A walk from Salcajá to Cantel

We live in Salcajá, but Mosiah works entirely in Cantel the neighboring Municipio (like a county) and the women´s group that I work with is in an Aldea (smaller town in the same Municipio) of Cantel. Usually we take buses from Salcajá to Cantel, however a couple of Saturdays ago we decided to see how long it would take to walk. It took about twice as long to walk 1 1/2 hour vs. 45 minutes buy bus, however the views were much better on the walk. Here are a few pictures.

Karma

I am amazed that my colleagues in the youth development program still remember details of their middle school days. I am not talking about a teacher or a class, but of actual activities that they did. Perhaps my brain blocked out the majority of this period so that I could develop into a semi normal adult.
I know that middle school is no picnic for anyone, but I really would like to rank my experience up there as one of the most disastrous. I remember 8th grade being particularly hard. Sure I had the acne, the baby fat but most disastrous was the thought that I had the world figured out. I thought that I was so smart and that my teachers were so ridiculously dumb. In my arrogance I lashed out at some of them trying to show them that I was their intellectual equal if not superior.

There is one teacher and one class in particular that I remember. 8th grade Health. Like I said I do not remember much from those days, but I do remember making this teacher so angry that she twice dismissed me from her class. If I recall right, I one time was arguing that she could not mark an opinion answer wrong on a test. What I should have taken into account is that there are times for smart-ass comments and a health test is not one of them. There are also some people that you can attack personally but a teacher is not one of them (I am so sorry!).
To make a long story very short, I soon realized after leaving secondary school that I did not in fact know all that I thought that I did, nor did I deserve to treat my teachers the way I did. When I got to university I knew one thing for certain, I did not ever want to be a teacher and subject myself to children like me. I can remember qualifying this by saying that “there is not enough money in the world that could convince me to be a middle school teacher”.
Well I was right and wrong. I am doing what I swore I would never do. I was correct that I would not take large sums of money to work in a middle school, because now I do it for free. Not only am I working with this age group, but also I am teaching a course that would probably be called Middle School Health in the States. I should say that I like my job and on a really good day I might even say that I love it, but I do have to put up with the know-it-alls and smart-alecks.
I have never been a real believer in Karma but… I felt sorry for my 8th grade health teacher but now I empathize with her. I have gone from assuming that these teachers have it rough to knowing that some of them should be awarded medals for not hurting their students. There was a time when I would have viewed this placement as a penance for my past deeds, but it has grown to mean so much more. I have developed so much as a person having stood on the other side of the teacher’s desk, trying to help young people see that their futures are important and fragile. I now know why that teacher got up and came to school and even let me back in her class. Perhaps she saw that I needed this class more than most. Karma is a bitch but perhaps it is only because it forces us to see our past mistakes and learn from them.

Putting up the fence

¡Feliz 4 de Julio!

Happy belated 4th of July. Here in Peace Corps Guatemala the 4th of July party is a HUGE event and the only time each year when all 180+ volunteers and staff get together. Since Mosiah and I are on the Volunteer Advocacy Committee we had the ¨pleasure¨ to plan and execute the event. It was A LOT of work but in the end it was vale la pena. Here are a couple shots from little fiesta for the good old US of A down here in Guatemala.

The garden - new and improved

The rainy season has started again and my women's group has taken on the challenge of creating a bigger and better garden than last year.  While Mosiah and I were home I was able to gather a great collection of seeds (vegetables and a wide variety of medicinal plants) as well as some books on gardening and seed collection, thanks to the support of our garden savvy mothers and my grandma!

We're a couple weeks behind for the normal planting time but Guatemala has a very long growing season so we should be ok. We can expect the temperature to stay pretty consistent for the next 5 months and rain every afternoon. We picked a spot on Delila's (the leader of the group-see picture below) property and started clearing the land about 2 weeks ago. With salons (hoes) and wheelbarrows we cleared the trash and weeds from the perspective garden and then churned the soil. This week we covered the garden with cal (lime) to disinfect the soil and tomorrow the women will be putting up our newly purchased chicken wire fence! Then Tuesday we plant!!

Last November I organized a field trip with the women's group to visit a medicinal garden in San Juan la Laguna three hours from Cantel. It was a great experience and inspiration for the group but I know that many of women felt that creating a garden like the one in San Juan was something they could never achieve. Now with hard work and support their goal is becoming more atainable. There is a lot of work yet to be done but we've come so far since last year and we're all excited about the outcome of this new project.



Dalila

Just Thinking

Well I am sure that most people have heard that we will be coming home in May for a little visit. It is hard to imagine that when we land in Denver it will have been over a year since we have been in the States, a record for the both of us. The anticipation that is building inside of me reminds me of being a kid and waiting for Christmas. The excitement builds with every coming day, and I know that it will be impossible to sleep the night before the flight.
As I lay in bed at night dreaming of carpet, hot water from the choro, driving, bathtubs, and beer from a tap, a question starts to nag me from some corner of my mind. How will I describe the past year of my life to everyone? Most of the time only one-word answers come to my mind. Guatemala is great, frustrating, heartwarming, heartbreaking, amazing, lonely, crazy, boring etc. I suppose that if anyone were to be asked what their past year was like the answer would look much the same. Still, I crave something that could sum it up for people as I anticipate this question to come up.
“So how has the last year been in Guatemala”?
The last year has been sprinkled with just about every emotion that I can think of. I have felt elated after an especially great class and I have felt despair and thought of quitting after a terrible one. I have basked in the beauty of a volcanic lake, but I have also lamented the destruction of the environment. I have felt connected to Guatemalans but others have also robbed me. I think that development works some days and think it’s a farce others. I suppose it all is summed up that my life here is filled with opposing feelings and contradictory experiences. Perhaps that is the Guatemalan experience.
Guatemala is a land of contrast for me. It is a place where the rich and the poor live in relative proximity. It is a place where people wish for security but life is so uncertain. It is a place where ancient cultures live next to and perhaps compete with modern culture. Guatemala is a land of agriculture but also of malnutrition. At times one can feel guilty about living around this but still having the luxury of being removed and only a plane ticket away from escape at any moment.
But that did not answer, “How has the last year been in Guatemala”?
The last year has been… Interesting? Fun?
Those words seem so trite and so far removed from the truth. I suppose it is cliché and again only a one-word answer, but the truth is the last year has been an adventure.

Visitantes

In March/beginning of April we had a few visitors. First our dear friends Sarah and Soren and after my parents. We had a great time and are very thankful for all the gifts they bought for us and to help us with our work. We hope they had fun climbing volcanoes, going to a Guatemalan ¨baby shower¨, swimming in Lago Atitlan, learning how to make tortillas, and overall seeing this beautiful country. Below are some pictures from our adventures.

Eating¨helados¨in Parque Carmen

¨Baby shower¨Guatemalan style

Delmi, Edwardo, Kelly, Mosiah, Sarah and Soren

Niños with Sarah and Soren

Dad in the back of a pickup

Climbing Volcan Chicabal near San Martin Sacatepequez

At the mirador

Mom cooking with two gabachas

Swimming in Lago Atitlan