A duly timed blog

Month 3 Day 8

Washington DC is a long memory back.  Now I’m looking forward to new challenges and big events, mainly swearing-in and the election (Obama has it nearly wrapped up thank ______ or God).  I have almost made it all the way through training.  There are lots of good memories, a couple not so great ones, but one awesome experience.  It’s hard to believe I am 1/9 of the way through my experience here.  I know that still doesn’t sound like much, but its flying. 

In less than 2 weeks we will be swearing in at the ambassadors house here in Guatemala.  We swear in coincidentally Friday the 31 of October, Halloween for those of you who aren’t making the connection.  Needless to say everyone is ready for our wings to be unclipped and celebrate the weekend with a couple Quetzalteca bottles and tequila shots in Antigua…and not have to return home.  Quetzalteca is a $5 a liter bottle of unidentified liquid that is awesome, mostly due to price.  We have a hostel booked up and I have no doubt we celebrate to the most properly deserved level.  

Before we get to swearing-in we have 12 more days of general class and Spanish. 

After all of the slow build-up of where our sight assignments were, time is flying now.  I visited my future site this week, which I am not allowed to actually say due to Peace Corps Washington restrictions.  But it’s pleasant and much more than I imagined for a site in the Peace Corps.  I have 3 banks, 2 grocery stores, several Internet cafes, pool halls, cantinas, tons of great restaurants (in Guatemalan standards), including Chinese and pizza, awesome town center, and much more.  Its way better than my hometown of Ostrander, OH…although I appreciate you Ostrander for everything you are…I would be a different person without your influence.  The association I will be working for is a large national association focusing on health, education, youth development, family planning, and agriculture development.  The lineup is especially typical of efforts to support Guatemala.  There are 36 employees there along with myself, and a Spanish volunteer.  The agriculture program is relatively new and consists of only a 20-year old female accountant, who was basically assigned to be my guide for the week, and a 3? Year-old agronomist.  I have been assigned to support them (mostly the agronomist).  The agriculture program works with 120 farmers in 7 surrounding communities that primarily grow broccoli (30,000 lbs a week) and snow peas (10,000 lbs a week).  I will be working with them to expand their markets, figure out how to bring in funds to perhaps start irrigation, packaging, do transport, analyze markets and costs of production, try to see if there are any other viable crops, etc.  They have a micro-credit program as well.  There is plenty to do over the course of 2 years.

They association accepted me quickly and openly.  They talk of “Confianza” (confidence/trust) all the time here.  At first I thought it was an overused Peace Corps phrase, its not.  My two counterparts have already said I have it and are excited to work with me.  The association celebrated my birthday the second day of my trip and gave me a nice binder.  They have made me feel more than comfortable and have a lot of respect for my experience and work.  I am truly a knowledgeable professional to them, which I am in many ways…but I like that I am forced to fulfill that roll now.   There is one young kid, 19, who speaks really good English, and I imagine ill spend some time with him.  Already I have a line of people in the city waiting to meet me.  I will have no shortage of activities.   There is a story of a volunteer there that left 5 years ago who married a local…so there a little of that expectation too…I’ll ask them to bring me the best ha-ha.  The thing is they probably would.  I will be joining the basketball, futbol and running team for my organization.  For those of you who know my basketball skills, you know they are marginal in the US, but here due to my size, speed and decent shooting…I am a star. 

I found a pimp house to live in while I am in my unable to be said site.  There is a rule that volunteers have to live with a family or in a family complex during their first 3 months…which I am not overly fond of but understand the reasoning completely.  I made the best of the requirement though, finding a two-story house near the director of the association.  I will be renting the upper half of an open-air style house, which is really like its own house.  It has a staircase going up on the main side from the bottom area.  The bottom area is like an aged resort, with a covered tiled area with two rooms, a bathroom and a kitchen all coming off of one side, and an abundance of vegetation in the yard and along the edge.  The staircase is on the yard side of the covered tiled area and leads up to a covered terrace that is approximately 35x10 feet (huge), tiled, and surrounded by vegetation around the outer edge on the other side of the balcony.   The terrace ends and shares a wall with a small living room that will now be a half living room and half bathroom after they install a brand new bathroom for me in half of the room.  The other half of the upstairs is my room (which is the same length of the terrace but about 10 feet wider).  You may think this is a big room, especially for GT standards…and it is.  I will be dividing it somewhat into a half living room because its way to big to be just a bedroom.  The other corner of the house, which is equivalent size to the living room/bathroom space is a kitchen.  I have to provide the majority of furniture, but I will build most of it.  I will buy a bed, stovetop, wood, a fridge, and possibly a tv (which would get cable, yaya).   Anyway, it fits the Peace Corps rules because a family lives downstairs in one room and I share an entrance with them.  Side note, the owners of the house (a small family) are moving out to rent it to me.  And I will be paying 115 dollars a month for it.  There is space for a garden, which I never thought I would have and I have criticized over the course of my life, which I will grow all sorts of vegetation.  If you ever come check it out ill let you try it all if it’s in season. 

Another birthday note, beyond the celebration in my new site, which I keep wanting to write but have to erase because I cant say it, I celebrated with another volunteer that had a birthday a few days ahead of me on Saturday the 11^th.  Peace Corps reads these blogs over at times and they don’t approve of drinking profusely, but I did accept a “few” birthday shots and helped myself to a few birthday rum and cokes.  It was definitely a good celebration.   I enjoy my people here. 

Also, thank you for those of you who called me on my birthday.  I appreciate it and love you people.  I am excited to start getting visitors here soon and show you around a fuckin cool country.  I invite anyone and everyone who likes me enough to spend at least a week here with me, or is traveling through. 

Interesting story, of which I have been waiting to happen to someone here due to pure statistical chance, my neighbor volunteer best amiga came home from her site visit to a massive funeral in her house for her 83 year-old great grandmother of the house.  Unfortunately for her funerals/mournings (which is a lot more like an excuse to celebrate) last from the day of death, through the night, through the next day until they bury the body, and then for the next 2 days!!!  So I’m glad I’m not in that house. 

Mentionable notes: my head hurt like hell after speaking straight Spanish for 5 days on the site visit, combined with meeting and smooshing with most of the town, including the mayor. 

A drunken guy called me an idiot today.  I said I bet I was smarter than him.  My common response to those people, like him, that don’t want foreigners here would be “its unfortunate that you need us here because you and your country can’t take care of itself.”  I have much more empathy than that statement suggests.  It really bothers me that some people can have the audacity to be so simpleminded that they really would be mad people are here volunteering to make their lives better.  I look past it due to the fact that the USA has fucked up several times in foreign relations here (along with a famished families laundry list of other countries) through CIA inspired coups and self-serving activity, giving them a legitimate reason to disgust us.  Speaking of this, there is a great book called “The confessions of an economic hitman” that documents one specific economists experience working for a large consulting firm tied closely to the US government in the 60’s and 70’s, during which he was involved in large foreign loans from the US to countries like Indonesia, Panama, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, etc. that recycled the money directly back to the US because the countries lacked the ability to invest the money in their own infrastructure and development companies. Due to this, thousands of US companies would come in at inflated costs and construct superfluous and massively expensive projects.  The kicker is that the money being loaned would end up right back in the pockets of US companies.  Not only that, but the consulting companies were encouraged to make unrealistic growth expectations, convincing them their growth would be sufficient to pay back the loans, when in reality it trapped them in a never ending debt cycle that made them a pawn of the US government.  It’s a grimy example of our government and its foreign policy during the 60’s and 70’s in an effort to limit communism and push the American interest empire.  The USA has a disgusting list of CIA meddling in marginal countries over the last 50 years. 

Beyond that, I apologize for not writing habitually for the last few weeks for those big fans of the site.  I have been pretty busy traveling around the country and checking stuff out…and finishing training.

 

 

Bring on Month 3

My 3^rd month in country is just beginning.  Thinking back to what I was doing last year at this time is unreal.  I was about to celebrate my 22 birthday, in the middle of football season and having way to much fun.  Two years ago I was about to celebrate my 21^st birthday in the mountains of Tennessee.  I think anyone reading this who was there remembers that, that was fun.  Now I'm in Guatemala, two more birthdays to go until I'm done. 

I received my site assignment finally yesterday.  Everyone was really excited after the first 2 months of buildup to finally receive his or her sites.  For some people it’s awesome, and for some people it’s disappointing.  For me, I would say I’m stoically in the middle.  I didn’t have a whole lot of expectations for the sites since none of them were nearly a perfect package and none were full shit.  The things I am happy about include: the larger size, it’s a municipal capitol with 43,000 people living in it, it has all the amenities; housing to rent, internet, post office (a real sign of size), restaurants, stores, and solid transportation, it is close (within 3 hours) to several major cities and the airport, its literally miles away from the massive lake Atitlan and several cool hippie towns, there are 30 other volunteers in the area (including my best friend in the group and 5 others), close to amazing ruins and volcanoes, I will have the space to have my own gardens (I know who would have thought), and I will be working with a new group to peace corp, which I wanted.  All good for visitors though. 

Things I am not excited about: I wanted to be further away in a random far flung part of the country, although that may have meant losing many of the previous stated things, I do not have a strong international agency supporting my work, meaning I will be probably working uphill a lot, and I am in a 96% indigenous area, meaning its time to learn kakchikel. 

All in all, I’m content.  I haven’t even been there yet so I am still waiting to see the end result.    

I wanted to mention that I watched the presidential debate on the 6^th; Peace Corp had a shout out from Barack Obama when talking about the sacrifices citizens may have to make in the future. 

Walking through the streets of my town recently, where the kids often yell to me to get some kind of response, I encountered a small group of kids led by one specifically loud child down a large side street.  The one kids started yelling “gringo” to which I was answering, “where do you see a gringo…no way…I don’t see a gringo…there’s a Guatemalan.”  They just laughed and kept saying gringo and hi until the one kid started running sideways away from us laughing…all the way until he ran into the back of a truck.  I couldn’t help but to start laughing pretty hard…  The poor kid had that half distressed half I don’t want to cry in front a stranger, and half still laughing look on his face.  His friends were laughing though. 

A week ago I went on a site visit to a town in, Quiche Guatemala.  It’s a site high in the mountains where I group of volunteers live.  I got a good vibe from them.  They are pretty far away (6-8 hours from the center) and may be kind of forgotten, but I think they like that freedom.  Which I wont get being so close (2 hours) to the center.  The area was hard hit by the 40-year civil war.  Thousands of Indigenous people died there.  I stood in front a mural that cited foreigners as part of the major timeline of violence initiated there…needless to say I did not take a picture.  The town has about 30,000 but seemed much larger.  They have a lot of international tourists to see mountains and such there.  We even met a group of 3 (Israeli, English, American) while hiking. 

I only have 21 days left until its time to swear in as an official volunteer and continue this adventure in another place.  Next week I am going to my site to check it out and try and find a place and meet my agency.  I am excited needless to say and still comfortable here. 

 

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.

day 10.1

ok obviously my pictures didnt load un the sub par tech in Guatemala. Ill figure out another way. And advice of the day, dont ever use wachovia.

Day 9…Still Good
Now that I have been in Guatemala for 1 week I have started to gain some consistency to my experience. I am settled firmly into my town with my host family. I have answered many of the uncertainties that make one feel comfortable; directions home, how to take public transport, where the Internet café is, how to send mail, I have a cell phone, etc. My family really likes me as well. I have yet to have a tough day or truly frustrating moment since my second day here. I nearly feel guilty for not having those feelings.

It’s hard to feel isolated and depressed when I wake up and brush my teeth while looking at one of 3 volcanoes in the bright morning sunlight. Although the shower is cold and the roosters sound off like a crappy 3rd grade choir from 3-6 am, I feel so much energy from the natural beauty of the place and its simplicity.

Over the first 2 days of this week I have met my trainers and really gotten into the details of my project. Baseline consulting for small farmers describes the position in the least possible amount of words. The opportunity to work with local organizations, farmers, the government, and as many buyers, distributors, etc., that I find necessary makes me very excited. I have paradoxical sense of excitement due to a calm understanding of what is going on and knowing that this is exactly what I want to be doing. I even had a conversation with myself about it yesterday that I will cite for the rest of my life. All the fear and anxiety I had in DC has evaporated.

With all of the excitement comes hard work though. It’s been a little while since I have truly applied myself to a project, so currently hard work is easy and enjoyable. Tomorrow consists of long Spanish classes (of which I have already noticed marked improvement in comprehension), baseline data collection of our town, and phone calls home for the first time. I also have to deal with issues lingering from home, like Wachovia (worst bank ever), outstanding accounts receivable, Delaware Gazette, and so forth.

Running with the cell phone tangent…I spent the late afternoon/evening on errands into a UN supported historic city called Antigua, which is luckily on 10 minutes from my house by painted after market US school buses, of which I always look for Buckeye Valley School District on the side. The city is amazing and offers a taste of modernism and variety after days in more rural Guatemala. I recommend the city to all travelers, especially my family and potential friend visitors. After purchasing my cell phone and some stamps in town my marketing group grabbed a couple beers at Mono Loco, a former Peace Corp member owned bar. ESPN, ABC, and CBS were airing baseball games and sport talk shows. I am pretty sure I will be able to watch the OSU v USC game there, which I am stoked about, not missing much after all. Beyond that, putting down a couple cold beers for the first time in a while felt nice and comfortable. Unfortunately though, I left my umbrella and poncho there, and didn’t realize until after I was on a Camioneta (old us school bus) back to town. I then realized further that I left my phone box with only the charger in it on a step somewhere. Two major mistakes in hour. In what seemed like a ton of luck and an opportunity to sharpen my Spanish, I ran back through town and found all three items. Who says Guatemala is a crime-ridden country?

I still say it’s a crime-ridden country. On Sunday I went to the local gas station to get drinking water, since 99% of running water here is unsafe for outsiders, and saw a 40-50,000 Toyota Tacoma with a fresh paint job, massive rims, chrome, and extras I cant even place. A 25-30 year old Guatemalan was getting into it, strapped with a shiny chrome pistol that couldn’t even really be functional due to size. I made some mental connections, but also followed up with a teacher and my family about the scene. As I had thought, the guy was most likely a drug lord around my area. Typically there are several in each major area here. Everyone knows who they are, where they live and what the do. But when they pay for schools, municipal buildings, and pump money into the economy while operating under corrupt police forces who can really complain. Status quo, please.

My new phone number is country code 502, then 4061-0022. I have a prize for the first caller. If the number doesn’t work exactly its probably due to the country code and your phone service/type. Try to put a + in front of the 502. If all else fails try to use to Internet to find out how to call the number. Really though, I would really like to get in touch every once in a while, I have my old phone here with my numbers, so expect some calls here and there, and I expect to receive them here and there.

Wednesday Guatemala hosts the USA soccer team in a World Cup Qualifier in Guatemala City. I told my host family I will be cheering for Guatemala. Luckily I wasn’t standing in front of a reflective surface or they would have seen my crossed fingers.

I am signing off today with a few pictures to make it interesting:

Some cool kids from the 30

An open wire electric box that seems extremely unsafe in principle, but makes my shower warm, or at least did in my first place

Dave, my first roommate, and I.


My cozy room in Alotenango. I like it quite a lot.

Those are two of three volcanoes that I gander at while brushing my teeth around 730 AM…notice the moon slightly to the right of the first one

A few days of the past

Day 3…Welcome to Guatemala (August 13, 2008)

Today has worn me out more than any other day yet, any of those other 2 days I have been on this little adventure. Eloquence will be lacking in this entry. But today we got to Guatemala and now it’s fully on me. I floated mentally and physically in and out of consciousness today due to waking at 3 am for the flight, although the flight was at 730, its nice to be treated like a child again. Really though, today I felt pretty good all day compared to the last two days. I still feel massively homesick for my people. Being out of phone and Internet range is the ultimate distance.

I arrived into Guatemala City at 2 today. It’s a rainy, cool place, 7,000 feet high. We spent plenty of time meeting the people in the airport. I had a solid long conversation with an American who has lived in Guatemala working for the Peace Corp for the lat 18 years. I reconfirmed my reasons for embarking on this adventure with him. Although sometimes I feel like I’m just trying to convince myself. Part of me wants a natural disaster to occur just so I have an excuse to flee back to my comfort zone. I wont say it wont happen.

Currently its 7pm here, and I am lying in a small room with my temporary roommate David, who is a municipal volunteer and will be sent to another part of the country after the initial orientation here. Saturday the group of 30 will be broken down into the assignment groups and sent out for community based training in which I will move to another home stay. Dinner tonight was interesting, I had platanos, beans?, cheese and tortillas. I enjoyed it mostly, except for the fact I had just eaten a banana I bought from a tienda. The family here is nice, the kids are great and I talk to them frequently.

Tomorrow I have my first day of training in country. Early in the morning we take evaluations of our Spanish level, of which I was disappointed in myself today upon arrival. I really struggled to pull out some simple phrases. However, I think the anxiety and exhaustion contributes to that ha-ha. Shots and further medical evaluations occur tom too. I am tired as f***. I love you family and friends. And I want to say to those who I had last minute conversations and texts with; they really went a long way in making me feel better mentally. Those of you know who you are. I’m in a tough place in all respects.

Day 4…Turning day numero uno

The third world clashes with the first world as I listen to a new CD (thanks JV) on my MAC and blog, while getting annoyed by the barking dogs and early morning rooster cries. This morning I awoke to a 5 am alarm, incorrectly set by my temporary roommate and friend David. He never set the time back 2 hours to Guatemalan time, so don’t feel so bad for me, I got up at 7 after 2 more glorious hours. After the luxury of a hot shower, eggs, beans and tortillas, I trekked a whole of 2 minutes to the Peace Corp compound, guarded with a couple soldiers with sawed off shotguns. On Monday there was actually a shooting due to a disagreement over bus payments to gangs outside of the compound. It’s pretty safe though, slight sarcastic smile.

We opened the day with more introductory courses, followed by a Spanish level evaluation. I did pretty well, although I haven’t used it for a bit I worked my brain back into a solid 20 minutes performance that I believe put me in the upper half of the marketing facilitators. I will find out tomorrow. There are 8 of us here, and 8 more food security people, and 14 municipal development volunteers. Of note, the average age of our group is 26. I had a preconceived notion most people here would be fresh out of school. Not the case. Many are out of grad school, or coming off of successful or not so successful or fulfilling positions. There is one very interesting, nice man that is well into his 60’s, old enough to be my grandfather, easily.

Before lunch the sustainable agriculture group took a peek at the gardens exhibited in part of the massive complex I didn’t know existed. After checking out some tire gardens and miracle California worms that emit tons of fertilizer and eat like pigs and increase crop yields hugely, we walked through some basketball courts that bordered what I guessed to be an elementary school. Over a barbed wire fence I fist pumped a group of 3 kids, I got one fist pump back, then I gave another, got 2 back, then saluted, and got 3 back. After this they we collectively had the attention of the whole group who waved, prompting a clearly audible thanks.

The afternoon passed with presentations by the deputy director Jim, who for Weeds fans looks like Doug, and by a self proclaimed red neck from Georgia, Makali. Makali is the director of safety and security for Guatemala. He gave a humorous and overly entertaining view of serious crime in Guatemala and our risks during his hour and a half presentation. I felt like I should have taped it.

I made some solid connections through good conversation and acknowledgements today too. Honest John the Potato Farmer is one of my favorite colleagues of the group of 30.

In the evening many of the group moseyed up to the central park, guided in most part by various 8-12 year olds from the temporary host families. The park overlooked an ancient volcano, an amazing site. I would have taken a picture, but I hopefully left my camera at the compound after spending the time to dig it out of my bags there.

I also got the chance to get online today, only to find out the US is getting crushed in Gold medals, and lost to Nigeria in soccer, although Nigeria should be applauded for being the 1^st place team in the group.

In all, today was a great day; one that I feel is a turning point in my time here. I know after today that I can do this, and feel passionate about it. I know there are plenty shitty days to come, but this was a great day. My energy level was high, and I was happy. I still miss you all (family and friends, not any bystander virtual stalkers), but thankfully at least for today that longing has moved from the forefront of every thought, to somewhere less noticeable.

I received my “syllabus” from the head of the sustainable agriculture today, it’s going to be tough and a lot of work, but very real, and extremely valuable. I wont get into it now, but you’ll all see eventually. I’m not going to let these people down, and that excited me.

Read of the day, I started “The End of Poverty” by Jeff Sachs. You should Google it, for those of you who are at work, reading this to catch a break. Here is a quote I like from it, maybe because I feel like i'm doing it in my way:

“Rather, it is our task to help them onto the ladder of development, at least to gain a foothold on the bottom rung, from which they can then proceed to climb on their own.”

I now turn my computer off, laughing with my roommate about the brutally loud vibrating rudder sound coming two rooms away from our host patriarch, and after telling of a story about a certain champion of snoring I know from Charlotte. I hope to load these entries in the next few days.

Day 6…Time to meet family numero 2

Firstly, I would like to say with an absolute smile on my face, im drinking my first beer since leaving DC and drinking yeunglings with Jack and Ananda on Tuesday night. Yeah its Saturday night. About time. The beer is called Gallo, which is a rooster (Cock), and its pretty good. I also have not had a cigarette in 2 days. You may think I’m miserable, but this is my 3^rd great day in a row. Yesterday we finished our initial Peace Corps orientation at the Guatemala headquarters, and today we moved out of our temporary housing to travel to our training quarters. The marketing facilitators have been broken up into 2 groups at this point. My group is made up of 4 people; myself, Scott (from Ohio), Alexander (NY) and Rachel (Minnesota). I am pleased with the group, we get along well, and we will maximize our time here as friends.

As the different groups departed today from the center to go to the various training sites it was disappointing. I saw my first roommate (David) go to a different site, along with a number of other interesting people I was just getting to meet. For those of you I talked to in DC, its quite a 180 from when I said I don’t know if I connect with a number of these people. Fuck its hard to concentrate w massive dog barking in the background…earplugs.

That should lead me into my new site. My van set out w 8 volunteers, 4 municipal development and 4 marketing facilitators. The van dropped the 4 muni people at a tiny (the smallest training site) site about 25 minutes away from the center. It looked like a pretty common developing country scene, to put it properly. Seeing the site I had relatively low expectations for my site. We had been sold pretty hard on our site during classes on Friday due to it being the furthest from the center, about an hour. But no sale was necessary. I had a permanent smile on myf ace after realizing my group was only 10 minutes on the other side of Antigua, squished in between not 1, or 2, but 3 Volcanoes. It’s the closest site to the beach. And the kicker, the houses we are staying in are the nicest I have seen in Guatemala, save our assistant director Craig. The houses here are still generally low income in the area, but we are all staying with reltively successful families. My family consists of a father, his father, and his 3 children (21 F, 13 M, 9 F). The 21 F definitely wants to marry me and had dropped several remarks about romantic things offhand already. I might start showing her pictures of ex girlfriends. There is a woman who lives here and does the housework, but I don’t know her relation yet. I find it very interesting I live in a home with no mother. I can only imagine she died at some point. I have connected well already with them, after only a day. The kids cant stop playing w me. The dad and his dad are good guys, and good humored. I find myself fortunate to be in this city. It has much to offer.

On a day when I met a new family, I was reminded of mine. I found a letter from my dad in a book I had been reading. I wont go into much detail, but It brightened and saddened my night at the same time. I want to throw in an “I love you Dad, and family,” after reading it. This is definitely the hardest thing I have ever invited myself into, but Im stepping to the challenge. I am fortunate to be supported by amazing staff who know exactly what I am going through. I am confident today, that I will be confident for the next 26 ½ months.

Day 8

Yeah this is short because I only pasted the last few days of blogging on here and havnt written today, but I will hav a phone very shortly and I am excited to get in touch. Im feeling great and I have gained a mental clarity.

Come to Antigua. You dont know what youre missing.