Life in Guatemala

2009-07-23T22:27:00.000-07:00

I'm home! It turns out to be a really good thing, even though I'm really sad to have left Guatemala. It doesn't feel real... I can't really describe how I feel right now. Sometimes it feels like my life isn't really happening to me. And it's weird. And that's how I feel right now. Oy.

I can't wait to go back. I have no real idea when it's going to happen, but it's definitely going to happen. It's sort of calling to me. So don't worry, guys! There will definitely be more adventure to come. Life is an adventure, in fact. We don't even have to wait to go somewhere crazy like Guatemala.

I do feel happy. And sad. And... I don't know. Wistful.

blow my mind.

2009-07-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm coming home. There's not really a big reason for it, before you go wondering. I've been feeling like something needed to change for the last few weeks, or month, ish, and so I decided to leave HELP. But with leaving HELP comes the requirement to return home within a week of canceling my contract. So, here I come, sometime within the next week.

I love Guatemala. I cannot express it strongly enough. I feel a strong pull to come back. So, I will. But right now, it's time for me to go home. I don't really know why. I can't honestly say I totally want to. But if feels right, and I'll figure it out as I go. It'll be okay.

It's all coming to an end...

2009-07-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

I still have more than a month here, but I feel like it's all ending so quickly! We have two classes left to teach for sex ed, and then that's completely finished. My peer education dream is having some trouble getting off the ground, with extra stress and tension within the group, and a third of the team leaving next Tuesday. (Some of my favorite people. I don't want to talk about it.)

But I have recently come to the conclusion that I will, in fact, be moving back down to Chimaltenango in January of next year. This gives me a lot of hope. If I can make contacts for this peer education program while I'm here now, and I can figure out what schools are interested, and what kids, I can come back in January and actually have enough time and energy to dedicate to this project. Right now what I want isn't going to happen before the end of August. But that's okay, because it will someday. At least I can come back next year and help it get off the ground.

Sex ed is finally winding down. What a relief. I have really enjoyed learning so much, and teaching kids and hopefully making a little bit of a difference in someone's life. But I've also hated it sometimes, and been so stressed, and so embarrassed because I have such a sad little knowledge of Spanish that it makes it hard for me to talk about anything beyond what's on my lesson plan. But it's so sad that it's ending, because it means Leah is going home!

This weekend is El Salvador and a beach and relaxing, I hope. Next week is going to be an adventure, since I have no idea what I'm going to be doing. Hopefully meeting with administrators and getting feedback on peer education. And I'd like to go with some of the other projects I haven't seen yet, so here's my opportunity!

The longer I'm here, the more I want to stay here. The last week has been incredibly stressful, and I think I cried more than I had for probably the last four or five months. But even during all that, and still being stressed, I haven't yet felt the desire to leave. I love being in Guatemala more than I have ever loved anything, ever. There is such a good feeling here. The people here have so much potential for goodness, and I have learned so much from them! I know I need to go home in August, but I can't wait for next January. Seriously.

Volcan Pacaya

2009-07-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday (meaning not two days ago, but a week before that), Josie and I hiked up the volcano Pacaya with a couple of friends from the ward, and it was by far the coolest thing I've ever done. To get there, it seriously took a 4 hour bus ride. On four different buses. First we went from Chimaltenango to Antigua - but only after waiting almost an hour for a certain friend who woke up late. But it was okay, we weren't truly bothered. Then we went from Antigua to Escuintla. That was about an hour and a half or two hours, and it could have been totally miserable. But I have been g¡ven the priceless gift of the ability to sleep on buses, so it was okay. You may have seen pictures of us sleeping, in fact. On Facebook, of course. We ate papusas in Escuintla. They were delicious. But I was sadly unprepared and hadn't bothered to actually find Pacaya on a map - it's way the heck over by the coast! So we were at sea level, and it was humid and steamy and really hot. But I was dressed like it was Chimaltenango, which is in the highlands and is all rainy and damp and cold. A lovely surprise, except I was in jeans and layered t-shirts! From Escuintla we went to this random bus stop, where we switched onto a bus that took us to the actual mountain. (I am so glad we had the guys from the ward with us, or we would have been so, so incredibly lost.)

Waiting for our papusas. We were so excited to eat.

The fourth bus up. I'm sitting on random bags of fertilizer.

Pacaya has had a lot of work done on it in the last few years and has become a super touristy place. You can ride a horse up the volcano, if you're not feeling up to it yourself. And you don't even have to know how to ride a horse, because they lead the horse up the mountain for you! I haven't seen so many white people (on horses) since I've been here. And that includes our touristy trip to Honduras and Rio Dulce.

It was amazing, though. We went right up (without another lunch, unfortunately) the path after getting the guy to give us a discount because we're students - which was lucky, because I'm an American and would have had to pay twice as much, which would have taken all the money I had with me! I'm a weird hiker. Which means, it's really hard for me at first, especially going uphill. But after awhile I'm fine. Like on Acatenango - about an hour from the top, I perked up and made it just fine. But everything before that was awful. Pacaya wasn't quite the same story; I was just slower than everyone else. Which doesn't actually bother me at all, except that everyone else is slowed down.

The trail was absolutely beautiful. The mountain was absolutely beautiful. The view was beautiful - guys, Guatemala is freaking beautiful! And we hiked up the side of the mountain, not even the trail. That was sort of an accident. There are a lot of different trails of varying difficulty, and we thought we were going up one of those. I think maybe it's on its way to becoming a true trail, since it looked like people had been there recently, but it's definitely not maintained. Just this random little almost-trail shooting straight up the side of the mountain. And then there was an awesome hill of volcanic sand we got to surf down, which was obviously so much fun. Josie got sand/little rocks in her pants.

Laguna de Calderas

Then the true adventure started. Don't get me wrong, the entire day was an adventure (which is how we refer to it, actually) but then we got to climb up the old lava flows! Which were totally mean and stabbed our hands (I think Melvin might still have the scars to show for it...), but it was so freaking cool! And then we got to lava! There was a true lava flow happening right in front of my eyes. It was like watching an act of creation. I've never been so amazed/excited/blown away/happy in my life. Real lava, just oozing out of the side of a volcano. There is absolutely nothing anyone could do to stop it, and it was completely indifferent to our existence - to anyone's - but I absolutely loved it.

On our way up!

True lava. Really, truly.

It took another five ish hours to get home, since we went from the mountain to the random bus stop to Escuintla to Antigua - but we got to Antigua too late to catch the bus to Chimal. Thank goodness for people with family! Brian's parents came and picked us up and took us up. What lovely, beautiful people. We danced all the way home.

You know you want to see more pictures. Go here!

2009-07-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

A quick update:

Saturday was my best day ever (more about that in a different post, someday - with pictures!), and several people's worst. It's not my story to tell, just know that our team has gone through a lot of stress over the last few days.

I feel yucky again. Fever, headache, nausea, yuck. But no puking. And no BU. Thank the universe!

Sex ed is wrapping up, and I'm excited. This week and next week! Then on to peer education!

I don't want to ever go home.

My day...

2009-07-01T19:04:00.000-07:00

consisted of making Vic's Vaporub (except in Spanish... and not copyrighted) from scratch, teaching reproductive anatomy to 4th, 5th, and 6th graders, and spending four hours putting together a lesson plan and handout on menstruation for tomorrow. All in all, I've been working for like 13 hours straight. It's been a long day.

Belize!

2009-06-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Belize yesterday. I have no pictures at the moment, but I'm working at getting them on the computer. Let me just say that I freaking love Belize.

I love Guatemala. Love it. I could spend the rest of my life here. But! Belize is on a completely different level of love. It's super chill. Guatemala has this sort of anxiety that's always hanging there, even in the rural, random places. It's like a leftover from the civil war, I think. But Belize wasn't like that at all. There was no feeling of anxiety, or being rushed, or anything in that genre of feelings. It was relaxed. And they speak Creole, which is freaking cool. Except I think I understand Spanish better than I understand Creole. Gah, and the food! Again, I love Guatemala, but the food definitely leaves something to be desired.

I wish we'd gotten to spend more time there! It's super beautiful, and there's so much to do. Not as much as you'd think, ya know? I'm thinking a honeymoon trip to Belize someday.

Sexual Education

2009-06-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

I'm afraid I may have taken on more than I can handle in teaching sex ed. How do you teach about sex to a culture that often refuses to discuss it? How do I draw the line between teaching what is scientific fact, and what I believe is right? It's so difficult. We've heard about husbands consistently leaving their families behind, or having several different families, or just regularly having affairs, and it's all just accepted. Why is it accepted? What's the mindset behind it? And how do we make any impact on the kids we're teaching, to try to start changing the mindset? Am I actually going to be able to make any difference at all?

And how do we teach the girls to be strong and to stand up for themselves, and to expect to be treated with respect and love? How do you teach these things? Where did I learn them? My parents. Why aren't the parents here teaching their kids this?

Things I want to get across:
- sex isn't a secret!
- no one has to have sex before they're ready
- it's not a toy, a past time, or a game
- monogamous relationships are safer and more emotionally fulfilling than having multiple sexual partners
- consent must must must be given
- girls have just as much say as boys in whether or not they want to have sex

Gah! How do I do this?!

Recently....

2009-06-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

I know I've done a really lame job posting lately, and I'm sorry. Things have been totally crazy!

But I do have an update to do, hooray! Friday we had our second gira with Eladio. We took six women to Patzicía to learn about how to use medicinal plants, and we made our own cough syrup! We used eucalyptus, marubio, orsus, and honey. It tastes just like melted cough drops. I'm excited to go home and make my own. Unfortunately, I don't yet know the words for most of the med plants we were shown, and I don't even know if they have English names. But we learned about a lot of different plants - 24, in fact. Most of them are good for simple things, like stomach aches, or digestive issues. But some of them claim to be a really big deal! One, valeriana, is supposed to help control epilepsy. At first I was totally skeptical about it. But really, why not? Obviously I don't have trouble with epilepsy, but it's something that could totally be researched.

The best part of the gira: the car broke down on the way there! We rented this completely random microbus, and it took us two hours to get to Patzicía because the engine kept overheating (it's a fifteen minute bus ride - no joke). So every five minutes or so we'd stop and wait for a few minutes. It was so cool. At one point, there was smoke billowing out of the engine. I thought for sure we were going to explode. We didn't though. And getting home there were no problems. Leah has video of the engine smoking. I will definitely be putting that up in the near future. Along with more pictures, don't worry.

2009-06-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

All the schools in Guatemala are officially closed until July 1st. This = super lame, because that's where we teach sex ed, although I've thoroughly bitched about that one, so I'll move onto something new. All the new volunteers are here, and they don't get to see what half our projects are because they were all in schools. And Leah leaves the 21st, which only gives her three weeks of teaching sex ed before she has to leave. And we've had to jump onto random projects, which means most of us have no freaking clue what's going on half the time. It's completely ineffective.

But a lot of fun, because I've actually been able to go see what other people are doing, which is so interesting, and I've missed that. I watched Josie and Dana teach a community English class the other day, and it was so fun! And I got to go learn about nutrition classes in San Martin, and today we went to Guat City with Eladio to buy supplies for a medicinal plant training on Friday. So even with the craziness that is the Guatemalan school system (and six more volunteers, whom I love), it's been a pretty good week.

And for everyone who was freaking out because I hadn't been on in a week, you can chill. I was not kidnapped. Although I did get stuck at a protest for a little while last week. They blocked the road, and we had to walk through to get to our school. It was kind of cool.

No pictures today, sorry

2009-06-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

I don't have my camera cord with me. But don't worry, there are a lot of good ones coming.

There's been an outbreak of swine flu in the last week (H1N1, since the scientist in me feels so irritated every time I hear "swine flu" - why am I such a nerd?) There are only 3 cases in Chimal so far; most are in Guatemala City. In the entire country, there are 60 confirmed cases. That's actually up 10 cases since Monday. And they're closing the primary schools down for 16 days, which totally screws over sex ed. That's a full two weeks of school we're missing. Which means we either have to come up with a new, temporary project until the schools open again, or we have to jump on with someone else's project. Pretty much it all sucks.

On the bright side, we had our first real medicinal plant training today, which was very cool. We learned how to make cough syrup from eucalyptus, marubio (dunno the word in English, sorry) and another flower whose name I don't remember. Oh, and organic honey! Eladio only uses organic honey, he told us. He's funny.

David left this morning for home. And we've got 5 more girls arriving today (plus one on Friday). Remember our little house, with 10 girls already. Now add 5 more. Plus Sean and Vic. It's going to be an adventure. But it'll be good.

Chimaltenango

2009-06-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

This is the city where we live. Which is pretty awesome, although you can't tell from my pictures.

The group minus Vic and Sean. (Sean was taking the picture, Vic hadn't arrived yet.)

This is Skulky. He belongs to Lencho.

David and Josie.

Leah, Sean and David.

Elisabeth, me, Stephanie.

This is how we go everywhere - in the back of a truck. Unless we're on a bus. More about those later (although you can see one in the background). The kid running behind the truck actually jumped on the tailgate and rode with us for a minute. Now he gets to tell all his friends he rode in a truck with a bunch of gringo's.

Corrugated sheet metal is a totally acceptable building material.

This color red looks obnoxious to you now - but wait until you see the green. Bright colors are a must. I've decided my house is going to be bright, bright blue someday.

I told you the dogs hang out on the roofs! How the heck do they get there?? (And please note the intense advertising. That's not actually that intense, let me tell ya. Some people paint their house in advertisements. And schools. And government buildings. It's a free paint job.)

I wanted to take this one home to my daddy.

The view down one of the roads.

Sometimes there are cows randomly in the streets. You get used to it pretty quickly. Yesterday I literally ran into one as I turned the corner onto the main street. Scared the poor thing to death.

Bright pink. Totally normal.

This is the Satan truck. Every morning there is an ungodly honking noise that sounds like a giant goose, and then a loud noise that sounds like "Satanás" (only held out for forever.) It actually says "Zeta gas." That's another form of advertising.

La Iglesia Catolico.

Iximché!

2009-06-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

Iximché!

This tree was growing on top of one of the temples. I climbed it.

Told you!

One of the main temples. We climbed to the top of this one, it was cool.

One of the main plazas of the city.

The ball field! They sacrificed the losers. Seriously.

Stairs to the ball field. You can't really tell from this picture, but the steps were each like a foot and a half high, and only like 8 inches wide. They were a super pain in the butt to climb.

Some of the altars. People still come here and do rituals. One of my friends who came here last year got to see one. I'm freaking jealous.

Close up.

2009-06-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

Update. I hiked a volcano Saturday. More pictures to come. Then that night, we went dancing in Antigua with some friends from church. (It was an exhausting day.) I really, really love dancing.

We've started our sex ed stuff, finally. It's our first week! We introduced ourselves, explained the program we're putting together for the summer (rainy season here), and played a little game to break down the walls the kids put up as soon as they heard the word sexo. I think it went well. We played "Two truths and a lie" with them, so they could get to know us better. I really suck at coming up with creative things for this game, so my two truths were my family has four cats and my boyfriend lives in Brazil. My lie was that my house burned down when I was twelve. Am I so lame? They guessed it every time, so then I changed it to "I'm 23 years old." They guessed that one, too. I have to be more creative for Thursday. Next week we're jumping right in with anatomy. (I'm going to have the weirdest Spanish vocab when I get back.)

Next Wednesday is our first training day for the medicinal plants. It's also the day David leaves and all the second wavers show up.

This weekend we're going to Copán in Honduras, and then going to Río Dulce and Livingston. I'm super, super excited.

2009-05-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

I think as I get more and more involved in this trip, I realize just how much I need to be here. Not because I'm going to make such a huge difference that if I wasn't here everyone's lives would be sadly lacking. I'm more selfish than the average person, but I don't have such a high opinion of myself that I would let myself become convinced that I'm truly going to change the world in the three months that I'm here. But I can make a difference on an individual level, which means making connections with the people with whom we're working. And that's why I need to be here. In the three weeks and one day I've been here I've already learned so much, and I feel like I've grown even more than I expected. I know I'm often pegged as an idealist, but even with everything that happens here, I can't help feeling hope for the people of Guatemala and every other place similar. Being here has made me depressed and frustrated on so many levels, but has only strengthened my resolve to become a person who can truly make a difference.

Sad news.

2009-05-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

I've been introduced to another facet of living in the third world: gang violence. Nothing happened to me or anyone I know, thank goodness, and there isn't a whole lot of gang activity in Chimal (or any that I know of...). But we met a lady today whose son's wife and mother-in-law were killed by a gang last week. Their daughters (slash granddaughters) witnessed their deaths. We actually got to meet the little girls. It was hard to imagine any kid having to see such a horrible thing. The older girl's hand was actually grazed by a bullet.

The thing is, no one really knows why the gang picked these people to kill. There could be several reasons, but it all ends the same way.

I've been wondering for awhile if I was actually going to make a difference here. I still don't know, but I've been given that much more motivation to try.

So many things!

2009-05-24T17:28:00.000-07:00

Updates on here are going to get more and more sparse as I get busier with projects, so let me apologize ahead of time.

First things first: Leah and I pretty much have a schedule down for our projects. We're teaching Sex Ed to primary and high school kids, which is going to be awkward times eleven, since neither of us speak proficient Spanish. But as anyone who knows me well is aware, I think it's a really, really important thing. So, we're having a go at it. Our other main project is teaching rural communities to grow and use medicinal plants, which is so, so awesome. We're diving in headfirst this week! And I'm so terrified. Me+speaking Spanish=so lame. But it's gonna be fine. I'm learning.

On a lighter, more touristy note, we went to Lake Atitlán yesterday, which was freaking sweet. It's the center of the Mayan Universe, first of all, and it's supposed to this hub of spiritual energy. Which explains San Marcos! The coolest place ever, maybe. It's beyond hippie. We passed by at least four holistic health centers, plus this super awesome almost-commune where you can take a month-long course in things like yoga and meditation. Then we went to San Pedro, which is just a super touristy little town, where we bought all our souvenirs. And we went to a beach to swim, which was cool. Except in Guatemala it gets cloudy and rainy every afternoon without fail, so we didn't swim for very long. It was a cool beach, though - the sand was black, and from volcanic rock. Lake Atitlán is beyond beautiful! It's surrounded by volcanoes and mountains, and it's all so green. The lake is not too cold, which was nice. And to get from town to town, you can either hike (although all the guide books say not to, because there are a lot of robberies of tourists) or hire a boat, which is what we did.

So, I now have a new plan for my life: graduate from college (someday...), move to Guatemala, buy a boat, and cart around American tourists. I'm totally set.

Today's favorite things

2009-05-19T15:47:00.000-07:00

Cars that have giant loudspeakers on top. I think they're advertising something, but it's hard to tell what because the talking is just so loud.

Chick music that is always being played at the internet cafe. Right now: The Cranberries. I'm not kidding.

Home-grown peaches, and the best hand cream I've ever used. Also, aloe vera gel with cane sugar and honey. It's bitter, but kind of yummy.

Dogs, dogs and more dogs. They're freakin everywhere. And they have random pet stores with puppies in tiny little cages. It makes me so sad.

Toast. And margarine with garlic. It was a mistake, but such a good one. And pineapple jelly.

I love the mountains here. It reminds me of a Miyazaki film, because the clouds are always so close, and they move through so quickly. And they're all so green! Except the ones that have been stripped of all their trees... Those ones always make me feel so sad.

My favorites.

2009-05-18T13:10:00.000-07:00

- The chicken buses (though I have yet to see a chicken on them, so I think they are mislabeled.)
- The dogs. I know I talk about them all the time, but they freaking hang out on top of buildings!
- The rice and beans. What other food could you eat every day for two weeks straight and not get tired of it?
- Tuk-tuks. I wish I could ride on them.
- Riding in the back of trucks. I haven't done it since my childhood, but now we've done it like three times here - and there are many more chances to come.
- People smile here! If you walk by them and smile, they smile back at you! And say hello!
- Lencho's. He's the funniest person I've ever met. He spent some time in Chicago so he speaks really good English. And he'll say something he thinks is really funny, and then throw his head back and laugh really loudly. I like it.
- Little kids that couldn't care less what you think, they just want you to push them on the swing.
-Freaking Mayan temples! And the trees that grow out of them, that make me feel so happy and peaceful.

This morning we went to the Hogar del Madre Anna Vitiello. It's an orphanage for kids that have HIV/AIDS. Thank goodness HIV/AIDS isn't a huge problem here, but it is the third world, so it's bound to be nearby. We're talking about doing classes there - English and art, specifically. A lot of the kids are true orphans, and don't have any family, so we're going to be working with them on self-esteem and stuff. The kids are so cute, though. I made friends with two specific little kids. They didn't want to talk, though, so I never found out their names. We just hung out on the swingset. The hogar is run by 13 nuns, and they have around 50 kids, of varying ages. It's a really beautiful little place. They got a bunch of trash tile for free, so their whole little orphanage is covered in mosaics. I love it.

Saturday we went up to Tecpán, and the ruins that are nearby. The site is called Iximché, and it could possibly be the coolest place I've ever been in my life. I'll get pictures up, I promise! We climbed to the top of several of the temples (even though there are signs that tell you not to...), and one of them had a tree growing on top, so I climbed the tree, too. Apparently Iximché was the Katchiquel capital, and it's easy to see why - it's in a really isolated, beautiful location.

Something I've noticed about Guatemala - the only flooring you will ever see is tile. No hardwood, no carpet. Just tile. At first it weirded me out, because sometimes even the sidewalks will be made of tile. But you get used to it really quickly. It's super easy to clean, easy to maintain, and relatively inexpensive (especially if you can just get the trash pieces and make a mosaic - I'm definitely coming up with home-decorating ideas while I'm here).

HELP blog

2009-05-15T11:42:00.001-07:00

Go the HELP blog to keep up with everyone and all of the projects, because that's where you can find lots and lots of info. And mine is definitely going to be more personal, involving lots of lovely personal growth and impressions of people and places.

I'm feeling so much better! Today was my first day back up to normal. Yesterday was alright, but today I feel so good. The guy who runs the internet cafe is playing that song that goes, "Everything I do, I do it for you..." from like the nineties. Previously was "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and before that was Celine Dion's song from Titanic. Hahahahah!!! Best music ever. We're all swaying and singing along.

There are a lot of really funny things like that here. Because it's American, it's cool, even if it's totally obsolete in America now.

We ate lunch at McDonald's today! How much do I hate Western culture? There are no words. I had french fries.

We're hashing out the schedule for our projects and everything this afternoon. We're finally getting started! I am so excited!

Honestly, at the beginning of the week I didn't think I wanted to be here. I didn't feel like I had a place, I couldn't speak to anyone, and I was totally miserable. But feeling well, and having a purpose has made the biggest difference!

Also, I want to get together a yoga club from the group. Because I want to do yoga.

my first real third world experience!

2009-05-13T10:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I have had quite an arduous last few days. I'm not going to get into nitty gritty details (believe me, you don't want them), but suffice it to say that I have been very sick since Sunday. Today is the first day I was able to get up and leave the house. Yesterday I went to the doctor, but we didn't walk, so I don't count it. Pretty much every miserable thing you can think of, I've had it.

And being sick has made me realize just how much I want to be out there and doing something. I've asked myself several times, "Why the heck am I here?!" in the last few days, because being stuck in the house all day for two days straight has caused me to miss out on a lot. Especially in our first week, when we're first getting out there and meeting the in-country partners and discussing potential projects. One begins to feel pretty worthless and pitiful when one sleeps all day for two days straight.

It also makes me appreciate my body a whole lot more, for being able to handle what's been thrown at it. Thank goodness I turned into such a health nut in the last few years.

First blog!

2009-05-09T12:03:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we went to Cerro Alto, a little settlement not far out of Chimaltenango, where we´re staying. One of our in country partners, Eladio, drove us up in the back of his little pick up. (Imagine ten people in the back of my little Ford Ranger, driving up the side of a volcano, and you´ll have a pretty good idea of what it was like.) Eladio is an amazing person, and probably who I´ll work with the most on my projects. He does so much for his community! He showed us his son´s house, where they grow medicinal plants that they take up to rural communities so they can start using preventice medicine - when you get a disease and you live in the middle of nowhere, you´re pretty much done for. Seriously, I want to be just like this man. He makes shampoo, a homemade version of Vick´s Vaporub (Bikcs Baporub) and hand cream out of aloe vera and other homegrown ingredients. He´s trying to get supplies so he can start setting up some of the poorer communities to make all those products as an extra source of income. He does a lot of other things also: family gardens, building libraries... I´m telling you, this man is my hero. He and his daughter in law have set up a little medical clinic in her house for their village. Imagine my surprise when I got out of the truck and was face to face with a poster descriving female anatomy. He also wants to set up a system to teach people how to produce goats and chickens, so they can be more self reliant. There is so much I can learn from this family.

Then we went to the orphanage a lot of us will be working with. It´s run by a Guatemalan guy named Guillermo who trys to reunite the kids in the orphanage with their families. He´s an RM and has the missionaries visit a lot of the families. 17 out of 50 so far have been baptized, which is pretty awesome. What a good way to extend the gospel, to people who so desperately need it. Out of the fifty families he´s worked with, 32 have been reunited. It´s a really wonderful thing he´s doing.

There are a lot of other projects I´m interested in, especially working with a women´s rights group here in town. They do a lot of work with women who´ve been sexually assaulted, teaching them how to say no and informing them of their rights to press charges, teaching them about birth control options, and sex ed for kids.

Obviously I don´t speak a word of Spanish, so that makes things a little more difficult, but I can so the basics - ask how much something costs, where the bathroom is, etc. People are pretty easygoing, so it´s not a big deal when I make a fool out of myself. And how cool is it that I get to eat rice and beans at every meal?!

There's this truck that goes by every morning. It honks its horn and says something through a loudspeaker that sounds like "Satanas" so we call it the Satan truck. Turns out it actually says "Zeta gas."

Last night we went dancing in Antigua. We got there kind of early (like 9:30), so everyone who arrived after us just sat and watched the goofy Americans. We didn´t stand out as much in Antigua, because it´s super touristy and there are a lot of Europeans who vacation there. There was almost an incident involving a drunk guy from Germany who could barely stand - he was dancing a little too close to the group, and then followed us out to the lobby place and stood awkwardly close. Security was called, but nothing got out of hand. And none of this involved me, so you don´t have to worry.

It`s going to be awhile before I can post pictures, because we haven`t figured out the best way to transfer them to the computer, because a lot of the computers at the internet cafe have viruses, and I don`t want to take those to my laptop from the flashdrive. I`ll figure it out, though. You will see visual documentation of this awesome adventure!

2009-05-06T00:17:00.000-07:00

I fly out of Salt Lake in exactly eleven hours and thirty two minutes. Assuming no delays, of course. Can I just say that I am absolutely terrified? I know it's going to be so awesome, and I'm going to have a completely unique and potentially life changing experience. But I have no freaking clue what to expect, and that scares me!

However. In twenty four hours I will be sleeping (I hope...) in a different country, with a bunch of new people and getting ready to hand myself over to helping others and serving something bigger than me. Sort of sounds like those commercials for the Army reserves, only more my style.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow...

Geez, how annoying are the baggage requirements for Continental Airlines? Seriously. Who measures something by length + height + width? Why not just tell me to find the volume of the stupid bag?

I'm hungry. And I need to shower. Plus wake up in four and a half hours, and then drive to Salt Lake. Why do I do this to myself? Gah!

2009-04-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

Departure date: May 6 (a week from Wednesday...!)

Things left to do:
- pack
- check-out session
- send in my last minute forms
- say good-bye

yayayayayayayayayayayayayayyyy!!!!!

Acceptance letter!

2009-04-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

It's official - I'm a member of Team Guatemala! I got my acceptance letter this week. My fundraising letters are out, I'm starting to buy everything I need, all my typhoid pills have been taken, and I am soooo ready to go! Yay!

Seriously, if anyone is interested - go to the website, read about the programs. It's pretty awesome. www.help-international.org

Preparations!

2009-03-30T17:29:00.000-07:00

- Mailed out most of my fundraising letters today
- Got my vaccinations (best moment of my life, let me tell ya)
- Making packing lists
- Attended all but one of my trainings (which I will be doing over the phone)

I get more excited every day!