Before the Christmas Surprise

So I am guessing you’ve noticed the 2-month hiatus that I’ve had from writing on the blog. Sorry about that. I’ll summarize what has gone on and break it into 2 parts. The first will be “Before the Christmas Surprise”

Starting with the week of Thanksgiving, wow, how long ago that was, a great friend of mine came down to visit with me. She spent 3 days at my site to start, all without having any change of clothes since her suitcases did not make her departing plane to Guatemala. Luckily for me and everyone around, she would finally get them on Wednesday in Jalapa where we would find out that the suitcases, which were supposed to be delivered right to my site as soon as possible, would have been delivered the following week, after she would have left. Unluckily for my friend when visiting a family in my site, the family had cow stomach soup to share with us, which is something they rarely afford to buy. Let’s just say the results that night were not that pretty.
So after the 3 days in sight which included participating in a forum against violence toward women and playing soccer with some kids, we made our way to Antigua. The next day, Thanksgiving, we went to Chichicastenango, a beautiful outdoor market, supposedly the biggest in Central America. Besides the market, there was also a Catholic church in which rituals mixed with Catholic and Mayan beliefs were being done. That afternoon, we made it back to Antigua just in time to have our Thanksgiving meal. I made the reservations, not knowing exactly where it would be but knowing that it would be good. Well it ended up being about 20 minutes from Antigua up in the mountains. The meal was served with 60 others on tables and it was great - cranberries, salad, turkey, potatoes, pumpkin pie, stuffing and wine. The only lights were from the candles and the stars. The only difficult thing that night was climbing up the mountain side for 20 minutes to catch our ride back to Antigua after having stuffed ourselves.
The next day we went to Volcan Pacaya, which indeed proved its worth again. As we were climbing up, the guide decided to lead us on some old beds because the path was quite slick since it was full of tiny crushed lava rocks. About 10 minutes after we made it to the part where the lava was coming out of the side of the mountain, it began to move a bit faster and started to go down toward where we just had been walking! Isn’t that awesome (Don’t worry, I don’t think it were possible that it could catch us off guard.). We returned to rest a bit and enjoy Antigua until she left on Saturday.
The rest of the weeks leading to Christmas included having another agricultural product exchange with our “sister community,” being sick for 4 days, having an AIDS parade and forum, going to the PC center to get my annual exam, going to the dentist to get 2 cavities filled (something which I had not had in about 7 years – I was a bit nervous for the reason that I had not done it in a while and for the reason that it was being done in Guatemala. I went to an exceptional place though and the dentist even had a camera he could put in my mouth so that I could see my mouth on a screen. I am pretty sure he was not your average Guatemalan dentist.), baking no-bake cookies, and having a Christmas party with my women’s group in which I made chili for everyone. The chili turned out great and everyone liked it. I mean it’s made with beans, come one.
So for this entire time, I was also scheming with my brother who we would pull of the Christmas surprise. You see, he was the only one in the family that knew since May that I would be coming home on Christmas Eve. What we came up with, you can read in the next blog entry.



The neighborhood kids with whom I play jump rope and soccer.

Sometimes there are obstacles on our playing court.


Me in Chichicastenango in front of the Catholic Church. You can see little bon fires, smoke from incense, candles and flowers; these are all part of the mix of Catholic and Mayan traditions that are done here.Thanksgiving dinner, candle-lit over the open sky on plastic chairsThe volcano... here you can see exactly where the lava is coming out the side of the volcano.So it just so happened that the last night that Emily was here, that they would start preparing for Christmas by commencing the lighting of the Christmas lights in Antigua . It included decorating the whole park in lights, fireworks, a band, an outdoor video, and this picture above. This picture is of a bull, well actually a man in a metal skeleton designed like a bull. The bull had hundreds of fireworks on it. As we were walking through the park, the bull was lit and then began to run through the crowd spewing fireworks in every which direction. The crowds, including us, of course ran away to avoid a direct burn, but everyone was laughing and enjoyed the spectacle. It definitely reminded me of being in Ecuador.

Día de Acción de Gracias y las primeras 2 semanas

So my first week in site was filled with all kinds of small stuff. I went to the capital of the department of Jalapa, also called Jalapa, to find out how much things cost and to get some offers on a bed and dresser and table. I also just spent a lot of time trying to find things like the grocery store or the ministry of agriculture or the hospital and orient myself as I will probably need to go here at least every 1 to 2 weeks. I also spent my time trying to clean my room which was really dirty and disinfect everything that I had touched within recent times. I was doing this because after telling a nurse over the phone my symptoms, I was told I had scabies. Scabies, is a lovely parasite similar to lice except these guys spend there time burrowing and living in moist areas in your skin. The result is not pretty --- tons of bumps and rashes and a terrible itch. Thus I used a special soap for bathing and used a special cream on my body. The most difficult part is trying to make sure there is not anything in your clothes or bedding. Normally a dryer would kill these guys, but since that is not an option I either have to put everything in boiling water or in a sealed bag for 2 weeks. Both things are not really options. Luckily the next week, after seeing that the cream or the soap were not working, I would ask the doctors from Spain (see below for information on these doctors) to help me out since I was with them in person. They told me I had a fungus. Thus, I have to wash everything over again and go back to Jalapa to get different medicine, but I would say having a fungus that itches is a lot better than scabies.

Thanksgiving broke up the first week as I travelled to the capital to have a dinner there. While the vast majority of the new volunteers went to the ambassador’s house, I along with my friend Abi went to the house of the director of Peace Corps in Guatemala. The director and his family prepared a delicious meal typical of the US (cranberries, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie, etc.) After eating beans and tortillas and other Guatemalan foods for so long, it tasted as though I were eating at a 5-star restaurant. Even the Doritos were mouth-watering. I guess I did not realize how much I even missed the little things I was used to. I can only imagine what my Mom’s or Dad’s or family member´s cooking would taste like – hopefully it will only be til May when I find that out.

The second week I was extremely lucky to be able to accompany and help 2 doctors and 2 nurses from Spain who were living in the parish rectory in San Carlos Alzatate and were working in the surrounding aldeas, including mine. I knew I had wanted to do this after meeting them the week before when I had dinner with them at the rectory after helping another Peace Corps volunteer translate during our free time for 2 people who came from the US (These people were visiting the parish since their parish back in the states was supporting this one in San Carlos) (I thought I would note that that meal I had has been the most delicious meal I have had here. It was a dish with tilapia and was made by the assistant of Padre Victor, the priest who is in charge of San Carlos. Her mother also knows how to cook well since with the other 2 American the other volunteer and I also got to eat lunch at her house.)

I was having a bit of trouble getting in contact with them and low and behold when I was searching for a ride to Jalapa while walking on the way to Jalapa (transportation is not that good where I am). I ran into them twice. Not only did I get the ride, but I was able to plan with them how I could accompany them. What luck – or better yet, what a Godincidence as someone I know likes to say.

So Monday and Tuesday I was with the nurses and doctors who were screening patients. I helped with the blood pressure, and the height and weight of the patients. The hardest part was surely writing the names of the patients.

After working and talking with the staff from Spain, I was able to realize that the level of malnutrition in some people is severe. They showed my pictures of people and I saw for myself some that look like they could be ones you would see on TV for a special documentary of Agency asking for money. Padre Victor told me there are 2 kids in my aldea that need to go to the hospital because of severe malnutrition but their parents wont permit it since one of them can’t leave work to accompany them at the hospital (which would be paid for by the parish).

The people from Spain were extremely friendly and really enjoyed seeing medical workers serving others in this type of environment. I couldn’t understand everything they say though, partly because I still can’t understand everything spoken in Spanish but also because they speak with a heavy Spanish accent. They ended their 1-month stay here yesterday. I really look forward to seeing them again in the future as the plan to give up more of the time in the following year to work in the same area.
Here is a picture of the staff from Spain that I had the privelege to accompany along with the other volunteer who came along as well.

Here were are playing some basketball. I have to say that the team I was on, which was at times out numbered 5 to 3, won all three times. The other person to in the picture all the way to the left is Clara, the assistant to Padre Victor.

Here is a picture of Padre Victor.

By the way, I wanted to note that I posted a video of the kite festival that occurred on All Saint´s Day. To see it, you need to go to the previous posts in November.