Another photo update so that I don't have to write much!

Below, this is the river in Sija. It had grown a lot more than this during tropical storm Agatha. It's always ugly, but she made it worse. Sija wasn't hit too bad, though. Not like other places.




Coban Half Marathon in May. My goal was 1:40 and top ten, but as sports go, you don't always achieve your goals. I ran 1:50:45 and was 23rd out of perhaps 500 women. The photos below are of me and some other PCVs, and the winner from Kenya. Everyone always talks about how fast los Kenianos are!











These photos are from the basketball tournament that I played in in Sija. My team took third place due to our pink and purple uniforms, obviously. The photo with four people in it is of my friends here in Sija - they are 4 hermanos that all brought home the gold. Fred, Alan and Jeramias' team won the men's, and Leslie's team won the women's.








Here we've got a guide-training hike (7 hours from Sija to Agua Caliente) that I did with my Agua Caliente village. Working with them has been my favorite project by far.

Bottle school update

Thanks again to everyone who has supported the construction of the classroom with trash-filled plastic bottles. The construction process has been slow due waiting on funds, encouraging community particpation, finding time to work with everyone's schedules, and filling the bottles completely full. We had a lot of bottles donated, but they were not filled full enough to be brick-like for the construction, so rather than building daily, we've had to fill bottles as well. But alli vamos!

We are almost done placing bottles. We have 1296 in place and lack 305 more! We still need to cement the walls and put a roof on, but we have a lead on some very likely financial support from an NGO that dedicates itself to helping with bottle projects. Ojala!!

Here are some fotos from the construction:

The builder and I putting the first bottle in place



One of the students helping



Agua Caliente, another community I work in, on a visit to learn how so that they can implement it in their village



The almost-finished product


Since I finish my service on June 22nd, we may not be able to finish construction during my tenure, but my replacement, Amber, is fantastic and will continue with the project and will continue updating me so that I can update you all!

y más...

I meant to publish this in May when I did the last set of photo updates, but I just realized that I didn't do it! In the end, it's more relevant now because these are photos from Volcan Pacaya, the one that erupted right before tropical storm Agatha. I guess now it's no longer a nice cone -- part of it was blown off! There's a video at the bottom of the explosions we saw (that we thought were big, but were nothing in comparison), but I don't think it uploaded well; I will try another day.

más...

Trek with Danya in the Cuchumatanes:

Foto update

My training class at our final conference in January. Almost all of them are gone now, silly me is still here!



My coworkers Don Armando and Martha checking out the progress on our trail. The first half should be inaugurated on May 28th!



View from my park to Volcanes Tajumulco and Tacana -- I've climbed both.



Martha and I relaxing at one of the rest stops along the trail. All of the park infrastructure looks like wood but is made out of recycled plastic.



Doing a trek through the Cuchumatanes mountains -- which transportation would you prefer?



Fresh squeezed orange juice in Agua Caliente. Yum.



Danya heading down the crazy slides in my town... I bruised my bum on this!



Doing an environmental ed particpatory lesson.



Danya came to visit and helped me coach the girls to play basketball at my bottle school. We didn't have much success, they still push, shove and tackle!

Ooops

As you've noticed, I've been slacking on my blog entries. Well this time I have a good excuse. My mother board died, i.e. I get online about twice a week and just long enough to read emails and not to respond.

So here's a quick update (pictures hopefully will accompany soon).

Bottle classroom -- Columns and beams are up; we will begin the bottle walls on May 4th. After that, we no longer have enough money for the roof, thus will be searching for more funds. If we don't finish up before I leave, my replacement is more than willing to continue the project.

Sanitary Landfill -- Finally we dug it out! Now the albañil is working on building the fence, roof, tank and putting in nylon and tubes! We will hopefully inaugurate April 29th!

Trail -- I have passed most of the work onto my replacement, but I am still going to work with her on an interpretation plan. We will be inaugurating in May right before I leave! (Guatemala is big on inaugurations!)

Life -- Enjoying it :) It's going to be so hard to leave this place in 6 weeks, but at the same time, so hard to stay.

Being replaced is a strange feeling

Just over two years ago when I said my goodbyes and headed off to Guatemala for an adventure of a lifetime, I thought I would be returning home in April 2010, i.e. in two weeks. Well, plans have changed, and I am so glad. I'm not quite ready to close this chapter in my life. Having changed sites a year ago (I now have been in Sija for exactly one year), it took awhile to feel like part of the community here. Now I really really do, and so I want to enjoy that for a bit rather than just when I'm feeling integrated, take off. Two years in one site may have seemed like a long time when I began, but now it makes so much sense.

Now, I am here until the end of May. A big reason for the extension was to just be here, but it's also to finish my projects. The construction of the bottle classroom is progressing nicely. The mason told me that by Friday the columns would be done and that we could start putting bottles up. (Which probably means we will begin Monday.) We are going to build the walls before the roof because we don't have enough money yet for the roof, but for the walls we do. Hopefully by the time we finish the walls, more funding will have come in to put the roof up. And ideally we will be able to have the inauguration before I leave. But if not, I am sure my replacement will be capable and willing to see it through.

Speaking of my replacement, she comes on her site visit today. It is a very strange feeling to be replaced, but my time must come to an end at some point. We will have a two month overlap, which will help us collaborate to finish the projects and generate more ideas for her service.

This week we should start excavating the trench for the sanitary landfill in Agua Caliente. I was hoping to have it functioning for Semana Santa since so much trash is generated that week, but that looks improbable. It will be finished before I leave, though. An important part of the project is the follow-up on the usage of the trash management system that we are implementing. We can't just build a landfill and expect them to use it perfectly. It's not simply about the construction, but about the change of habits. I will be leaving quickly after it's completion, thus the responsibility of follow-up on proper usage will fall to my replacement, which I am sure she will do wonderfully.

The trail is looking quite lovely as well. We are almost done building railings and setting up tables and benches. What I hope to collaborate on with my replacement is an interpretation plan, then she can follow through on implementing it.

It all seems to be coming together nicely. My Peace Corps service has been a very positive experience for me and hopefully my projects and my presence will have positive impacts on the community. It really feels fantastic to be in love with this town. I never thought I would be after leaving Chahal so abruptly. But now I have been here in Sija two months longer than I had in Chahal. I'm proud of what I have accomplished/am accomplishing in my work, but more so, I am proud of becoming part of this community. For me, the second and third goals of Peace Corps may be more important than the first (i.e. cultural interchange):

1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.