Guatemala Vida Mia

I think the word "whirlwind" would be the best way to describe this last month and a half. The time has been exhausting but rewarding. I will try and sum up the highlights for you, but for the most part I am going to let those which are said to be worth 1,000 words do most of the talking.

First off, I want to tell you all that this universe we live in is a strange and wonderful place; it works in some mysterious ways. This story, I believe, illustrates this wonder any mystery quite well.

First a bit of background information. Without getting in to too much detail regarding the complicated history of this story, we'll just say that I went to school with this guy (we will call him Mr. Z), we were good friends, we had a falling out, and up until I got to Guatemala we hadn't talked for many years. Mr. Z and I had exchanged emails shortly after I arrived here, it was more or less decided that life was too short for grudges, and we found ourselves on amicable terms. There was no further contact up until about a two months ago.

Another important piece of relevant background information regards one of my training activities about 8 months ago. We went up to the community of Granados to lend a hand in the first day of construction of a new school. This was not just any school however, this school was to be made almost entirely of recycled plastic bottles filled with inorganic garbage. I think I have already described this project in previous posts, but for those who are unfamiliar: the basic idea is to tackle 3 major necessities with one project. 1 - Trash management. A huge problem down here, as there is no system in most small towns for disposing of garbage. 2 - Infrastructure. School buildings are expensive and most are overcrowded and deteriorating. 3 - Environmental education. The idea of recycling can be a very foreign one, and it is important to educate the youth so that they can carry these concepts into the future. With this in mind the essence of a "bottle school" is to educate the students about recycling. From there you have them collect thousands of plastic bottles and inorganic trash; by picking up the streets of the community and convincing the rest of the town to help them recycle. You then stuff the bottles with trash and use them to build the walls of your school. They are then covered with cement and you are left with a school building that looks like any other, but is in fact the very special result of a lot of education and hard work... not to mention much cheaper.

So, the point is that I helped put the first bottles in place eight months ago. Two months ago I ran into the volunteer that had been living in Granados at the time and who'd started the project. "How did your bottle school turn out?" I asked her. She told me how the mayor had cut funding on the project and it had been sitting stagnant for many months. Hopes of ever finishing it were low. "Gee, how sad after all that work" I thought, "I wish there was something I could do to help."

Enter Mr. Z. The very next night I receive a phone call from this old acquaintance, unaware that he even had my number. "I am working with a non-profit organization" he tells me, "and what we want to do is help remodel a school in Guatemala. We have funds to give and labor, but we can not get a hold of the school we'd previously identified. Could you help us get a hold of them? Or do you have any other ideas???" I told him I'd see what I could do, and sat there for the rest of the night reflecting on whether this was real or not.

The next day, after talking to the girl who started the project, I wrote Mr. Z an email explaining the situation. It was one of those rare situations that can only be called a win-win-win. His organization would win, because what they really wanted was a good story with good video footage so they could raise awareness for their cause; the community would win, because without a new source of funding the project would sit stagnant indefinitely; and above all, the kids would win!

The rest, as the say, is history. With all the magic of an eclipse, the earth, moon and sun aligned, and within six weeks the crew from "Hug It Forward" was here. Twelve days later we were attending the inauguration of the new school building. Anyone who has attempted a construction project in a 3rd world community will tell you what a feat that is.

This story, for me, has confirmed a lesson I have spent my whole life learning. Life is too short to hold grudges, in fact it is too short to waste more than five deep breaths on anything negative. There is far too much beauty, kindness and love all around us to preoccupy ourselves with the ugly, cruel and hateful. So, let your mind be free and open, focus on the positive and look for the good in people, and put yourself out there so that you are in a position to seize these opportunities when they come flying by. The wonders of this universe will do the rest. Cheers my friends, life is good.

The rest of this "whirlwind" I have been caught up in for the past couple of months will be described in the following photos.

This photo was taken during the inauguration ceremony of the school. This Tiny Dancer honored us with a solo dance, with a little audience involvement (see video below).

This is also from the inauguration. The school children performed a complicated dance in traditional Guatemalan garments. The smoke you see flying through the air is a result of the roman candles attached to the staffs they danced with. This would NEVER be permitted in the States.

These are typical Guatemalan kites, made out of tissue paper. I flew one on All Saints Day. More to come on this.

I spent a few days with my old host family. We celebrated Doña Brenda's 40th birthday in a big way!

Here is everyone after the big birthday dinner. I brought my friends Oliver and Rebecca along to meet this incredibly loving family.

Florecita decided that I would look really good with hair ties in my hair. As you can see she was right.

Flying kites in the cemetery in Santiago on All Saints Day.

Dave and I flying our own kite. It ended up getting tangled up with someone else's and falling out of the sky. Where we then watched a little kid cut the rope and run away with it. We were stuck on top of a 10 ft tall mausoleum so all we could do was laugh.

All Saints Day, November 1st, is an important holiday here. It is a time to honor your past friends and family. In Santiago they do this by holding an amazing kite festival. The main attraction are these large kites you see above. They are made with a bamboo frame and an absurd amount of tissue paper. Each one takes about 3 months to complete. They are about, at my best guestimation, 45 ft in diameter. Supposedly on really windy days in the past they have actually been able to fly them. I am skeptical, but they are nevertheless an amazing site to see.

Here is a close up view of one of the kites. You can see the intricate detail well. Each one has a theme and a special message. This one is about how the kids are our future.

Here is a view of the whole cemetery.

This kite is about 12 ft in diameter. Pretty impressive to see it flown. It takes many tries though, and they often crash into crowd. This adds a little bit of danger and excitement to the day, because you never know when a giant kite might land on your head.

Here is a shot of the front of the bottle school. We left a window open so you can see how it was actually constructed.

Every day after work on the school I played futbol (soccer) with the kids. I dominated, but that isn't the point. The point is how inspiring it was to see these kids showing up every day and volunteering their time (their school year is over). They were helping sift sand, mix cement, clean, paint, you name it.

Group shot after the inauguration ceremony. Look how beautiful the school turned out. Made out of trash... who knew?

At the inauguration we were presented with honorary diplomas. This is my buddy Carlos reading mine.

More shots of the wild dances.

Ditto.

Another traditional dance. They looked like Disney Princesses.

Bacilio's family mentioned to me that they had never eaten pancakes before. This was unacceptable to me, so we had a huge breakfast for dinner party the next night. These are my three little helpers and our big stack of hotcakes.

My buddy Johnny working out in my homemade gym while I flip pancakes.

Vilda stirring the batter.

Peace Corps Halloween party. Wonder Woman, Batman, Catwoman and Robin. The "jizz" sign is being held by a guy dressed in all black who followed Batman and Robin around all night holding up various action signs as they pretended to hit people. (this is hilariously creative if you've seen the old television show)

Halloween party group shot.

I was a "new-age" Guatemalan Narco-trafficker. The theme was super heroes and villains... my friend Rebecca chose my costume. The Guatemalan drug trafficker is the ultimate villain in country today. I am being forced into marriage by the point of my own plastic gun in this photo.

Rebecca and I in costume. She is more or less a prop of my costume. My "mujer". The black eye was not my fault.... she was asking for it.

Ditto. If you could zoom in on the belt buckle you would notice that it has a spur on it that spins like the rims of any good rappers SUV.

Getting the last of the bottles in place.

The cement is applied in 3 laters. Here you see examples of both the first and second layer.

Collecting the last bit of trash to fill the last 10o bottles. We had to travel outside of town to find it, because Granados was SO CLEAN!

The famous Siggy digging in the trash can of a local gas station as she pitched in to help build the school.

I organized a training day for the woman of Chilasco. The third part of the day was a cooking class. They were taught some delicious new broccoli recipes. This is the kitchen we used.

Panchita giving her cooking class. She's a natural, reminds me of Emeril.

Group shot before we ate the new recipes.

The first part of the training day was given by Siggy. She taught product elaboration for artisans and helped to explain how the marketplace works on a national and international level. Sherry then gave a presentation on Appreciative Inquiry that uplifted and inspired us all.

Sometimes the power goes out, but we don't let this stop us. We hold our weekly ADESOCHI meetings by candlelight.

Making Celso laugh.

I have another article coming out in a Guatemalan magazine soon about how women in rural areas make the difference, and it features my artisans. This is a picture for the article.

Me with one of my artisan families.

This is what the typical house looks like in my community.

This is what the streets of Chilasco look like.

I have joined the local soccer league. That is a whole other story. I did score a goal in my first game! which cause a big sensation in town. Notice though how the field drops off down a cliff behind the goal. What do you think happens to the ball every time they miss the net??

Video clip of the traditional dance.

Tiny Dancer getting one of the guys from "Hug it Forward" involved in the action.

What do you do? What do you eat?

A month since the last post and I have lots to share. A big development in the past month was that my Dad came to the rescue by sending me a new camera, so we can thank him for all the new pictures. In this post I want to address a couple of my most frequently asked questions. People are constantly asking: so what exactly to you do there on a daily basis? And what do you eat?

To answer these questions I recorded all my activities and what I ate for a week. Every week is of course different, with its own challenges and rewards, but the following is more or less representative of what a week in my shoes is like. Enjoy.

MONDAY. Woke up as usual today at 5:30 am with the sun starting to rise, the roosters crowing, the birds chirping, and Susan Ward yelling under the two inch crack between the bottom of my front door and the floor. Susan is always trying to get me up at this time.

Let me take a step back here and introduce Susan Ward. Susan is the newest female in my life. She is definitely not the prettiest girl in the world, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. She can be quite greedy, she is prone to throw fits when she doesn’t get what she wants, she is not afraid to get a little dirty, she isn’t a very picky eater, and she craves my attention. Susan is, in fact, my new pig. I bought her about a month ago in the name of cultural integration and the hope of an eventual birthday party pig roast.

So as I was saying, woke up at 5:30 feeling energized and got right into the morning routine. i put on the pot of coffee and then fed the pig. I poured myself a bowl of Zacharias (Guatemala’s version of Frosted Flakes), threw on a big cup of powdered milk and a sliced up banana, grabbed a glass of OJ and headed to the table. I usually pull up either the Economist.com or the New York Times online and read a few headline articles as I eat breakfast; I like to stay current on the events of the world and here if I didn’t make an effort I’d never know. The farmers I hang out with every day wouldn’t even tell me if aliens landed in the capital, they wouldn't know.

After I eat my breakfast and pop my vitamins I spend the next 45 minutes or so working on my Spanish. I am reading a Spanish novel called Antigua Vida Mia by Marcela Serrano. It is actually set in Guatemala so it’s cool, but the grammar and vocabulary is complicated for me; that’s the point. The vocabulary and grammatical correctness out here is comparable to the backwoods of Mississippi I imagine, so if I want to speak a more educated version of the language I need to work at it. I read slowly, looking up and writing down all new words and grammatical constructions. I only get through about 10 pages a day.

After this, being Monday, it’s time to clean the house. All of my laundry, sweeping the floor, washing the dishes, and any other general upkeep takes about an hour and a half. This stuff is all, quite frankly, a pain in the ass, but it needs to be done. I am considering contracting out my clothes washing to a local lady. A few have offered, so we’ll see.

After cleaning it’s still only 8:30, and since I don’t have a meeting until 10:00, which really means 10:30 here, I decide to go for a run. Today I run to Santa Cruz, the closest little town, and back. This is a pretty route of gently rolling hills that brings you threw the forest and then opens up into farmland. It is about a 10 km round trip and it takes me just around an hour.

After my run and a quick shower it’s time to get to work. Today we are hosting a meeting with the national governmental tourism agency and a representative from Japan who is looking for projects to give international aid. We are hoping to convince him to pay for new railings on our trail. Just as expected they don’t show up until about quarter to 11, but the meeting is otherwise a success.

I try to focus on preparing the members of my association for the meeting before hand, rehearsing our pitch for funding, and hope that during the meeting I will be able to just take some notes and let them do the talking. While nice in theory, this doesn’t usually completely work, and several questions are deflected my way, but all in all these guys are smart and capable in these situations.

After the meeting I stop by one of the farms because I see some friends. It is the broccoli harvest and they have a flatbed trucks worth of the stuff sitting in bags on the side of the road, greener than dollars but just as valuable to them. After a little chat they give me two huge heads of it and I head home for lunch: Steamed broccoli and white rice.

By the time lunch is finished and I’ve fed Susan again it’s already 4 o’clock. I don’t have English class until 6:00, and I decide to use this time to send off a few pressing emails.

English class goes well, Monday is a good group. They are a little older and more advanced so things flow a lot nicer. The class, which started at over 50 students, has only around 15 now, but this is nice, because we’ve rid ourselves of the ones that weren’t really there to learn. One bonus to this class for me is that Chilascó’s three hottest babes are in it. We worked on the gerund, i.e. I am STUDYING, she is PLAYING, we are LAUGHING, etc.

After class its home for dinner. Today I feel like spoiling myself a bit, so I make my favorite… pancakes for dinner. After dinner I do a quick 45 minutes of yoga, another little shower, and read until I fall asleep around 11. This week I am reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It is a classic, and exploration into values, and it is the second book of this month’s book club. I need to finish it by Saturday.

TUESDAY. Same morning routine as yesterday. Breakfast then Spanish studying at least. Today I am headed into Salama to do some grocery shopping and pick up a few other things. There are several busses that leave every morning, about every half hour, but I like to take the 7:30 one. It is the largest and the driver is my buddy so I usually get to sit up front, a seat that is usually always reserved for the prettiest girl on the bus. Bus drivers here are some of the biggest ladies men in the country.

It is about an hour and a half ride into Salama, and I spend the first 30 minutes chatting with the driver, “El Negro” is what he’s called, I’m not sure why. After we run out of talk about how he works 16 hour days 6 days a week without complaining, I pull out my book and take advantage of the free time.

In Salama I head straight to the supermarket to start checking off my “to get” list. Apples, cereal, cheese slices, syrup, yogurt, dish soap, detergent, butter and boneless chicken breasts. Then I take a stroll through the market and pick up a big pineapple and a papaya. These are the ingredients for the world’s best licuado, I can hardly wait to get home and make one. After this I have to swing by the hardware store and try and buy some metal bars to use as handles for the dumbbells I am making.

The first hardware store doesn’t have them. The second one does, but the owner is trying to take advantage of me by charging me a special Gringo price which is about 4 times what it should be. I am not having any of that so after a little back and forth I take off. Third time is a charm, and after this store owner gives me a little example of bicep curls while his wife and daughter sit around giggling he sells me the bars at a fair price.

I have to hurry and I catch the 11:15 bus back to Chilascó. When I get home, after dropping off the groceries, I run over to the local hardware store to buy the cement for the weights. On the way I am called in to another little store by Dona Ana. She wants to talk about the project we are working on to sell the 100% natural Blackberry Wine that she makes in Antigua. She wants to make some adjustments to the labels, so I add it to the “to do” list.

After explaining why I need the concrete for 15 minutes, I buy it and head back home to pour it in the already waiting molds. Then it’s lunch time. I eat the second head of broccoli, but this time with some black beans. My landlady gives me 6 tortillas to eat with it and I make my licuado. After lunch I take another run to Santa Cruz, shower, do a few things online, make a couple phone calls, and head up to today’s 6:00 English class.

In today’s class I am trying something new. I promised them we could watch a movie, and I bring the first disc of Planet Earth, another new benefit of my father’s generous care package. We watch the first hour in English with Spanish subtitles and they try and write down as many words as they can understand. They are so fascinated, and rightfully so by the video footage, that they barely get down any words, but it is still fun. Afterwards I give them some of the new vocabulary that I already have prepared from the video and we all go home happy.

Dinner tonight consists of a bowl of cereal, Guatemalan Coco Crispies this time, and the rest of my licuado mix. After dinner it’s time for another round of yoga, I use the P90x power series video. Someone gave it to me a couple months ago, I figured I check it out and see what all the rage is about, and it turns out I really like it. This type is fast paced so it’s a good workout and it doesn’t get boring.

I read again until my eyes start shutting, I am almost done.

Okay, I had no idea how long this blog post was going to be when I started it, so I think, in consideration of your time and mine, I will continue with the next two days in another segment. Hopefully next week. Until then, enjoy the pics.

Working out in my homemade gym.

Delicious dinner. A mound of broccoli and a cob of corn

Oliver on the path, heading out for our book club camping trip.

A couple breathtaking views on from the trail. This is actually taken using a really cool feature of the new camera where you take three connecing pictures and the camera puts them together into a panoramic shot.

Oliver on the trail again. That is Juan, my buddy and our guide.

Lomo del Macho. The reason for the 4 hour hike. Located inside the local biosphere reserve it is actually a series of three waterfalls.

Yours truly at the base of the waterfall. This water is freeeezing.

This is what I love about Antigua Guatemala. Out of nowhere a random parade will just go rolling by.

Another shot of the ranom parade in front of the cathedral.

Susan got into the trash. She was just acting up because Sherry and Siggy were visiting. They graciously helped clean up.

Sherry, Siggy and me in front of el Salto de Chilasco.

Siggy and me in front of el Saltito.

Sherry and Siggy on the trail.

This is me giving a presentation to try and get funding for my project to create a tourism guide book for my region. I am doing this in front of about 50 people, all in Spanish of course. I had to catch a 4am bus to get there on time, but I overslept and had to run out the door without shaving, showering, anything. I am wearing the shirt I slept in and a hat because my hair is a mess. Not very professional, but I still got the job done.

This is actually the night before the presentation, showing off the beard.

Meet Susan Ward. The triangle on her neck is so she doesn't escape between the bars of the front porch at night.

One of the strongest rainbows I have ever seen shooting right out of the middle of town. This would have been perfect for my article "Hidden Treasure in Chilasco". I may still go look for the gold.

Monday night English class.

Ditto.

Meet Ides. She is adorable and lives in the house on the property where my apartment is. She is so funny, because every time I see her she gives me a greeting, but she never gets the time right. In the afternoon she says goodnight, in the evening she says good morning. I correct her and she giggles every time.

Susan again.

Sitting around the dinner table at Siggy and Sherry's with some other Peace Corps friends. Panchita had the night off so I made a nice chicken, shrimp and brocoli stir fry. Mmmm mmmm good.

Siggy and I working on her store's website.