Adventure

As you probably know, I finished Peace Corps last month (June 22nd to be exact). So you may be wondering why the hell I'm not back in the U.S. yet. You make a point, but ever since I knew I was headed to Guatemala almost 3 years ago, I knew I wanted to take advantage of my southern location and travel before I was stuck back in the States again. Thus, I am on the road. And here is my story.

My college running friend Carly met me at the beginning of July to discover Guatemala and neighboring countries. To start the adventure, after much too much debate over the safety of the safety of climbing a volcano in Guatemala, we determined that we were okay in a group of five (3 women, 2 men, 1 being Guatemalan). And we were okay, except for getting lost for about 45 minutes. After 5 hours, we found the peak at 3722 meters, along with some cows and some clouds. Then we hurried on down, showered, and hopped on a 3 hour bus ride to Lago de Atitlan to take in some beautiful vistas and watch the World Cup final.

The next leg of the trip was in El Salvador. Rumored to have better beaches than Guatemala and to be a great place to learn to surf, that was the plan. However, it seemed that the recent tropical storms had strewn rock all over the beaches. So after one night at the beach, we packed up and headed to the mountain town of Juayua, where we scaled waterfalls and ate pupusas. We only spent four days in El Salvador, and despite being an extremely small country, it warranted much more time. El Salvador is very clean and friendly. I will definitely return one day.

At the end of that week, we took quite a long bus trip through unpaved mountain roads to the Honduras border and headed to the Mayan ruins at Copan.

After having been to various Mayan sites, I assumed I could do it without a guide. However, once I was in there, I realized it would be a wasted journey to this remote location to just stare at some temples and statues and not understand what was behind them. Thus we returned to the gate and paid the guide fee and re-entered the park. In the end, it was well worth the money and the time to use a guide. We learned about the Altar Q, which is where the most important animal sacrifices took place (15 jaguars and 2 scarlet macaws together). What I also found quite interesting was that they had painted all their temples red and had placed a white stucco floor throughout the grounds. Anyway, it was a very interesting place that was worth the long side trip.

From there we traveled to the port town of Puerto Cortes to catch a boat to Belize. Yes, it was a very short stay in Honduras, but as I look at it, it gave us a chance to learn what to come back for.

The boat was an adventure in itself. Dodging logs in the bay of Honduras nearly caused us to flip, but eventually we arrived in Placencia, Belize safe and dry. That was nearly two weeks ago, and I am still in Belize! Carly got a short taste of the country, since she flew out last Friday, but I'm pretty sure she still enjoyed it. We were in the sleepy ex-pat beach town of Placencia, then headed to Hopkins, a Garifuna village (black Caribs), but on the way had to wait for 5 hours for a bridge to unflood! In Hopkins we got to see local drumming and try to dance the punta. To end Carly's adventure, we took a boat out to the island of Caye Caulker, rented bikes and ate cinnamon rolls.

It was fantastic having a traveling partner as great as Carly! And now I am "on my own," but not really. Last Saturday, my first day sola, I did a full day snorkeling trip where I met a new friend, Hannah, and for the rest of the weekend (meals, runs and a fishing trip), I hung out with her and her friend Jennifer. Snorkeling was incredible, swimming with manatees, sting rays, nurse sharks, various fish, lobster and octopus. Then fishing, we landed some delicious silk snapper and baracuda, and even attempted spear fishing! Quite the adventure!

Now I am assisting with jaguar research. I met the professor who is doing the research at a population dynamics conference my senior year and have stayed in touch. Now I'm helping her hike out to check the cameras that she uses for camera trapping, but also, I get to take breaks with her, which entails heading up to the Mountain Pine Ridge, which is famous for rich white people and resorts. She has friends here that help fund her research and also offer room and board when needed, and well, right now it is needed! :)

At the end of the week, after being back in the field and being devoured by mosquitoes and mud, I will head back to Guatemala to say my final goodbyes and to meet up with my next traveling partner, Laura, and head south to Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Then she leaves, and I will meet up with my Colombian friends, my Ecuadorian family, and then my (real) sister in Peru. I finally have my ticket home de una vez (for good, as we say down here) for October 13th. Do you think I can handle the US/the US can handle me?

Corrupt cops and drinking bus drivers

I have a few final adventures from Guatelandia for you all. These are two things that I always knew occurred, but had never witnessed it with my own eyes.

A trip to the ruins at Mixco Viejo:

Earlier this month, I made a very quick trip to with my Guatemalan friend Marilyn to the ruins at Mixco Viejo before I made my debut in USA attire at the Peace Corps 4th of July party. A longer than expected bus ride plus oversleeping left us only 20 minutes in the ruins, but it was still beautiful.

To return, we warmed up our thumbs and hiked up our shorts. The first truck that passed seemed willing, except its bed was full of pigs. Dang. Next, an ambulance -- grabbing my ankle didn't make it stop. Then another pick up rolled around the corner, shiny and new. Before Marilyn was able to say, "they're probably narcos," my thumb was in position.

It stopped and the young driver invited us into the cab with his female friend (otherwise we would've ridden in the bed).

Nearing the end of the journey (and mind you, in a hurry), a cop ushered us over to the shoulder. Our new friend hadn't done anything wrong, but the looks of his ride prompted the cops to ask him if he had any firearms and their respective permits. Why yes officer, he did.

He reached into the glove compartment, took out the gun, unloaded it, and passed it to the officer. Due to a license that had expired only two days prior, the officers detained us (rather than issuing a warning or a ticket) until the driver gave in and offered them money (I believe Q100/$12). It was done covertly, with the hands in the bed of the truck, then with a rejoiceful handshake/hug like men do and we were on our way.

Drinking and driving a chicken bus

While most bus drivers in Guatemala drive like they've been drinking, I had never had proof, until now. My driver from Santa Lucia to Antigua (a mountainous windy road) whipped out a Gallo (the national beer) and wrapped it in a towel. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, but I still can't believe someone would be so obvious about it!


When I get a chance, I'll update you all about my current travels through El Salvador, Honduras and Belize. Hold tight!

Bottle Classroom Funding!!

The bottle school has been funded. Thank you to HUG IT FORWARD for helping us finish our project in La Cereza. My replacement, Amber, will be directing the final steps... and she'll be updating me so that I can update you all. Thanks again to all those who supported us; this has been an important pilot project for San Carlos Sija. We expect to see more soon.

Handing off the bottle school

You may be wondering, "now that you're done with your Peace Corps service, what will happen to the bottle project?" Well, have no fear. The PCV who replaced me, Amber, will take charge of finishing it. There is a US-based NGO looking to fund the remainder of the project. Cross your fingers! She will keep us updated on the progress of it.

Here are some pictures of the despedida (farewell) that the school did for me. The preschool kids were so excited to eat the steak that the teachers were preparing! Then we've got Amber and I. The directora giving me a diploma for my work. The whole school thanking YOU for your support. And finally, the teachers and the PCVs.

Fun Final Projects

I am officially an RPCV! (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer) I finished on Tuesday June 22nd and rushed home for my brother's wedding. Tomorrow I'm heading back for some post-PC travels through Central and South America. But before that (which I'll try to write about), here are two final things that I did in Sija: a field day activity with the other PCV and the local school in our park; and painting a mural at Agua Caliente with my painter friend from Guate, Marilyn Boror.

So I built a sanitary landfill...

Okay, well technically I didn't build it, but with my community, Agua Caliente, we did.

In these photos you can see the progression of digging out the trench; the almost finished landfill with its view of the beautiful Agua Caliente forest; me throwing myself into it before it was ready for trash; the landfill with its tank for dangerous runoff; with community members getting the trash cans ready; a trash pick-up site; the committee putting the first trip of trash into the plastic-lined landfill; and the main group of people I worked with after we inaugurated the landfill with trash (along with the PCVs replacing me).


















The history of me working with Agua Caliente is quite interesting. It is a village of Sija, thus I only visited it from time to time; I didn't get to LIVE and work with these people, just work with them, which makes it much more difficult. I first arrived in March 2009 to help them with their tourism project (hot springs). However, all they seemed to want was money.

I stopped working with them for a few months, until my Peace Corps boss told me to go back. Then I learned that they were just skeptical of outside organizations because they also promise and never follow through. Thus, in September 2009 our relationship solidified when I showed that I was committed to them and they showed that they wanted projects, not just money.

We did a diagnostic of the community and identified that the community wanted to confront their trash problem. Thus I presented the idea of building a sanitary landfill, placing trash cans around town, and implementing a collection system. They liked it, and so did Peace Corps/USAID, because they gave us the $3300 necessary to build it.

The project took more time than I expected to complete it, but in the end, it allowed me to stay a little bit longer. It wasn't that the community didn't want to work, it was just that we had to wait on unforeseen elements that slowed us down and that the community members, for example, had to plant their corn.

On Wednesday, they finished the landfill and on Thursday, we inaugurated it with the first bags of trash. They had saved their trash up for 3 months so as not to throw it in a ravine, thus the load was pretty big, but from now on they will be sorting it, recycling and composting what they can, and taking the rest up every 2 weeks. Ideally, this landfill will last them 10-15 years. To keep smells and flies away, they will pack dirt and a bit of limestone on top every couple months.

This project has been a huge success thanks to the determination, the unity and the positive attitude of the community members of Agua Caliente. As I told them, this was not my project, but theirs.

Volcan Pacaya

Here are some fotos of the area where the volcano went off taken by the volunteers that live in that municipality.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jmfesta/May27EruptionOfVolcanPacaya