Projects update

The bottle school project is coming along. I visited the community today where they have about 1000 bottles filled. I dropped off 9 of my own. -- Last night the power went out, so after making a delicious dinner in the dark, I filled bottles by candlelight. Quite an exciting evening. Ideally we will start building in November, but it depends on how quickly the remaining bottles are filled and the funds roll in. We will likely end up building in January. (Nothing happens here in December due to the feria, Christmas and the New Year.)

(Some of the school's bottles)

(My bottles. Aren't they pretty? I was kind of sad to turn them in today. I'm also a dork.)

This week I will finish the proposal for another project: a small community-sized sanitary landfill for the village Agua Caliente. We will begin environmental education and training this month, the trench will be dug out next month, and in January we will line it with plastic, build the cement tank for liquid run-off, and place the trash cans around town. Piece of cake! Right? I hope so!

The trail continues to be a theme in my life. Last week we brought the final middle school for the year up to build trail. (School ends this month.) They did a great job, but we still have a ways to go. Everytime we bring kids up to work on the trail, it makes me wonder about child labor concerns. Just kidding! They're learning to about ecotourism and will better appreciate the trail when they use it in the future. But I do sometimes ponder on it when I am supervising a dozen kids working away with hoes and machetes just for a snack.

In another school we're looking at building a retaining wall out of used tires. This project, however, I am trying to distance myself from a bit... I only have 5 1/2 months left. I should not over-commit myself! (Me, over-commit myself? Never!) As well with an environmental summer camp that I've been planning with the librarian. I would love to do it, but I just don't know if I have time.

I talk of being almost done, yet sometimes it seems like I have a long time left! Such are the ups and downs of Peace Corps. Luckily my ankle is treating me relatively well and thus can be active again (mainly biking, hiking, lifting rocks and jump roping, but I am slowly incorporating in running and soccer, plus a new one -- karate/self-defense classes right here in Sija!), otherwise I would be miserable!

Playing with Bees

You would think I would have learned my lesson in high school when on two different occassions I was stung on my face by bees. Both stings resulted in ginormous swollen lips. The first sting resulted from playing with a bee's nest during cross country practice freshman year. After pulling out a stick that a teammate had shoved in it so that my dad/coach wouldn't see that we had disobeyed him, they swarmed me. One caught my lower lip. I was going to hide it from my dad until it became so large that that was impossible. Amazingly, though, I ran a fantastic race the next day. I wonder if bee stings are a form of doping? Anyway, the second one wasn't my fault. I was just running down the bike path by Autzen Stadium and out of nowhere, a bee flew into my upper lip. Lucky me, team pictures were the next day.

Take that into account as I tell you about my day.

I was sitting in the office working away when Don Armando rushed in and frantically started telling me about bees and cows and dogs. I was lost and asked him what he wanted me to do. Since I am "la encargada de medio ambiente" (the one in charge of the environment), he wanted me to come see the bees that had attacked these animals to determine what species it was. I told him that I'm not a bee expert. He told me to come anyway, that maybe I could help. Might as well, I thought, it'll get me out of the office.

We hopped into the truck and drove up the mountain. Along the way we picked up a semi-hysterical girl who had been stung by the bees. Once we got to the house it was clear to me that I was of no help. There were bees everywhere; the owner of the house had a least a dozen swarming around his head. The men went at the bees with brooms, buckets of water and Raid. I got out for awhile but then thought better of it and went to wait in the truck.

Supposedly one dog had already died from all the stings and the cow was in pretty bad shape after being stung by "thousands." The men walked the cow down the hill and dumped water on her. Intrigued, I cautiously opened my window and watched at a safe distance... or so I thought. Ten minutes passed by uneventully sitting there reading my book. Then BAM. A bee flew in fast, straight to my face and stung me in the cheek. I just laughed at myself. When will I ever learn? Not even solely with respect to bees, I just like to put myself in dangerous situations. That's what adventure is though, right?

Luckily my face didn't swell up this time, although it could be a great look to fend off creepsters that like to whistle at me.

Futbol

Back to playing soccer with my co-workers today. It was clear that even with how much I've already played with them, they are not used to having a woman around as they all were stripping down to their whitey-tighties right there next to me. I did my best to keep my eyes forward. That is not something I care to see! But eventually I got up and did laps around the field while waiting... my ankle felt great!! First time that I've had a full stride since June! Of course then, in the game, I tweaked my good ankle and am now limping again. Maybe I should stay away from sports with balls. (Even though I scored a picturesque goal!)

I'm Superwoman. Street food cannot harm me.

Yesterday, after a lovely hike to Laguna Chicabal, I got back to my site craving street food. A woman I know sells pupusas (corn tortillas filled with cheese and/or chicharon (fried pig skin)) but only on Saturdays, so I was stoked. Sadly, though, no one brought her chicharon, so she didn't make them. I would've been more than pleased with just cheese pupusas (actually, preferrable), but she didn't make those either.

Instead she made empanadas: cheese, apple and some milk thing. I went for cheesy and was told it'd be 5 minutes. To kill time, Patita and I strolled through the park (where she pooped, how embarrassing!). When we came back, she was still making them, so we chatted about the murders reported in the newspaper while I waited. I got less and less excited about my empanada as I waited, though.

She and her children who were helping her were coughing and wiping their noses. Then she said to someone, "Como me esta afectando la fiebre." Translation: "This fever is really affecting me." Crap, I thought, I am for sure getting sick from this. Last time I had pupusas (in another town) I ended up with amoebas. But I don't learn. At this point it was too late to cancel my order so I cringed as I continued watching them make my food. When it was served to me, I ate it. It would've been rude otherwise. Food is a very sensitive subject in this country.

Turns out, it was pretty delicious and I just thought about that as I ate it.

I was fully expecting to be throwing up with diarrhea today, but *knock on wood* I am feeling healthy, and, typically, food-borne illnesses hit within 24 hours (I should know). Thus, I am superwoman. On another note, the neighbor boys call me "superchica" because I can turn tires inside out.

Feliz cumple Guate!!

Sitting here on my balcony watching the lightning flash while the sun sets over the distant mountains is the perfect end to a wonderfully fulfilling holiday weekend. And Sija is refreshingly tranquil after spending the past day and a half in Xela for the culmination of Guatemala’s Independence Day weekend.

I’ve been needing a little escape from life in my site recently. With the pressure of getting projects started and finished at the same time as my Close of Service date draws nearer (now just 6 ½ months left!) and strains that still linger from integrating into a new site, the break was quite welcome. It started with an 80s Prom Party with other PCVs on Friday night. I love dressing up in ridiculous costumes, plus it was great to see some friends I hadn’t seen for awhile.

Saturday morning Judy and I set off to the beach, but not to just any old sunny, warm, tourist-magnet. We went to Theo’s site (Hawaii) where he lives beach-front in a small village and works in the nearby turtle rescue center/hatchery and on mangrove restoration projects. The long trip (8 hours when we expected 6) was well worth it.

Saturday evening we enjoyed a barefoot walk down the beach to a potluck at Theo's park. I was only expecting food, but we were lucky to see and hold newly-hatched sea turtles. Once they woke up, we released them onto the beach and watched them race into the ocean. (Turtles don’t wake up until about an hour after they hatch.) We released around 40, but the survival rate is only 1 out of 1000! As the waves swept up the little tortugas, I felt scared for them. What a journey they are embarking on! We also helped dig nests in the hatchery and bury the newly collected eggs so that they will be more protected than just on the beach.

Theo and I woke up before sunrise the next morning to take the kayaks into the mangrove forest. We weaved our way through the narrow paths for about 30 minutes then popped out into a beautiful lagoon. We were rewarded for our early-rising with great bird watching, including the spotting of two different parrot species! (Pictures below: kayaking through the path of the mangroves; entering the lagoon; the lagoon; and, if you look closely, parrots on the branch)

Later in the day we played in the ocean, battling the huge waves. While Theo took Judy kayaking in the evening, I spent some quality one-on-one time with the sea. The ocean is something that truly amazes and inspires me every time I visit it. Sitting on the beach watching the sunset over the breaking waves is as close as I get to church.

(Beachfront-cemetery)

Monday morning we woke up early (4 a.m.) so that we could catch the direct bus out of Hawaii; rather than having to take six buses and a boat, it dropped the number to just three buses. Although I didn’t want the trip to be so short, I also wanted to spend Monday night in Xela. September 15th marks the independence of all of Central America and is Xela’s feria (because it was its own country for two years), so it was the place to be last night. Parades, street food, a concert, dancing, good friends. It was the best night out I’ve had in a long time; perhaps the best I’ve had in Guatemala.

Parades: Guatemalans love their desfiles. We tried to cross one during a gap in order to get into the park and were very much hated for that.

Street food: We discovered the best street food Guatemala has to offer: crepes on a stick filled with NUTELLA (a rare delicacy) and pulled pork/guacamole sandwiches.

Concert: Malacates, an awesome Guatemalan rock band, played for free. We were lucky to squeeze into a good spot in the crowd. It might have been the best concert I’ve ever been to (although I haven’t been to many).

Dancing: Discos promised to be open until 6 a.m. to celebrate the nation’s birth, thus Sarah and I were determined to keep on dancing until the sun rose, something I rarely do. There was such an energy the whole night that I didn’t even feel the time pass. Although by the time I climbed into my bed at six, my legs were feeling all the dancing that I had put them through!

I decided that I am leaving no regrets here and am committed to fully experiencing everything these last six months have to offer, be it dancing until dawn, traveling to places I haven’t yet been to, or forcing myself to have the awkward interactions with people in my town so that I can feel better integrated. I’ve done a good job thus far, but the last six months are like the kick at the end of a race: I may tire myself out, but that’s better than the regrets of squandering my experience.

This morning we rolled out of bed after three hours of sleep to watch the big parade then check out the feria. The feria was a lot like going to a county fair, but much more crowded, crazy and disorderly. I rode a ride called “The Inverter” which was definitely a bit sketchy but worth the thrill. Then we had just enough time to get some 3 for Q10 tacos and another Nutella-filled crepe-on-a-stick before we jumped onto our respective buses to head back to our sites.

Although I am clearly counting down the months until my Peace Corps adventure ends, that doesn’t mean that I’m ready to be done. In a lot of ways, yes, I am longing to move on: I miss home – family, friends and the lifestyle; I’ve become restless, ready for a new adventure; and I miss my experience that I had in Chahal so much that it still makes it tough to want to be in Sija sometimes. But I also realized this weekend how much I will truly miss this country and the experiences that I have here. I came to this realization on my bus ride home from the beach. It was a typical trip: driving that could kill; brief friendships made with fellow passengers; questionable food from vendors; bus repairs; delays for parades on the highway. But as the bus sped madly down the coastal highway with an amazing view of the cordillera of volcanoes (I think I saw nine volcanoes in a 3 hour period), I realized how much I truly love my life here. Despite whatever hardships may arise, there is no question that I will miss Guatemala when I leave here. The countdown is fun, but trust me, I will not just be killing time while I flip the next seven pages on my calendar.

A novel idea for trash and a request

1After nearly two years of living in Guatemala as a Peace Corps volunteer, I've learned that I prefer social and environmental work over construction projects. That said, I've also seen the environmental damage trash causes in this part of the world. Here in San Carlos Sija, we burn our trash or throw it into a ravine. Neither option is good.

But finding an alternative for the trash is challenging. Recycling is largely restricted to the capital due to transport issues. I would love to establish a sanitary landfill, but it is extremely costly and requires teaching people to use it correctly and setting up and maintaining a trash collection system. Out of 334 municipalities in Guatemala, there are just one or two that have sanitary landfills. Some have trash collection, but then after collection simply throw it in a ravine, the river, or off the side of the road.

There is a solution that combines the need for both environmental projects and infrastructure projects: building with plastic bottles full of inorganic trash. It is something that has been implemented in various places throughout Guatemala. The idea was born with the NGO Pura Vida (http://www.puravidaatitlan.org/english.html), who named the bottles “eco-ladrillos” (eco-bricks).

I have personally participated in some of these construction projects and can tell you it clearly works. Last year, a PCV built a two-room school house with her community in Uspantan, el Quiche. I traveled to her site to learn about and help in the construction process. Wood is used for the frame, then the bottles are placed between chicken wire, and three layers of cement is spread on both sides of the wall to protect the bottles; the roof is corrugated tin. (See attached photo.) In the end, the school cost around $4,500 whereas the typical school out of concrete blocks costs approximately $18,750. (You can see the complete process in photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahscott8/BottleSchoolInGuatemala.)

With these projects, there is the obvious benefit of cleaning up the community. Also, this style of construction meets needs with less expense and gets community members, from school children to grandparents, involved in the building process. I truly believe that in the proceeding years, we will see many more of these projects implemented, thus cleaning up the environment and saving money to be able to carry out more projects of a more diverse nature.

But for the people to truly believe it here, they need to see it. So before I finish my Peace Corps tenure in April, I want to implement this project in my site so that it will serve as an example to the rest of Sija and surrounding communities that trash construction can be done.

The community that we selected to work with was the one that showed the most dedication and commitment. The teachers of Las Cerezas approached me and my counterpart with their need: a fourth classroom to complement their three rooms in order to better serve the six grades. Since we talked with them four weeks ago, the community has filled more than 1000 bottles and is searching for more trash in other communities because “se acabó la basura” (there’s no more trash). We’ve estimated that they need about 3000 more bottles to build the classroom that they need. They also have committed to donating their time for all the labor involved in construction. The teachers have written a solicitation to a large cement company looking for their assistance. Thus, what we are asking for is help in buying the remaining materials. (The photo below is of where we will build the room.)

I would prefer not to ask for money from friends and family because it is not as sustainable as the community learning to solicit their own funds, but in this case I see an exception. Please consider donating to this project. Even a small contribution will go a long way. Approximately $1.75 will build one square foot of wall for the classroom, with a total cost for the room at $2830.

If you have any questions, just let me know! Thank you for taking the time to read this and hopefully support our project. If you decide to donate, you can send checks to:

Friends of Guatemala ● P.O. Box 33018 ● Washington, D.C. 20033

*IMPORTANT* Make sure to put on the memo line of the check: “Audrey Squires – Cat. II”, otherwise your donation will go to the general scholarship fund.

Thanks for your support and if you know anyone else that may be interested in contributing, please forward my request. It means a lot to me and to the community. We hope to start building in November!

First harvest!

Today I pulled up my first radish and ate it! It was a little small; I will wait longer for the rest of them, but I had to try it! mmmm organic home-grown radish... This is the first time I've ever eaten something that I've grown! Completely MY work: building the garden, carrying the sil from the mountain, and planting the seeds. Quite a lovely feeling being so connected with the earth.