miguel Lopez has done a lot-paving a bunch of roads, building courts and fields for sports, building schools throughout all of Pastores, etc. Apparently he is well-known throughout Guatemala for being a good mayor and he seems nice enough.

A few pretty interesting things have happened since I last wrote. We all took a trip into Guatemala City, though we really didn’t do much there. Peace Corps wants us to limit our travel to and around the city because it’s kind of dangerous. The safe places we can frequent are these giant shopping malls that really don’t make me think Guatemala, but rather Estados Unidos. The typical Guatemalan certainly can’t shop there, and neither can I on a Peace Corps budget. It’s pretty cheap to get there though, only costing around Q10 from Pastores, or a little over $1.

My group also held a party for our families and Spanish teacher a week and a half ago, which went over pretty well. It was the first time anyone had done as much in the community and the families were really excited to get to see each other in an informal setting and eat some food prepared by the gringos. We held the party in a trainee’s backyard because it really is a backyard with grass instead of concrete. His family set up a couple of tents and we used the grill to cook up some hamburgers, hotdogs, and grilled pineapple in addition to the pasta salad, chips and guacamole we also had. The atmosphere was probably best set when, after the hot dogs appeared to be sufficiently cooked, one of my compañeros decided to be the first to eat a hot dog and ate the whole thing despite the fact that it tasted strange. We soon found out that the hot dogs were all wrapped individually in plastic, despite all being wrapped together in an outer plastic shell, and that we had been cooking the hot dogs with plastic still intact. So my compañero had eaten hot dog enclosed by burnt plastic. His stomach troubled him for the next couple of days, but at least our families and Spanish teacher got a really good kick out of it. We also had games for the families, which they took to really well. One was called Elefantes y Girafas, which had people making elephants or giraffes with the people next to them as quickly as possible. Once the mero, mero (or boss of the game) called out someone’s name, the people on either side of them had to quickly make elephant ears or giraffe legs, with the slowest person being called out by the boss. Then we played Gato y Raton where one person as a mouse was being chased by another person, the cat, while everyone else stood in a circle and either allowed the mouse to go through or kept the cat from getting to the mouse. Then we played El Rey Pide… where one person asks two groups to bring him things, and the fastest group to provide it gets a point. Throughout the games, lots of funny moments brought some host parents to roll on the ground laughing. I have to admit that it was pretty fun and we all got to know each other better.

Also interesting was the day my host mom, sister, brother and I walked our chicken down the street to the abuela’s house. My host grandmother has a chicken “patio”, where she has a few hens, a few roosters and a duck. We had a chicken, Cuckoo, in the back of our house for a few days, but it was making a big mess so my host mom decided to bring it to her mom’s house. So we took off one afternoon down the street in a little parade, complete with the chicken at the back with her leg tied to a string, being led by Angela through a few streets to the abuela’s. We got it into the “patio” and the roosters, which are apparently mean and like to pluck feathers from other chickens, started picking on Cuckoo. Everytime there was some squawking from the patio, Angela would run over to make sure Cuckoo was all right. It was pretty cute. The chicken is still alive and is getting along better with the roosters now, though I’m not sure how long until cuckoo becomes lunch. Just the other day I had lunch at the abuela’s and we had pepian with chicken, though Cuckoo was spared that time.

And last but not least, the vuelta. For the past several days I’ve had a pretty bad cold. When I get a cold, I am always blowing my nose, sneezing, coughing, etc. So I was pretty miserable. After getting home from classes one afternoon, I mentioned that I wanted to use the internet, but my host mom was like “Pero no quieres dar una vuelta,” (But you don’t want to around?) to which I of course replied that I could use the internet any day. I asked “Adonde vamos?” (Where are we going?) to which my host mom replied “Vamos a dar una vuelta” (We’re going around). We drove the short fifteen minute drive into Antigua and were soon lost among the streets in search of a cake shop because the younger kids wanted a treat. The cake shop wasn’t where it used to be so my host mom decided to drive around and look for it. Luckily, as we were driving, she spotted her neice, who pointed us in the right direction. The car parked, we walked to this shop with some delicious looking cakes and pies. My mouth was watering and I was already thinking of which piece of cake I would get if I was getting one when my host mom ordered two pieces, paid the guy, and left the shop. I considered getting out some dinero to buy my own, but deciding that that would upset my host mom (who already worried that she wasn’t feeding me enough, which wasn’t the case), I accepted my cakeless fate and made a mental note so I could come back sometime. We then headed off to another aldea, San Felipe, where my mother stopped to buy me some atol from a roadside stand. Atol is a warm drink made from rice, corn, or plantains. This was atol blanco, made from white corn. I’m not supposed to have street food (Peace Corps policy-it makes sense), and I said as much to her, but she told me that it was boiled well and would not make me sick (which probably also made sense, but it was still a little sketchy). So I took the offered cup and took a sip and found it to be really salty. It was also burning hot. I took a few sips so that it wouldn’t spill as easily and we sat down. Her atol must have cooled down more quickly because she kept drinking it, while mine stayed boiling hot for quite a long time. Meanwhile, there was a lot of dust where we were, which aggravated my cough and after coughing for a while, she told me I should sit in the car. I was there for a while waiting for her to finish some food she had bought from another vendor and when everyone else got into the car, we headed back to Antigua to pick up Valesca. The city is really pretty at night, with lights in the trees in the central park and the cathedrals all lit up. We drove around there for a little while and then finally headed home. Vueltas always turn out to be adventures, and this one fortunately did not later involve stomach issues due to street food. Now I know where to get some good cake (to add to this really good cookie place, Cookies Etc., that a former volunteer opened, which sells fairly large cookies for Q2.50, or 30 cents or so). I still don’t know exactly where I’m heading with this whole Peace Corps thing, and I won’t know where my site is or what phase until March, but I’ve learned to just be patient and flexible and things will turn out alright.

As I was typing this, I started writing a lot of things in Spanish, so I will apologize here for my Spanglish. It’s great that I’m thinking a lot more in Spanish than in English, but I’m afraid my ability to use the English language correctly is suffering.

That’s all I have for now. I will probably write about a typical day (or week) of life in Pastores (and around), maybe about food. If there’s something you want me to write about specifically, let me know and I will try to write an interesting and informed blog on it. I’m always looking for new ideas.
I hope everyone is also staying happy, safe and healthy. Here’s to hoping the gourndhog sees his shadow (that means spring comes sooner right?) and that cold winter ickiness is over soon. As for me, the past couple of days have been really nice, spring-type weather, with a bit of heat today, so I’m enjoying life a little more because of that.

Bombas Bombas Everywhere (Or, Absolute Silence is Hard to Come By)

So, I’m currently in Guatemala, where I plan to spend the next two years and three months. I haven’t updated this blog in a while, so here’s a quick update of the last year or so. After spending time abroad and my internship in D.C., I settled back in at Kenyon and finished up there, graduating in May with a BA in both International Studies and Spanish. Facing a tough job market and also thinking about what I really wanted to do with my life, I decided to do something I had been thinking of for quite a while: become a Peace Corps volunteer. I started the application process in November/December 2008 and was finally given an assignment a little less than a year later. A little over a week ago I packed up my things, said good-bye to family and friends, and found myself on a plane for DC, where I spend a day of orientation, followed by another plane ride to Guatemala City.

So now that I’ve caught everyone up, here’s what I’ve been up to for the past ten days of so. First of all, it definitely feels like I’ve been here for more than ten days, which I take as being a good sign that I’m comfortable here and that I’m adapting fairly well. This post is going to be a long one because a lot has happened. I guess I can stick to first impressions and spare everyone the boring details of what we learned in orientation, which health problems have been addressed by the medical staff here, and how to say “cool” in Guatemalan Spanish.

Now, how to begin. So one of the first things I guess I’ll mention is that there are fireworks everywhere. This is on my mind because they are going off even now, in the middle of the day. Sometimes I can hear fire crackers, but other times they give off these huge booms that make it sound like someone is firing a cannon into the village or something. I arrived at my homestay two hours before a big festival started, last Saturday. The town I am living in, Pastores, was celebrating el convite, a festival that is related to Epiphany in some way (which is the explanation I think I was getting from my host mom). Basically, the whole idea of the day was for some people to dress up in costume, with many men choosing to compete in the fiero competition (cross-dressing), where one guy was dressed like a woman and another like a man to make a pareja. There were also people randomly dressed with crazy masks on, as well as others with outfits that didn’t make any sense whatsoever. Everyone who had a costume would dance in a circle surrounded by normally-dressed people, who just stood there and watched (myself included). There was live music for them to dance to, provided by musicians on a giant truck with loads of huge speakers. The truck would move around the pueblo, even making it to neighboring pueblos, plug into the electricity somewhere, and start blasting this music for the costumed/cross dressing people to dance to. The band would play three songs or so and then move on to the next stop. I followed the truck for maybe two circuits of this. It was pretty incredible how it could maneuver (barely) through the skinny streets around here. Later on there was a parade of kids dressed as religious figures, including someone playing Issac with Abraham about to sacrifice him, and some recreating the birth of Christ. Then that night there was a grand finale I went to with a fellow gringo and his host family, which was also attended by much of the pueblo. There was more dancing and this time there were tons of fireworks. It was pretty crazy because people had fireworks coming out of these homemade staffs or sticks of some sort that they were carrying around. A bunch of guys, for example, were dressed as wraiths and they had sickles with fireworks shooting out of the top. Coming from a society like the U.S. where we value personal safety and all, it was interesting to see these random drunk guys with masks on shooting fireworks into the air and occasionally into the crowd. The thing about the fireworks here is that they don’t really provide much of a show. I think instead that they are revered for the amount of noise they make. From day one here I have heard at least one round of fireworks going off during the night, which is apparently how Guatemalans celebrate birthdays. And then there are the occasional ones going off during the days that you really wouldn’t be able to see with the sun still out.

On the topic of festivals, Guatemala has a lot of them. Some are on a national level, while many others, like the convite and the one I will talk about next, occur in individual towns or regions. Sunday was another restival, this time el rezado, which is some religious celebration concerning the Virgin Mary. They crazy thing about this festival was the costumes that people were wearing and the dance the costumed people performed for the pueblo. Again there was a huge truck with giant speakers and assorted musicians. The people dancing were dressed in these huge costumes with giant platform shoes and really big costumed heads. There were pairs of most characters, with, for example, two Yoshis, two of the kid from the movie “Up”, four bears dressed in military fatigues, and one Stewie from “Family Guy” leading everyone else in the dance. Again the people were going from one stop to the next to perform the same dance over and over again, so they would rest for maybe twenty minutes between dances. The dance they performed was choreographed and it was pretty entertaining. They performed two different dances to two different songs and all together it took a good half-hour to finish up, by which time I’m sure the people were ready to get out of their costumes, though they were again on to the next stop. The religious part of the festival came later when a statue of a female saint (I think-it was Santa something) left the church to the sound of these really loud bombas (fireworks) lit by guys in the street. There was also confetti and a band to lead the statue to its next stop, where more fireworks went off. When the statue returned to the church much later that night, there again were fireworks. Then the next day when the statue returned to someone’s house where it will spend the next year, there were more loud bombas going off. Then Friday night was another festival of sorts with more fireworks and my host mom placing incense in front of her nativity set. I don’t really know where the fixation with fireworks comes from, but it’s certainly a huge presence here.

Other than fireworks, there’s plenty of other noise. There are always dogs barking and roosters crowing. Some people have dogs for safety reasons, but the most common dogs around are the ones on the street, which I feel so sorry for but pass by without petting in an attempt to not get rabies. Friday night was the first night when I just lay there and didn’t hear any noise, and it felt weird. Soon enough though a rooster got confused and broke up the silence.

I’ve already had two families here in Guate. Upon first arriving, we were quickly shipped out of the capital (too dangerous) to Santa Lucía Milpas Altas where the Peace Corps Guatemala headquarters is located. We all had homestays in the surrounding area. I was living with two parents and four siblings. The youngest girl, Fernanda, was 7 and we played soccer and took a walk around the community while I was staying with them. The family was living in a small compound, with an opening to the street, a courtyard area to hang drying clothing, a wash room with a pila (where you go to get water and wash stuff), the room I was staying in, the parents’ room, the living area with t.v., tables to eat at, kitchen, a small bathroom and a door that led to the kids’ rooms. There were lots of rooms, but they were all fairly small. The dad owned a nursery and sold plants, while the mom owned a salon next to the house and cut hair every so often. The kids were all in school. Most people were paired for these homestays but I was one of the lucky few who got to start out alone. Things were fine though and my Spanish came back surprisingly quickly. I was even feeling confident enough to accompany my entire family to church. They attend an evangelical church a short walk from the house and it was a pretty interesting thing to experience my first night in Guatemala. Two of my host sisters and two others were dancing while my host brother was playing drums in a band with two other people. After maybe an hour of this music and dancing, the pastor got up and gave a sermon. By this point I was freezing and my host mom kindly took me home. The service went on for the next several hours so it’s probably a good thing I left so I could go to bed early. Evangelical churches have gained popularity here since missionaries came during the eighties. Many evangelical families attend church or Bible studies most nights, and that’s what my family did, though sometimes it was only a meeting for women or for men. Anyway, I went home and got into my long underwear. Though Guatemala is usually considered a warm country because of its location closer to the Equator, in the mountains it gets pretty cold at night (though not quite to the point of freezing). Houses here don’t have heating and this leads to pretty cold temperatures inside as well as out, so it was a pretty chilly first night (as well as second night, and third night, and so on).

After a few nights in Santa Lucía, we were all placed in groups according to Spanish level and project assignment and were sent to live in different communities. My group is in Pastores, a pueblo fairly close to the city of Antigua that is known for its cowboy boots. My group is pretty great-there are five of us and we are getting along pretty well at the moment. Pastores is a really nice town. There are between 14,000 and 18,000 people living here (depending on who you ask) and people are really friendly because everyone knows each other and most people living here grew up here. It’s a bit warmer here than in Santa Lucía-the days usually get into the 70s, though the nights get pretty cold, into the low 50s. After the first two days here and the ensuing fiestas, things have quieted down nicely and I don’t go to sleep listening to loud music pulsing through the walls (usually). My family is a middle-class family. The mom teaches mecanografía (typing) to people from the house while the dad works for the Ministry of Education in Antigua. There are three kids, one who is eighteen and just graduated from high school and is probably going to be starting at university soon or else to start working as a teacher. The two younger kids are, I think, 9 and 11 and just started the school year on Friday. They are pretty cute together because they’re either collaborating on something, like making boats out of newspaper, or are picking on each other, like often happens at the dinner table. Everyone is really nice and I’ve been hanging out with them as much as possible, which generally includes meals and watching an occasional t.v. show. People tend to spend a lot of time descansando (relaxing), which leads to people isolated in their rooms. At least I brought a lot of reading material. The house is pretty nice. There is an open courtyard/garage in the front, where the family parks their car and hangs laundry to dry. Then up a few stairs is an outdoor kitchen and the nativity scene (not sure when they take them down around here-all of the Catholic families still have theirs up). Then inside the house is the dining room and a family room with a t.v. and a stereo. Then further back in the house are the bedrooms-all of the kids have their own rooms. Then in the very back is where the main pila is. Most families have this and it is where most of the washing takes place-it’s a faucet and a container with water, surrounded with two raised platform-like areas, one to wash clothes and one to wash dishes or hands. There are more clotheslines, a washing machine and a chicken tied up (not sure why it’s there-it wasn’t there when I arrived, but mysteriously showed up a few days ago). Then up stairs above part of the house is the mecanografía classroom, another room that is closed up, and then my room and a bathroom. My room is nice and it’s pretty big-it’s larger than any of the bedrooms downstairs-but it’s kind of isolated from the rest of the family. It’s nice having my own bathroom though, and because we have running water and a nice shower with hot water, I consider myself lucky. No more bucket showers and pit latrines for me (at least for the moment). Also of interest are the pets. My family has a parakeet, Lola, a few turtles, some fish, and a dog, Luna. The dog is really cute and really fat. When I got to the house last week, I thought for sure that she was pregnant, but my host mom and sister took her to the vet and the vet told them that Luna is just psychologically pregnant. With this interesting development, of which I am somewhat skeptical, we apparently have to wait for her to pretend give birth and then she should lose the weight. We'll see if there are any puppies, real or phantom, in her future.

In Pastores we are taking Spanish class together four days or so a week. Our teacher, Chepe, is really great and has been taking us to do stuff rather than just sitting around learning verbs and stuff because we are at an advanced enough level. Spanish class has consisted of some grammatical stuff, but it has also consisted of going to Antigua and walking around, going to the market in Chimaltenango and eating at the Pollo Campero there, and learning how to cook tamalitos and tortillas at his house and then feasting on them and drinking Guatemalan beer. I’ve also been hanging out with my compañeros, whether it’s been going to Antigua, walking around Pastores, or hanging out at someone’s house playing cards. And it’s only been a week of classes and life in Pastores. As you can probably tell, things have been going pretty great and I am enjoying life here in Guate, but I know that once I’m on my own in a more rural area things will probably be much different.

Food-wise, I’ve been eating pretty well. The diet here consists of a lot of rice and beans and tortillas. Fortunately I like this food, and this is likely the food I will be eating nearly every day for the next two years. I’ve also had lots of potatoes, some noodles made either with a tomato sauce or with soy sauce, some vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, etc.), lots of bread, and some good fruit. Tea is a common drink, as is coffee which I don’t drink (which most people find weird). I’ve also had some good juices, like jugo de mora and pineapple juice. Avacadoes are also quite easy to come by, which has been great.

I’ve been traveling a little bit around the area where I am living. The buses are really cheap and go everywhere in Guatemala. I am fascinated by transportation wherever I am living and things are no different in Guatemala. Chicken buses really are the way to go (though they can sometimes be a little dangerous). They are cheap enough for everyone to use so you can find a good variety of people taking the buses around. Essentially, they are old school buses, some of which have been painted bright colors, which are touched up every now and again to keep in running condition. I am living just one town away from Antigua, which is gringo-central and has lots of nice places to eat, shop, and just hang out with my fellow gringos and watch some futbol on the big screen. They even have a McDonald’s and a Burger King, as well as Pollo Campero. We went to Antigua to buy cell phones and there’s a really nice grocery store there, which will be nice when I want to cook something for my family. There is also a pretty nice bar/restaurant I’ve been to a few times. I also went and walked around another day to see some of the colonial-era churches and other structures that are still standing around town. Unfortunately, though, gringos have pretty much taken over the place and things there are too expensive for the typical Guatemalan.

I think this is enough for now. I’ll have to go to the internet café tomorrow to post this up. Internet is surprisingly fast here so I shouldn’t have too many problems. Internet is also cheap, so maybe I’ll try to catch up on some news and write some e-mails. If anyone wants to write letters, they would be very welcome. My address here is:

Christine Dutko, PCT
Cuerpo de Paz/Peace Corps
3a Calle 6-48, Zona 1
Santa Lucía Milpas Altas, Sacatepéquez
Guatemala, Centro América

Note: Packages should not be sent here but to the Antigua Peace Corps office, the address of which I don’t have. I will try to post that another time (not that I'm expecting packages or anything).

I hope everyone is doing well and is keeping warm in the U.S. Que todo vaya bien!