Lets talk about hiking a volcano, but more about chicken busses

Last Sunday a group of 25 of us, 24 volunteers and a friend I met in Antigua, decided to hike Volcano Pacaya. One of my fellow volunteer's host father runs a tour agency so he booked the transport and guide for us. Price: 70 quetzal, which is the equivalent of about $9 American. The hike is more of a tourist attraction then a difficult hiking adventure, although a few people in the crew had some serious trouble making it.

We left Antigua at 7 am, its about an hour and fifteen minute drive. It was nice to ride in the comfy mini-bus and not a rediculous camioneta (chicken bus). Actually, now is probably a good time to catch everyone up to speed on ¨chicken busses¨.

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The life of a chicken bus: An innocent, unassuming yellow school bus is built, hopefully in the United States, and then used to transport the youth of America to and from school. If it is a lucky bus it has a sweet old lady drive it with extreme care, takes the girls swim team to and from their meets (unlucky ones get the boys baseball team), and maybe even gets to bring lots of excited boys and girls on some educational field trips. Eventually, as we all do, the bus gets older, slower, starts making funny sounds, and eventually brakes down. Now at this point humans go to quiet graves, and some busses find this same serenity (albeit in a scrapyard). However, some busses are forced to suffer an altogether different fate, they become chicken busses. I imagine mommy and daddy busses tell their children stories of how bad busses are sent to Guatemala to become chicken busses in order to scare them into behaving.

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First thing they do to a chicken bus is rip out the old, dead engine and install a stick shift beast of an engine. Since there are no regulations on smog output this thing can be as cheap and dirty as you would ever think possible. Next it is painted any number of different hideous combinations of colors. A rack is then installed on the top of the bus, and another above the seats, just the right height so that many people will hit their head on it. Next these busses are assigned a gruff looking driver and a slippery little ayudante. The drivers job is self explanatory, except that he is taught to beep at everything and everyone, as well as drive at extreme speeds, weave through traffic, and make turns that seem physically impossible. The ayudante is taught to defy the laws of physics by herding more people onto the bus then one would think is possible, and then to squeeze his way up and down the aisles collecting everyones bus fares.

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Now, let me elaborate as to what I mean when I say there are a lot of people on these busses. Every seat is almost invariably filled with one extra person then is supposed to fit. Then the aisles are crammed from the back to the front with people scrunched against each other. A lot of times the area around the driver and the stairs to get on the bus are also filled with people. How the ayudante makes his way through this mess, and remembers who has paid and who hasn´t, is a wonder of the world to me.

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Furthermore, on top of the overcrowdedness, the smell of B.O., the constant feeling that the bus might explode at any minute, the loads of chickens and bushels of wood and you name it on the roof, the weaving through traffic at dangerous speeds, the fact that the bus doesn´t always come to a complete stop, the neverending danger that you will be pickpocketed (I caught someone trying once already), and the fact that you get closer to the people on these busses then you do to most girls on a first date, you also have to worry about the chance that a group of guys might just board the bus, fire a couple of shots in the air, kill the bus driver and ayudante, and rob everyone. This happens frequently, but usually only at night; hence the rule that we avoid chicken busses at night.

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So that said, chicken busses are a never ending adventure and my primary source of transportation. You learn to love them pretty fast, and if you stay smart you can pretty easily stay out of danger.

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Back to the volcano. We went to Volcan Pacaya, a huge tourist destination due to its frequent activity and chance to see flowing lava. It took about two hours to hike to a spot near the top where we were able to roast some marshmellows over lava rocks and have a little lunch. As you can see the views are breathtaking, and I will be going back to hike to the summit; we couldn´t go this time due to the size of our group and the inability of many to actually make the climb.

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All in all it was a lot of fun. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. Adios amigos.

Landscape.

Eating lunch on a volcano.

Karina on top of the world.

Anthony up in the clouds.


Roasting marshmellows over a hot lava pit.

Our guide demonsrating how hot the lava actually is.

Jesse.

Roberto, our local guide.

Adrian, a fellow volunteer.

Karina, a new friend I met in Antigua.

The whole group, almost. There were a few stragglers.

On the start of the path.

The group looking tired.

No comment necessary.

I'm the only one with a stick.

Mountain lake.

Mini-bus, en route.

This photo is unrelated. This is Cori and me outside Peace Corps Headquarters.

Let´s talk about my house

This is my bedroom. Notice the stack of washed, dried, and folded laundry on my bed that awaits me every day. Also you can´t read the posters, but they are covered with advice from Jesus.

This is the ¨pila¨ where clothes, dishes, hands, teeth, etc. are washed.

I needed help opening the cans of tomato sauce. That is my host dad, Don Cesar

My family, and my buddy Jesse´s family eating the dinner we prepared. Chicken Cacciatorre. From the head of the table clockwise: Octavio (my bro), Don Cesar (my dad), Doña Dora (my mom), Doña Olivia (Jesse´s mom), Carla and Carmen (Jesse´s little sisters), Don Raul (Jesse´s dad), Jesse, Yulisa (my host sister with her son Diego on her lap).

This is my little buddy, the mischievious Diego. I´m not sure what this kid takes to get all his energy, but I want some.

This is a view of my street from the roof.

And this is the view the opposite way.

This is the penthouse. Apparently I have a brother that is a environmental engineer in Columbia. He left his room in tact for the enjoyment of all. It´s tough to see, but in the corners of the room there are surround sound speakers. Is this really Peace Corps?

I think I will take a few minutes and describe my living conditions in some detail. In comparison to what I expected to encounter here, and in comparison to the way some of my fellow trainees are living, I am in relative luxury.

My house is simple and cold, at least downstairs. We have running water and electricity 24/7, which is much more then many of the homes in Guatemala can claim. The floors are all cement, and they are freezing at night. In the front of the house is a small store that provides what little income my family has. They sell all sorts of little trinkets and candies. In the picture above of me preparing dinner, granted with help opening the cans from Don Cesar (they don´t have a conventional can opener), you can see a little of the kitchen. This room consists of a very small oven/stovetop, the table we eat at every day (except for big dinners with company), a cabinet that holds all of the dishware, a coffee maker (which is a luxury, because most families simply boil water and use instant coffee, yuck!), a blender, a refridgerator (another luxury; although there is nothing ever in it), and a microwave.

In the next picture you can see the main room of the house, a big open room with a table, although the table is usually off to the side. In the back on the left are the stairs to go upstairs. These stairs are not enclosed, and the ceiling is low enough that if I´m not paying attention I hit my head, but that has only happened once thus far. In the back on the right is the hallway to the back of the house. My bedroom is the second door on the right, directly across is the bathroom. After this the house opens up to the outside where you will find the pila (pictured above). If you look behind the pila you can see a rug thrown over something. That something is a bird cage with some kind of little song birds in it, about 5 of them. They are kind of nice to wake up to.

The bathroom is simple; a toilet, a shower, thats it. You can not flush the toilet paper in Guatemala, the sewer system can not handle it, so next to every toilet is a wastebasket. I´m sure you can deduce for yourselves how this smells. We do have hot water, and it is kind of interesting how we get this. There is a device called a calientador attached to the shower head. Basically this is an electric device that heats up the water as it flows through, I have no idea how you do not get electrocuted, but you don´t. Once you overcome this fear of death by shower water you realize this is actually a much more efficient process then a hot water tank.

My room is cozy as you can see. Not much to say about that except that it is cleaned for me every day and my laundry is magically done when I get home. I´m not sure how this is supposed to train me to survive on my own, but I am enjoying it while it lasts.

Diego. This rambunctious (spelled correctly?) litte almost four year old is my ¨nephew¨. At first he would not even look at me. This lasted for about a week. Then we were finally able to get him to say hola and adios. Next we moved onto a stage where he found it extremely entertaining to take a little stuffed pig with a clip attached to it and try and attach it to my ear. Then we started playing soccer in the house and working on his english together. Now I am told he cried the other day when he came over and I wasn´t there.

The penthouse is in no way indicative of what the rest of the house is like, or what any other room in our whole community is like. This room stands in stark contrast to its surrounding environment. That said, I am glad it is above my house. We often hold our spanish classes there, Saturday we watched Forrest Gump in español. Hearing a spanish speaker try and immitate Tom Hanks is comical, and the translation is way off in many parts. I will most definitely miss this room after my three months here, but it is nice to have a taste of back home right up the stairs.

A real quick summary of dinner, because I am running out of time here. We went into the capital city for a little tour, to see the embassy and some other important locations. We are actually supposed to avoid going to Guatemala City at all costs, due to the high levels of crime and violence there. We stopped at a Walmart-esk store where Jesse and I picked up all the ingredients to make chicken cacciatore. We had both families over for a big meal that night. We didn´t get dinner ready until an hour after our projected time, this I blame on the weak stove/oven. I thought it was very good, and everyone cleaned their plates; however, I think they would have cleaned them if it was absolutely terrible too, so its tough to tell what they really thought. They said they enjoyed it, and I know they appreciated the gesture.

I have so many more pics and so much more to say, but I am short on time here. A quick little teaser, if I get time in the next couple days I will be putting a new post about my trip to Volcan Pacaya last Sunday. This was amazing and I have some incredible pics. Oh, and for she who inquired about the altitude, I have adjusted very well actually. Thanks. Adios amigos.

Let's talk about my park

On top of the world So if you look up you will see me standing in a tree house in the highest point in my park: Senderos Alux Parque Ecologico. This place is pretty interesting. To get there you must take a camioneta (this is whats commonly referred to as a chicken bus, I will speak in detail on these busses another time. Suffice it to say they are an adventure every time you board one.) When you get off at the stop in front of the park, unless you look real closely for the one sign, you have no idea its even there. From this inconspicuous bus stop you must hike up a very steep and winding road for appoximately 20 minutes (probably about a mile to a mile and a half). This is exhausting, when I say steep I mean 50 - 60 degree inclines; basically, you pray that a pick-up truck will pick you up and you can ride to the top in the bed.

Vale la pena. This spanish saying means that it was worth the trouble, and that is what you say when you finally make it to the summit, because the park is beautiful. There are many, many kilometers of trails, it took us about 5 hours to tour the whole park, and we basically breezed through the majority of it. There are 3 miradors, viewing points, with breathtaking views of Guatemala City and the surrounding volcanoes. If you look below you will see the view from the mirador that I am standing on in the picture above. The lake you see is Lake Amatitlan, the city is the capital of Guatemala, and in the surrounding mountains there are three volcanoes.

I am told that this is one of the best views you can find of the city and I believe it. Other then enjoying the vistas there are trails blazed all through the forest, where you can see all different types of rare birds, animals, flowers, snakes, you name it...

If you look below you will see yours truly up in a tree.

One of the coolest aspects of the park, or at least the most fun, are the tree swings. There are three of them, where you can hop in and go sailing out over valleys in the forest. If you look down at the picture below it is tough to tell just how far the drop is below me, but trust me when I say if I fell I would not be getting back up for a while.

Here is a group of sheep that just happened to wander across our path.

Here is an example of the flowers you can see in the park.

And here is one of the many informative signs that you can find throughout the park. This one is to educate people on the many different types of birds you can find there.

Each one of these pictures took about 20 minutes to load, so that is enough for now. I hope you enjoy them. Adios amigos.

Let's talk about faith

Lets have a little chat about religion. All right, I will do most of the talking. I came home last night to find an alter had been erected in the upstairs bedroom, which happens to be the room I spend a lot of time in at night using the computer. On the alter there are 3 wine glasses filled with water, 3 apples, 3 candles, a small plate full of sugar and another full of salt, and some beautiful white flowers. I did not know what to make of it at first, but I wanted to check my email, so I just proceeded as normal. No sooner did I get online then did my host mother come in (of course she knocked and asked "con permiso" first. Here it is unacceptable to enter a room without asking permission from whoever is already in there, even if it's your house). She told me we were going to have visitors, so I naturally assumed that meant actual guests. Wrong. We now have three Arcangels staying with us for the next three days, spirits.

My host parents performed a deeply religious ceremony, and then taught me all about it afterward. Basically they summoned the help of Arcangel Rafael, Arcangel Miguel, and Arcangel Gabriel. Each one has several different functions; for example one combats demons, another is the angel who pronounced the coming of Christ, etc. The three apples are offerings for them, the sugar is added to help them trap the bad spirits in the house in the cups, and the salt helps destroy them. At the end of the third day the cups of water, along with all the negative spirits of the house are basically dumped down the toilet.

It was really an amazing thing to watch. I think peoples faith is too often intertwined with the social aspects of the church and influenced by outside pressures. But here were two people, proceeding through this intricate ceremony, for no other reason than that the completely and totally believe in it. Now that is faith.

I also learned that my host mother did not always have this faith. About 15 years ago she had a two pound tumor on her brain. All of the doctors basically told her that she was not going to make it, and that surgery was too risky. They offered her several different treatments to make her more comfortable, but she insisted on having it removed. They told her that she would probably not be able to walk, may end up with brain damage, or blindness, and that was only if she actually lived through the surgery. Well she proved everyone wrong and lived through the surgery with no serious lasting side effects. They credit this miracle to the strength of her husbands faith, and this is where she found hers. She really is a strong amazing woman and I find myself liking her more and more everytime we have a conversation. More to come about that. Adios amigos.

The life of a PCT

Hola todos. So if you look to your left there is a view of the courtyard in Peace Corps Guatemala headquarters. It really is very nice there, and as I may or may not have mentioned previously, the staff is incredible. Guatemala is a very old post, almost as old as Peace Corps itself; we have actually been sending volunteers here since 1943. With all of this experience comes a wealth of wisdom. Us Peace Corps Trainees spend our days absorbing the knowledge of the technical training staff, the medical training staff, the safety and security training staff, and most importantly the language training staff. The life of a PCT (Peace Corps Trainee) is really quite exhausting, and I can not remember a time in my life where I have been on a more regular schedule; awake at 6am, breakfast at 7am, classes from 8-12:30, lunch at 1pm, training activities from 2-5ish, dinner at 7pm, and never asleep after 10pm. All of my meals are prepared for me daily by my host parents, when I can't be home for lunch they pack me a lunch box. It's actually pretty nice to be taken care of so well, but it can be a little suffocating.
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To the right you can see what the view looks like from the viewing platform of my park. What you are looking at is Guatemala City. I have not had the chance yet, but I am told that at night it is even more magnificent. The park itself is beautiful, it is in the mountains so the hiking terrain is excellent. It is a great spot for bird watching, there are great barbecue pits everywhere, there is a mountain biking course, there is a camp ground, obviously beautifual views, and wild animals everywhere. It is an unadalturated piece of nature, and a breath of fresh air. However, the directors of the park have no sense that it is still a business and that they are losing money for the municipality hand over fist maintaining the park. Our job is to design a business development plan to help them eventually turn a profit. It should be both interesting and challenging, and at the very least my office is a gorgeous slice of nature. On a quick side note, I actually got to meet the mayor yesterday and talk about my business education and experience, and how I think I can help his park.
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Meet Doggy (pronounced duggy). This dog loves me. Last night it was very windy out, and pretty cold. My house opens up to an outside patio right past my bedroom door, but there is no door to the outside, it is just open air. I was sleeping, and I woke up to a thumping sound that seemed to be coming from inside my bed. The wind was blowing and things were banging around all over outside, it was pitch black in my room, and I have been having crazy lucid dreams as a side effect of the malaria medication, so I wasn't sure if I was awake or asleep. Then the thumping started again, and I am not going to lie I started to freak out a little bit. When I finally figured out that I was definitely awake, I got off my bed to look underneath with only the light from my watch. And if you can't guess what happened next, Doggy jumped out and scared the living hell out of me.
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I am officially at the one week mark, and I have plenty more stories, and a ton of pictures already. So for those of you who are reading, commenting, and sending emails thank you very much, it brightens my day everytime I hear from one of you. I will put up another post soon, because I have a lot to talk about, but I think thats it for tonight. Adios.

Am I still in America? Guess not

I arrived in Guatemala on Wednesday around 2:30 our time, a quick hour ride from the airport to the small town Santa Lucia Milpas Altas. The training center is very nice, except that it is a little unnerving to see the guard at the front gate with a shotgun over his shoulder and the barb wire surrounding the compound. Other then that it is beautiful. The town has spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and volcanoes.

I stayed with the Castellano family, which consisted of Dona Brenda, Don Tomas, Paco (13), Alexander (10), and Florecita (6). They could not have been nicer. Dona Brenda loved to talk, which was great because she made me feel right at home and really helped to improve my spanish quickly. I showed them pictures of all of you and it was great to see how interested they were in my family and my life back home. Which goes right to the heart of the second Peace Corps mission; which is to increase other people's understanding of Americans. They also REALLY enjoyed my skydiving video, although they called me a "gringo loco". Florecita was the cutest little girl I ever met, she was able to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and I was able to teach her to sing it in English, kind of. I have a video and its adorable. This is Florecita on the left.

The family lived in a compound which had 4 different houses. One for the grandparents, a one for each of Dona Brenda's sisters, and one for her brother. They had gardens everywhere, chickens, cows, etc. We ate farm fresh eggs with frijoles for dinner one night, milk fresh from the cow in the morning (with cherios or corn flakes), and all different kinds of fresh vegetables. For those of you who though I would not be eating a lot here in Guatemala you were sorely mistaken. I am stuffing myself trying to finish some of these enormous meals, because I don't want to insult anyone.

On of the most interesting conversations I had with my host mom was about how poor their family is, and how it would be possible to send the men of the family to other countries to work so that they could earn more and send the money home; but they don't do that, because whats imporant is that they are happy with how life is. No amount of money will be able to change that for them, and even if it could improve their circumstances it would not bring them more happiness. For them, having the whole family together was all they really wanted, and it was very obvious that they all really enjoyed their lives; despite only having running water 2-3 days a week. They were very hospitable, and we actually became pretty close in a very short period of time, I will be visiting them often, because they live so close to the training center.

Today I woke up at 6am to go for a hike through the mountains with Paco and Alexander, so that we could get the best views of the volcanoes. Then I had to be at Peace Corps Office by eight oclock so that I could attend a few quick sessions and board the vans that took us to our new sites. I think I have one of the best sites available, and the best host family at that site. I am staying with Dona Dora, Don Cesar, and their son Octavio (25). They have a very simple home, they run a small tienda (shop) out of the front of the house, I have my own comfortable room, they have a golden retriever that craves attention (his name is Doggy), and the best part: their eldest son moved to Columbia for work, but upstairs in his room and all his stuff is still here, including television with cable and high speed internet (which is very rare in private homes here, but there are internet cafes everywhere). I don't yet have any pictures, but I will soon.

I am in the town of San Bartolome, which is only 5 km from the training site. The views here are beautiful as well. It is a little higher in altitude, about 8000 ft I think. Close to my room the house opens up to the outside where there is a beautiful bird cage. The family is very religious, and is taking me to church bright and early tomorrow morning. Octavio already took me and a couple other volunteers into the city of San Lucas to purchase cell phones. Write me an email if you want the number. I think I am really going to like it here.

The project I will be working on is a promotional marketing project for a nearby park. I don't really know much more then that yet, and I probably won't find out for a couple days. Right now I am supposed to be working on improving my Spanish and bonding with my host family. Which reminds me I gotta run. Adios.

Staging in D.C.

It's 10:30 pm here in our nation's capital. I got a solid 3 hours of sleep last night, and I have to leave for the airport at 2:00 am; I'm going to keep this short.

I got to the hotel around 7:30 am today (after being held up for $100 by US Airways for heavy bags). There were no rooms ready, so I had some breakfast and completed all my paperwork in the hotel restaurant. Still no rooms ready at 9:30 so I tied up some loose ends online in the computer lab. Still no rooms available at 10:30 so I headed out, in the rain, to soak up some of the culture in Washington D.C. (which has apparently been renamed Obamaland).

I was able to check out the Washington Monument, the WWII memorial, I breezed through the entire Smithsonian Museum of American History (it was pretty awe striking to read the Gettysburg address in Lincolns actual handwriting), and I had a nice Chinese couple take my picture in front of Barrack's house. I'm serious when I tell you that Obamamania is in full force here, they're already shutting down streets for the inauguration.

Staging started at 2. We were inundated with info, and played cheesy ice breaker games for 5 hrs. It was actually a lot more enjoyable then I anticipated, and we seem to have a friendly and interesting group of trainees. More on that when I have more time...

Then me and a few other volunteers grabbed our last meal in America at a place called Jack Daniels. I took out a bowl of chicken noodle soup, a fillet mignon, and some apple pie al a mode.

So despite being exhausted, the crooks at US Air, the slow housekeeping at the hotel, the non-stop rain, and being stuck in class for hours and hours, I had an amazing day. I am more excited then ever. And I can't wait to get to Guatemala tomorrow.

Anthony Out.

Bienvenido a 2009

It's New Years Day and I am very eager to explore all the possibilities that 2009 holds. I leave for staging in Washington D.C. in five days; I will spend less then 24 hours there, then it is off to Guatemala. I think that I have all the supplies I need, I am almost completely packed, I am starting to get nervous, and I am extremely excited!

2009 promises to be a year of exploration, adventure, personal growth, and great change. I am taking a leap of faith here by following my heart into the unknown. I will be leaving behind my family and friends for over two years in the hopes of helping others, gaining some new perspective, and finding my place in the world.

I am not sure how many people will actually read this blog and follow along with the stories of my experiences; but for those of you who do, I hope you are entertained by my adventures, I thank you for your interest, and I encourage you to comment often. I will try and keep this updated as often as possible, and will include as many pictures as I can.

I will post again when the fun has begun. I miss you all already. Happy New Years everyone!