This is an unavoidable topic of conversation when living in a third world country. It's very exciting when it comes out solid, but that can be rare. I've had many bouts of diarrhea in my nearly 2 months in country, but luckily, it is becoming less frequent. However, Saturday, the monster returned. Typically, it's pretty easy to deal with, except that on Sunday I had to travel about 3 hours by chicken bus for my volunteer visit. A few of us traveling in the same direction met up at the bus stop in San Lucas and waited for about an hour to catch the right bus. During the wait, however, I had to find a bathroom. I went searching for one, and made sure to bring my toilet paper with me. (Always carry t.p. when traveling!) BUT, I forgot to bring some money, and in public bathrooms, payment is required.
I found a bathroom in the local market where a little girl and her mother were in charge of collecting 1 Quetzal and handing out toilet paper. Immediately when I saw them, I thought, "Oh shit." I definitely did not have time to go back and grab a Q and come back to the bathroom. So I tried convincing them that I have my own t.p. But they said no, they were being watched by the manager and couldn't let me go in. I told them that I had to use it. They asked if I was going to vomit. No, I said, it's coming from the other end. I told them I would use my own t.p. and then bring a Q back when I was done. I promised. The never agreed, but didn't stop me either.
I am a terrible person. I did not return with the Q to pay them. But my rationale was that I used my own toilet paper, and I didn't want to miss the next bus.
We found a bus by 10:15 or so and hopped on. I squeezed in as the third person on a school bus seat made for two, which normally would be fine, but under these circumstances, it was not very comfortable. It was supposed to be about a 2 hour ride. I could make it, right? I was reading, trying to distract myself, then all of a sudden the bus began to swerve all over the pass in order to pass a line of other cars and buses and then abruptly came to a stop. What happened is that the driver passed the entire line stopped at the construction, so that we could be the first in line. Great. 30 extra minutes on the bus. But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
The urge to poop came back. I looked out the window. Tons of locals were there, making money off of the construction by selling food to those stopped. Perfect. No trees to hide behind, and lots of people around. But, there was a deep ravine. I got up, had Joey save my seat and watch my stuff for me, and walked off the bus, my trusty toilet paper in hand. I found a nice little spot in the ravine and took care of business. However, while I was down there, I stepped in someone else's crap, which smelled terribly. (Dog? Person? I'm not sure.) I tried to wipe it off, but to no avail. I stunk up the bus.
Off to the races. The buses began to line up. Three in a row on the front line. The construction workers removed the 2x4 lined with nails and off we went. It was a race to the corner about 100 meters away. We won! And luckily slowed down just enough not to flip over while rounding the curve. But the others did not give up. In the next straight away, one of the other chicken buses passed us and took the lead. And in the following one, the other bus pulled up along side of us, but the corner and head on traffic came too quickly. We held second place for the rest of the ride. And I held in my diarrhea.
27 February 2008
20 February 2008
Goodbye Worries!
For those of you who know me well, you know I worry a lot, and about trivial things. Well, I have finally come to the realization that I will be a lot happier and a lot more sane if I nix this habit. So I writing this to say that it is gone. If you hear me worrying about useless things, slap me, or pretend to through an email. This is one of my major goals while being here: relax and don't worry!
On another note, I am done with Spanish classes! Por fin! I get to do more technical training now. And on Sunday I leave for Corazon del Bosque to spend 5 days one-on-one with a volunteer. The park is near Lago de Atitlan, which some consider to be the third most beautiful lake in the world! And I get to travel alone on chicken buses to get there! Freedom, at last!
On another note, I am done with Spanish classes! Por fin! I get to do more technical training now. And on Sunday I leave for Corazon del Bosque to spend 5 days one-on-one with a volunteer. The park is near Lago de Atitlan, which some consider to be the third most beautiful lake in the world! And I get to travel alone on chicken buses to get there! Freedom, at last!
Field Based Training
Last week was the best week yet that I've had here in Guatemala. After a month or so of very little independence, we got to escape to Field-Based Training. We left last Sunday and spent a week traveling around Guatemala to visit current ecotourism volunteers at their sites, learn about their projects, and see what their daily lives are like.
We crammed 13 of us, plus all of our stuff for a week, into a smaller version of the 15 passenger vans that we're used to in the states and headed off to Chilasco, Baja Verapaz. (There are 22 departments, which are like states, in Guatemala; Baja Verapaz is one of them which is north of the capital. We also went to Alta Verapaz and Quiche.) Chilasco is an aldea, which means it has less than 1000 inhabitants and is fairly disconnected. We had to drive 45 minutes up an unpaved road to get to it. The attraction at this site is a 130 meter waterfall, "Salto de Chilasco." It's the tallest waterfall in all of Central America, and was only discovered in 1990! The local population more or less knew it existed, but didn't realize the value of it, so didn't bother visiting it. They are so busy with their fields that it doesn't make sense to just go for a hike. So this waterfall is a fairly new attraction, and thus a Peace Corps volunteer is stationed there to help them develop the site … and someone from my group will be replacing him, most likely one of the guys because they don't tend to place females in such secluded locations for safety reasons. So this will probably not be my new home.
The volunteer at that site has done a great job developing it. He's currently helping the association he works with apply for a grant called the "Debt Swap." Guatemala has a 15 million dollar debt to the U.S., but the U.S. will forgive the debt if that money is invested into environmental conservation. Pretty cool. The association that he works with is very enthusiastic and hard-working, which can be rare here. One of the members greeted us with a heartfelt speech about how much he appreciates what we have given up in order to contribute to his country. It was pretty inspiring and reminded me why I am here. That afternoon we hiked the 3 kilometers to see the waterfall. Chilasco is in a cloud forest, so the vegetation is incredibly diverse, but it also rains a lot (it felt a little like home!). It was raining on Sunday, so when we got to the waterfall, we couldn't even see it! Luckily, after about 5 minutes the clouds parted and gave us an amazing view of the waterfall. It felt great to get in a good hike. Although it was only 6 km round trip, it was up and down the whole way, so a good workout indeed. And I got covered in mud, which is always fun.
Monday we helped paint the Visitors Center then hit the road to San Cristobal, Alta Verapaz. There we met another volunteer whose project is to work with a coffee farm to create tours of the farm. That has been a difficult project for her because her counterpart (each of us will receive a counterpart, which is a Guatemalan individual or group that we will be working with) has been very challenging to work with. So she has picked up a secondary project of working with a cultural museum of the Pokomchi (one of the Maya groups). After we went to the museum, Dave, Laura and I went for a run through town – my first in two weeks because of my silly soccer injuries. It was fantastic. We ended up at a church that's on top of a hill that overlooks the town and the lagoon next to it. The view was amazing with the mountains and the water. San Cristobal is a cute town, and it made me realize that maybe it would be nice to be in a town of a few thousand people. Originally, I thought that I'd want to be in an aldea – super secluded with only a few hundred people living there. Even though that's the kind of seclusion I have in Yellowstone, and I love that, it would be a bit different here because I don't have a car. There would be no internet access in a place like that, and possibly no market, and it could take a few hours on a chicken bus to get to town. (Oh yes, chicken buses. I don't believe I've mentioned these yet: the U.S. sells old school buses to Guatemalans who then put in new, more powerful engines, paint them vibrant colors, and decorate the insides with religious paraphernalia, naked women, and U.S. cartoon figures. They're cheap and they go everywhere, but sometimes I'm afraid they're going to roll over as they take the corners a bit too fast.) Point being, though, that being in a "big town" of a few thousand people wouldn't be too bad. I would have access to basic amenities, and there would probably be a pretty sweet market where I could buy the produce that I crave.
The next morning, after breakfast (which was finally fruit, instead of the usual beans and eggs!), we headed out to Chicaman and Uspantan, Quiche. The highway we took is one of the major thorofares in Guatemala, yet most of it is not paved. After the Peace Accords in 1996, the country could finally think about something besides war, so the president initiated a lot of road improvement projects. This one, though, only started about two years ago and is no where close to being finished. Due to the construction, there are long waits to get through, but we didn't know the hours of them before we left. So we gambled … and lost. It's closed between 9 am and noon. We got to the stop at 9:30 – 2 ½ hours of waiting. But don't worry, about a dozen local women had made the trip down to the encuentra to sell their homemade food at elevated prices. We also passed the time swinging on a vine over the creek with some local girls, and getting diesel fumes blown in our faces by the dump trucks. When noon finally rolled around, it was off to the races. Lines don't really exist in Guatemala, so it didn't matter that we were the first to arrive. The other vehicles around us jockeyed for position trying to shove past other vehicles when there was no way they would succeed.
We eventually arrived in Chicaman, Quiche. It's a rich town of about 2000 people, mainly ladinos (that's the name for a mix of white and indigenous blood), that was created only about 50 years ago. One volunteer lives there, and 5 miles down the road in Uspantan, there's another ecotourism volunteer, as well as two others: environmental education and municipal development. Uspantan has about 6000 residents and is mainly indigenous, thus there is a bit of a feud between the two towns. We spent the rest of the week (Tuesday through Saturday) in this area.
Tuesday we learned about the projects in Uspantan. We went to a Mayan ceremonial hill that overlooks the town. The volunteer is working on getting the municipality to buy the land in order to protect the site. The guide that took us up there showed us a cave that is used for ceremonies, which supposedly connects to Coban, about 50 miles away. He said that in 3 days, you could make the trip. I'm not so sure I believe him, but if it is true, imagine how crazy that trip would be! No sun for 3 days and camping out in a cave. But there is a danger involved in it, besides the risk of claustrophobia: the bat poop in caves like this could have a mold growing on them that would cause fungal pneumonia – the volunteer in Chicaman came down with this a couple years ago. The Uspantan volunteer has two other main projects that she's working on. With her site mates, she is building a school out of recycled materials (plastic bottles filled with trash) for a local community that is lacking a school. She also works in the village that Rigoberta Menchu (the Nobel Peace Prize winning indigenous woman who spoke up during the civil war) is from. Supposedly, though, that village no longer cares for Menchu because she didn't bring any of the money she won back to the community. She also made some false statements in her book.
I really loved Uspantan and could see myself living there. Again, the town's a bit bigger than I thought I'd want, but it has an AMAZING market, which would be quite worth the size of the town. The area is also spectacular; I'm told that there are many great places to run, and the house I would inherit from the current volunteer is incredible. The word on the street is that one of the ecotourism girls will be assigned to Uspantan, which leaves me with a 50% chance of being assigned there. I would be quite happy there, except the site lacks actual ecotourism projects and instead has mainly community/cultural tourism. We will see. I can tell Flavio (my boss) my site preferences, but I think he already has a good idea of where he will be putting each of us, which will be made known in TWO WEEKS!! I can't wait.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we got to know the sites within Chicaman. First, we went to an archaeological site that is a few hours up another dirt road. The site is on the property of Don Julio. When he inherited his property, he had the option to sell some large cedar trees for Q30,000 ($4000) each, which is a lot of money. But he decided not to, and instead is working with CONAP (Guatemala's park service) to protect his land. In that beautiful forest of his, he found a handful of classic and post-classic Mayan temples. It was incredible. In December, some archaeologists are coming to do a dig and determine the origins of what's there. Also on his land are 7 natural springs of water, one of which he sends right beneath his outhouse for a constant flush. We were also incredibly lucky to see a Quetzal (the Guatemalan national bird, and the name of its currency), which is quite rare. Don Julio is an interesting man indeed. It was amazing how much he cares about protecting his forest. He has another side to him, though. Word on the street is that back in the days of the war, he killed some of the people from Rigoberta Menchu's village. But supposedly they killed his father. Thus, the probability of those two groups working together is highly unlikely, even though it would be a great little circuit of tourism and would benefit both groups.
On Thursday, we headed, once again, a few hours up another unpaved road to an aldea named Pajuil. (A pajuil is a large black bird that looks kind of like a turkey, but has been hunted close to extinction by the locals.) The volunteer is working with Pajuil to establish a community tourism project. Our assignment for the day was to put on a workshop for the community members. In the morning, 5 trainees each gave a charla (presentation) to a women's artesania group on the basics of marketing, so they can start selling the goods that they make. In the afternoon, the other 5 of us gave charlas about tourism to the men of the tourism committee. My presentation was about the experience that a tourist desires (particularly a tourist that is leaving the beaten path to come up to Pajuil). My main points were that the tourist wants a unique experience, including nature, tranquility, and culture. Therefore, I tried to communicate to the men that they need to conserve their natural and cultural resources. In saying this, I meant to tell them that, for example, they shouldn't hunt the birds. The word for hunt is cazar, but, when speaking in front of a large group of people in Spanish, it is very easy to misspeak. So instead of using the verb cazar, I used a very similar one: casarse, which means to marry. So I told these men that they shouldn't marry the birds! Really, in my head I said it with a "z", but I added the –se on the end, and thus it sounded like casarse. Oh well, everyone likes to laugh at the gringa. But I think I got my point across that they need to conserve those resources because they can use them for tourism. They're also worried about the disintegration of their culture, and so I tried to communicate to them that through educating the tourists about their culture, it can live on in their hearts and minds.
As we were leaving they got out the generator (no electricity in the village) to watch their weekly movie. Following the theme of the day, they put on Tourists, which is a movie about locals eating the organs of tourists. Francisco, the town leader, told us that he was showing it so that the community members would know what not to do.
Our final activity, on Friday, was tubing down the Rio Chixoy. It's one of the few rivers that isn't contaminated in Guatemala, which is due to its remoteness. We were supposed to do some trail work after the trip, but it was so unorganized in the morning that we didn't have time in the afternoon, so we just didn't do any work that day. The river was beautiful, especially at the end where there are a couple hundred meters of waterfalls pouring off the cliffs above into the river.
All in all, a pretty exciting week!
We crammed 13 of us, plus all of our stuff for a week, into a smaller version of the 15 passenger vans that we're used to in the states and headed off to Chilasco, Baja Verapaz. (There are 22 departments, which are like states, in Guatemala; Baja Verapaz is one of them which is north of the capital. We also went to Alta Verapaz and Quiche.) Chilasco is an aldea, which means it has less than 1000 inhabitants and is fairly disconnected. We had to drive 45 minutes up an unpaved road to get to it. The attraction at this site is a 130 meter waterfall, "Salto de Chilasco." It's the tallest waterfall in all of Central America, and was only discovered in 1990! The local population more or less knew it existed, but didn't realize the value of it, so didn't bother visiting it. They are so busy with their fields that it doesn't make sense to just go for a hike. So this waterfall is a fairly new attraction, and thus a Peace Corps volunteer is stationed there to help them develop the site … and someone from my group will be replacing him, most likely one of the guys because they don't tend to place females in such secluded locations for safety reasons. So this will probably not be my new home.
The volunteer at that site has done a great job developing it. He's currently helping the association he works with apply for a grant called the "Debt Swap." Guatemala has a 15 million dollar debt to the U.S., but the U.S. will forgive the debt if that money is invested into environmental conservation. Pretty cool. The association that he works with is very enthusiastic and hard-working, which can be rare here. One of the members greeted us with a heartfelt speech about how much he appreciates what we have given up in order to contribute to his country. It was pretty inspiring and reminded me why I am here. That afternoon we hiked the 3 kilometers to see the waterfall. Chilasco is in a cloud forest, so the vegetation is incredibly diverse, but it also rains a lot (it felt a little like home!). It was raining on Sunday, so when we got to the waterfall, we couldn't even see it! Luckily, after about 5 minutes the clouds parted and gave us an amazing view of the waterfall. It felt great to get in a good hike. Although it was only 6 km round trip, it was up and down the whole way, so a good workout indeed. And I got covered in mud, which is always fun.
Monday we helped paint the Visitors Center then hit the road to San Cristobal, Alta Verapaz. There we met another volunteer whose project is to work with a coffee farm to create tours of the farm. That has been a difficult project for her because her counterpart (each of us will receive a counterpart, which is a Guatemalan individual or group that we will be working with) has been very challenging to work with. So she has picked up a secondary project of working with a cultural museum of the Pokomchi (one of the Maya groups). After we went to the museum, Dave, Laura and I went for a run through town – my first in two weeks because of my silly soccer injuries. It was fantastic. We ended up at a church that's on top of a hill that overlooks the town and the lagoon next to it. The view was amazing with the mountains and the water. San Cristobal is a cute town, and it made me realize that maybe it would be nice to be in a town of a few thousand people. Originally, I thought that I'd want to be in an aldea – super secluded with only a few hundred people living there. Even though that's the kind of seclusion I have in Yellowstone, and I love that, it would be a bit different here because I don't have a car. There would be no internet access in a place like that, and possibly no market, and it could take a few hours on a chicken bus to get to town. (Oh yes, chicken buses. I don't believe I've mentioned these yet: the U.S. sells old school buses to Guatemalans who then put in new, more powerful engines, paint them vibrant colors, and decorate the insides with religious paraphernalia, naked women, and U.S. cartoon figures. They're cheap and they go everywhere, but sometimes I'm afraid they're going to roll over as they take the corners a bit too fast.) Point being, though, that being in a "big town" of a few thousand people wouldn't be too bad. I would have access to basic amenities, and there would probably be a pretty sweet market where I could buy the produce that I crave.
The next morning, after breakfast (which was finally fruit, instead of the usual beans and eggs!), we headed out to Chicaman and Uspantan, Quiche. The highway we took is one of the major thorofares in Guatemala, yet most of it is not paved. After the Peace Accords in 1996, the country could finally think about something besides war, so the president initiated a lot of road improvement projects. This one, though, only started about two years ago and is no where close to being finished. Due to the construction, there are long waits to get through, but we didn't know the hours of them before we left. So we gambled … and lost. It's closed between 9 am and noon. We got to the stop at 9:30 – 2 ½ hours of waiting. But don't worry, about a dozen local women had made the trip down to the encuentra to sell their homemade food at elevated prices. We also passed the time swinging on a vine over the creek with some local girls, and getting diesel fumes blown in our faces by the dump trucks. When noon finally rolled around, it was off to the races. Lines don't really exist in Guatemala, so it didn't matter that we were the first to arrive. The other vehicles around us jockeyed for position trying to shove past other vehicles when there was no way they would succeed.
We eventually arrived in Chicaman, Quiche. It's a rich town of about 2000 people, mainly ladinos (that's the name for a mix of white and indigenous blood), that was created only about 50 years ago. One volunteer lives there, and 5 miles down the road in Uspantan, there's another ecotourism volunteer, as well as two others: environmental education and municipal development. Uspantan has about 6000 residents and is mainly indigenous, thus there is a bit of a feud between the two towns. We spent the rest of the week (Tuesday through Saturday) in this area.
Tuesday we learned about the projects in Uspantan. We went to a Mayan ceremonial hill that overlooks the town. The volunteer is working on getting the municipality to buy the land in order to protect the site. The guide that took us up there showed us a cave that is used for ceremonies, which supposedly connects to Coban, about 50 miles away. He said that in 3 days, you could make the trip. I'm not so sure I believe him, but if it is true, imagine how crazy that trip would be! No sun for 3 days and camping out in a cave. But there is a danger involved in it, besides the risk of claustrophobia: the bat poop in caves like this could have a mold growing on them that would cause fungal pneumonia – the volunteer in Chicaman came down with this a couple years ago. The Uspantan volunteer has two other main projects that she's working on. With her site mates, she is building a school out of recycled materials (plastic bottles filled with trash) for a local community that is lacking a school. She also works in the village that Rigoberta Menchu (the Nobel Peace Prize winning indigenous woman who spoke up during the civil war) is from. Supposedly, though, that village no longer cares for Menchu because she didn't bring any of the money she won back to the community. She also made some false statements in her book.
I really loved Uspantan and could see myself living there. Again, the town's a bit bigger than I thought I'd want, but it has an AMAZING market, which would be quite worth the size of the town. The area is also spectacular; I'm told that there are many great places to run, and the house I would inherit from the current volunteer is incredible. The word on the street is that one of the ecotourism girls will be assigned to Uspantan, which leaves me with a 50% chance of being assigned there. I would be quite happy there, except the site lacks actual ecotourism projects and instead has mainly community/cultural tourism. We will see. I can tell Flavio (my boss) my site preferences, but I think he already has a good idea of where he will be putting each of us, which will be made known in TWO WEEKS!! I can't wait.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we got to know the sites within Chicaman. First, we went to an archaeological site that is a few hours up another dirt road. The site is on the property of Don Julio. When he inherited his property, he had the option to sell some large cedar trees for Q30,000 ($4000) each, which is a lot of money. But he decided not to, and instead is working with CONAP (Guatemala's park service) to protect his land. In that beautiful forest of his, he found a handful of classic and post-classic Mayan temples. It was incredible. In December, some archaeologists are coming to do a dig and determine the origins of what's there. Also on his land are 7 natural springs of water, one of which he sends right beneath his outhouse for a constant flush. We were also incredibly lucky to see a Quetzal (the Guatemalan national bird, and the name of its currency), which is quite rare. Don Julio is an interesting man indeed. It was amazing how much he cares about protecting his forest. He has another side to him, though. Word on the street is that back in the days of the war, he killed some of the people from Rigoberta Menchu's village. But supposedly they killed his father. Thus, the probability of those two groups working together is highly unlikely, even though it would be a great little circuit of tourism and would benefit both groups.
On Thursday, we headed, once again, a few hours up another unpaved road to an aldea named Pajuil. (A pajuil is a large black bird that looks kind of like a turkey, but has been hunted close to extinction by the locals.) The volunteer is working with Pajuil to establish a community tourism project. Our assignment for the day was to put on a workshop for the community members. In the morning, 5 trainees each gave a charla (presentation) to a women's artesania group on the basics of marketing, so they can start selling the goods that they make. In the afternoon, the other 5 of us gave charlas about tourism to the men of the tourism committee. My presentation was about the experience that a tourist desires (particularly a tourist that is leaving the beaten path to come up to Pajuil). My main points were that the tourist wants a unique experience, including nature, tranquility, and culture. Therefore, I tried to communicate to the men that they need to conserve their natural and cultural resources. In saying this, I meant to tell them that, for example, they shouldn't hunt the birds. The word for hunt is cazar, but, when speaking in front of a large group of people in Spanish, it is very easy to misspeak. So instead of using the verb cazar, I used a very similar one: casarse, which means to marry. So I told these men that they shouldn't marry the birds! Really, in my head I said it with a "z", but I added the –se on the end, and thus it sounded like casarse. Oh well, everyone likes to laugh at the gringa. But I think I got my point across that they need to conserve those resources because they can use them for tourism. They're also worried about the disintegration of their culture, and so I tried to communicate to them that through educating the tourists about their culture, it can live on in their hearts and minds.
As we were leaving they got out the generator (no electricity in the village) to watch their weekly movie. Following the theme of the day, they put on Tourists, which is a movie about locals eating the organs of tourists. Francisco, the town leader, told us that he was showing it so that the community members would know what not to do.
Our final activity, on Friday, was tubing down the Rio Chixoy. It's one of the few rivers that isn't contaminated in Guatemala, which is due to its remoteness. We were supposed to do some trail work after the trip, but it was so unorganized in the morning that we didn't have time in the afternoon, so we just didn't do any work that day. The river was beautiful, especially at the end where there are a couple hundred meters of waterfalls pouring off the cliffs above into the river.
All in all, a pretty exciting week!
05 February 2008
Fotos
Links to the pictures from my first month or so in country:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025202&l=4a88f&id=27500355
http://willamette.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024340&l=e0d2f&id=27500355
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023524&l=6ac9a&id=27500355
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024066&l=56396&id=27500355
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025202&l=4a88f&id=27500355
http://willamette.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024340&l=e0d2f&id=27500355
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023524&l=6ac9a&id=27500355
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024066&l=56396&id=27500355
The Tiki Hut
In small town Guatemala, there are many limits to the activities in which women may partake: no drinking, no smoking, no attending soccer games, among other things. The smoking part doesn’t bother me, but the other two do. The local soccer league had its first games this weekend and I asked my host mom if the family goes to the games. No, she said, Orlando (the dad) doesn’t like to do anything on the weekends. Then she said that women don’t go. I figured, though, that an exception could be made for gringas, so Katie and I went with the boys. We received a few looks, but were left alone. She was right though, there was only one other female at the game.
Also according to my host mom, in Magdalena there are three women who drink. (Four including me, but we won´t be telling her that.) The town is pretty evangelical and thus anti-drinking. Catholic men drink, but that’s about it, and that’s similar to any small town. But, back at Santa Lucia where the training center is, they are so accustomed to us crazy gringos that a local opened a Tiki Hut awhile back just across the street to cater to PC volunteers that need a beer. Yesterday evening after our day at the center, a group of us went and had a bunch of liters of Brahvo: 17 Quetzales each, which is the equivalent of $2.23.
Living with families under the somewhat strict rules of the Peace Corps has made many of us feel like we’ve gone back about 5 or 10 years in our lives. For example, at the Tiki Hut, I had to call my mom to check in because it was after dark (7pm) and I was late for my curfew. I lied to her and told her I was doing some work late at the center with Chris. Then before I got home, I popped in some gum … I don’t want her to start gossiping that there are four women in town who drink. The Brahvo, though, did help with my conversational skills at dinner.
Also according to my host mom, in Magdalena there are three women who drink. (Four including me, but we won´t be telling her that.) The town is pretty evangelical and thus anti-drinking. Catholic men drink, but that’s about it, and that’s similar to any small town. But, back at Santa Lucia where the training center is, they are so accustomed to us crazy gringos that a local opened a Tiki Hut awhile back just across the street to cater to PC volunteers that need a beer. Yesterday evening after our day at the center, a group of us went and had a bunch of liters of Brahvo: 17 Quetzales each, which is the equivalent of $2.23.
Living with families under the somewhat strict rules of the Peace Corps has made many of us feel like we’ve gone back about 5 or 10 years in our lives. For example, at the Tiki Hut, I had to call my mom to check in because it was after dark (7pm) and I was late for my curfew. I lied to her and told her I was doing some work late at the center with Chris. Then before I got home, I popped in some gum … I don’t want her to start gossiping that there are four women in town who drink. The Brahvo, though, did help with my conversational skills at dinner.
Where There Is No Doctor
The PC Medical Office gave us a few presents upon arrival. First, a tool kit of various medical supplies from typical drugs to ace bandages to a whistle to anti-diarrhea pills. Second, a book entitled Where There Is No Doctor. I’ve already used it twice.
One of the statistics that they gave us was that most injuries here are sports related. As the nurse said, “We teach you how to be safe, but we don’t teach you how to play soccer.” Every Monday when all 36 of us trainees convene at the training center in Santa Lucia, a group of us plays a hardcore game of soccer afterwards. Last week, I rolled my ankle pretty good while playing soccer with my family on Sunday, then on Monday, I took a few balls and kicks in the same spot. The next day, I woke up with a swollen, bruised ankle. Somehow, in all my years of running, I had never sprained my ankle, thus, I cracked open my new book to see if it had any suggestions on how to fix my ankle. In reality, I knew what to do, but it was still nice to have.
This Monday, after some “rest”, i.e. I didn’t run last week, but I still walked a few miles every day, my ankle felt better, and being Monday, soccer was a must. I never have been very good at soccer, except for being able to run up and down the field, but my skills are improving: I scored a goal and had a few good steals and blocks. However, I hurt myself again. I kicked the ball hard, whilst knocking down Katie, and from that karma, jammed my toe to the extent that it feels it may be broken. It’s to the point that I can’t put any weight on it. My trusty book says ice, elevation, rest, which is quite the bummer, because I was excited to start running again now that my ankle is better! The nurse was right, they can’t teach us to play soccer. But, hopefully it gets better by Sunday, when we leave for Field Based Training: a week out visiting ecotourism volunteers in their sites, one of them being Chilasco, the tallest waterfall in all of Central America. Rest assured, I will write a good blog about that week!
One of the statistics that they gave us was that most injuries here are sports related. As the nurse said, “We teach you how to be safe, but we don’t teach you how to play soccer.” Every Monday when all 36 of us trainees convene at the training center in Santa Lucia, a group of us plays a hardcore game of soccer afterwards. Last week, I rolled my ankle pretty good while playing soccer with my family on Sunday, then on Monday, I took a few balls and kicks in the same spot. The next day, I woke up with a swollen, bruised ankle. Somehow, in all my years of running, I had never sprained my ankle, thus, I cracked open my new book to see if it had any suggestions on how to fix my ankle. In reality, I knew what to do, but it was still nice to have.
This Monday, after some “rest”, i.e. I didn’t run last week, but I still walked a few miles every day, my ankle felt better, and being Monday, soccer was a must. I never have been very good at soccer, except for being able to run up and down the field, but my skills are improving: I scored a goal and had a few good steals and blocks. However, I hurt myself again. I kicked the ball hard, whilst knocking down Katie, and from that karma, jammed my toe to the extent that it feels it may be broken. It’s to the point that I can’t put any weight on it. My trusty book says ice, elevation, rest, which is quite the bummer, because I was excited to start running again now that my ankle is better! The nurse was right, they can’t teach us to play soccer. But, hopefully it gets better by Sunday, when we leave for Field Based Training: a week out visiting ecotourism volunteers in their sites, one of them being Chilasco, the tallest waterfall in all of Central America. Rest assured, I will write a good blog about that week!
25 January 2008
Mi Proyecto: Ecoturismo
One thing I have learned about Peace Corps since I received my invitation 4 months ago is that they like to keep us in the dark about many things until we absolutely need to know them. For example, when asked what I’m doing in the Peace Corps, for quite awhile all I really knew was: ecotourism, whatever that encompasses. But little by little I have been learning more. Last Thursday we met with Flavio, the director of the Environmental Conservation and Income Generation Program. He shed a bit more light on what my life will be like over the next two years. I am now on a high because I am so excited about what’s waiting for me. I have the amazing opportunity of living in or near a protected area that has some ecological attraction that I get to work to develop and promote to tourists so that I can encourage the local communities to conserve the resources and make an income from tourism, rather than from the exploitation of nature. And within this, of course, the tourism that I will facilitate will be low-impact. Facilitate is a key word of whatever my project will be. We are not here to take over and do projects for the locals, rather, we are here to work as consultants and facilitate ideas of what these communities want/need. Then we will help them to realize these projects. But above all, these projects are to be sustainable, which means that when I leave my site in 26 months, the community should be able to carry on the projects without me. I won’t know where I will be until early March, but here are some examples of where current ecotourism volunteers are working: a volcano, the tallest waterfall in all of Central America, caves filled with bats, a gorgeous lake, on top of a mountain, and creating tubing adventures on a river that runs through caves. The list goes on and on. I could not be more excited. Moreover, the other volunteers are fantastic. I have a lot of fun with them. I am very happy here!
On Friday, we went on our first field trip for ecotourism training. Flavio and our trainer, Claire, took the ten of us first to Lago de Amatitlan, which is a lake that is in extreme stages of eutrophication, i.e. the water is extremely green. It has been used as a place to dump Guatemala City’s waste for many, many years, which has caused the expedited growth of blue-green algae on the surface which then disallows the penetration of any sunlight into the water. In other words, the water is disgusting and the lake is dead. The municipality is slowly trying to bring it back to life, but it’s a very large project, one that none of us will be working on. Nevertheless, it was very interesting to see, and deeply saddening. The location is absolutely beautiful, but it has been destroyed by humans.
On Friday, we went on our first field trip for ecotourism training. Flavio and our trainer, Claire, took the ten of us first to Lago de Amatitlan, which is a lake that is in extreme stages of eutrophication, i.e. the water is extremely green. It has been used as a place to dump Guatemala City’s waste for many, many years, which has caused the expedited growth of blue-green algae on the surface which then disallows the penetration of any sunlight into the water. In other words, the water is disgusting and the lake is dead. The municipality is slowly trying to bring it back to life, but it’s a very large project, one that none of us will be working on. Nevertheless, it was very interesting to see, and deeply saddening. The location is absolutely beautiful, but it has been destroyed by humans.
After the stopover at Amatitlan, we visited the volunteer that works at Volcan Pacaya. He talked with us for hours about his day-to-day life and about the frustrations and rewards of his work. Despite the many complaints he had about working with the municipality, he was still very positive and hopeful about what he could accomplish. It was refreshing to see the real life of a volunteer. Sadly, we did not get to climb all the way to the top of the volcano, but we did hike up to a mirador (view point) of a lagoon below. At the end of our little outing, we stopped at an ice cream parlor that had real ice cream and waffle cones. Yum!
Yesterday, the four of us that live in Magdalena went with Claire up to the municipality’s ecological park that is above the town on top of the mountain: El Corazon del Agua (The Heart of the Water). It was our first time going up there because it has taken quite a while to finally get permission from the new mayor to work in the park. (The previous mayor created this park, but when he found out last year that he lost the election, he fired all the staff and shut down the park. The new mayor, who began his term last week, hasn’t yet decided what he’ll do with the park.) The goal of the day was to get to know the park a bit and try to figure out what projects we can do in it. It is an absolutely beautiful place and I cannot wait to work in it. It is a cloud forest and thus sustains countless species of plants as well as many different birds. The main trail leads to the top of the mountain, from which there are amazing views of a handful of volcanoes, Lago de Amatitlan and Guatemala City. Our first job will be to do a feasibility study of the park and present it to the new mayor. This will be spearheaded by the three guys, who have business backgrounds, but I will learn from them so that I can do the same thing in my own site in the future. With this study, the goal is to show the mayor that the park will be a financial boost, not a drain, for the municipality, and thus for him (since when the city makes money, he makes money, read: corruption). During that, and especially after, we’ll assist with various things that the park rangers need help with, such as trail maintenance, working in the orchid nursery, and creating a tree nursery to use for reforestation projects, among other things. However, one of the main obstacles to having attracting tourists to this park is accessibility. The road to get there is extremely steep, rutted, narrow and windy. Most Guatemaltecos do not have cars that will make it up that, especially not during the rainy season when it will turn to mud. Moreover, even if they do make it up to the entrance with their cars, there is no parking lot. They can also follow a trail up from town, but it would require a fair amount of effort when most park visitors would simply be looking for a nice place to have a picnic. If a visitor makes it to the entrance, then it is about an hour hike through a beautiful forest to get to the top where the breathtaking views are. As well, there are some beautifully constructed playground toys, chairs and tables strewn around the area. They are built out of wood from the forest and are extremely creative. It’s a great place, if only people knew about it and could access it… hmm, perhaps this park needs some Peace Corps volunteers?
(One of the projects I may help with in the park: the nursery.)
(The view from the top!)
Yesterday we went to San Lucas, where 2 other ecotourism trainees live, and where there is another ecological park that we will be working in: Senderos de Alux (Trails of Elves). This park is extremely different in many facets. First of all, it’s a pine-oak forest, so the diversity of vegetation is very low in comparison to that of Corazon del Agua. As well, the park is accessible and has visitors on a regular basis. What Senderos de Alux mainly needs, among other projects, is an environmental education component. I won’t be working there nearly as much, but I will get a taste of it as well.
I realize this was long. Congratulations if you made it this far! I was just bursting with excitement to tell you all about what I will be doing. And as most of you should know, I am not short-winded. But thank you for reading and keeping up to date on what my life entails!
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