A little bit about...

To give a better idea of where I’m living, I thought some of this information might be a bit useful to get a better perspective of my life here.

Though I didn’t write all of this up myself, I did make a few minor changes:

The municipality I live in is located in the western highlands of Guatemala, in the Department of San Marcos, at an altitude of 2,280 meters (7,480 feet) above sea level, which makes for warm and sunny days during the day, but can drop to almost freezing in dry season (November – April). The wet season (May – October) is, as you could imagine, wet. It tends to rain around the same time of the day, usually in the afternoon. And when it rains, it pours, as the saying goes. Consequently, it can take days for laundry to dry during the wet season, if it doesn’t mold first.

There are around 60,000 inhabitants in the municipality, 3,000 of which live in the town center itself. It is believed that town was inhabited by the Mayan people well before the Spanish invasion in 1633. The current inhabitants are descended from the reign of the Mames, whose capital is in Zaculeu, Mexico. In Mam, the name means “between rivers”, or “between the houses”.

99% of today’s inhabitants are Maya-Mam, and speak Mam as their first language. About 60% also speak Spanish. Unfortunately, the town has consistently been recognized as one of the poorest municipalities in Guatemala and has one of the highest rates of malnutrition in Central America.

Unfortunately, alcoholism is a growing problem- between both men and increasingly women as well. This problem is being addressed through a couple AA locations that have opened in town; the programs here are intertwined with Evangelicalism, which teaches that forgiveness can be found through God. Whether or not you’re a believer, you have to admit that this is probably one of the better solutions for a problem that leaves many mothers with up to 14 children to take care of themselves. Family planning is yet another issue, as many women don’t realize that they can decide beforehand how many children they want.

Being so close to the Mexican border (two hours), it is not uncommon to hear that someone’s family member (children) or husband (who has consequently left behind a wife with a number of children) has crossed into the US through Mexico to try to find better fortune. Some of the stories I have heard are indescribable. Though I do not advocate illegal immigration, just by living here and seeing how people live day-by-day has made me think completely differently on the immigration problem the US faces. On the other hand, here and where ever you might find yourself in Guatemala, speaking English freely isn’t always the best of ideas, as many people have returned from the states and can understand more than you’d think.

The citizens in my site are the only people in Guatemala to use a distinct hand-gesture as their greeting. The women still wear their traditional Mayan clothing and weave on traditional back-strap looms. The holiday of the Sacred Cross, which appeared as a gift from God in the spot where the Catholic Church currently stands, is 29 April through 3 May.

So there you have it. Despite some of the more serious problems that my site faces, it is moving forward. One example of that is the agency that I work for, which works on teaching families better nutritional practices to solve the malnutrition problem. Additionally, the artisanal groups are a compliment to that- not only does it provide income generation to allow the purchases of healthier (and often more expensive) foodstuffs, but it also encourages and empowers women to have a sustainable income apart from that of their husband’s. Food security, women’s rights and empowerment and income generation, all in one.

Enjoying It

I think at any point during their service, any PCV or RPCV can truthfully say that they’ve had moments where they just wanted to kick and scream at the inconveniences, annoyances, and yes, sometimes people- why don’t they care about getting things done to improve their lives? I don’t think it’s all that far-fetched to say that almost all PCVs have had times where they wanted to pack up their things and catch the first flight back to the land of comfort, convenience and service.

Because that would be the easiest thing, no?

But let’s not kid ourselves either. We didn’t sign up to spend 27 months away from home expecting to find the same luxuries, expediencies, and general ease of life as we had back home- but if we have, then we consider ourselves pretty damn lucky.

Anyone who does find (or has found, for that matter) himself or herself on a plane home shortly after arriving in their host country, or shortly after seeing what their site will be like, the place where they would have been living for the next two years probably didn’t have realistic expectations coming into PC, or else it really wasn’t for them, which is fine too, because there isn’t anything that is for everyone. But let’s be honest here: you don’t come to do aid work in a third world country and expect to be living the same lifestyle with the same excitement as you had back home.

Difficulties come in all shapes and sizes, and though I can only speak on behalf of my experience thus far in the Western Highlands of one of Guatemalan’s poorest municipalities (which certainly does no justice to the array of experiences of PCVs worldwide), I can tell you that life for the everyday Guatemalan here is something we would relate to a Swiss Family Robinson lifestyle. Sure there are modern conveniences such as cell phones, internet (though painfully slow at times, but don’t take that as a complaint!), cars and old school buses (which most likely would have failed any state’s exhaust emission test), electricity and running water, all those things cost money.

If she can’t catch a pickup truck on its way into town, then my counterpart, a wife and mother of eight, hikes one hour into town to work all day in an office, or go out to another community to a women’s group. I don’t think any you reading this right now, be that you’re in the US, Canada, Europe, South Africa or Australia, can fathom hiking one hour to work, only to hike one hour to get home. And after that you’ll most likely still have your chores to do if you’re a woman, because that’s just the way things work here.

Two days after I moved into my apartment, I found myself with no water. None. Not a drop has come out of the shower, emptied into the toilet or come out of the basin faucet since 6 January. Unfortunately I don’t have a pila (to store water and wash dishes and clothes in, something which I plan on talking to my landlord about). Fortunately, though, there was a water source from which I was able to haul up water with my new plastic pail I had bought as a rubbish bin, which has proved effective for the time being.

But leave it to Murphy’s Law. Before bad things get better, they always get worse. And worse they got. I thought hiking one mile to take a cold bucket bath was rough. I was most unfortunate to get food poisoning, which if you know what it comes with, does not mix well if you do not have a toilet that does not flush. I’ve come to the point of being here to just accept things, good, bad or ugly for what they are: good, bad and ugly.

A lot of PCVs have a romanticized idea of “changing the world” during their two year service. Though I have realized that this is pretty much unrealistic, you can definitely change some people’s world during the time you spend in your host community.

Cheesiness put aside, you still have a mountain of inconveniences to deal with, whatever kind of work you’re involved in. And it sucks. But everyone else seems to deal with it, so why can’t you? You’re not accustomed to it, it’s frustrating, gets in the way and slows down what you want to accomplish. Why can’t anyone understand that?

I think what’s more important is to embrace all the inconveniences, annoyances, and things that, from time to time, genuinely piss you off. Come on, if everyone else in your community has been living with the same inconveniences, either because they don’t know what exists out there that could be more convenient, or just that they’re used to the unreliability of, say, electricity or running water, what makes you so much more important than them to not be able to flush your toilet with a bucket of water every night? Your only bucket of water for the day?

Now, I have a wide range of music on my MP3 player, from Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Gorillaz, Led Zeppelin, Corben Cassavette, Ozzy Osbourne, Hungarian folk and pop, and yes, all four Classic Disney CDs I had purchased when I was 12 years old. And I still love them.

The song that I can best relate to any PCV’s service is “Enjoy It” with Hayley Mills (just one) and Maurice Chevalier from the movie “The Castaways.”

Why cry about bad weather? Enjoy it!
Each moment is a treasure, enjoy it!
We are travelers on life’s highway, enjoy the trip
Each lovely twist and byway, each bump and dip

If there’s a complication, enjoy it!
You’ve got imagination, employ it!
And you’ll see roses in the snow,
Joie de vivre will make them grow,
Voila, that’s life, enjoy it!

So, here’s to 21 more months to “enjoy it” and embrace the experience, because after this, it’s back to “normal.” Though I do hope the water comes back before I leave.

A “huehue” fun Christmas

December, as November, flew by, and I am already in my third month of Peace Corps service. I have learnt a lot and met many people in the past two months, but still am meeting new people, trying to remember old one’s names… it’s tough in a municipality of 60,000 when you are one of two people who are given the automatic “celebrity” status. It can sometimes be overwhelming when you get asked the same questions over and over again, but helpful in building up your Spanish conversational skills and practice your vocabulary, to say the least.

Though this was not my first Christmas away from home, it was my first Christmas I didn’t spend with any relatives or family friends. Since a majority of PCVs stayed in-country (while some decided to go home for a few weeks), most PCVs who stayed back either got together or spent Christmas with a family at their site or went back to their host family from training for the occasion.

I decided to take up at invitation at one of my fellow PCV’s site in the department and close to the city of Huehuetenango. Since my site mate, Kelly, was going back home for Christmas, she trusted me with her hairy beast, her Golden Retriever, Amalia. Since I have no other mode of transportation than the “chicken bus,” Amalia joined me for the 8 hour ride, laying on the floor of the bus, occasionally popping her head up or sneaking to the seat behind and giving the other passengers a fright. On the way to Xela (Quetzaltenango City… Xela is much easier, don’t you think?) a blind man sat next to me. A few minutes later, Amalia popped her head up and her snout touched the man’s hand.

“Is it alive?” he asked me

“I hope so!” I replied

“What is it?” he asked

“A dog, her name is Amalia”

“Oh, I thought it was a chicken.”

Amalia and I arrived in Huehuetenango with two other PCVs and headed to Charlotte’s house, just 30 minutes outside of Huehue. We all had a humble Christmas Eve dinner of cereal then exchanged presents. Instead of doing a “real” gift exchange, we decided to do a Q5 ($0.65) gift exchange of something “interesting” we could find in our local market. Among the gifts were green plastic nails and a chicken “piggy” bank.

Christmas Day we watched a movie and played a game, made a delicious bruschetta for lunch and for dinner made falafels and brownies, accompanied by some “fine” boxed red wine. All of us spoke with family and friends who called us or whom we called, so it was a really nice alternative way to spend the holiday. And for those of you wondering, no snow, but because so many of us are at such high altitudes (2300 m for me), it does get quite chilly here, even during the day!

For New Year’s a few more PCVs met up in Xela to bring in the New Year. We all danced our way into 2009 and headed back to our hostel not to late after; it seems like PC not only gives you a new term for “bedtime” (anywhere from 6-9pm on a normal, day-to-day basis), and two beers has the same effect on you of what 4 beers did just before PC… which, considering our budget, is probably not that bad of a thing.

The past few days I have been bringing all of my belongings into my new apartment. Just before Christmas I bought a bed and a stovetop burner, and just yesterday I bought a kitchen table as well. Today I finally bought my water “tambo” (5 gallon / 18.9 liter filtered water container), got my gas tanked filled and have bought wooden planks and cinder blocks to make “PC shelves,”- cheap, durable, and most importantly, easy to assemble. I bought some shorter wooden boards yesterday and nailed two nails into the wall, tied string around the nail and looped it around the board- an instant shelf. It’s amazing how much two nails can hold, and also the skills, like the abovementioned, I have learnt in just the past couple months.

Tomorrow will be the first day back for everyone at my agency. Everyone is a little nervous, because our funder may not be funding this year, which would mean about half of the office would be out of a job, leaving the other half to pick up slack. Neither my counterpart nor my project would be affected by this, since the funding doesn’t cover the artisanal part, but it would be sad to see everyone leave, and know what the community would be losing. Hopefully I will have good news on this next time…

Other than that I am just trying to keep generally busy, whether it’s with temporary things, such as organizing my apartment, or with my project. A few weeks ago I picked out a different color combinations for scarves, an existing product, but tried to spice it up a little. I actually bought one, and some other PCVs bought some in Xela when I took a handful with me to New Year’s. I’ll probably be doing a round sometime soon to the more touristy cities and see what kind of bite we may have there, also to see what other products we could make with the existing ones in mind.

I hope every one of you had a wonderful Christmas and holiday season and enjoyed the New Year, whichever way you may have celebrated! Best to all for a fun, awesome and successful 2009 and may you all achieve what you strive for.

It has been really wonderful hearing from all of you who write back- whether it’s just a line or a juicy email. Keeping in touch has really kept me going, so whether it’s an email, a text or a call, please remember that it is extremely appreciated and I am and will do my best to reciprocate the gesture!