Another view...

Two of my new housemates! Alejandro and Julian.

The giant man made lake in Suchitoto, El Salvador.

Graffiti near the home of Monseñor Romero. (El Salvador)

This is photo from after the Mayan Ceremony was done.

It took place next to a sacred lake on the top of a volcano.

Another of Tikal. (I couldn't do just one.)

Tikal, ancient Mayan ruins.

The end is very near...

Woops. Here is a blog, lacking detail, but hopefully with some fun little stories.

Deep Breath….and go. Well oddly enough. Only two days after my last blog (that is why I think it is odd, other than that not really odd.) I switched host families. Ask me details sometime if you really want to know but basically I thought it would be a good experience to try out a new family; food, daily, living habits, new people to talk to etc. Well turns out it was for the best. I really like it here. I get great food and lots of it, although that might actually be a bad thing. I now have little sibs too and we read books together that we had brought down as donations from the states. They don’t own any books, not sure why, maybe it is expensive, or just not a family value. Anyway, the new family is made up of two little boys ages 3 and 5, an 8 year old girl, an eighteen year old girl, and the mothers of the little ones ages 22 and 26, and my host mom (although I think of here more as a grandmother, age 67ish). They are all super chatty and fun to be around. And if all that wasn’t enough I am now about 2 minutes from school instead of 15, so that opens up a whole new opportunity for night life now that I live next to the other members of my group. Yippee.

I took a trip to Tikal with 4 others, which is a huge area of ancient Mayan ruins. Some of them are still very well preserved or have been slightly restored. It is a super long way from Xela so we took a night bus there and back again, not only saving daylight (some 15 hours), but also saving the cost of a hotel/hostel for two nights, yes! Well, they were pretty cool. We did the sunrise tour at 4:45am so we crawled out of our tent (yes we are really cheap and rented a tent from the hotel), but unfortunately it was foggy so we didn’t get to see the sun rise over ancient ruins. (Everyone else in our group, one three different occasions had the same bum luck.) But included in the cost was a tour of the ruins. It was offered in both English and Spanish. We opted for the Spanish feeling guilty for having talked in English for the whole trip and knowing our regression would show when we got back to class on Monday. It was a fun little independent trip. Plus we did it for about half the cost of going with a travel agency.

The following week we had two group field trips. The first one was to a Mayan sacred lake on the top of a long inactive volcano. The professors of one of the classes here are Mayan priests so we got to see/participate in a Mayan spiritual ceremony. No, we did not go swim in the lake, it is sacred, no one can go in it. The other trip that week was to the Cervecería Nacional, a brewery in essence. It is a family run operation. Very impressive actually, it was HUGE, and super clean and efficient looking using a whole bunch of intensive technology. The operation doesn’t just do the entire top brands of beer though (Gallo and Cabro), but they also produce the top water and juice brands. (Keep in mind bottled water is used for everything since the tap is not safe even for locals.)

Last Friday we leave for El Salvador and we got back on Wednesday. (For the geographically challenged [myself included] El Salvador is the country south of Guatemala on the Pacific Coast.) We spent three nights in San Salvador, and two nights in Suchitoto. We visited the house and church of Monseñor Romero. It was super intense and interesting. He was a really important priest that worked really hard with the people of El Salvador to help improve their lives. He was assassinated while preparing the Eucharist during a special mass. The press was present and we saw the gruesome photos and blood stained clothes from that day. We then visited the Cathedral where he now has been put to rest. We went to a war memorial in the parquet central that commemorates at the deaths and disappearances from their civil war. Like Guatemala they still in a time of recovery from a very recent civil war. (Guatemala’s war ended in 1996 and lasted 36 years, resulting in 200,000 deaths. For more information just ask to read my final papers for my Human Rights class.) Then we went to a social rights/solidarity organization where we learned more about the politics of El Salvador and other cool stuff that helped us compare it to Guatemala and gain a fuller understanding of how different yet similar they are. In Suchitoto we had a day of art related stuff, which actually turned out to be a bummer day because none of it was very artsy at all. I think our director was lied to about what the stuff actually was. But the next day was pretty sweet because we went on a boat tour and fished by throwing some nets in the water. Of course we caught nothing but I guess we can say we did it now. That afternoon we went to a Cooperative of ex-guerrillas (the rebels who fought in the civil war). It was really neat and they were happy to receive us and tell us about what they do there. We saw a women’s processing “plant” which consisted of a few little rooms where they made pulp from fruit that they sell to someone else who makes vinegar from it. They also had a fish farm, where they raise tilapia to sell. I was kind of interesting how the process all worked since it is just in these big man made ponds and they have canals to run the water through. The highlight however was a GIANT pool. It was super deep, warm, clean, and inviting. I had just taken off my suit before going there though and wasn’t about to go in my underwear or clothes so unfortunately sticking my feet in was the best I got. All in all it was pretty neat to check out a different Latin American country. Fun Fact: El Salvador uses the US dollar as the national currency!

Lately, I have been trying to get the most out of the little time I have left here. In order to best accomplish that I have been working really hard on finishing my final papers. I don’t think I mentioned this before but between the three classes I have right now I have 5 final compositions and three oral presentations/exams. Not to mention, that one was a thesis paper of 20 pages, one a book syntax of 10 pages and another 2 of 5 pages a piece. Yay! Not. Ahh, but the good news is, I put my nose to the grindstone in my free time in El Salvador and a few nights before and after and I got them all done! So now I can really enjoy myself. Which is probably the best thing ever!

This weekend I went to another SuperChivos futbol game (soccer). And then went to El Baul for the last time and did some bouldering and shared a sandwich with Steph as tradition mandated. We had a nice little audience for the whole time and they all thought we were absolutely crazy. J

Time is ticking down and I don’t know that I will get a chance to blog again so here are my plans for the rest of the time. This is my last week of classes and volunteering so, yeah. This next weekend I am going to climb the highest volcano in Central America. (This actually will be an easier climb than Santa Maria which we climbed in the middle of the night, with the exception of it being really cold and at a high altitude.) And then Sunday is our farewell party with our teachers that we have spent and amazing amount of time with and will be the hardest for me to say goodbye to. Monday I have a final exam and then Tuesday morning I leave Xela (possibly never to return, unless a return trip is someday possible). My last week I will be traveling with two other girls to see the highlights of Guatemala that we have not yet visited including a black sand beach on the Pacific Coast, a volcano with lava flow you can walk near, and the Garifuna culture (black indigenous) on the other side of the country that has a castle, some water falls and the beach on the Atlantic Coast. And then I come home. May 7th.

I can’t wait to see you all! Don’t be surprised it I greet you with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. That is the Guatemalan/Latin America custom.
¡Hasta pronto!

March Madness

Not your normal wimpy Palm Sunday palms.

Looking across to Santa Maria

Siete Cruzes Trek

Guerrillas (grafiti)

Aguas Azules, Mexico

Flying By...All about March.

Ahhh SHOOT DANG! I have been majorly slacking on the blog. I don’t know if that is worse for you all as “interested” followers or for me to have to try to remember what I have done over the past FOUR weeks! Yikes! Well I am going to shoot for brevity but you know how that went last time…

Let’s see here…ah yes. On Thursday, March 6th our group left to head north to the border. We needed to renew our visas’ for another 90 days so we decided that an extended weekend trip into Mexico would do the trick well. We went to San Cristobol de Las Casas which is located in Chiapas, Mexico. It is a few hours north of the Guatemala border. We stayed at a gorgeous “high class,” by all of our standards, hotel and our amazing director Villma negotiated the breakfast to be included in our stay. Each morning we were greeted by a breakfast BUFFET!! I guarantee that they were surprised how much we all could put down. We ate and ate and ate. More or less for three specific reasons. One, we missed the feeling of being full, especially on good food. Yeah, our host families feed us but it is nothing get excited about. Two, if we ate enough (which we consistently did each day) we didn’t get hungry for lunch, or really any food for the whole day until it came time for a late supper, thus saving us some pesos. Lastly, it was a BUFFET, I am pretty sure that doesn’t exist anywhere in Guatemala, yum! Highlights from Mexico…*VW Bettle (hundreds of old school bugs, the most intense rapid fire game of Slug Bug I have played in my life lasting for almost two hours until we arrived at our destination) *A women’s right protest/march *Thai food *Mexican Food *Oceans 11 (everyone piled in the room Steph and I stayed in to watch the movie together) *Beautiful, Quaint, Clean, Latino Tourist Town *and returning home telling ghost stories in the dark with thick fog blanketing the night as we told ghost stories from friends and about Xela as our van nearly slide off the side of a cliff!

Field Trip. Wednesday, March 12th. Takalik Abaj Mayan Ruins and Santa Anita Finca (coffee plantation). This field trip was not nearly what I had imagined. The ruins appeared to be strategically placed piles of rocks and everyone once in a while if you looked really closely with the help of the tour guide you might see an arm carved in a rock that once represented something important. The coffee plantation wasn’t a whole lot better as I left without a clue what a coffee plant looks like or how one would go about harvesting the coffee bean. But on the bright side there was a small waterfall there that turned out to be very refreshing. Santa Anita is also the finca that my professor buys his coffee beans from for his café, so that is kinda cool.

Spring Break! Friday, March 14th Steph and I left Xela at 4:00am to go meet Ted in Guatemala city at the airport. We got there with time to kill and our extremely social able Taxi driver Carlos pointed us in the direction of an Art Museum and an Artesian Market which successfully filled our time and proved very interesting and enjoyable. We gathered our friend and began our journey once again heading out of Guate City. After hitching a ride in the back of a pick-up (perfectly normal), hoping on a chicken bus and arriving at the wrong San Lucas, and then chasing down another bus towards Lago Atitlán we ended up in Panahachel too late to try to catch a launch to San Lucas de la Laguna. We were hoping to catch up with one of Steph’s high school friend who was at a mission there and would be leaving early the following morning. We did make the most of our time in Panahachel and finally caught one of the only direct buses we have ever taken back in Xela.

Highlights of spring break…*El Baul *La Muella *Siete Cruzes (Trek to Fuentes Georginas) This was a very intense FULL day hike. It was pretty gorgeous though as we went through four different ecosystems including, alpine forest, grasslands, cloud forest, and a bamboo forest. Tough work, but soaking in the hot springs at the end was very helpful and the following day weren’t sore just a bit tired. *Home Cooking (Ted’s hostel had a kitchen so we made full use of it and daily bought our fresh ingredients and spices at the local markets. The menu included pancakes and egg burritos for breakfast. Fajitas complemented by homemade corn tortillas, guacamole, and salsa [yes, our very own family “recipe”]. Fettuccini pasta and toast. And stuffed chili peppers. And yes, it all tasted great.) *Finding new good restaurants and cafés, revisiting known favorites, and hitting up the key street stands for our fill of hot dogs, cotton candy, and churros like you have never known before. *PDA watch in parquet central *Lots of long/good Church Services and *Holy Week Processions throughout the week parading through town and passing by colorfully designed saw dust carpets created in the streets.

Wed. 26th, Thurs. 27th and beyond. School! Wednesday I had a presentation on Free Trade with Chanti in our Human Rights class. Thursday I had my fourth round of testing for my Spanish classes. And from here on out intensive preparations for the end of the semester including a 20 page thesis paper, four papers of varying lengths and topics, two oral presentations, one long book, and continued intensive Spanish in an attempt to perfect grammar and greatly increase fluidity of the language. So that leaves me stuck in the books and typing away for the rest of this weekend and likely any time not already spent in class. Breaking up the time will be a trip to Tikal the legit and apparently pretty amazing Mayan Pyramides and Ruins. And a week excursion to El Salvador during which I actually had no idea what we will be doing. Then the end will be upon us before we know it.

Hey this isn’t half bad. It is only a page and a half long. Hopefully I didn’t forget too many major events. Once again and as always I hope this finds you all happy, healthy, and enjoying life.

P.S. You will have to excuse the poor English. As my Spanish improves every so gradually my English has taken a rapid decline.

Fotos de Adventuras

(One black and white by special request.)

The ocean and black sand beach, Champerico.

Morning light on Sexta Calle.

Some of the goods you can find in Minerva Market.

Walking back from a great day of climbing!

Decending Volcano Santa Maria, still above the clouds. (8:00am)

Eight Weeks! Two Months! Half-way!

Whoa oh we’re half-way there!! Well unfortunately by not blogging for two weeks one runs the risk of not remembering what happened in all that time. Luckily I remember the highlights. The rest will just have to be stored in the back of the memory for interesting additions to enjoyable random discussions later in life. That will however make the blog slightly less boring and to the point. So here it goes…

Starting Wednesday, Feb. 20th I went to Steph’s house after dinner and waited for the time to pass until the adventure began. At 11:00pm we left for QuetzalTrekker’s. We were on the waiting list to climb up Santa Maria (volcano) under the light of the full moon. Well we just barely made it in as the other half of our companions ended up on the short end of the list. We enjoyed a bowl of soup and bread while everyone listened to instructions for the climb. At 12:00 midnight we piled into the back of a pickup to reach out starting point at the base of the volcano. It was a really foggy night and we only caught glimpses of our beloved full moon that gave us our light for the climb. Luckily the moon was strong enough to shine through the clouds and help our eyes and feet make the ascent. It was probably some of the most rigorous hiking I have done. It is said to be a much more difficult climb than Tajamulco (the tallest point/volcano in Central America). We reached the top at around 5:30am. It was very cold up top and we all paired up and cuddled under sleeping bags to retain warmth. The fog/clouds remained and I was doubtful the trip had been worth it as we were hoping to watch Santa Auguito’s eruptions under the dark sky. Santa Auguito is the small volcano next to Santa Maria that continues to have small eruptions every half hour. In additional we were looking forward to a beautiful sunrise. Unfortunately we missed both. But before we began to pack up to head back down the air cleared about a blanket of clouds and we watched the sun peak up above the cloud line and the moon set on the opposite side. Worth the trip after all!

Thursday we returned from Santa Maria at 11am I returned to my house in time for lunch and a shower before my afternoon classes. Clearly exhausted from complete lack of sleep I barely made it through the day but my maestra Ingrid (amazing lady...great teacher) helped me through.

Friday, Steph and I rose early despite our bodies’ dismay to head to Panahachel for the day on Lake Atitlan. Transportation in both directions proved to be an adventure in and of itself. Despite the existence of direct buses to and from Pana from Xela we managed to maneuver between 8 different buses and microbuses to reach our desired destinations. The Guatemalans are amazingly helpful and took good care of us although we probably would have figured out when we need to jump off the bus and onto another; they were more than helpful making sure we were prepared to go. We spent a little time kayaking on Lago Atitlán and the rest doing some shopping. Our bartering skills were well tested, the vendors were tough but we fought back vigorously however the most success we could manage was a 20%-40% off, not too bad overall.

Saturday we took a much needed day off. We had thought about volunteering picking up trash leading up to Fuentes Georginas but our bodies though better of that. We ended up doing a little shopping in the local open air market Minerva for ingredients to make up our trail mixes. To top them off however we need something else so we went into the nearby HiperPaís. It is owned by Wal-Mart and we were in for a huge culture shock as we entered coming from a busy, smelly, crowed outdoor market where we felt completely at home to a Wal-Mart/mall likeness was horrible! I seriously experienced some of the strongest culture shock since I have arrived here. Oddly enough it was the reverse of what it ought to be. I felt so uncomfortable in the mall I just wanted to turn right around and run out but my trail mix called me on so I purchased my Oh’s (cereal), dried salted platanos (won’t do that again), mallows and chocolate m&m like substance. I was extremely disappointed by the lack anything remotely similar to pretzels but made do with my Wal-Mart supplements and raisins and peanuts from the market. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and doing homework in El Cuartito (my prof’s vegetarian café).

Sunday was wonderful! I spent the day once again with QuetzalTrekkers. Steph, Katy and I joined in with six others for their climbing expedition. There is quite a bit of sport climbing in the area and QT provides all the equipments and sets up the routes for and easier top rope condition. They set up routes according to the group/individuals ability. A local man Miguel or Victor (depending on if he is with his son or not) has bolted all routes and up-kept them with the help of QT funding. I did my first climb on a mix crack/face climb it wasn’t easy by any means but it was fun and I was able to reach the top. On descent Victor commented me on the climb and told me it was just short of a 5.12. I have decided that he scale is two or three points higher than it may actually be considering back home I was just getting into the 5.9 level. I did another great crack climb before the final assent. My last climb was 27 meters long roughly translating to a 86 foot ascent! Long! It also was the hardest climb of the day, but way cool. I think my climbing must have improved since coming down here somehow because there is no way I would have ever made that climb previously on pure difficulty alone not taking length into account.

The week passed by with plenty of class and volunteering as is normal. Thursday I had my third round of testing for my Spanish Language classes. I have been improving but it is highly suggested that I study and practice more. Human Rights is continually interesting as we travel around to various coffee shops to hold our classes and Jason and Amanda began our series of presentations with a great start in Mediation and Conflict Resolution. Volunteering, I began the week very enthusiastic as Cesar (my supervisor) asked me to work on creating a new and improved website for them in both English and Spanish. I was thrilled to give it a shot because I love designing stuff like that and trying to make it look real professional, it is easy to see if you visited their website at all that they could use the help. However by Thursday nearing the end of my volunteering time I had to confront Cesar with my failure and incompetence. I was severely disappointed in myself but I was completely incapable of figuring out how to use the DreamWorks program they gave me to create the website with, besides being a program I had never used before it was completely in Spanish making matters slightly more complicated. I entered Friday with a plan to continue to build up my volunteer hours by working on a few things Cesar had given me to translate passing the time at school and in a café. It was nice to get out of the little office I normally work in into a calming atmosphere. I ended the day Friday in a fit of enthusiasm as I discovered the abilities that Microsoft Publisher offered for creating a web page. I am super excited to show Cesar my creation for his front page and pending approval I can’t wait to continue the work!

Yesterday, Saturday, eight of us (including a few maestros) went to the playa in Champerico again. We jumped around in the waves and played some Frisbee on the beach. (Yes ultimate teammates, I brought along a Frisbee and practiced my skills beachside in Guatemala. J) We left the beach at 2:30 with intentions of getting back for the Spanish Vagina Monologues performance. However we underestimated our three-hour return bus ride and opted for dinner and a movie at Steph’s place instead. No worries however, because there is another performance of the Vagina Monologues tomorrow night in El Cuartito so I have to look forward to.

Today I woke up early to play basketball with my brother Ronal. We played three rounds of 21 (he won 2 games to 1 but I was close!) and then we played CERDO(pig) (I won!) and around the world (close again, but I lost). I was really fun but I was once again really tired. We got a licuado (blended drink, I had banana and pineapple) and then headed home. I worked on homework and chatted online for the rest of the day in El Cuartito. It was really weird though because some random people were there doing a photo shot. I just don’t understand modeling! I mean how can holding a plate with a brownie and a marshmallow on top look sexy and all the while holding a ridiculously “serious” look. Just funny I guess. I capped off the evening with a great vegetarian burrito in Blue Angel (believe it or not it is the first burrito I have had since being here, there aren’t real popular.)

This next weekend our group will be heading into Chiappas, Mexico in order to renew our visas. And then the following weekend is spring break already. Time is flying by. Nearly all of our weekends are booked from here on out so it is going to pass quickly.

I hope health and pleasure finds you all well and safe. Miss you all. Love to hear from you!
Genna

Four for the price of one...

La Muela

Super Chivos Fans

The Protest

Lago Atitlan

SIX weeks!

I am sure you are all dying to find out about the weekend in Panahachel and Chichicastenango. We actually probably not at all dying to know, but interested none the less. Well, we didn’t end up getting into Pana until around noon on Saturday and by that time the wind had picked up on the lake and it was fairly chilly so unfortunately we did not get a chance to go kayaking. (Nor did we go horse back riding, which takes more specific planning.) Instead Amanda, Steph, and I spent the day exploring Pana. It is a fairly touristy town with a few blocks of vendors lining both sides of the street. It was really nice to just walk around and relax for the day. We ate lunch at a cute little vegetarian café and we delighted by our fresh vegetable laden meals. We spent the remainder of the day relaxing reading our books poolside (Villma, our director, booked a very nice hotel for us to stay in tucked back from the main street.) We found the nearest church and a handful of us went to church and then caught dinner on our way back towards the hotel.

Chichicastenango, famous for its market every Thursday and Sunday that draws in Guatemalans and tourists alike from the surrounding cities and towns, was actually much of the same. While some took it as an opportunity to do their gift shopping I just wandered more or less aimlessly through the extensive maze of vendors selling everything from rocks to hammocks to live animals. I brushed up on my bartering skills and did some candid price comparisons for certain items of interest but ended up leaving without anything to show from the visit. Yet, I still consider the trip a success.

Sunday night as I settled into bed to prep for the new week of activities it started to rain, a rare occurrence for this time of year in Guatemala. However, it didn’t just rain, it poured. I watched my ceiling with great surprise, no leaks. It had rained once before in Xela and it took some creative placement of a bucket and towels to keep my room out of danger of saturation. My surprise soon came to an end as I noticed drops falling on the corner of my bed. Aw man! So about a half hour later my room is covered in six or seven large buckets and a handful of towels. I shoved my bed against a safe wall and fell asleep listening to the splashes the rain made as it fell into the buckets (or not in some cases) scattered about the room.

I am very excited about the new change of pace down here, despite the fact that each day I devote a whole lot more time to class, in and out. I love my Human Rights (in the Guatemala context) class. We are reading the book Guatemala Nunca Más which my professor helped in the process of making it. The book has a Spanish and English version but since I was lazy and didn’t buy the book before coming down here I am struggling through the Spanish version. The class is taught in a random mixture of Spanish and English while the homework is in English. We have heard some very graphic stories from the war but it is nice to know the truth about the conflict. The book is part of the REHMI project which collected millions of testimonies, photos, videos, and other research to produce this book detailing the before, during, and after of the Guerilla war movement in Guatemala which lasted for 36 years, ending with a peace agreement in 1996. Many effects of that period of time can still be seen. I really like the class and our professor is a really cool guy. We meet two times a week for two hours each.

My other additional class is Senior Seminar. It seems more or less that we will be discussion based about different culture observations and Guatemala current events. This class meets once a week for two hours. The other major aspect of this class however is that we are required to volunteer for a minimum of 40 hours while we are down here. I already mentioned the organization I am volunteering with in the last blog, Gente Joven Guatemala, but as I already have two days of volunteering under my belt you may find it interesting to find out what I did. The first day, Tuesday, I received an email just in time asking me to come in an hour earlier than we had planned on. No problem. Tuesday was the big protest against the construction taking place in the green “wooded” (there are scattered trees) area of the local zoo. It was actually a really cool experience. Several classes from various schools came out with kids/teens of all ages all baring creative signs to show their support of keep the little green that exists rather than filling the space with cement for “locales” or in essence more merchant shops and housing. It was a pretty huge rally. We all meet up in one area of town and then marched to the municipality building. There was thousands of us, men, women, children, indigenous, and ladino all showing their unwavering supporting. When we got to central park a vehicle with speakers on top that had lead the march was the center of attention a participants took turns giving mini speeches trying to appeal to the “alcalde” or government official who was putting the construction in action. Anyway it was a really cool experience and I met some neat people and had great conversations during the long march.

The afternoons are filled with more one on one tutoring classes. I am to fit in fifteen hours a week between Monday and Thursday afternoon which is trickier than it may seem but so far has worked out. I really like my new maestra, she is super sweet and has a strong focus on achieving goals that mirror my own. I am excited each day for our classes. One class she even taught me how to carry a baby on my back in the traditional way that it is done everywhere down here, especially by the indigenous women.

On Tuesday night we had another family birthday celebration. It was similar to the others, only this time it was a little lower key and was at my brother’s place. For the most part at night though I just rush to get through my homework and go to bed because I just get exhausted from the day.

On Wednesday night (Valentines Day) Steph and I attended a special benefit dinner for Quetzal Trekkers. I had great food and included a free beverage, punch. Well the punch had a kick but it was mellow enough that it tasted fine so life moved on. It was a nice way to celebreat the day. They have everything decorated nicely. It was kind of funny though because following the dinner there was a party and it was 70’s themed so all the QuetzalTrekkers were dressed in odd 70’s clothes. It made a fun mix for the formal/in an outdoorsy person sense evening.

Friday I spent the day studying and then at night went to the fair/carnival in central park. Each Friday during the Quaresma (40 days of lent) there is a fair/carnival that travels around to different churches. They have a few carnival games and small rides (although at the first one there was a giant high speed ferris wheel). They have a some random vendors of jewelry and clothing. But the main event is the food stands. There are homemade sweets of all sorts that you could possibly imagine and tons of random churro stands. No, they are nothing like the churros at Taco Bell, they are far better. The variety is quite appealing as well; my favorites are the chocolate covered or the honey/carmelish filled churros.

Saturday and Sunday was fairly low key. Both days started with a hike up the nearby mountains. We bouldered once again on Saturday morning on top of El Baul and were pleasantly surprised to continue to think up some new creative routes. Saturday night we went to the Super Chivos game. They are the professional soccer team here. Apparently they have the strongest fan bass in Guatemala so it was cool to see how into it the fans got. (I still consider it fairly low scale to some things, but then again I was sitting in a fairly calm section.)For those of you interested we won 2-0, which I thought to be a bit of a miracle, the other team seemed to be controlling the ball game but just never put it in between the posts. Sunday morning we scaled La Muella for the first time. It is a steep hike and a whole lot higher up than El Baul but the view is pretty incredible. We had a whole lot of fun taking pictures of each other on top. Chanti’s dad had brought us up to the starting point and then he, his two sons, Chanti, Jeff, Steph, and I made the ascent. The afternoon of both days surrounded around studying and catching up on other work.

So here’s to another week in Guatemala, the land of eternal spring.

Take three...

Piles of recycled, color-sorted glass.

Steph contemplating a good bouldering route.

Chanti taking tips from the master.

Four...Five...(kinda half-way?)

Hi all, Sorry I haven’t written for a while but I don’t have anything too exciting to share. We have gone on a few different field trips since I last wrote. Monday we visited the nearby department (similar to a state or territory) of Totonicápan. We visited the towns of San Andres Xecul and San Cristoból. The highlight/purpose of the trip was to see the churches there. Not real exciting it turns out. Shoot. Never-the-less it was interesting to pick up on a few different culture things while we traveled. For instance in San Andres we walked near a community wash area where a few of the local women were washing clothing.

Wednesday we were supposed to visit a glass blowing factory but do to problems with their oven we had to change our plans and we ended up going to the cemetery instead. I was fairly crushed but because the operations of the cemetery are so different here it was a good educational experience. Interestingly enough it is really expensive to try to get six feet under here. The exterior of a the cemetery looks like a really decorative big version of post office boxes. The coffins slide into these slots and then they get a plaque on the front. But if the family or friends don’t continue to pay the monthly fee the coffin is removed and the bones put in the crypt and someone else “rents” the space. Erie! We learned about the architecture of various tombs and such as part of the experience.

Friday, during class my maestra and I went to the local art museum to conduct and interview with the director as part of my research for my next big exam. He was a vibrant fellow who was really excited that we had an interest in his work. Don’t think of museums like back home. It has just been relocated to the old train station and only one room has any art in it. But it was cool to just talk to him about art and his plans for creating the museum. (Basically a one man operation.)

The weekend was fairly low-key. Steph and I climbed up El Baul again to do some more bouldering at the top. It is really fun and relaxing. This time we brought our cameras and got a video of the only fall either of us has taken. DON’T WORRY it wasn’t a bad fall, they don’t exist, safety is always number one, but how cool that we got a video of it! Steph and I took turns making up ridiculous starts and then played add on from their marking our routes with colored sidewalk chalk. Sunday was a day for family. Steph, Amanda, and I went to church at the most beautiful church we have visited yet! They even had a youth choir and the sermon was easy to follow because it was directed at the kids preparing for first communion. I returned to my family to go to a birthday party for host moms husband (he doesn’t live with us so it would be weird to consider him the dad) at my sister’s house. It was an interesting experience. I meet a few more random cousins. The food was good but then lead to the only time I have been sick on this trip…bummer. Mainly I just felt really out-of-place but in general my brother and his girlfriend tried to entertain me or keep me in the loop.

This week started out kind of ugly. I didn’t feel well Monday but then ended up leaving class early on Tuesday to spend the rest of the day in bed trying not to move too much to cause an attack on the bathroom to regurgitate breakfast. Steph came by to visit me and brought me fresh orange juice! What a pal! I finally purged my stomach of all irritants that night and felt incredibly better the following day. Good timing, because Wednesday afternoon we had a trip to a Pottery studio that I didn’t want to miss! First we went to a Culture House and learned about some masks and traditional dances… cool... yeah… moving on. Then we went to the alfalería (place where they make pottery). It was a third generation operation. The have manual propelled wheel and of course hand paint the results. A few of us gave it a try with very little success. Lynsi you would not have been proud. I tried! We rushed back to catch the last half-hour of the ash-Wednesday service.

Thursday we had another field trip. This time we really did get to go to the glass blowing factory. Guess what! All of the glass they use is recycled glass. They get it from the local bottling companies like Coke and Pepsi. Unfortunately that is the only recycling I have seen or heard of here. They get green glass from sprite and 7-up bottles, clear from just about everything else, and an amber color from the beer bottles. The other colors they have to use chemicals to create. It was pretty sweet to see them all at work. We were pretty close to the workers and saw exactly how the created the pieces. Each of us then got a chance to blow glass. None of them turned out to anything special but what an experience!

Today was our exam day. My theme: art! Cool huh? I thought so! Anyway we wrote a paper, read aloud, had conversations, and then got graded on our performance: pronunciation, grammar, fluidity, etc. And that marked the end of our five weeks of intensive Spanish. Four credits down, twelve to go. Not to say that it is actually over however, now just the schedule changes a bit and we have other classes in addition to our tutoring classes, now moved to the afternoon. So starting Monday I will have a mix of classes at the university (Human Rights and Senior Seminar) and volunteering. In the afternoon I will be taking more tutoring classes for my other four Spanish credits. Fifteen hours a week. Cool thing is I don’t have anything on Friday’s, yippee.

I will be volunteering with an organization called Associación Gente Joven. In essence it is their mission to help young people live/create sustainable lives. This includes everything from education, environment, sports, health, culture, human rights, gender…you get the idea. Sweet! I will likely be helping them with those projects as well when they come up. The program doesn’t exactly have funding so the programs are intermittent and deal with whatever issues come up. The idea is to get the young people (15-30) involved and interested in what goes on around them and in their lives to have and express their opinions. From what I understand the upcoming event is a demonstration of sorts at the zoo to protect the environment. They have a website if you care to explore your Spanish further. http://www.proyectogt.org/gentejoven/ Needless to say I am excited to get involved.

This weekend we are “celebrating” the end of the first 5 intensive Spanish weeks by taking a weekend group trip to Panahachel and Chichicastenango. Panhachel is right on Lake Atitlan, the biggest lake in Guatemala, which is apparently beautiful. Some people have already visited it several times because they like it so much. I am excited to check it out. Hopefully I will either go kayaking on the lake or do a horseback ride around the area. Chichicastenango has one of the best known markets in Guatemala so that should be pretty sweet as well. More on that to come in the next blog.

Until next time. Keep the correspondence coming. Miss you all!

(I really don’t know how they get this long. I always think it will be a short blog when I start. Oh well. Peace Out!)

Pictures of things...

The exterior of my home.

This is cotton drying in the sun. It will be used to weave the typical fabric of the area.

This a monkey from the zoo we went to briefly on Friday.

Three...

Yes, it turns out there is a plateau after all, but plateaus are not such a bad thing. This past week has not been nearly as eventful as the previous two but still there are plenty of stories to share. Monday after the lunch hour we had another “cooking class.” More less it was a history of chocolate since the discovery of the coco bean to today. We heated the chocolate down through a double boil process and then poured the chocolate into molds to cool in the freezer after mixing in just a bit of mint or almond extract. It turns out this doesn’t take a whole lot of skill or technique. I think we all had more fun just eating the chocolate. I would guess that half of our prepared chocolate never made it into the molds but went directly from finger our spoon to our stomachs.

Wednesday we had a group trip to Hogar Temporal Quetzaltenango, the orphanage here in Xela. They gave us a guided tour and told us all about the operations of the orphanage. We didn’t really get an opportunity to interact with any of the kids but the purpose of the visit more or less was to help us to get to know and understand the workings of the orphanage and for some students it was a chance to be exposed to the organization they want to volunteer with.

The whole week moved along at a leisurely pace. Steph and I walked around town quite a bit just chatting and running random errands. We visited for quite a while with Justin from Quetzaltrekkers. An organization we will be getting more involved with for personal excursions. A brief description of Quetzal Trekkers:
For over 12 years, Quetzaltrekkers has been a volunteer run organization offering exciting and challenging excursions through the spectacular highlands of Guatemala. Quetzaltrekkers was created as the fundraising branch of Escuela de la Calle (EDELAC) a Xela based organization that provides important education, social, and medical programs for Xela’s children in need. One hundred percent of the profits gained by Quetzaltrekkers goes to this “Street School.”
You will be hearing much more about the adventures they offer as they float into the picture.

We bought ingredients for Steph to make chocolate chip cookies. It was an interesting endeavor because once we arrived at País (the smaller mall with a grocery store, the larger is called Hiper País) we had to try to find all the necessary ingredients. First of all everything is in Spanish, given. But then it is important to realize that they don’t really do any baking down here and if flour is used it is nearly always a corn flour. Chocolate chips are non-existent other than an extremely expensive import of Hersey’s, and there is basically no way to tell if you are buying baking power, baking soda, or if the little white pouch has anything to do with baking. It turns out that white sugar and brown sugar are just as hard to distinguish because neither variety really exists. The closest we could get to either was some sort of mixture of them both. The results have yet to be determined. I believe the test will go into effect later this week.

I was finally able to track down my package of Malaria meds four days later than expected as the half English half Spanish conversations never seemed to lead to the wild goose chase that I needed to endure to receive the box. (Don’t worry I don’t have Malaria…just a precautionary measure I neglected to think of before leaving the states.)

Nearly the whole week in class we focused on preparing for our first exam which consisted of a collage, a composition, and a presentation relating to either education or family in Guatemala. I choose to research and present on education, but more specifically the difference between public and private schools. I interviewed a few different people (the director/principal of a public school and the higher-up in the Department of Educational Development) and compiled lots of information. I learned a lot and gave a decent performance on my exam.

The weekend offered a peaceful retreat. Four of us (Steph, Maria, Katy, and I) went to the beach in Champerico on Saturday. It was a three hour journey to the west, moving from one form of transportation to another, but it was very much worth the effort. We were able to enjoy the hot sun (Xela was supposed to be cold all day), black sand beach, big crashing waves, and a day away from the big-city buzz. Maybe one of the best things about the day was that all of this was accomplished for under $10 a person for a day at the beach. Sunday was just as pleasant if not more. Steph and I climbed up El Baúl for the second time. Before we went however we bought ourselves some colored chalk and brought along our climbing shoes. At the top we spent the morning and early afternoon bouldering on a expansive retaining wall. I am thinking that it probably offers similar climbing to the wall at SJU if not more variety. There is definitely varying surfaces and rock placement that makes bouldering great. Plus it happens to be a perfect height to top out at and not worry about needing ropes or struggling with a down climb. We used to our colored chalk to create a few different routes and each time we plan and making up something new. We climbed and relaxed in the sun with a view of the entire city and surrounding mountains. It was like a dream. Steph’s mom had packed her three big sandwiches so we shared them for a picnic lunch along with the sugar water (aka orange juice) and cookies (crackers with sugar) that my mother had packed me. It was wonderful and we can’t wait to go back. It will likely become a Saturday or Sunday routine. We came down and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon at a café before we got ready at our houses for church at the cathedral near central park. All in all, it was a top notch weekend.

Because pictures can be worth 1,000 words.

Me and Marcos. My giant 4 year old nephew.

Our friend up on El Baul. She helped us with the piñata.

Turns out it was her birthday as well.

Weaver's spinning wheel in Salcaja.

Week Two

I am starting to wonder if I am going to hit a plateau at some point soon because everyday seems to be even better than the last. Excuse my extensive details. It has to get boring at some point, and then the blog will become a bit vaguer.

The week in recap: Not including the obvious point of having class everyday from 8am-1pm.

Monday: I participated in a cooking class. We learned how to make empanadas and tortillas. I am not sure that I could recreate it with any accuracy but I might get close. It was a neat experience. However I am thinking some more experienced cooks could have created a better dish. Our inexperience showed as we consumed the results. Not quite right yet, we will have to try again sometime. Hopefully with a little more success.

Tuesday: During class today we took a field trip to a near by school. It had students ranging in age from about 5 to probably around 12. It was their first day of school and they had a lot of energy. Our group along with our Maestros (our teachers for tutoring) taught the students some songs in both English in Spanish. They seemed to enjoy our demonstration of “I’m a little teapot” and “If You’re Happy and You Know It.” They were all smiles and quick learners. We also played a few rounds of” Duck, Duck, Grey Duck” with them in smaller groups. By then end, only an hour later, they were clinging to our sides and were sad to see us leave. I think some of our group will be going back to volunteer teaching English in some of their classrooms. That afternoon I had a few more hours of makeup class for missing last Friday for our field trip. But followed it up with some fun playing fútbol in a “field” (more of a cage really) just a short truck ride away with a few others. It was good to get a little exercise.

Wednesday: Turns out Wednesday was my Birthday. I was surprised during class with a large piece of cake and a great traditional birthday song sung by the rest of the students and maestros. I received a few small gifts during the day. It was really nice. We had an excursion planned for that afternoon to Salcaja. We saw the oldest church in Central America. (You can see it in the reflection of the picture of the bus below.) We also went into a house to learn about the weaving which is really prevalent in the area. The caldo de frutas is also typical of the area. It is an alcoholic beverage made by a fermentation process with fruit. However speculation as to the strength of it after a claim of only 5-7 hours of fermentation leads us to believe that they add liquor to the mixture. The youth of the group found it a little strong but the adults enjoyed it and bought a few bottles. I capped my birthday night relaxing with friends at a nice café downtown, Bavería. We had hot drinks and shared a piece of cake. The café has the fastest internet I have seen and has free wireless for there costumers. We got kicked out when they were trying to shut down at about 9:30. And then I retired early with satisfaction from an enjoyable birthday.

Thursday: I spent most of the afternoon in the café again using the internet to set up this blog and catching up on emails. In the evening I just worked on a paper for class.

Friday: Friday was the big fiesta for my family. We had three birthdays to celebrate: Mine, Amanda (student from Colorado), and Monica (host sister). The whole family showed up. We laughed a lot and had great food including more cake (the fourth time I have had it this week.) I didn’t end up saying final goodbyes until 11pm. It was a neat experience to be celebrating my birthday with an adopted family.

Saturday: Today Oscar (a Guatemalan we meet on our trip to Semuc Champey) lead a group of us to El Baul. It is a hike up a large hill/small mountain to a park. Oscar is probably one of the coolest guys we could have met. He really takes care of all of us. Today he surprised us with a picnic lunch. We grilled out, played games, and took turns blindly swinging at a piñata that some of his family friends had brought with the rest of the food. Highlights from the park include Steph and I finding a retaining wall that we think will make a perfect bouldering spot. The first ascent was exciting as it was the first we have climbed in a long time and we are direly missing it. We played some soccer on the top of the hill and then took turns racing down some giant cement slides. The trick we learned after nearly killing a few people the first run is to station some people at the bottom to catch/brace the fall at the end so the momentum and speed doesn’t carry then off over the edge of the barrier at the bottom. The rest of the afternoon I spent relaxing reading a book in our courtyard. It isn’t a great location but I was able to catch the last rays of the sun and finish of my book “A Walk in the Woods.”

Sunday: Today is a day for relaxation. I started a new book this morning and the rest of the day I plan on just spending some time in a café.

Favorite Pictures

A reflection of the oldest church in Central America.

Semuc Champey

Biker Babes

The Beginning of the Adventures

Hola todos,
Hey all. I am here. Safe and sound. Welcome to the second semester.

I started my classes a week ago already. I have one on one Spanish tutoring for five hours each day. Eight am to one pm. It is rigorous but fun. I can tell my Spanish is picking up already. We have five weeks of this and then we diversify more into other stuff like my human rights course, senior seminar, and another Spanish class with more tutoring. I have a lot to learn.

I am living with a host family and so far so good. In the house it is my host mom, Esmeralda, her son of about 23, Ronald, and another student that attends a different Spanish school here in Xela, Amanda (from Colorado), and then of course me. The rest of her family stops in often including her other son married with child, her daughter also married with two children, and her husband who lives with his sick father. People always seem to be coming in and out. I live a far distance from my school so it is about at 15 minute walk each day to school, back again for lunch after class, and then back again for some afternoon activities (more on this later.)

Good news! I haven’t got sick yet! (knock on wood) The food is of course different but generally pretty good. The strangest yet best food I have come across yet is corn flakes in a hot mush/milk. Tastes good believe it or not. We get in plenty of beans and bread each day. It is interesting that despite Guatemala having some of the best coffee in the World (arguably) most of the time families just have instant coffee in their houses. I actually haven’t tried the coffee yet but I assume I will be getting to that soon. I do drink plenty of tea though! Breakfast, during class, and at dinner. I think it is helping to keep me healthy. I am excited to do some more exploring around the city to find some good restaurants and cafes.

It seemed that we really jumped into Guatemala head first. After starting classes the first day we were briefed on the activites of the week for the school we attend which included visiting a hot spring that afternoon on Monday. There were two choices of travel to the site: on bike or in the back of a pick-up truck. Myself and three other women choose to bike. It was mostly downhill for our hour and a half journey but the last bit was all up hill. It took a lot of effort but we survived. On the way back we opted for the slightly sketchy public transportation, the chicken bus. The chicken bus is an old school bus that is used everywhere. The typically are uber packed with three people to a seat and a six inch isle between the seats. It smells and is a rough ride but and interesting experience all in all. I didn’t actually end up going in the hot springs because I was so wore out for the bike ride but it seems I didn’t miss too much from what the others described. Although it was worth the adventure.

On Tuesday the CSB/SJU group took a tour of Xela in a trolley like bus. A women described the history of the city as we went and every once in a while we would also receive an English translation for the really important stuff. Near the end of our tour we stopped at a shop that is more or less a chocolate factory. We were briefed on its history and the process of going from a tree with the cocoa bean to the more refined chocolate that we eat. Then they brought us large bowls of cold fruit covered in chocolate! Wow was that good. (I think it may have been the first time I smiled since arriving.) After that, as if it wasn’t enough chocolate, we had hot cocoa as well. It was a great treat! I can assure you I will be visiting that shop again soon.

On Wednesday after a check-in with Villma, our director, we painted with some of the kids from a nearby orphanage. There were lots of smiles and giggles to be had by all as everyone worked hard on the paintings and creatively bridged the language gap. I had to leave a little early to get in some more tutoring to make up for lost time that would come from missing an hour of class on Thursday and all of Friday due to an extensive weekend excursion. Nothing like a day with seven hours of Spanish tutoring!

Thursday-Sunday: This weekend most of our crew (that wasn’t sick) and a few other students from the school or that signed up with the travel agency went to Semuc Champey and the Kán Ba caves. It was a 10+ hour bus ride on horrible and winding roads. A few people got sick to the point of vomiting. Not a real pretty site. But as with many other things from this trip it was “Vale la Pena” as they say here in Guatemala (worth the pain). We finally arrive at our destination on Friday after staying in a nice hotel in a different town Thursday night. Our travel guides describe the experience as such: ‘Arguably one of the most beautiful places in Guatemala Semuc Champey is a must see for Guatemalans and tourists alike. The Kán Ba caves take you into the center of the earth as you make your way through the water filled caverns by candle light. This experience is full of wonder and adventure.’ We had many “surprises” along our journey each day. One of the first included an extremely difficult climb up to the top of a mountain to the mirardor (lookout). Some of the sick kids still recovering from the bus ride didn’t make it to the top (or just barely). The view was pretty amazing though. Other surprises including jumping into water from varying heights and in varying situations. For example. A rope swing into the river. I was able to perfect my release from the bar into an elegant dive. I would estimate the height at about 15 feet up. The second jump was from a bridge probably around 45 feet up. (I decided this one was not for me despite the others surviving perfectly well with only a few traces of evidence from the hard impact into the water.) The third jump was also from a swing. However this jump was from a seated rather than hanging position. It was also much higher than the first at about 25 feet and the timing had to be perfect for the descent otherwise you would crash into some very large boulders only a meter under the water. (I again decided this one wasn’t for me although the others survived only slightly shaken from the adrenaline rush.) The fourth jump was inside of the cave. From about 10 feet up into the dark water on a slippery ledge. I did partake in this as did most of the rest of the group if not everyone. Other surprises included climbing up a waterfall with a rope in the cave. Sitting in pitch black for about 10 minutes (the whole while unfortunately I was imagining things biting at my ankles rather than enjoying the stillness around me.) I am sure you would have thoroughly enjoyed this Sue. Sliding down a small hole in the cave into a hidden pool of water. And tubing back down to our hotel on the river going over some small rapids. All in all a real good time to be had. The sore calves from traversing the mountain and skinned knees from contacting rocks hidden beneath the water when swimming and trying to keep the candle light above the water were once again “Vale la Pena.”

That is the beginning of my adventures. Today it is back to class. Excuse my poor use of English and creating a blog far from the literary genius of my friend Jolene but hopefully it will provide a good glimpse into my life down here. Keep healthy.

Always,
Genna