Feliz Día Del Madre (Happy Mother's Day)

Mother's Day in Guatemala is always on the 10th of May so this year it fell on a Friday. I spent the morning at one of the schools that I am working with. It seems like most schools here have a special event for mother's day where all of the student's moms are invited and they have a celebration where the kids put on performances, dancing, singing, and reading poems all dedicated to mothers. And of course a Guatenalan gathering of any kind wouldn't be complete without dynamicas (basically interactive ice breakers) and refaccion (snack). In my opinion there were way too many dynamicas and not enough performances by the kids, but all in all it was a really nice event. There was one amusing dynamica where they asked for four volunteers from the audience, two men and two women. It was a race between the two pairs where first the women had to put this cloth on the men to look like a diaper (this was highly embarrassing due to the placement of diapers) then the men sat on the woman's lap while she fed him a bottle (filled with juice).

The man - baby activity

My Second Guatemalan Wedding

This past weekend I went to my second wedding here in my site. This time there was no bachelorette party where I got called out for being "the girl in the room who we haven't seen before," but I did get introduced to everyone over the microphone at this wedding (I take it a new Peace Corps volunteer every two years is about the extent to which this town gets new people - gringos especially). This wedding was very similar in terms of general events, but also very different in a lot of ways (there was sadly no furniture carrying this time). There was also no breakfast, but we arrived at 9:30am and when the civil ceremony ended (they were also married by a lawyer) we were served lunch. This wedding was in a special events hall and the bride wore a long white dress. In fact there were a bunch of girls in the wedding party (family) who were wearing white dresses. This couple are jovenes (young)! The bride was 16 and the groom was 19. I have a feeling this is a pretty normal age to get married here in Guatemala.

The venue 

They looked happy 

Lunch

I'm not sure what this was about, but it was adorable!

Monday Market Day

In my town Mondays are market days. The three main (and basically only) streets in town get blocked off and filled with vendors. They sell all kinds of things including: fruit, vegetables, cloth, clothing, dishes / household items, some meat / fish and shrimp, packages of pasta, hot sauce -- Picamas - there is no Frank's here :( --, oil, grains, etc. I have a feeling that most people in my town do most of their shopping for the week there, because there is no grocery store. It turns my quiet town into a busy and bustling place from early in the morning until 1pm when most vendors pack up and leave. Shopping in these markets is definitely the most economical way to shop (and yes bargaining is a MUST). I work in the schools I follow their schedule which is 8am-12:30-1pm at the latest. This is a chill schedule and I am in no way complaining, but it makes it hard to shop at the market. It is hard to describe so see for yourself!!

Tons of typical fabric

Yummilish. Everything is so cheap here! I got a pound of strawberries for 6Q
(less than $1)! I then bleached them (we are supposed to do this to anything
we don't boil or thoroughly cook) to get rid of all of the germs etc. 

Weighing potatoes (all vendors use this system)

First Guatemalan Wedding

This Saturday I went to my first Guatemalan wedding. My host family and I left at 7 am to walk down the street to the venue (the bride's backyard). The whole thing was under a tent. First everyone was served a plate of beans and a hardboiled egg (with tamalitos) for breakfast. Sitting at the long communal table eating my beans I thought how cool this is and how it is truly a unique experience. Guatemalan weddings are apparently usually between breakfast and lunch. Then everyone moved under a different tent where the ceremony took place. A lawyer married them - it was not a religious ceremony. The first three hours consisted family and friends giving speeches of advice and wishing the couple well. Then the lawyer talked for a while. All of this was done mostly in Spanish but partially in K'iche.' I could tell that no one spoke English because they played Adele's "Someone Like You" which is soooo the opposite of an appropriate song for a wedding on repeat for about an hour. "Call Me Maybe" also made two short appearances. Another incongruent meshing of cultures that struck me as funny was the balloon decorations that had a picture of a traditional western bride and groom with the bride wearing a big white dress, but this bride wore the traditional Mayan huipil & corte (with a veil).

After the ceremony while all of the guests were still seated awaiting lunch there was an assembly line of the families of the bride and groom that went through the middle of the tent passing down the line of all of the bride's worldly possessions. I guess moving her out of her parents house and down the street where she would live with her husband. This was quite the sight! First all of her clothes were passed down the line in bundles followed by wedding gifts, kitchen appliances, and even her bed and dresser!

 As a party favor each family (and me because I came "alone") received a bag of five rolls of bread as a party favor. This is so Guatemalan - oh how they love their bread.

Breakfast

The groom wore a tux

Moving the bride's belongings through the center of the tent as everyone watched 

Movin' Out (and In)

I officially am now living in the Department of Totonicapan in Guatemala. This is where I will be living and working for the next two years. I have one room on the second floor of a family's house. It is a tiny little place, my house is surrounded by fields and the other day walking back I helped untangle a sheep where it was caught up in its rope and wire fence. This little town is very Mayan. Most of the women wear the traditional huipil and corte. These are very pretty and I will put up pictures soon. These are two pictures I took from my door onto my roof deck.

Handmade

My host dad is a tailor in Antigua. One day completely out of the blue he presented me with a pair of dress pants that he had made by hand for me. He never took my measurements I have no idea how he did it but they fit perfectly! A few weeks later he also gave me a zip up jacket that he made for me with typical Guatemalan fabric in my favorite color. I was so beyond touched by both of these gifts.
Below is a picture of my host father and I. I am wearing both the pants and jacket that he made for me.

The Best Last Night

 Last night was my most memorable and favorite night so far in Guatemala. When I got home (see I am already calling it home) from my long day at the Peace Corps office I shared an important part of American culture with my host family: 'smores. I couldn't find Graham Crackers here, but I found cookies that were close. This was primarily an activity for the kids, but everyone participated. They said that they had heard of 'smores or seen them in movies but had never gotten to make / eat them. It was a big hit. One unusual thing is that marshmallows are called angelitos here which makes roasting angelitos (little angles) seem downright sacrilegious.

 

After this was my birthday / going away party. My birthday isn't for another week, but they wanted to celebrate with me before I left the next day. The whole family ate together at one long table and they prepared a special meal: chillies rellenos (stuffed peppers) with rice. It was delicious. And of course birthday cake. After we finished eating they put on music and we all danced. It was so much fun. We danced to marimba music and then to Gangum style (if you don't know this song please YouTube it - these pictures will make more sense). Then each member of the family one by one took turns saying their goodbyes and wishing me well. It was when Luzmaria the shy 13 year old began to cry that I too lost it. I am going to miss them all so much and I can only hope that my next host family is at all like them.

Goodbye Party

This past Sunday the three of us in my town plus the nine volunteers who live in the next town over threw a party for all of our host families as a way to thank them for everything that they have done for us over the past two months. I can't believe that training is over! The first hour and a half of this party was basically a comedy of errors. Apparently we have a lot to learn about throwing a Guatemalan party. We had all of the components we were just unaware that there is a set schedule of events for parties. We didn't realize that the pinata is always first and then food. To try and ease the awkwardness that was all of our host families sitting in two lines staring at each other we tried to get people to eat the chips and drink the soda that we had bought and lugged on the camioneta back to our town this morning. Finally we got people to eat the chips. Then we were waiting for one volunteer to show up with her family and the cake (she finally did an hour and a half late). This is late even for la hora Chapin (Guatemalan time which is not punctual). But then things went smoothly once we got the piñatas going. After the pinatas we ate pizza then cake. All in all it was a nice event and I think that our families really appreciated it. All of the volunteers seemed to form tight bonds with our host families and will be sad to say goodbye to them this Tuesday when we head off to our new site. I know I will be.

Host parents!

Going to miss her so much!

Everyone (including my host mom) loves piñatas

Swearing in to Become an Official Peace Corps Volunteer

The whole group with the Ambassador

I AM NOW OFFICIALLY A PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER. All 29 of us passed training which apparently is unusual. This past Friday the U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala came into the Peace Corps office to participate in our ceremony. It was a lovely and short event. Our training director, country director, Ambassador, and Louisa who was chosen from our training class all spoke. We then were called up one by one, received our diplomas, and then posed for a picture with the Ambassador. More pictures and a video to come as people post them online.  

San Luis group

Healthy Schools

And so the Teaching Begins

My job as a Peace Corps Volunteer is in the Healthy Schools project. I will work as an administrator in the school district around where I will be living. I will work in about 10 schools, but I'll explain this more later. To practice our skills each group worked in a school teaching a couple of charlas (short informal lessons) to a school in the area. My group worked with a super pilas (energetic and enthusiastic) group of sixth graders in our town. On our first visit we helped the kids make a map of their community. This is to get a better feel for the town and identify its resources and what it might be lacking. We broke the classroom up into smaller groups. Kelley and I each took a group of girls and Jimmy worked with the boys. This way we were also able to compare gender differences in the maps (both girls groups drew the bread shop whereas the boys did not and we speculated that this is because it is traditionally a women's job to do the shopping and buy the food for their families).  We originally were going to just give them markers and have them attack it, but they were so precise and artistic that they went to get their own pencils, erasers, and rulers. After they finished their map they identified the places that they liked and didn't like. They liked their school, park, church, but didn't like the cantina (bar) where they said drinking was a problem or the river which is polluted. Since they identified the river as a problem we decided to come back and do our second charla on proper trash disposal and the different classes of trash (organic vs. inorganic) and how long it takes items to decompose naturally. I suggest you look at these facts and then think twice about littering, because that glass bottle will sit on the ground in tact for way longer than you will live.

Below are a couple pictures of me and my super awesome group and our map.

Antigua Weekend

This past weekend all of the Peace Corps trainees (we officially swear in this Friday!) Got a free night out in Antigua. It was so much fun to just be able to hang out with my new friends and to get to just be tourists in this beautiful city. We started Saturday morning off with a short Salsa dancing class. Learning how to Salsa dance is on my Guatemala bucket list. The rest of the day we just hung out and then enjoyed the Antigua nightlife. A group of us went out to Italian food for dinner and Texas BBQ for lunch the next day. I don't at all feel bad about doing this, because the rest of the time I am eating puro Guatemalteco food (usually involving beans and tortillas).
On Sunday a bunch of us hiked up "Cerro de la Cruz" which has a beautiful overlook of all of Antigua with el Volcan de Agua in the background. I highly recommend going here. (Group picture to be added later)

New England goes to Guatemala. From left to right: Kendra, Nicole, me, Kelley
The volcano due Agua is directly behind the cross in the background 

Bromas de mi Padre Anfitriona

I sometimes have a hard time understanding what my host father says (although I usually get most of it), but he is a funny man. Two of his jokes / funny sayings in particular stand out to me. They were obviously told to me in Spanish so I hope that not too much will be lost in translation.

1) Two fleas are standing on the street corner talking and waiting. As a dog approaches by one flea says to the other "adios here is my ride." I think this nicely exemplifies Guatemalan's attitude towards dogs and why I do not let the chuchos (dirty street dogs) touch me.

2) So Guatemalans eat A TON of bread. There is always a basket of many different types of bread on the table at each meal ("French bread," sweet rolls, etc). This is not counting tortillas that also accompany almost every meal. Cafecito (coffee around 5pm) is also accompanied by bread. I have stopped eating the bread all together. I figure that tortillas and some other type of carbohydrate (potatoes, rice, or pasta) is good enough for me. As my old roommate Mia would say, carbs on carbs. I told my host family that I don't like to eat bread every day because it makes you fat (an exaggeration, but I couldn't figure out how to go into the specifics in Spanish). To which my host dad responded "El pan no engorda, la persona engorda." Which basically means the bread doesn't get fat the person gets fat as a way of saying that bread doesn't make you fat. Touche, but I'm still not eating it.

I also live with the funniest kid. Memo (his nickname) is 13 and is obsessed with the Titanic theme song. I at first thought that his repeated playing of this song was a joke, but no. He is also learning how to play this song on the recorder. Yes the middle school learning of the recorder has made it down to Guatemala. And lucky me I think that the only children in the entire world who like to practice the recorder live in my house.

On the phone

The Prettiest McDonalds in the World

The city of Antigua has a law that all of the architecture and buildings there have to maintain the colonial era feeling. This gives the whole city a really lovely aesthetic with its cobblestone streets and colored buildings. Anyway this means that even McDonalds has the same feel. This is by far without a doubt the most beaautiful McDonalds that I have ever been to. Sorry Freeport, Maine you now officially have the 2nd prettiest McDonalds. But, see for yourself.

Quetzales

The currency here is called Quetzales. The Quetzal is the national (endangered) bird. The quetzals on the money are probably the only Quetzals that I will see in Guatemala. Quetzales (I'm talking about the money) are plastic. This just seems so much more practical than U.S. dollars that practically disintegrate. I feel like a lot of countries that I have visited have used plastic bills. I think that America is behind the times on this one.

Not to get gross about it or anything, but the money here (well and everywhere I guess) is DIRTY. As in wash your hands after touching it dirty.

Putting Quetzales into perspective a little - the exchange rate is about 7.75Q=$1. This is a great exchange rate considering most things are already cheap here. Here are some examples (you all can put your math skills to work for the conversions):
- 1 delishious avocado = 1Q (this makes me the most happy!)
- Bottle of soda = 7Q
- Bottle of cold water =5Q
- The Prensa libre (newspaper)=3Q
- A toasted bagel with cream cheese at the Bagel Barn (which also has excellent free weefee) =19Q
- A smoothie = 19Q
- Coffee drinks range from 10-20Q depending how fancy they are
- Sandwiches are usually around 30-40Q I.e. falafel, grilled cheese, tuna, many of the burgers at McDonalds, etc
- Although I think that the "dollar menu" at McDonalds (fries, soda, apple pie, etc) costs 9Q which is more than $1.
Also these are all Antigua prices, which as a touristy town are generally more expensive.

To preface this picture - I do not make a lot of money in the Peace Corps. We are called volunteers for a reason, but these are what the bills look like.

 

Volcán Pacaya

Have you ever roasted marshmallows over a volcano? Well I have. The whole group spent a Saturday morning hiking up Volcano Pacaya which was about an hour PC microbus ride away from the PC office. This was not a particularly easy hike for me. It was pretty steep, but that's not what got me. It was pretty much like climbing straight up a beach it was so sandy/dusty. So about halfway up the mountain some of us decided to take a "taxi" the rest of the way up. The "taxis" were horses lead by guides. It only cost 30 Quetzales for the ride 1/2 way up the volcano. Totally the best ~$5 I have spent in Guatemala so far. There were really great views. Also close to the top (its not safe/possible to go all of the way up) we roasted mashmallows in a hot vent in the volcano. There as no fire, we just roasted them in the natural heat coming from the volcano.

The whole group! 

Volcano marshmallows 

Best. Taxi. Ever.