Going on 2...

Month 2, Day 4…pueblo (15^th of September)

Today is just another day in the world of most everywhere in the world, except for here in little old Central America, where 5 countries celebrated their independence from Spain in 1821. I spent all morning from about 9-1 to be exact in a packed town of 30,000 watching all ages of kids march through the streets. Some of them performed at the level of drumline the move, seriously. I was particularly impressed with a group of red and black dressed boys being lead by 3 trumpet players who danced and bobbed to a fast paced retro hip-hop beat. The parade was extremely hopeful and culturally sensitive, recognizing all 4 of the major ethnic groups in Guatemala; ladinos, Mayas, Xinca (who are apparently a lot like cowboys), and Garifunas (a Caribbean culture on the eastern coast). I found it enlightening and interesting that in the primarily Mayan town the ladinos (prominent ethnic group financially and politically in Guatemala) were represented in formal attire of suits and ball gowns.

I also finally saw the mayor, who is Dr. Mayor. He is currently renting a municipal building because the town burned the municipal building in a fit of civilian justice because he supposedly let two terrorizing El Salvadorian gang members out of police custody. He did just start an ecotourism office here in town though, although I would suggest a trash service and river purge first. He didn’t ask me though. Unfortunately from what I gather the town voted for him via credentials, not platform, and now are largely unhappy with his ineffectiveness. The typical mayor here in Guatemala makes a sizable salary, supplemented by 9 times that salary in annual kickbacks. I may run for mayor.

I still have a sinus infection.

I am deep into my coffee project with my family and it has sparked an interest in not only how to solve the problem of the small farmer being taken advantage of in one of the best coffee growing regions of the world and also the involvement of private investment in the solution.

I know I have officially formed solid bonds with my family as they have now openly told me how much they will miss me, that I must return, and that I am a very nice and handsome man. I like them a lot too.

Random fact of the day: the vast majority of pirating still going on in the world is off the coast of Somalia, where pirates take over large vessels carrying loads of valuable stuff, sale them into harbor, and then sell/use the items and hold the ship hostage. Read about it. Maybe if they only had a government.

Other big news? Not on the top of my head. I heard the stock market crashed a bit, not too excited for that, but not all that surprised.

On an unrelated but highly charged political note: Please vote for Barack Obama.

Month 2, Day 3…Losing count of days

I have officially moved into a new phase of training. It’s much harder for me to recall how long I have been in country. Suddenly, I don’t think of every day in the context of how long I have been here out of a 27 long month commitment. I am now more at the point where calmly reflect on everything going on around me with the quiet sense of awareness I am typically accustomed to. I cant say a ton of really exciting stuff has occurred in the last week since I have written. Hopefully the pictures were a good indication of what’s going on, and were sufficient for a solid entry.

Currently I am kind of salty because after bragging for weeks about having a stomach of iron because I use suspect pila water to brush my teeth (large sink/pool/bath in a house filled with water when there is water, and then used to supply houses with no running water), I eat the street food that we are told causes diarrhea (which has a 95.5% occurrence rate…and im pretty sure there are some shy people who don’t report), and I eat everything put in front of me, (by now the sentence is so long you forgot the point) I have a cold that may or may not be bronchitis. Hopefully it’s just a minor cold that I picked up from my 10-year-old sister. Not much you can do here besides take your vitamins. Although I have a pretty thorough med kit. Including a 300 page medical manual called “where there is no doctor” describing in detailed English how to treat everything from shingles to bullet wounds to the head, to amputation, and baby delivery.

Anyway, not feeling the best. Also I went in to Antigua to watch the OSU-USC game, in which I was yet again left wanting and sulking…I did enjoy the day though. I woke up not feeling well but had to go through Antigua anyway to go to a Mayan ceremony at the training center in Santa. I sat through an intriguing and long ceremony involving a lot of flowers, candles, and incense symbolizing a number of things natural. I felt like it had about as much legitimacy as literal translations of the bible. But it had a good karmatic feel to it.

Fast forward to Antigua, where I have taken a break from for a couple weeks. Me and 3 companeros went to an American owned bar where we posted up watching the Notre Dame-Michigan game on one TV (kudos ND 2-0), and the USCarolina-Georgia game on the other. I was impressed with ND, and unsurprised by the gamecocks game. Just throwing it out there, I was sitting next to Vanderbilt Alum who is in my group during the game. He was proud to say it was the biggest win he witnessed during his tenure at the SEC’s worst football school. Surprisingly enough the bar was filled with ND, Michigan and Georgia fans. One Georgia fan even had a little brother in ATO at USC. Maybe he can talk to a friend of mine Kenny Wright. Who still owes me money, but because im in Guatemala thinks its alright to do nothing. Karma hurts. Small world. Anyway I wont address the OSU game, not the USC game due to typically disappointing results. I had a long conversation with the 73-year-old man who is in our training group. It was nice to see him out enjoying himself. I respect him for what he is doing more so than most people my age. Although there exists massive respect for everyone. Many people say they will fulfill dreams later in life, or put things off in a self-rationalization/self bullshitting manner, but don’t fulfill. Well this guy is a father of 3 girls, left his wife home after teaching her the finances, and is here. We had a good hour-long talk over a couple beers; I have my first 73-year-old friend.

Other than that, in a world where I get giggles from every girl in the country (yeah I turned conceited) I was denied sitting in the front of the bus with two of them on the way to the school the other day. My mejor amiga thought it was funny, and just that I guess not every girl thinks I am a stud. My self-esteem is alive.

I also want to throw a fist pump to my parents who co-teamed a package to me, for which I will have to pay Q208 in taxes eventually. For now I sweet-talked the receptionist into giving me my own stuff on loan, it helped being the trainee that was victimized my identity theft during week 3.

One day this week we witnessed a speech from an interesting quirky professor looking type of journalist/research/development fellow who spoke/argued the effectiveness of international aid and NGOs. So basically the validity of Peace Corps. He explained Guatemala’s situation, which seems complicatingly discouraging in many ways (please call for hours of explanation), and then went into the politics of Aid, citing that its mostly political bullshit, governments are self-bullshitting, and that the procedures of international aid are malfunctioning. I agree with him. He also attempted to define the difference between charity and solidarity. Charity doesn’t do anything to teach or incentivize people, while solidarity creates a mutually beneficial relationship. I butted heads with him openly on the fact that charity (or unilateral aid) is necessary in the most destitute areas as a first step due to the lack of anything that certain places have, but agreed with him that the ideal situation for aid would be a beneficial relationship between two countries. Which lead me back to a firm belief that has been reaffirmed here, that a marriage between private investment and aid is necessary to create growth at the very bottom of the social ladder. Anyway, cool guy, going to have a beer with him soon.

Also, I have been concentrating on a lot of work this week. I had my first charla (educational session) in which I talked about ways to create advantages in interactions between café farmers and the powerful intermediaries. Working on my project for my cafe family is also a big issue. Speaking of the big intermediary I will be touring one this week, as an unassuming gringo teacher, after meeting a worker from there this past week. Two things I wanted to do here as tangent goals to learning about international development, meet interesting people and mull business ideas, have started happening.

Don’t have a whole lot more to say currently, besides I still have a few fleas.

I had to do it, one time one time

Me on Mt. Pacaya

Lava at the top of a Volcano, it burnt my shoes off, and we roasted marshmallows

The Gringo with his girls

The men of the family

Bonding

We get to have fun on the weekend (sparingly)

View from house (2 of the 3 volcanoes, the one on the right i see on fire every once in a while and it is appropriately names fuego)

View 1 of my palace (the photo on the wall is of the GSE)

Group outside Santa Lucia at a Directors Pad

11-22

Day 21-22 The first shit day of Guatemala
I would like to start out by saying that the title does not quite sum of the last few days. Ill Start with the good stuff. Saturday a group of the Food Security people came over to my house in Alo to practice a charla (brief educational session) that they would be giving over the next few days. The topic: how to make gardens from junk, specifically old tires, which there is an abundance of in Guatemala, along with many other useless items to be 180ed into treasures. But we spent the morning cutting up tires, turning them inside out to make more surface space, and then planting items; chiltepes (ridiculously hot peppers I crush all day), radishes, onions, yerbas, etc. There were 11 trainees, a few adults, 2 Spanish teachers, and my family around. We listened to some Americano music (citizen cope, Michael frantic, tom petty, nas) and passed an awesome morning together.
Later in the day several (9) of us reunited in Antigua for a couple come down drinks and some COLLEGE FOOTBALL opening Saturday. Sadly the only game I watched wholly was Michigan get downed by Utah. But I saw several highlights and a good halftime show. A couple sporting comments, OSUs Beanie Wells will be ok to crush USC on the 13th, Clemson sucks…what the fuck, and well-done South Carolina for looking solid…bench Beecher, he sucks. Listening old Ball Coach?
Anyway, after that I returned home alone, making a couple interesting excursions along the way. One to a street stand, after being encouraged to NEVER eat street food by the medical staff due to contagions I ate my 3rd street sandwich (which again I had no issue with). After returning home I watched a bit of a pirates DVD, Ironman, and passed out, normal for myself during any movie.
Welcome to Sunday (Day 22)
I awoke initially to a massive thunder sound at 130 am. At this point im used to odd noises all night, but this one shook my room a bit. After 15 solid seconds of groggy thought I realized it was Volcano Fuego in my backyard. So I jumped out to the garden and caught a glimpse of lava flowing down the volcano, followed by about 10 minutes of fiery gurgle. In all it was brief.
Volcanoes seemed to be a theme of the day in review. I reawoke at 5:00 due to a call from my major amiga and neighbor Rachel/Raquel (don’t really put to much stock in the Spanish versions) who I had informed last night I WOULD NOT be climbing volcano Pecaya, two hours away, that morning. But after realizing I had already slept 8 hours (yes if you are doing math I went to sleep at 9ish) and I wasn’t all that tired…and I felt like I may have been missing something I joined her on the excursion. Little did I know then, I would have been missing out. We met up with 13 other trainees in Antigua, where we waited for them a solid 30 minutes. Which luckily was enough time to buy some more suspect street food that I am still not diarreahing out and coffee. I did have to explain away bums (bolos) the entire time. I do emphasize with them though. I have had long night where ive been hungry and somewhat lost at 6 am on a Sunday morning. But I had to kindly explain in Spanish that I didn’t want to be bothered eating breakfast, that I only get 26 quetzals a day (I had spent 17 at that point) volunteering for them, and that I didn’t have any end of cigarettes either. I earned a smile. They were probably happy to get an explanation versus an outright fuck off.
Anyway, the climb to Volcano Pacaya was incredible. We spent the first half going through thick forest before coming to a steep mountainside of pure volcanic ash and pumice rock. On the top we were able to stand next to flowing lava, which has a thick consistency. I stuck my walking stick in it. We also cooked marshmallows and had smores, even though im not sure how sulfuric fumes affect the body. I have some sick pictures to post though, it was amazing.
Fast-forward 3 hours to Antigua again. Rachel and I ate at a little bagel joint, and then went to the internet café. There we did the normal routine, espn, gmail, facebook (thanks Kelly for the good story and nice Peruvian update); bank accounts…and herein lay the big issue of the weekend. I noticed under my pending transactions I had 3 $135 withdrawals. A brief calculation, 135 X the 7.41 Quetzal per dollar exchange rate = 1000 quetzals on the nose, lead me to believe I was a victim of identity fraud, thick sarcastic yay. Never having left my card out of my site, and still having it in my possession I am verily confused. Some happy Guatemalan is out there that I would like to punch in the face. I don’t know how they did it. BUT, after returning home and discussing with my father, I got a hold of National City, a much better and helpful bank than Wachovia, I discussed the situation. I had only made 2 small withdrawals over the weekend in Antigua, nothing near 135 dollars. I good solid day costs 20, that goes as far as transport, 6 beers, lunch, and maybe even a 1 quetzal donation to a street hoodlum. Anyway, I have to call Tuesday after the transactions clear to see what has actually occurred and where. But I better get that money back. I don’t have a whole lot right now. Anyway, retelling that tale pissed me off again, so im going to bed.

Day 19…Not my historically typical Thursday night
I just recalled that I failed to mention a major event in my life that occurred last Sunday with my host padre, host bro, and site mate Escott. Ready for it…I farmed. I have done a number of related outdoors activities that would be defined wholly as manual labor, but never have I truly planted something for the benefit of the family. The 4 of us traveled to a small field where my host padre and his father (A slightly senile 78 year old that talks unintelligibly, nicknamed the Comandante, whom I heard a rumor involving him trying to run for mayor in the last few years of the town I am living in) jointly own a coffee field. There I spent a good couple hours planting coffee trees. I enjoyed it. The combination of an inundation of agriculture information, and daily markets full of fresh fruits, vegetables and freshly killed meat excite me for the future prospect of daily life here.
A second topic I would like to mention is how much I like the staff we are working with here in Guatemala (I hope they read this ha-ha). My Spanish teacher is a great guy, funny and enthusiastic to guide us through the language and cultural barriers. The directors are passionate about what they do, and they display it all the time. They make it necessarily difficult while providing all the necessary support. Yesterday I had a long conversation with the Director of Guatemala and the Program Director. They were doing routine interviews. I dont know if it is typical or not, but for the Country Director we are her first full group and she was excited to get to know us. I didn’t know what quite to expect when I walked in as far as questions. She told me that this was a get to know the trainees type of interview and that they would be asking some open ended questions to learn a bit more about us. After a brief pause I realized that that was the open-ended question in itself. Mentioning that this was the most open ended question I may have ever received I delved into my personal journey through the mental and physical tribulations of joining the Peace Corps. Mostly it was positive for me to hear me meaningfully say how I felt and what I went through after adding another chapter to the journey, and knowing its all coming to fruition.
As I write this USC is playing NC State in Thursday night football. Foremost I would like to express my jealousy of not being there and enjoying the beginning of the school year atmosphere. Second though, some of my colleagues here are watching it due to the fact basic cable here includes ESPN, which bodes well for the futurrrr.
I also had some good notes online from people back home keeping in touch. One long account of some recent events had me rolling in an internet cafe, it hardly makes me feel like im this far away. Another interesting side note that’s not so interesting for me, I have a few fleas I think I sleep with in the evenings.

Day 11 a 17…Still in Guatemala
I apologize due to the lapse in time since I have informed anyone of my activities here in the great little country of Guatemala; I have been busy in a very informal and relaxed way. First, I want to send a shout to my amigos CJ and Tim, whom I had brief phone conversations with this week and I enjoyed catching up very much. You guys both have clearance to visit now. I am slow to get around to making calls due to being busy and also cost of calls. I am earning a whopping 26 Quetzals a day here while in training, is basically walk around money to spend. It costs 6 for an hour of Internet, 1-3 for a snack and a drink, 10 for a pack of cigarettes, and 15 for a beer. So it actually goes fairly far. I am not buying all of the things I listed, only references J. But that translates into 3.5 bucks per day. I will be paid much more handsomely in Quetzals when I am sworn in on October 31.
This past weekend I had to opportunity and good health, not all of us have it here, to make it into Antigua and have a little day drinking sport. On Saturday approximately 20/30 volunteers made it there. We had all bonded before on smaller scale levels, but Saturday was truly a milestone. Many of us shared tequila shots, good stories, intense conversation, and saw one of our elders come out of his shell in an extremely comical way, telling a long joke starring a pianist, a monkey, its balls, and a cigarette prop. We spent the afternoon at Café Skye, a bar that has an amazing patio/roof top bar that overlooks Antigua in the middle of the 3 volcanoes I have referred to before. The weather was amazing, and I think we all came away better friends and happier with our lot in Guatemala.
Apparently we had so much fun that about 18/30 of us were there on Sunday ha-ha. We went to a local American bar where we celebrated the birthday of one of the girls. I sponsored her a tequila shot upon arrival. After that we spent all afternoon watching US channel sports and having a couple well-deserved beers. It was nice to see the trainees that were unable to make it there on Saturday, which included my first roommate David.
Quick follow up to Antigua, I discovered a McDonalds there on Tuesday and stuffed a 33 Q big Mac and fries down, not because I was hungry, but because I missed me some McDonalds. I’m good for another few weeks now on tortillas and such local specialties.