Yeah!!!! I am so excited - my ticket for a trip home has officially been bought and I get to go home for a little over 2 weeks in December. I literally am counting down the days. I even made one of the paper chains like you make in elementary school to count down the days til Santa Claus comes. Somehow just ripping off one of those paper loops every days helps. I am soooo excited to go home for a visit. In December it will be almost 1 full year since I have seen my family. It has been waaaaayyyy too long!
In the meantime, luckily time has been flying here. I am really busy with this big tourism project, lots of meetings and since travel time takes so long here - one meeting a day basically means my whole day is used up what with all the travel time necessary to get there and back to site. I am not kidding, if I have a meeting out of site, it is at least a 6 hour ordeal and sometimes it involves spending a night out of site as the last car goes up at about 1:00 p.m. so if the meeting is after that, I would need to plan to spend the night somewhere.
Other than the big tourism project, the school term is finishing up tomorrow. I give my final English exam to my primario students tomorrow and then that is it until January when we start in with a new plan for the year, including workshops on environmental education.
Since everything is pretty random, I will write some random notes below of some cool things that have happened since the last blog post...
1. Got to meet a really fascinating archeologist at Takalik Abaj, this amazing pre-classic site near where I am living. The pre-classic period involves the time when the Olmec and the Maya were in this area. He has invited me back to spend more time at the site and I can't wait to go back and learn more from him. It is fascinating and pretty surreal to be able to call this part of my work.
2. The other cool thing - in my tourism project we are putting together so many cool places and activities - things that we have all around us here on the Pacific Slope of Guatemala include:
*Preclassic ruins
*Active volcano (one of the 10 most dangerous in the world)
*Canopy tours
*Beaches and surfing
*Productive coffee, macadamia, banana, and rubber plantations
*Bird watching (parrots, quetzal, painted bunting)
*Waterfalls and pristine subtropical jungle
*Tropical vibe
This place is cool and I can't believe that my job right now is putting all of this cool stuff together and promoting it to tour ops. I can't believe no one else has not done this before me.
3. Tomorrow I am making tamales and ponche.
4. I was recently buzzed by 2 bats - you open the door here and you never know what you will find - bats, tarantulas, beetles, cats...
5. It hasn't rained in 2 whole days - SUN and STARS! I forgot what the moon looked like! My clothes dried on the line in only 1 day - a record! Tomorrow we are heading up to play some soccer for the first time in a loooooonnnnnggg time.
6. Just finished reading the book The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - loved it! What a great series! I finally am getting some good reading time in down here - makes me so happy!
Well, that is about it for now! Counting down the days til my visit to the States - can't wait!
Love you!
Tara
Monday, October 11, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Keepin Busy
Things have turned around lately for this Peace Corps volunteer. I really think months 3-6 are some of the hardest. The initial novelty wears off, you're not quite sure what projects are going to take off and where your role really lies in the communty. However, as of now I can happily say that I have turned the corner and things are really starting to come together. I am working on this big tourism project to try to pull all of the eco and agro tourism sites together here on the Pacific Slope, mixing in a few hotels as well. We are going to promote the region as a whole - something that really hasn't been done in this region and I think it is going to take off. A lot of hard work is involved but it is looking like this is going to be my big project down here - forming something like a Chamber of Commerce or Regional Tourism Committee for this part of Guatemala.
Other than the work part of my life down here - my social life has ramped up as well. I was recently invited to a wedding here on the 30th and it was so fun to be involved and feel accepted by one of the local families. I went over early to help with decorations - we made a balloon arch out of saplings that we chopped down with a machete and hung balloons all over the inside of the house and outside under the lamina shelter. We found palm branches and another pretty fern type plant called Cola de Quetzal - meaning Quetzal (the national bird) tail. The wedding was a huge success - we spent the day dancing to some great music and eating lots of fried chicken. I think I had like 4 chicken legs - this is the most meat I've had in 1 day in months! What a feast!
I feel so happy to now have my Guatemalan family here in the community. I go with them to cheer on the soccer team - which consists of all of their boys playing on one team. They are a family of 14 children and their boys are all fantastic soccer players - so the team is mostly "puro" Recinos. They recently won the championship and we celebrated with firecrackers, tons of noisemakers, and a huge lunch and party after the game.
Other than the festivities of late - today was a day of absolute luxury for me. No one is here in the hotel and I got up, made some breakfast (eggs and tortillas...), washed clothes, and got to talk to my sister on Skype. Then after running outside to collect my clothes off the line as it started to rain (again) I called my mom and got to Skype with her too. It was such a great day! I tell ya, Skype and my computer makes all the difference to my happiness. Just being able to feel like you are in the same room talking to someone and actually see them makes me soooo happy. Then, I made some dinner - trying out an experiment. There is this stuff called Protemas here and it is dehyrated soy flakes. If you rehydrate it and blend it up and put it in tomato sauce it is suppossed to give it the texture of meat. So, I finally had the time and decided to try it. The stuff is kind of gnarly when it is rehydrated - brown and kind of smells weird and has a funky texture, so it wasn't super appetizing making this dish, but what the heck...blended it up and combined it with some fresh tomatoes and garlic and made the sauce. It wasn't too bad but it was definitely missing that rich meat taste. Oh well, I guess I can pretend to eat meat. That is the one thing I really miss - access to a wide variety of food. For those of you that go camping, you know the feeling, after a few days you really start to crave a certain food and that is the first thing you eat when you get back to town. Now imagine months without those cravings fulfilled - just reading magazines with pictures of food makes me go crazy. I find myself dreaming about food. Don't get me wrong - I'm not starving or anything - there is plenty to eat - but it just isn't really satisfying. The countdown is on for my return home before Christmas. I cannot wait to eat bread, real bread, sandwiches, fish, salads, a big steak, BACON, mashed potatoes, gravy, roast beef, bagels, turkey sandwiches...sandwiches - I really miss those the most.
That is about it - my day of luxury continues - I might watch a movie or curl up and read my book for the next few hours, without interuption - ohhh the bliss - nothing but the sound of the rain. And tomorrow I get to sleep in! SLEEP - something that I never seem to be able to get enough of here.
Good night and thanks for reading!
Saludos,
Tara
Other than the work part of my life down here - my social life has ramped up as well. I was recently invited to a wedding here on the 30th and it was so fun to be involved and feel accepted by one of the local families. I went over early to help with decorations - we made a balloon arch out of saplings that we chopped down with a machete and hung balloons all over the inside of the house and outside under the lamina shelter. We found palm branches and another pretty fern type plant called Cola de Quetzal - meaning Quetzal (the national bird) tail. The wedding was a huge success - we spent the day dancing to some great music and eating lots of fried chicken. I think I had like 4 chicken legs - this is the most meat I've had in 1 day in months! What a feast!
I feel so happy to now have my Guatemalan family here in the community. I go with them to cheer on the soccer team - which consists of all of their boys playing on one team. They are a family of 14 children and their boys are all fantastic soccer players - so the team is mostly "puro" Recinos. They recently won the championship and we celebrated with firecrackers, tons of noisemakers, and a huge lunch and party after the game.
Other than the festivities of late - today was a day of absolute luxury for me. No one is here in the hotel and I got up, made some breakfast (eggs and tortillas...), washed clothes, and got to talk to my sister on Skype. Then after running outside to collect my clothes off the line as it started to rain (again) I called my mom and got to Skype with her too. It was such a great day! I tell ya, Skype and my computer makes all the difference to my happiness. Just being able to feel like you are in the same room talking to someone and actually see them makes me soooo happy. Then, I made some dinner - trying out an experiment. There is this stuff called Protemas here and it is dehyrated soy flakes. If you rehydrate it and blend it up and put it in tomato sauce it is suppossed to give it the texture of meat. So, I finally had the time and decided to try it. The stuff is kind of gnarly when it is rehydrated - brown and kind of smells weird and has a funky texture, so it wasn't super appetizing making this dish, but what the heck...blended it up and combined it with some fresh tomatoes and garlic and made the sauce. It wasn't too bad but it was definitely missing that rich meat taste. Oh well, I guess I can pretend to eat meat. That is the one thing I really miss - access to a wide variety of food. For those of you that go camping, you know the feeling, after a few days you really start to crave a certain food and that is the first thing you eat when you get back to town. Now imagine months without those cravings fulfilled - just reading magazines with pictures of food makes me go crazy. I find myself dreaming about food. Don't get me wrong - I'm not starving or anything - there is plenty to eat - but it just isn't really satisfying. The countdown is on for my return home before Christmas. I cannot wait to eat bread, real bread, sandwiches, fish, salads, a big steak, BACON, mashed potatoes, gravy, roast beef, bagels, turkey sandwiches...sandwiches - I really miss those the most.
That is about it - my day of luxury continues - I might watch a movie or curl up and read my book for the next few hours, without interuption - ohhh the bliss - nothing but the sound of the rain. And tomorrow I get to sleep in! SLEEP - something that I never seem to be able to get enough of here.
Good night and thanks for reading!
Saludos,
Tara
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