On (Not) Fitting In

I think this picture pretty accurately describes it.

Imagine that an alien lands in your town and wears similar-ish clothing. That's pretty much how they look at me. I feel like I am being stared at constantly (because I am). The thing is that I basically look like Guatemalans except that I dress differently, I use different styles of bags to carry my things, I have glasses, and I talk differently. I don't stick out here as much as some of my other taller or blonder friends, but I still definitely stick out. 

The 24 Hour Pharmacy in my House

Medicinas Israel: My host Dad's pharmacy

Not to brag or anything, but I'm pretty sure that my host Dad is among the more well-to-do and most influential men in my town. He owns the biggest pharmacy which is right in the center of town and is one of the pastors at the huge Evangelical church. I'm pretty sure he would be considered middle class in America, but not in this tiny town. Anyway, he also has a small pharmacy in the house for after-hours needs. Sometimes after everyone else has gone to bed (around 10pm) there is knocking on our front gate until someone in my host family goes to see what they need and gets the medicine.

Fun fact: In Guatemala you don't really need to know any medicine or have any kind of degree to own a pharmacy. I'm pretty sure my host Dad only graduated from the sixth grade. As my family and friends will tell you, this is handy if you are traveling to Guatemala and have forgotten some medicine and/or your prescription. Just ask one of the many pharmacies and more likely then not they will have it. Just give them the cash and you are all set.

The Glass Factory in Cantel, Quetzaltenango

I (only) have seven months left in my Peace Corps service so I am starting to feel the pressure to cross things off of my Guatemala bucket list. I think I've been good at this, but I really want to get out and see things. So my newest "check" on the list is the glass factory that is just a short 20 minute camioneta ride outside of the center of Xela. I'm really glad that I went! It's just a small store with glass cups, wine glasses, vases, etc. and if you are lucky you are there while the men are working in the back. My video (below) will give you a good ideas of this small no-frills workshop. 

One thing that I enjoyed was the fact that the men working were so casual about their work. They were wearing t-shirts or long-sleeve shirts and no eye protection or gloves. We just wandered back there, walked right up to one of the workstations (huge barrel of water) and started talking to one of the men and watching him work. We didn't have to wear a protective suit, sign a waiver, wear protection, nothing. I agree that some safety rules and regulations can be a good thing, but I feel like in the states this is often taken to the extreme (I.e. caution: this beverage that you are about to enjoy is extremely hot. Duh I ordered a hot beverage.) 

Recycled glass

I got to try glass blowing! It wasn't something they advertised, we just asked the guy if we could try it. It was awesome. I believe I only got a couple words of instruction: blow slowly and rotate the metal rod. I watched 0 safety videos. Used 0 protection. And guess what - I was completely fine and I made a perfect little glass ball!

Cooperativa Integral de Producción Artesanal de Vidrio Cantel, R. L.

Km. 217.5 Carretera al Pacifico

Pasac II, Cantel, Quetzalenango

Guatemala, C.A.

www.copavic.com 

My New Smoothie Recipe Courtesy of the JICA Volunteer

I think that I have written about Minako, the volunteer from Japan. She lives in the same house that I do and also works in the schools. JICA (Japanese International Cooperation Agency) is basically the Japanese version of Peace Corps. Minako is awesome and is a nutritionist. I have enjoyed collaborating with her. She worked on creating a recipe book to pass out to the local health centers and schools. As I was looking through the book I found a recipe that intrigued me: a banana beet smoothie.

Ingredients:
Bananas
Beets
Milk

Directions:
Cook the beets in a little water until they are soft (I like to do this the day before or make extra)
When the beets are cool, combine in equal quantity with bananas
Add milk until it is the desired consistency
Blend well

Voila!

I like the color. If you aren't the biggest beet-lover you might want to add more banana than beets because the beet flavor is strong. The recipe calls for sugar as well, but I think that the bananas give it enough sweetness.

 Peace Corps is all about goals 1, 2, and 3.
Goal 1: To help the people of interested countries meet their needs for trained men and woman.
Goal 2: To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of peoples served.
Goal 3: To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

While Minako isn't Guatemalan, I feel that teaching her what a "selfie" is counts as good goal 2 work :)

Minako and I with our smoothies

Hiking Volcano Acatenango

The group triumphantly at the top in the middle of the crater

I hiked a second Volcano in Guatemala! It was hard! A group of PCVs and I arranged the trip through O.X. Tours (located in Antigua). Volcán Acatenango is only about an hours drive away from the center of Antigua. The whole trip too 12 hours. We left at 5am, got to the trail-head at 6am, started hiking and with only minimal breaks arrived at the summit at 11:30am. We had lunch in the crater at 13,000ft, left at 1pm, got back to the vans at 4pm, and were back in the hostel in Antigua exhausted and covered in dirt by 5pm. I was asleep as soon as I rehydrated, took a much needed shower, and had a good dinner.

In the hike we ascended 6,000ft over roughly four miles through four different temperate zones (high farmland, cloud forest, high-alpine forest, and volcanic) and returned the same way. The tour company had warned us that the climb is steep and to prepare ourselves mentally for a very physically demanding hike (especially the part they affectionately call purgatory which is the last bit before arriving at the top).

It was really cloudy by the time we got up there, but there was still a great view of Volcán de Fuego (Volcano of Fire) that seemed surprisingly close by. Fuego is an active Volcano and while we were there coughed up huge plumes of smoke. The last time Acatenango erupted was in 1972.

Some of my crazy friends completed the O.X. challenge
they ran around the perimeter of the crater

I like being able to look down upon the clouds

I almost felt like the walk down was harder. Although it probably had something to do with the fact that by that
point we had already hiked 5 hours up 5,000ft

I would never do it again, but I'm glad that I did it.

Zaculeu: The Mayan Ruins in Huehuetenango

I went with my host family to Huehuetenango one Sunday for an Evangelical baptism that my host Dad was (officiating?) the pastor at. After the baptism we went to Zaculeu the Mayan ruins. They were much smaller than the more famous ruins in Tikal, but I still thought they were awesome. Also, I guess because they aren't as well known the security was much more relaxed and you could climb all over the ruins which I enjoyed (although I'm sure it's terrible for conservation).

Side note: I bet you can't guess how to pronounce Huehuetenango. I'll spell it out for you (Way-way-ten-ango). I have no idea why, that's just how it is.

Here is a video I took standing on top of the largest structure. It's a small area but nice and with a beautiful mountainous backdrop.

Such a beautiful backdrop too!

My host sister Sharon showing off what you can do in traje tipico

My host family in the back of a pick-up truck
It was mostly the kids back there and they rode like that for 1.5 hours

My host Mom and Dad (Juana and Israel)

Mayan Language Map

Guatemala is the heart of the Mayan people. There are over 20 Mayan languages spoken in Guatemala to this day. This is no joke, I live in a rural town, but only about an hours drive from two "major" cities, and the vast majority of people here speak K'iche'. There are even some parents' groups that I work with who speak very little Spanish. This, combined with the high illiteracy rate among parents is why I always have a translator at my parents meetings to translate my Spanish into K'iche'. When I had my interview with my project manager to try and figure out where might be the best fit for me, I told them I wanted two things: a large host family and a place where the people speak Spanish. I like taking my K'iche' classes, but I figured I want to spend my time working on my Spanish and not on Mayan languages that only a very small percentage of people in this country (let alone in the world) speak.

I live with an indigenous host family. The older women are always in traje tipico and the girls wear it for special occasions. When they are talking among themselves they speak in K'iche'. This is terrible for eves-dropping. Because the Mayan people are such a big part of my experience here in Guatemala I thought that I would pass along a little more information about the prevalence of Mayan languages.

Linguistic map of Guatemala

Mayan, Xinka and Gariífuna languages

I live in the middle of the dark-green blob

I had never heard of the Xinka people before this map, but some light googling told me that they are the non-Mayan indigenous people of Mesoamerica. The Gariífuna are the African/Carribean-Guatemalans that predominantly live along the Carribean coast of Guatemala - I got to experience some of this Gariífuna culture when I went to Livingston and Rio Dulce for Thanksgiving last year. Forgot I did that? If you would like a refresher here are the links to my blog posts from Livingston and Rio Dulce.

You will probably have a hard enough time pronouncing the names of the Mayan languages even if you can read them so I have written the names and percentages in the graph below (the % is the % of Guatemalans who speak this Mayan language):
2.2% - Achi
0.9% - Akateko
0.3% - Awakateko
0.5% - Chalchiteko
1.0% - Ch'orti'
1.4% - Chuj
0.1% - Garifuna
0.05% - Itza'
2.2% - Ixil
18.3% - Kaqchikel
28.6% - K'iche' - What they speak where I live! Disclaimer: there seem to be many sub-dialects within languages so even if two people speak K'iche', if they are from different towns they may not be able to communicate fully or even understand each other
13.3% - Mam
0.1% - Mopan
1.0% - Popti'
0.9% - Poqomam
2.6% - Poqomchi'
3.5% - Q'anjob'al
20.1% - Q'eqchi'
0.2% - Sakapulteko
0.2% - Sipakapense
0.05% - Tektiteko
1.4% Tz'utujil
0.2% - Uspanteko
0.2% - Xinka

Guatemala truly is a multilingual country!