Random Comments

1. I finally did a stool sample (aka pooped in a cup). As I have already mentioned, I've been having issues, and before going to site I wanted to find out what was wrong. (Sorry to gross anyone out, but it's a fact of life here.) The verdict is... malabsorption. Supposedly, I had an intestinal infection earlier and now my intestines aren't processing my food. This means I need to cut out wheat, pasta, bread, etc. This would probably include beer, but the nurse didn't mention that, so I may ignore that fact. I need to eat lots of raw fruits and vegetables. All of this will be quite difficult in Guatemala, but I'll give it a shot!

2. Today I started learning Q'eqchi, the Maya language at my site. It just sounds like lots of random noises. This will be interesting. Here are some examples:

• Laa'in lix Audrey ink'ab'a. = My name is Audrey.
• ixq = woman
• ha' = water
• Jo wank chik = see you later
• Inwanb'i = adios

Just some examples. And the pronunciation is nothing like you would expect! At least a fair amount of people still speak Spanish in Chahal.

3. I'm training for a half marathon in May in Coban. Finally I have a goal for my running, and finally I have a new training log (thanks mom!), so I've been much more consistent about running. It makes me ten times happier ... not that I wasn't happy, I'm just even happier now. It will be my first half marathon; the longest race I've run to date is a 10k. I won't have much training under my belt -- only about two consistent months of running, but it'll be great nonetheless. I went for my first hour + run yet this year on Sunday. It was magnificent, but I can't believe I had gone 3 months without going for an hour run! I guess I just needed a bit of a break after collegiate running.

4. My little host brother is learning to play the recorder. He knows about two lines of one song. I'm so glad I have moved out of that house because that is the worst noise ever. Granted, it is important that he learns music, but why must he play it at 10 pm when I'm trying to sleep?

Semana Santa

The week leading up to Easter is Holy Week here in Guatemala and is celebrated quite heavily by the Catholic population. It’s really quite intriguing and beautiful. People make alfombras (rugs/carpets) in the streets out of dyed sawdust, flowers or fruits and vegetables. The designs can be extremely intricate and time consuming. Saturday night, some of us helped make one in Antigua. We started at 10 pm and worked until 2 am, and they continued working after we went home. What then happens with all these alfombras is a procession comes of men and boys dressed in purple robes carrying a large float with Christ on it. After all the hard work that goes into making the alfombras, the procession walks right over the top of it and destroys it! But everyone knows that going in, so obviously no one is upset.

The processions in Antigua are huge, but each town also has its own procession. There was one in Magdalena today and I went and watched it with my family (even though they’re Evangelical and don’t observe this holiday). Leading the procession were two pairs of young men dressed in skimpy black outfits. One in each pair held a large log over his shoulders while the other one whipped him relentlessly. I did not to expect that. After that came the float and band, which seemed more normal.




Tomorrow morning I’m going to head into Antigua around sunrise to see the processions there because Friday is supposed to be a very big day during the week.

My New Home

Last week I was introduced to my new site where I will be living for the next two years: Chahal, Alta Verapaz. On Monday, Peace Corps invited all of our counterparts to the training center for a workshop and then we left with them for our sites. (A counterpart is an individual from our host country agency that is assigned to work with us.) My counterpart is Heimer and is 22. He is a forestry technician for the municipality of Chahal, where I’ll be working. He and my mayor (and boss), Rudy Flores (or Don Rudy), came to the workshop together. Kind of an important day, right? Seems like it would be important to communicate, and thus talking would be a key method of communication. Well as it turns out, I lost my voice completely and could barely even whisper! What a great first impression, right? It was pretty funny, actually, we wrote notes back and forth.

Tuesday I left with Don Rudy and Heimer for my site and luckily my voice came with me! We spent the night in the capital with Don Rudy’s family: he has a house in the capital that his four 20-something kids live in. Immediately I was taken in as part of their family, which will be really nice to have considering I’m so far away! We made the drive to Chahal on Wednesday and it took us 8 hours by private vehicle, when I traveled back on the bus it took 9 or 10! And it turns out my site is actually about 2 or 2 ½ hours from the next volunteer! But it’s such a beautiful place with really nice people that it will be okay.

(The municipal building where my office is.)

We arrived late Wednesday night, I spent Thursday and Friday meeting people and getting to know the site, then I left early Saturday morning to return to Magdalena. Throughout those two days my emotions were on a roller coaster. It was very overwhelming being introduced to my life for the next two years. I’m really happy about the site: it’s beautiful, the people are very nice, it’s rural – no paved roads with lots of nature around (I can hear the crickets at night!), and it’s very safe – no need for metal doors and bars on windows. There’s also plenty of work to do since I have four different sites, but that is part of what scares me. My job is so open-ended that it’s intimidating. I know I can do it and I know that it will be wonderful to have that kind of freedom, but it’s very daunting.

(My main site: Las Conchas)

I visited three of my four sites on my visit. Las Conchas is about a 30 minute drive from where I’ll be living. It’s a wide river through the forest with waterfalls and large pools. It’s already developed as a park, but needs a lot of help with conservation and with general improvements. Just a hop, skip and jump from my town are two forest reserves, one of 119 hectares, the other of 35. There will be a lot of work to do with the two of them seeing as they lack so much as a sign to indicate that they exist. My counterpart and I went thrashing through the jungle to get a feel for what these reserves offered. They have a lot of potential for research, conservation and tourism. My fourth site is Las Cuevas de Setzol where a river runs through some caves, but I did not have time to check this one out.

(My counterpart as we´re thrashing through the jungle. Note: man purses are an essential in Chahal, especially if they have pink on them.)

I will have plenty of work in front of me with these four sites. As well, I want to help restart their tree nursery and get a community compost project going to make soil for the nursery. I will also have to spend a fair amount of time learning a new language: K’eqchi. I sat in on two meetings during my visit that were completely in K’eqchi, so it’s kind of a must!

Chahal is divided into two parts: Old Chahal, or San Agustin; and New Chahal, or San Fernando. 25 years ago the mayor moved the town to San Fernando because the topography and location of San Agustin didn’t allow for any more development/expansion. So I’m going to work in San Fernando where the municipality is but I’m going to live in San Agustin where the mayor and my counterpart both live. The mayor’s wife is helping me find a place to live and was insistent that I live in San Agustin because it’s safer, and because she’s there and she’s going to be a new, over-protective mother for me (I think my mom will be pleased!). It’s a very quaint little town, I love it. I met a group of jovenes (kids about my age, girls and guys) who are involved in athletics in the town. They run or practice futbol or basketball every afternoon and invited me to join them. And at times during the year, the girls get a team together and compete in nearby towns. I’m excited to join them! Plus, it will help me train for the half marathon that I’m going to run in May!

A few other tidbits: my new name will be Adriana. Audrey is typically pretty difficult at first for Spanish speakers to say, so Don Rudy went ahead and changed it for me. It was really strange answering to it; I felt like I was leading a double life! In my entire municipality there are two other gringos that live there. Felipe (or Phil) who’s 27 from Philadelphia must have some rich parents because he owns some land out by Las Conchas and brings backpackers out there. The other is Sister Karen (Chicago) of a Catholic mission that is in town. I met her at a function on Tuesday night. She seems a little crazy, but nice enough.

(The rodeo grounds right outside of San Agustin!)

I could probably go on for pages about my site, but I will leave it at this and add more as I get out there and get to know it better. One more week of training, then I’m moving on! I’m a little scared, but this is the experience I was looking for when I signed up for the Peace Corps. I didn’t join to party in touristy Antigua every weekend, I joined to live and work in rural Guatemala, and it doesn’t get much more rural than Chahal!

Volcan Agua

(The group at the cross overlooking the crater: Kyle, Andrea, Katie, me, Dave, Joey and Sue Ellen.)

Yesterday I climbed my first volcano: Volcan Agua, 3766m and a 12 km hike, but I’m not sure what the elevation gain was – a lot. It was quite the event-filled day. It started with me and the guys in the town over needing to catch a bus at 6:30am to get into Antigua. The guys were late and the bus was leaving, so I asked the bus driver to just wait 2 minutes, but the jerk wouldn’t! Usually they do. But my friends managed to get there – they jumped in the back of a pick-up truck to during the walk from there town. So then they hopped out and ran and got in. So, this bus driver, he must have been in some hurry, because he sped out of town. Usually they meander while honking their horns trying to get as many passengers as possible. Well, this guy’s need for speed caught up with him. He would barely slow down for the speed bumps that are dispersed throughout the road. On one of them, something near the rear wheel well popped and he rolled to a stop. Serves him right. We got out and walked the rest of the way, as did everyone else, because his bus was smoking.

Once we got to Antigua, we had to wait on a few people, so we didn’t get to leave as early as planned, which caught up to us later. We found a microbus to take us from Antigua to Santa Maria de Jesus (the town at the base of the volcano). Although we don’t have to worry about deer running across the road in front of us, apparently we do have to worry about packs of dogs. We were speeding out of town when, all of a sudden, a pack of 5 dogs comes running across the street. Our driver kind of slowed down, but banked on weaving through the dogs. Well the dogs must have banked on him stopping. Both parties were wrong, but the dog was the big loser. It was obvious to anyone in the van that he should’ve just stopped. But instead he barreled right into a beautiful golden retriever. Along with its yelp, I swear I heard the sound of ribs cracking. But it managed to get up and trot away.

When we got to the town, we went to the municipality to find a guide. They said it would be Q300 (~$39 split between 8 people). We asked if they recommend using a guide. They told us that the trail’s well marked the whole way, so we shouldn’t get lost. We asked if it was safe. They said that 8 days ago, 2 hikers were assaulted on the trail and ended up dying, but don’t worry, it’s tranquilo now. Needless to say, we splurged on a guide. When he finally showed up 45 minutes later, he was this little tiny man with no big gun to protect us. But as we were hiking out of town, his wife found him and gave him his backpack and his machete. So that was something.

(The best view of the day, about 1/2 way.)

My ecotourism trainer said that we should be able to make the hike up in about 3 hours, the guide said 4 and Lonely Planet said 4-5. Considering we always make the minimum hiking time estimate in Yellowstone, I figured it would take us 3 hours to get up. We started at 9:30, so we’d get up there in perfect timing for lunch, head back down, then gorge ourselves in Antigua. Instead of 12:30, we summited between 2 and 2:30. We lost one girl in the first ten minutes – she was already dying and had no confidence so decided to turn around. We made good time for a little while, but then another girl started having to hike slow and take a break every five minutes. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big problem, but since we had already started an hour behind schedule, the clouds were rolling in. Once we got past half-way, we were completely socked in for the rest of the hike! We never got to relish in the amazing views that were on the other side of the clouds. Imagine climbing a mountain in a completely new area where you’ve never had a good view before, and not being able to see anything!! Alas, it was still fun and a great hike, but oh so frustrating. We did, however, find an abandoned church of some sorts up top in the little crater. It has a creepy display inside of Jesus with a blue tarp hanging down to protect him. I think the crater is where people sleep when they camp up there, and it was absolutely littered with trash, except for on the soccer field. Yes, there is a soccer field inside this crater.

(The sanctuary in the crater.)

During the hike, of course, we selected a restaurant for our post-hike feast: Dona Luisa’s for her bacon cheeseburgers. So we hitched a ride back to Antigua. (To get a ride in Guatemala, you hold your arm out parallel to the ground, perpendicular to the direction of the road, and quickly bend your fingers up and down.) The food was quite amazing, but somehow, I was not that hungry! I almost didn’t want to go! But, I also make Q26 per day, also known as $3.42, so a free meal at home usually sounds a lot better than spending my own money.

(This is what the peak looked like!)

When we showed up at the restaurant (a fairly nice establishment), we were completely covered in dust, which is how it should be. We earned the right to go into a nice restaurant dirty and smelly, but nobody else in my group felt the same way. They were all very concerned about how we looked and said that we were more fit for McDonald’s. They just don’t get how it works I guess.

Chahal, Alta Verapaz

For the next two years, I will be living in a lowland sub-tropical rain forest, aka the jungle! Two things make me nervous about my site assignment: the weather and the isolation. It's hot and humid in Chahal, which I'm not used to and don't really like, but when am I ever going to have the opportunity to live in a sub-tropical rain forest again? I'll just go jump in the river daily to cool off! The isolation: I'm an 1 1/2 hours from the closest volunteer, so I may get a bit lonely at times, but it sounds like I will have plenty of very interesting work to keep me busy. And it will just make seeing my friends that much more exciting. As well, I didn't join the Peace Corps for the social life.

Here are a few interesting facts about Chahal:

• Northeast corner of Alta Verapaz, near the departments of Peten and Izabal, Belize and the Caribbean
• 367 km from the capital via Rio Dulce; supposedly 4.5 hours but probably longer
• 148 km from Coban (the nearest city) with 54 km unpaved; about 3 hours
• Altitude is 240m
• Hot, humid climate; temperature 26 – 28 deg. Celsius
• Rainy season from June to February (400 cm/year)
• 2 rivers: Rio Chiyu, Rio Chahal
• Town has about 3000 people
• 94% Indigenous (Q’eqchi)
• The site of the town was moved recently probably because of flooding

My Objectives:

• Develop ecotourism projects for the municipal park of Las Conchas and the Caves of Setzol and in areas of forest management towards the goal of conservation.
• Support the implementation of emergency plans against floods that occur in the region.
• Train municipal personnel in the management of urban trash and tourist sites.

To achieve those:

• Review the sites and create management plans
• Create interpretative trails
• Marketing of the parks: create website, flyers, guidebooks
• Environmental education
• Trash management and latrine systems in order to decrease water contamination
• Register the parks as Protected Areas with CONAP (the national park system)
• Help to reduce forest fires (during the dry season, the slash-and-burn agriculture gets out of control

The sites:

• Parque Municipal Las Conchas
  17 km from Chahal
  Series of limestone pools and waterfalls on the Rio Chiyu
  Pools are 8m deep, 20m wide and connected by a series of “spectacular” waterfalls
• Cuevas (Caves) of Setzol
  12 km from Chahal (last 5 km by foot)
  Bats!
• Various forests
  

Cool places close to me:

• Chisec – Puerta al Mundo Maya (Door to the Maya World) (1.5 hours) – archaeological site, caves, lagoons
• Parque Nacional Laguna Lachua (3 hours) – perfectly round, pristine turquoise lake
• Semuc Champey and Lanquin Caves – limestone pools and underground rivers (world renowned)
• Tikal and some cool treks in the department of Peten (lowland tropical forest) – major pre-classic Maya ruins
• Belize
• Rio Dulce/Lago de Izabal (1.5 hours) – huge river that expands into Guatemala’s largest lake, shrinks back to a river, broadens into another lake, then flows into the Caribbean; it has the longest bridge in Central America over it
• Bocas del Polochic Refuge and Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve (near Rio Dulce) – amazing wildlife viewing opportunities
• Livingston – only way to get here is take a boat from Rio Dulce; no roads lead to this town! It’s a laid back Garifuna (black Guatemalans) Caribbean town

Lonely Planet describes this whole area as “waiting to be discovered,” and the road through my town as an “adventure” and a way to get off the gringo path. How cool!