Sunday, May 30, 2010

Guatemala



A seemingly easy trip to Guatemala turns out to make headlines! First we traveled right outside of Antigua to hike a volcano called Pacaya. It was a difficult hike, for me at least, but well worth it. We rounded a bend and there it was, a huge black mountain dripping with firey red lava. I had never seen anything like it. Apparently the group that had come through in the morning hadn´t seen very much lava (unbeknownst to us at the time, obvious foreshadowing for what was to come). Some people brought sticks and marshmallows, although couldn´t get close enough to toast them. The site was mezmorizing, much like a campfire, but at such a different natural level. Here we are 2500 meters high on a volcano, looking out at several other volcano peaks enraptured by the steady oozing flow of hot lava. By far this has been one of my favorite experiences of the last 2 years.

The day after I was there, literally 24 hours later, Pacaya erupted. We were at Lake Atitlan when we heard the news (a few hours from Antigua) and I had ventured out early before breakfast to grab a coffee and watch the quaint lake town come alive. On my way back a boy was selling newspapers and without even looking at the headline I bought one, figuring it would be nice to peruse while eating before heading out for our boat tour. Tucked under my arm, coffee in hand I walked into the hotel to meet my friends when she grabbed the paper and exclaimed "Pacaya erupted?!" Apparently a reporter was killed, and possibly several others. The small village nearby was evacuated. We carried on with our tour of the lake, but not without expressing our relief that we were not on or near the volcano when it erupted.

Lake Atitlan is nestled in a small port town called Panajachel. The road heading into town was a windy mountainside ride filled with a beautiful view of the lake and waterfalls cascading down the hills. It was intoxicating. All the while a tropical storm Agatha was slowly making her presence known with her drizzly fog laden welcoming. We made it into town just long enough to drop our bags and take the next chicken bus out of town to a local market in a town called Chichicanstenango, which is said to be one of the biggest and best in the country. It did not disappoint. Set at the foot of the steps of a large church the spread was overwhelming. Jewelry, macadamia nuts, tapestries and so much more all for "very good price" as the local merchants advised us with the English catchphrases they had memorized for the tourists. The colorful aroma of freshcut flowers surrounded us while we explored the grounds for several hours.

As we made our way out of Panajachel, Agatha was letting us know she was there, and she meant business. We were one of the last cars allowed to drive that road because the amounts of water indundating the path, mudslides and falling rocks. We made it to Antigua, in double the time it would normally take, and were there to stay for the next few days to wait out the storm. Unfortunately this chopped off the end of my planned vacation up to the north of the country to visit Tikal, but mother nature had a different plan which included good friends, lots of movies and some salsa lessons!
















Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Celebrating, Cleaning, Relaxing and Feeding

Remember when you were 15 or so and someone talked about someone who was 30 and images of weathering, wrinkly skin flashed into your mind, along with the faint, pundgent smell of moth balls, merely at the mention of such a cryptic human being? Can you believe, I have morphed into one of these "old" people, yet no adult diapers or false teeth, it's amazing!! To celebrate my non-oldness, I taught English, because that's what I do on Saturdays, but with a twist. Susan, Scott, Jim and Ginnie, the missionaries that live where I teach English classes were so sweet and bought a pinata and made a ton of yummy cupcakes for the younger students in the morning. It was filled with all kinds of goodies- candy, money and deoderant!? I took a couple of swats at it, but nobody can really do in like los ninos latinos! Post-burst the normal scramble ensued, after which several of the kids gave me handfuls of their goods at the realization that I hadn't partaken in the scrapping for candy. I won't remember the flavor of the candy, frankly, I may not always remember the names of the kids who gave it to me, but what I will remember is the Honduran children trying to give me some of what they had because I had none. Later, my afternoon class, which consists mostly of adults had an exam. I know, what a big ol meany of a teacher having an exam on a day which was clearly destined for a party. Being the good sports they all are, they appeased me and negociated to take half of it home as a take-home portion so that we could celebrate. They brought a cake (into which my friend Iris tried to smash my face according to tradition), sang Happy Birthday in English and Spanish and took me out for a beer later. Yes my friends, entering the harbor of 30 somethingland was smooth sailing.
Before I became a Peace Corps volunteer I worked for a non-profit organization called RSVP of Greater Cleveland n.k.a. Greater Cleveland Volunteers. This name change and the generousity of the Executive Director were the inspiration for a community clean-up day which we recently held. You see, the organization had all of these T-shirts with the old name and logo and where I live there tends to be an overabundance of people lacking good clothes. When the packages arrived with the brightly colored shirts I knew I wanted to give them away, but not just randomly. Honduras, and other developing countries I suspect, have a real problem with garbage. For most there is no magic fairy called the garbage truck that swoops onto the tree lawn at night to wisk away remains or, more importantly, the recycleables. For this reason people get very creative with the disposal of their garbage. The public green space and local river happen to be favorite deposit spots in my town. I pulled together lots of people to help; the local high school, my English classes, the volunteer firefighters, Standard Fruit Company (Dole) and a church group from Canada. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We hauled away about 1,500 pounds of garbage, and that was only the tip of the iceberg. As a reward I handed out the RSVP T-shirts as well as reusable grocery bags donated by folks in Haliburton, Canada to all who participated. The local news interviewed me and asked me why we were doing this because tomorrow people are going to continue throwing garbage where we had just picked it up. With nothing clever to say, I simply said this, "If they see people that don't even live in this country care so much about it, maybe they will feel embarassed the next time they go to do it again, but if not, we will continue caring in the hopes that maybe one day it will resonate."







So who knew that when I signed up for this gig that I would be right off the coast of the Caribbean, which contains a small family of islands called the Bay Islands. Having visited Utila last May, I still had Roatan to check out. Of the these two islands (there is a 3rd one called Guanaja and is more remote) Roatan is a more touristy spot, especially during the time I chose to go, Easter Week. This is the view I saw most of during the week. It really was quite beautiful and hosted less foreigners than I had imagined. The cabin we rented was off the beach just enough to make it super quiet there, while activity was still happening on the main strip. My vacations often consist of the following: laying on the beach, sleeping, eating, dancing and drinking adult beverages. This vacation was no exception to those guidelines.


After all the great stuff going down in my life over the past month, you wouldn't think it could get any better, and then, my best friend comes to visit and trumps every bit of it! My very best friend Nicole and her amazing husband Sanjay told me they wanted to visit and wanted a feel true feel for what it's like to live my life as a Peace Corps volunteer. I try so hard through this blog, through letters and phone calls to accurately describe my life here but it is incredibly hard to bring to life the sights, smells and feelings that go along with that, so you can imagine my delight at the prospect of truly showing my dear friends what my life has become. When they first told me they would only be here 5 days, 1 and half of which were travel I was sure we couldn't accomplish as much as we wanted to between visiting the orphanage (one of their few requests), buying food to distribute and showing them my projects and my everyday activities. Somehow the days grew longer and allowed us to do it all. They had raised quite a bit of money stateside to bring down for the purpose of buying food for those who need it most. You may remember several entries from my blog about Grandma's Kids. To say they need it is a true understatement! With the money contributed we were able to pass out rice, beans, eggs, flour, powdered milk, juice, cereal, plantains, chickens, cans of vegetables, parasite medicine and much more. My favorite memory of the trip was waking up the day after making a food delivery to Grandma's house and thinking about the full breakfast that was filling their tummies and that moment. In addition, they brought suitcases full of stuff to give away. Hats, sidewalk chalk, flashcards, candles, clothes, vitamins, jump ropes, workbooks and so much more. Lots of these items were given away at the 2 orphanages we visited. Thank you so much to all of those who contributed, prayed and had anything to do with Nicole and Sanjay's successfull trip to Honduras.

Friday, March 12, 2010

So, it´s all abowt the teeth, eh?

Once again, Dr. Bill Kerr´s Canadian dental team has come and gone, leaving a trail of clean healthy teeth and encouraged kids with toothbrushes in hand. The team did a wonderful job and actually saw some improvements from one year ago when they were here last. This year we really concentrated on including Hondurans more with this project so that they can continue assisting the team as they return every year. We trained the high school students to give lectures on dental hygiene and a bit on the environment to the grade schoolers while they were waiting to get their teeth cleaned. The local dentist was also very involved, learning new techniques from Dr. Bill and taking up some slack where she was able.

The sugary pop and candy continues to exist, no matter how much floride you give them. As you can see, the culture here as far as dental hygiene goes leaves much to be desired, leaving our Canadian friends with a tough battle. I commend them for tackling this issue with such gusto and I hope I can assist the team again in the future.


The coconut robbers have become my friends. I caught them one day and told them that I would be happy to share as long as they knocked on my gate and asked my like a civilized human being rather than jumping my fence. We make an event out of it now. They come, very politely, and ask if they can go into the back yard and eat, drink and be merry. I join them and they cut open as many coconuts for me to drink as I can handle. We all walk away with full bellies and as many coconuts as they can carry.

The library is done! We had the inauguration recently and lots of students attended as well as the core group if people who had their hand in the project (from left to right, Iris (Honduran community member who helps with Anne´s projects), Oscar Funez, high school teacher and small business owner, some crazy American girl looking to make a difference, the ex-mayor Rene Lozano, and the infamous Anne Fowler. Thanks to Ames, Iowa Rotary Club for making it happen. The kids are thrilled to have computers with internet, a projector and a ton of books.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Looking Back to Look Ahead

At times it is necessary and therapeutic to literally put it down on a piece of paper. Journaling has never been my release because I find I am not honest enough with myself. What does work for me is telling the people that care for me about my successes, weaknesses, ideas and hopes; it forces me to be honest with them, and in turn with myself. I find myself at a place where I need to talk about what I have done, how I have succeeded, and at times failed, in order to pull myself through my remaining 8 months of service.

A million years ago I set out to a country in Central America called Honduras. Where is that I wondered? What will it be like? What will the people there be like and how will they receive me? Most importantly, what can I bring to the people to make their lives a little better, a little easier? Nearly 19 months later I am a little closer to answering those questions.

The first 3 months or so I observed, as I continue to do, but these first months were dedicated solely to soaking in my new surroundings. I walked to and from my place of work, the municipality, every day. Along the way I began to develop relationships with people; Letti, the lady who walks around town twice a week picking up plastic bottles to recycle, Oscar, the owner of the local grocery store, Eva, the 88 year old lady who loves talking to Gringos, Marvin, the 12 year old boy being raised by his grandparents and Aide, the entrepreneur who sells baleadas and fresh squeezed juice from a cart that she pushes around town. Being a relationship person, this task came very easily to me. In doing so I learned more about Honduras than any book could have ever taught me. Soon came a time when it was rare for me to walk down the street without hearing my name, a true feeling of belonging.

Those relationships allowed me to start my “real work” here, not to downplay my role as a community member, as cultural exchange is practically half of my job here. The project I was selected to partake in was Municipal Development, however, after sitting in the mayor’s office for 5 months observing and having very little luck with someone actually including me in any projects, I began to explore other options for work. Along with all of the locals whom with I had developed relationships, there are a handful of North Americans living here and doing various types of projects for the community. Scott and Susan are two of those people and they run a mission house which is equipped with a classroom. This is where my first, and longest standing project began, English classes. Many Peace Corps volunteers come into this with a strong aversion to this type of project, questioning its sustainability and real value for nationals. At this point, I wasn’t doing much of anything else, and it’s one of the requests my community had, so I dove in. I have been holding English class all day on Saturdays ever since, basic instruction in the morning and intermediate in the afternoons. Are my students getting anything out of it? Absolutely. Is that something the ability to communicate in English? For a handful, yes. As for the others, it is a safe, fun place to go every Saturday and hang out with their friends. I am at peace with this, but it took me a long time to be Ok with the fact that all of my students are not going to be fluent when my time comes to leave. If I have inspired one kid to continue and work hard, or one adult to pursue further classes, it’s valuable and worth my time, hands down. Not to mention the relationships I have built with my students, these days I cannot walk down the street without some kid yelling out, “Bye teacher”.

Aside from my partners at the mayor’s office, I was also assigned with work with Anne, a Canadian woman who spends half of the year in Toronto and half of the year here. The programs she has developed are mostly in the schools and for children. They are presentations regarding health issues, mostly dental care. We take four puppets and perform skits to teach kids about brushing, going to the dentist, how to eat a little better, washing hands, and throwing garbage where it belongs. Along with those skits we hand out toothbrushes, give them a fluoride treatment and check their vision. Last year after visiting about 5 schools I organized a bus to take all of the kids that had major vision problems to an eye clinic about 3 hours away to have them treated. Several of them received glasses and 2 kids received surgery they needed to correct a crossed eye. It’s like the story of the kid on the beach with a million starfish washed up on the shore and he is throwing them back, one by one. An old man stumbles upon him and asks, “Is that really going to make a difference, there are so many?” to which the boy picks up a starfish, throws it into the ocean and replies, “For that one it did.”

At this point I had still not given up on the municipality. I still went, and still go to this day, to see if there’s a fit for me there. A new project came to the municipality which involved a large sum of money coming in from the European Union for a project to protect the border of a river in town, as well as other environmental projects. Again, as before, I went to the municipality every day for 2 months, going to meetings, gaining knowledge on what the projects entailed. One part of the project being touted was to bring some type of garbage collection to my community, something I had been interested in from the start. Every day I was told, don’t worry, we are going to work on this, blah blah blah. A year later nothing has been done and I have been told by more than one person that the money has been “lost”. The fact of the matter is, most places in the states don’t really use volunteers efficiently, so in a developing country this inability is exponential. Between the mismanagement of government offices that is prominent in all municipalities in the country and my undefined role, working for the municipality as originally intended is not exactly working out. Though not all is lost; I have created relationships with the people there and have come to know the role they play in the community. It ends up I am a pretty good liason when it comes to showing community members where they can seek resources for myriad reasons.

Venturing outside of our intended roles is commonplace for Peace Corps volunteers. Rolling with the punches and going with the flow have become my way of life. Being content with affecting one person with the possibility of never even knowing that affect is reality for me; one that I still struggle with, but I’m getting better!.

Looking ahead while my optimism comes and goes, my plan is to continue with my English classes (we are on week 4 of the 3rd 12 week session!), working with Anne (we will be hosting a dental team for the second year who will clean about 300 kids’ teach and provide further care for those most in need) and open the library for the high school which we worked with a rotary club in Ames, Iowa to build. My newest interest is with a group of all volunteer firefighters who are in the process of building a fire station which will also serve as an ambulance service for the community. If anyone happens to know of an organization that might be willing to work with us on this project I would love to contact them. This is really the first project I have felt really encouraged about. Everyone in this group is a volunteer. They are building the station from the ground up on donations they seek. Once the building is established, they will continue to volunteer their time as firefighters and ambulance drivers. In addition, this is my favorite part, they are a group of community volunteers interested in educating the youth on health and environment issues. They have asked to be involved in any of my projects for which I need their help, regardless of my involvement with them. This is so encouraging to me, having volunteered most of my adult life. The concept just doesn’t exist here; it’s more of a “what do I get out of the deal?” attitude. Volunteers helping volunteers, I like the sound of that!



Here´s my intermediate English class. For most of my students this is their 3rd 12 week course! The cheeseball smiling and not taking her quiz like she´s supposed to be doing is Isabel, my best student and dear friend.

These beautiful ladies are all part of a women´s bible study I have been attending on and off since I got here. This was our Christmas luncheon where we had White Elephant gift exchange. I wish I would have gotten the granny panties with pockets!

A few weeks ago I helped another volunteer put on a seminar for kids on the environment. The kids had a ball, as you can see. The guys that helped are a group of volunteer firefighters that I have just stumbled upon and plan on working with them. Read further to find out more about them.


This is Josiah, aka Jojo. He is irrisistable. He is the son of one of Scott and Susans´workers. He was born in the mission house while I was visiting the states in August. Susan jokes that he has kicked my biological clock into overdrive, I don´t attempt to disagree. I kid with his mother that I am going to steal him, she laughs like I´m joking. Really, I am joking... she says with a devilish grin.