Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Keeping Busy til Vacation!
Luckily a lot is going on here in site as I am getting so excited to leave for a vacation home to the US that I can barely concentrate! I can't believe by the time I get home I will have been in country for almost a year! Time has flown by and it has been a complete rollercoaster of a ride - but it feels really good to have this much time under my belt. In January the new group of Eco Tourism volunteers will be coming in and hopefully maybe I can help train them. Even now, I like to read the blogs of the other trainees - as they are experiencing their first few weeks in country, then field based training, then swearing in, reconnect...it feels good to be that much further along and to be making time.
Right now, I am working with a good friend of mine, Pasquala, and we are organizing a baking class this week for the women in the community. We went around on Saturday night, going door to door telling them what we are offering (making cakes, donuts, carrot cake etc. in artesenal ovens) and trying to get people to sign up (offering the promise of diplomas in the end - a big motivation factor here...). So, we started this afternoon with a meeting discussing what the costs will be to each woman and discussed which recipes they have an interest in). It is important for the women to take on some of this cost as I am learning more and more - if people invest in their learning or training - even a little bit - it will mean so much more to then than if they get it all for free. We only had 5 women show up out of the 15 who said yes - but this is pretty typical here - and 5 is better than nothing. We're hoping to make economical treats so that maybe the women can replicate it in their house and sell their goods for a little extra income. Tomorrow we are making pineapple cake - YUM!
The other huge deal that is going on at the end of the week is the big QUINCE of one of the daughters of one of the most important families here in the village. It is going to be the biggest party in the history of the community - over 500 people are invited - 300 lbs. of chicken have been bought - a marimba is coming in - and we start with the serenade at 3 a.m. (again - early mornings...sigh...) Anyway, I went dress shopping with the family last Friday and am pleased to say I have found my dress - an awesome black number with a little sparkle (I'll show you pics in December). Everyone is getting so excited - it is all anyone can talk about. I am in charge of the decorations with 2 other people from the community and we are starting in on Thursday - so with the decorations and two more days of the cake classes - my days are going to be jam packed. This is good though - time is flying!
Other than that - walked over to another finca yesterday for a soccer game - got to see some more terrain which is always nice and I walked over with my favorite family - so it is always nice to spend Sundays with them. Plus they invited me over for tamales de elote - which are sweet corn tamalitos - really good! They take such good care of me and tonight when I brought them over a papaya from one of the trees here at the hotel, when I entered - I always say "permiso" as it is the polite thing to do here when you enter another person's house but they told me tonight that I don't have to say that because it is my second house - so it is the small things like that that really mean a lot to me here.
Other than that - life as normal here - we're getting a lot more group business right now, there is not so much rain so my clothes dry, my skin has gotten used to the bug bites and now they don't even itch anymore, am psyched because Dona Pancha in the community bought a gas refrig and now I can buy a cold Pepsi every now and then and man is it good.
That's about it - counting down the days to my trip home! Can't wait to see you all and place for order for a Starbucks soy latte when I step off the plane in America.
Right now, I am working with a good friend of mine, Pasquala, and we are organizing a baking class this week for the women in the community. We went around on Saturday night, going door to door telling them what we are offering (making cakes, donuts, carrot cake etc. in artesenal ovens) and trying to get people to sign up (offering the promise of diplomas in the end - a big motivation factor here...). So, we started this afternoon with a meeting discussing what the costs will be to each woman and discussed which recipes they have an interest in). It is important for the women to take on some of this cost as I am learning more and more - if people invest in their learning or training - even a little bit - it will mean so much more to then than if they get it all for free. We only had 5 women show up out of the 15 who said yes - but this is pretty typical here - and 5 is better than nothing. We're hoping to make economical treats so that maybe the women can replicate it in their house and sell their goods for a little extra income. Tomorrow we are making pineapple cake - YUM!
The other huge deal that is going on at the end of the week is the big QUINCE of one of the daughters of one of the most important families here in the village. It is going to be the biggest party in the history of the community - over 500 people are invited - 300 lbs. of chicken have been bought - a marimba is coming in - and we start with the serenade at 3 a.m. (again - early mornings...sigh...) Anyway, I went dress shopping with the family last Friday and am pleased to say I have found my dress - an awesome black number with a little sparkle (I'll show you pics in December). Everyone is getting so excited - it is all anyone can talk about. I am in charge of the decorations with 2 other people from the community and we are starting in on Thursday - so with the decorations and two more days of the cake classes - my days are going to be jam packed. This is good though - time is flying!
Other than that - walked over to another finca yesterday for a soccer game - got to see some more terrain which is always nice and I walked over with my favorite family - so it is always nice to spend Sundays with them. Plus they invited me over for tamales de elote - which are sweet corn tamalitos - really good! They take such good care of me and tonight when I brought them over a papaya from one of the trees here at the hotel, when I entered - I always say "permiso" as it is the polite thing to do here when you enter another person's house but they told me tonight that I don't have to say that because it is my second house - so it is the small things like that that really mean a lot to me here.
Other than that - life as normal here - we're getting a lot more group business right now, there is not so much rain so my clothes dry, my skin has gotten used to the bug bites and now they don't even itch anymore, am psyched because Dona Pancha in the community bought a gas refrig and now I can buy a cold Pepsi every now and then and man is it good.
That's about it - counting down the days to my trip home! Can't wait to see you all and place for order for a Starbucks soy latte when I step off the plane in America.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Good thing I am Good at Public Speaking
Well, you just never know here when you will be faced with making a speech in front of a bunch of people you don't know without prior notice. This has happened countless times here and just happened again yesterday. Here I am trying to wake up, sitting in the hotel kitchen drinking some coffee - it's a Sunday after all - normally a day to relax. I knew a group was coming - suppossedly at 8 a.m. - but that normally means 10 .m. here - so I thought I had some time and anyway I wasn't worried since no one told me anything that I was suppossed to do...well, here they come at 8:15 a.m. - actually on time for Guatemala - very impressive - a group of university students. The thing I wasn't ready for was when my counterpart walks in and asks if I'm busy - I'm like - well, not really - so he is like - well come with me. I still have no idea what is going on - I am still in my glasses and haven't really "gotten ready" yet since no one told me anything...well, I go out and meet the professors - very nice people - and there are about 20 business administration students there. Then my counterpart is like - why don't you give them a presentation about your organization and the projects you are working on and tourism. Wow - okay then - luckily at this point I know the in's and out's pretty well and can speak intelligently about tourism so it turned out to be no problem and I really enjoyed hanging out with the students after. However, this is just an example of one of many times when stuff happens totally out of the blue here - complete randomness - nothing planned - or if it is planned - then lack of communication to the people who are involved in said plan....oh well. The good thing is that at this point of my life here - almost nothing surprises me and I can just roll with it. Here is an example of random things that don't even make me flinch anymore...
1. gun shots/firecrackers and being able to tell them apart
2. people walking around carrying an array of knives and machetes - whether they are working or not and feeling safer when police with guns board the bus
3. Impromtu speeches
4. Random shout outs - whistles, chancita (blonde), que guapa (how beautiful), I love you... - I probably get about 20 of these a day - and significantly more when I am in a city
5. Being on a bus that is passing 4 trucks on blind corners with a cliff on 1 or 2 slides - I don't even flinch anymore
6. Eating meat that has not been refrigerated for 48 hours
7. Spiders in the shower
8. People taking my picture while I am shopping at the grocery store
8. People rolling up to talk to me with a boa constrictor around their neck
9. Impromtu 10 km or more hikes through the jungle or on the side of the road when the bus breaks down unexpectantly
10. Warm weak beer
11. 12 year olds driving trucks
12. People lifting up the windows on the buses to sell you whatever you might need through the window (I actually really like this - you can just ask them (within reason) for about anything you want and they will get it for you before the bus takes off - need a newspaper, gum, water, lollipop - just ask these guys and they will find it for you. Talk about service - love it!
Other good news - there is a new store that opened above the soccer field and it has electricity and a fridge/freezer and sells......chocobananos!!!! Yeeeaaaahhhhh!!! And only .50 too! Plus they sell hot dogs, bread, fruit, veggies - this is a great store! And it just opened!
So - I have a lot to do before my trip home - there are decorations to plan for a quincinera (15th b'day party), our first group of bird watchers are coming, more planning for our tourism group, plus in service training - these days are going to fly.
Cheers,
Tara
1. gun shots/firecrackers and being able to tell them apart
2. people walking around carrying an array of knives and machetes - whether they are working or not and feeling safer when police with guns board the bus
3. Impromtu speeches
4. Random shout outs - whistles, chancita (blonde), que guapa (how beautiful), I love you... - I probably get about 20 of these a day - and significantly more when I am in a city
5. Being on a bus that is passing 4 trucks on blind corners with a cliff on 1 or 2 slides - I don't even flinch anymore
6. Eating meat that has not been refrigerated for 48 hours
7. Spiders in the shower
8. People taking my picture while I am shopping at the grocery store
8. People rolling up to talk to me with a boa constrictor around their neck
9. Impromtu 10 km or more hikes through the jungle or on the side of the road when the bus breaks down unexpectantly
10. Warm weak beer
11. 12 year olds driving trucks
12. People lifting up the windows on the buses to sell you whatever you might need through the window (I actually really like this - you can just ask them (within reason) for about anything you want and they will get it for you before the bus takes off - need a newspaper, gum, water, lollipop - just ask these guys and they will find it for you. Talk about service - love it!
Other good news - there is a new store that opened above the soccer field and it has electricity and a fridge/freezer and sells......chocobananos!!!! Yeeeaaaahhhhh!!! And only .50 too! Plus they sell hot dogs, bread, fruit, veggies - this is a great store! And it just opened!
So - I have a lot to do before my trip home - there are decorations to plan for a quincinera (15th b'day party), our first group of bird watchers are coming, more planning for our tourism group, plus in service training - these days are going to fly.
Cheers,
Tara
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
November!
Well time is really starting to fly now! I can't believe it is November already - just 2 more months and it will already be a year in country. The days really do go by quickly here - it is already 8 p.m. and I am wondering where the day went!
I have been keeping very busy lately and that really helps. I am still working on my big tourism project - bringing a mix of hotels, plantations, communities, restaurants, and an archeological site together to promote as a group effort. We are working as a great team and it will be fun to watch this take off. I was just up in Coban last week for the Primer Encuentro de Turismo Comunitario here in Guatemala. That means it was the first meeting of community based tourism projects here in Guatemala. The meeting was organized by INGUAT, the national tourism organization here in Guatemala. It is pretty cool to be able to continue working in tourism at a high level even though my project is fairly small scale. I never thought all of my experience in tourism would be put to work down here - the great thing is that I can speak intelligently on the issues and even give them some ideas on how we have made things work in the US and how the US clientele think. I made some great contacts at the meeting and also it was a great opportunity to see my Peace Corps friends. It is soooo nice getting together with them and comparing stories and see how everyone is doing. I am so amazed at some of them - speaking almost fluent Queqchi! We had great weather - didn't get hit by the "chipi chipi" - meaning never ending mist/drizzle - we actually had great weather. Also, got to stay at a nice hotel - which was amazing - hot water, water pressure, and I got to eat meat everyday! And there were monkeys there too!
Coming back I spent a day in Antigua doing some Christmas shopping and just enjoying Antigua - doing laundry in a washing machine and there was a DRYER too - oh I pulled my nice warm clean clothes out of the dryer and just held them up against my face - what a wonderful feeling - warm dry clothes that smell soooo good - oh it truly is the little things. And I got to watch TV and they had cable too at the hotel in Antigua. I watched Jersey Shore for the first time ever - wow - I kind of wish they wouldn't show that here - I hope people don't get the impression that all Americans act like that - it is kind of embarassing and now I know where some of our stereotypes come from. It is really different watching these programs now with a very different point of view. Antigua was great - got to enjoy eating bagels in the morning, enjoyed some sorbet in the afternoons, and generally loved wandering around Antigua. Oh yeah - I got to find a new taco place where they make great tacos al pastor!
Got back to site on Sunday and it was a crazy travel day - the first camioneta (bus) was packed - tons of people traveling for Todos Santos - with flowers and adornments. Then got on another bus, a Pullman, like an old US Greyhound which usually are really nice and you get your own seat - but this time there were no seats and I stood for 3 hours - but a really nice guy offered to hold my backpack on his lap the WHOLE time. The kindness of strangers in this country is really amazing - people are soooo helpful! At first I was very wary of this kind of helpfulness - thinking it was a scam or they wanted something - but no - truly people are that nice here. Then we got to the bridge just outside of my stop and there was a HUGE line - like 5-6 lines wide and on both sides. They picked probably one of THE busiest travel days of the year to try to fix the bridge - What the....??? So - I got off the bus and decided to walk across the bridge and hike to my bus stop to get up to the community. It was hot and I had a heavy load - but I didn't mind too much - except for the constant whistles and horn honks the entire way! Now I know what it is like being a celebrity - must be the blonde hair - but it is crazy here - constant whistles, horn honks, chching, yells of "canchita" (little blonde), que linda (how pretty), que hermosa (how beautiful), I love you...., ohhhhhh that is background music of my life here - at least in cities of on the side of the road- but don't worry - they don't mean anything by it and I just ignore it or sometimes they do get really creative and they get a smile out of me. Wow - when I get back to the States and I don't get this kind of attention I am going to wonder what happened to me!
Then yesterday was Todos Santos and I walked up to the cemetary in the forest with Sara's family. We adorned the grave sites and lit candles and enjoyed walking around and visiting with everyone.
On another note I was asked to be the godmother for the child of Vitalino and Pasquala. She is due in December and I hope I am here for it. It is a big honor and I am happy that they asked me. So that is exciting news too.
Other random things that I am thinking about/miss from the US...
*Ice cubes (namely I'm thinking about iced coffee)
*US sense of humor (The Office) - and cable TV
*Traveling in cars (as oppossed to public transport)
*Getting my own seat in a car - put it this way - the seats in coach on the plane are going to feel spacious compared to what I am used to
*Lettuce - I haven't eaten a salad in 10 months
*Sandwiches - the book I am reading constantly refers to sandwiches and it is driving me nuts!
*Getting to eat exactly what you want when you want it
*Dancing - oh I am missing my time at the dance studio
Stuff I Love about Guate
*Not having to get up out of your seat (or half or quarter of a seat) to get anything - they bring the paper, snacks, bananas, cold soda - anything right to you - LOVE this!!
*People being so helpful and helping me travel with my heavy bags
*GREAT music in the camionetas
*The cleanliness at McDonalds - they keep it sooo clean and there are free newspapers to read and they carry your tray for you and open the door for you - what service!
*My Guatemalan family - The Recinos that have taken me in here in Guate - they are so kind and generous - this has really helped my integration here in the community.
So that is about it for now! We have some volunteers here and they brought The Office with them - oh one of my favorite shows from the US - yes!!
Cheers!
Tara
I have been keeping very busy lately and that really helps. I am still working on my big tourism project - bringing a mix of hotels, plantations, communities, restaurants, and an archeological site together to promote as a group effort. We are working as a great team and it will be fun to watch this take off. I was just up in Coban last week for the Primer Encuentro de Turismo Comunitario here in Guatemala. That means it was the first meeting of community based tourism projects here in Guatemala. The meeting was organized by INGUAT, the national tourism organization here in Guatemala. It is pretty cool to be able to continue working in tourism at a high level even though my project is fairly small scale. I never thought all of my experience in tourism would be put to work down here - the great thing is that I can speak intelligently on the issues and even give them some ideas on how we have made things work in the US and how the US clientele think. I made some great contacts at the meeting and also it was a great opportunity to see my Peace Corps friends. It is soooo nice getting together with them and comparing stories and see how everyone is doing. I am so amazed at some of them - speaking almost fluent Queqchi! We had great weather - didn't get hit by the "chipi chipi" - meaning never ending mist/drizzle - we actually had great weather. Also, got to stay at a nice hotel - which was amazing - hot water, water pressure, and I got to eat meat everyday! And there were monkeys there too!
Coming back I spent a day in Antigua doing some Christmas shopping and just enjoying Antigua - doing laundry in a washing machine and there was a DRYER too - oh I pulled my nice warm clean clothes out of the dryer and just held them up against my face - what a wonderful feeling - warm dry clothes that smell soooo good - oh it truly is the little things. And I got to watch TV and they had cable too at the hotel in Antigua. I watched Jersey Shore for the first time ever - wow - I kind of wish they wouldn't show that here - I hope people don't get the impression that all Americans act like that - it is kind of embarassing and now I know where some of our stereotypes come from. It is really different watching these programs now with a very different point of view. Antigua was great - got to enjoy eating bagels in the morning, enjoyed some sorbet in the afternoons, and generally loved wandering around Antigua. Oh yeah - I got to find a new taco place where they make great tacos al pastor!
Got back to site on Sunday and it was a crazy travel day - the first camioneta (bus) was packed - tons of people traveling for Todos Santos - with flowers and adornments. Then got on another bus, a Pullman, like an old US Greyhound which usually are really nice and you get your own seat - but this time there were no seats and I stood for 3 hours - but a really nice guy offered to hold my backpack on his lap the WHOLE time. The kindness of strangers in this country is really amazing - people are soooo helpful! At first I was very wary of this kind of helpfulness - thinking it was a scam or they wanted something - but no - truly people are that nice here. Then we got to the bridge just outside of my stop and there was a HUGE line - like 5-6 lines wide and on both sides. They picked probably one of THE busiest travel days of the year to try to fix the bridge - What the....??? So - I got off the bus and decided to walk across the bridge and hike to my bus stop to get up to the community. It was hot and I had a heavy load - but I didn't mind too much - except for the constant whistles and horn honks the entire way! Now I know what it is like being a celebrity - must be the blonde hair - but it is crazy here - constant whistles, horn honks, chching, yells of "canchita" (little blonde), que linda (how pretty), que hermosa (how beautiful), I love you...., ohhhhhh that is background music of my life here - at least in cities of on the side of the road- but don't worry - they don't mean anything by it and I just ignore it or sometimes they do get really creative and they get a smile out of me. Wow - when I get back to the States and I don't get this kind of attention I am going to wonder what happened to me!
Then yesterday was Todos Santos and I walked up to the cemetary in the forest with Sara's family. We adorned the grave sites and lit candles and enjoyed walking around and visiting with everyone.
On another note I was asked to be the godmother for the child of Vitalino and Pasquala. She is due in December and I hope I am here for it. It is a big honor and I am happy that they asked me. So that is exciting news too.
Other random things that I am thinking about/miss from the US...
*Ice cubes (namely I'm thinking about iced coffee)
*US sense of humor (The Office) - and cable TV
*Traveling in cars (as oppossed to public transport)
*Getting my own seat in a car - put it this way - the seats in coach on the plane are going to feel spacious compared to what I am used to
*Lettuce - I haven't eaten a salad in 10 months
*Sandwiches - the book I am reading constantly refers to sandwiches and it is driving me nuts!
*Getting to eat exactly what you want when you want it
*Dancing - oh I am missing my time at the dance studio
Stuff I Love about Guate
*Not having to get up out of your seat (or half or quarter of a seat) to get anything - they bring the paper, snacks, bananas, cold soda - anything right to you - LOVE this!!
*People being so helpful and helping me travel with my heavy bags
*GREAT music in the camionetas
*The cleanliness at McDonalds - they keep it sooo clean and there are free newspapers to read and they carry your tray for you and open the door for you - what service!
*My Guatemalan family - The Recinos that have taken me in here in Guate - they are so kind and generous - this has really helped my integration here in the community.
So that is about it for now! We have some volunteers here and they brought The Office with them - oh one of my favorite shows from the US - yes!!
Cheers!
Tara
Monday, October 11, 2010
The Countdown is On!
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
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
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
Friday, September 24, 2010
Standfast Take III
Geez, the weather here just doesn't let up. Just when the terrain here is saturated enough and the river levels are up to the level of the bridge decks, another big storm system comes in...and in comes the text message from headquarters with another Standfast. This means that we need to stay wherever it is we are, call in, and wait out the storm. Luckily I am here in site and we are surrounded by thick jungle with good root systems so I am not in too much danger here. However, the road systems are another story. Most of the roads have been cut out of steep mountains, however, when the roads were cut, not much in the way of reinforcement was put in and with soils saturated the mountains literally start coming down. This is getting especially bad since the country hadn't yet recovered from Agatha and the last big storm system and in comes the next.
So, in regards to what is going on here, my mood has definitely improved and I am feeling good again. Here is the latest and greatest on what has been going on here and some other notes...
1. My friend Steph came in to help me give an environmental education workshop to the teachers here. It was so great to see her and compare notes and just talk. She was impressed with my adaption here and it was nice to hear that. When you're new to a community and constantly trying to figure it out, sometimes you feel like you're always a step behind, however, it was nice to have a friend point out some successes. Thanks Steph - it was great having you here.
2. When a giant tarantula crawls out from the cupboard when I am eating dinner, I don't even flinch, I just keep eating and watch it go. The one thing I still run from though are bats. At least tarantulas don't carry rabies.
3. I am working on a huge tourism project here - helping to organize all of the rural and agro-turismo spots here on the Pacific Coast. It is a huge project - but I think it will take off. It is looking like this might be my primary project for the remainder of my time here -1.5 yrs - no longer 2 - yeah!!!!
4. I can make just about anything out of the following ingredients...Maseca (used to make tortillas), eggs, beans, pasta, pancake mix, tomato, onion, potatoes, camote (sweet potato), carrots, garlic, Natura's tomato sauce, and oatmeal, and bananas. That is my diet here...and these are my meals...pancakes, pancakes with bananas, pancakes with coffee grounds (actually really good), omelettes, scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, chirmol (salsa), egg and potato/camote hash, oatmeal, oatmeal with bananas and honey, empanandas, enchiladas (completely different here - not like back home), eggs and beans, tortillas with honey and salt, pasta, Cup O Noodle, and that's about it. Oh yeah and rice... I can make a pretty good veggie curry. Really, seriuosly, that is all I eat. Thank God for multi-vitamins and my occassional trips to Reu for McDonalds. Living the forced vegetarian dream...oh meat products how I miss them! I remember asking my class of english students what their favorite food was and they all said meat - not any favorite dish or type of meat - just meat. I thought that was strange -not anymore. Ask me my favorite food right now - I'll give you the same answer - meat!
5. Skype - got to talk to my sister this week and I tell ya - this makes all the difference to me. I have the best sister in the world and chatting with her on Skype reminds me of all of good times we had, chatting it up and drinking wine on the blue couch. Oh those were the days!
6. Coffee season is on - the harvest has started. I tell ya, after living on a finca, I will never look at a cup of coffee the same. It is incredible the work that goes in getting the coffee fruit from the tree to the beneficio to the roaster to the cup. The coffee plants all have bright red coffee fruit right now and they are beautiful to look at.
7. Just watched Sex and the City 2! It is crazy how movies can bring you back. Oh it was so fun to watch and dream about America again. Movies can really take you away and for a couple of hours there I forgot I was in the jungle. However, it really makes me miss the U.S. But the good thing is it reminds me that it all is still there and waiting for me to come back!
8. 2 months to go - then Thanksgiving, In Service Training, and then HOME for Christmas. I can't wait - it finally feels in my grasp!
That is about all I can think of for now. Things have really kicked into gear here and I finally feel like I am working on some worthwhile stuff and have December to look forward to. Thanks for reading and for all of your support.
Saludos,
Tara
So, in regards to what is going on here, my mood has definitely improved and I am feeling good again. Here is the latest and greatest on what has been going on here and some other notes...
1. My friend Steph came in to help me give an environmental education workshop to the teachers here. It was so great to see her and compare notes and just talk. She was impressed with my adaption here and it was nice to hear that. When you're new to a community and constantly trying to figure it out, sometimes you feel like you're always a step behind, however, it was nice to have a friend point out some successes. Thanks Steph - it was great having you here.
2. When a giant tarantula crawls out from the cupboard when I am eating dinner, I don't even flinch, I just keep eating and watch it go. The one thing I still run from though are bats. At least tarantulas don't carry rabies.
3. I am working on a huge tourism project here - helping to organize all of the rural and agro-turismo spots here on the Pacific Coast. It is a huge project - but I think it will take off. It is looking like this might be my primary project for the remainder of my time here -1.5 yrs - no longer 2 - yeah!!!!
4. I can make just about anything out of the following ingredients...Maseca (used to make tortillas), eggs, beans, pasta, pancake mix, tomato, onion, potatoes, camote (sweet potato), carrots, garlic, Natura's tomato sauce, and oatmeal, and bananas. That is my diet here...and these are my meals...pancakes, pancakes with bananas, pancakes with coffee grounds (actually really good), omelettes, scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, chirmol (salsa), egg and potato/camote hash, oatmeal, oatmeal with bananas and honey, empanandas, enchiladas (completely different here - not like back home), eggs and beans, tortillas with honey and salt, pasta, Cup O Noodle, and that's about it. Oh yeah and rice... I can make a pretty good veggie curry. Really, seriuosly, that is all I eat. Thank God for multi-vitamins and my occassional trips to Reu for McDonalds. Living the forced vegetarian dream...oh meat products how I miss them! I remember asking my class of english students what their favorite food was and they all said meat - not any favorite dish or type of meat - just meat. I thought that was strange -not anymore. Ask me my favorite food right now - I'll give you the same answer - meat!
5. Skype - got to talk to my sister this week and I tell ya - this makes all the difference to me. I have the best sister in the world and chatting with her on Skype reminds me of all of good times we had, chatting it up and drinking wine on the blue couch. Oh those were the days!
6. Coffee season is on - the harvest has started. I tell ya, after living on a finca, I will never look at a cup of coffee the same. It is incredible the work that goes in getting the coffee fruit from the tree to the beneficio to the roaster to the cup. The coffee plants all have bright red coffee fruit right now and they are beautiful to look at.
7. Just watched Sex and the City 2! It is crazy how movies can bring you back. Oh it was so fun to watch and dream about America again. Movies can really take you away and for a couple of hours there I forgot I was in the jungle. However, it really makes me miss the U.S. But the good thing is it reminds me that it all is still there and waiting for me to come back!
8. 2 months to go - then Thanksgiving, In Service Training, and then HOME for Christmas. I can't wait - it finally feels in my grasp!
That is about all I can think of for now. Things have really kicked into gear here and I finally feel like I am working on some worthwhile stuff and have December to look forward to. Thanks for reading and for all of your support.
Saludos,
Tara
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