Hey ya'll well this is the end of my 9th week meaning I only have to more weeks left. It's exciting to be going home but I am also very sad to know I will be leaving. This is probably the second to last update you will be receiving.
Things went so well this week. We were able to finish all three stoves without a hitch. It was tough work, and this week has been unusually hot and we have not seen rain since last week. The families have been so nice to us, cooking us lunch and offering us drinks. Also the mason we hired has been fantastic. He is the brother of one of the women we are building stoves for. He learned everything quick and has been putting us to shame with his skills. I am confident he can build a stove on his own, which some of the villagers have taken notice of. He is already being offered to build more stoves that we aren't even funding.
Kevin was able to find more donations for us to build 2 more stoves in the community. This will give 5 families stoves in total, almost half of the womans group we are building for. We should complete those by Thursday of next week. The peace corp volunteers have been working closely with us as well. Our hope is that this project can continue without us there. All they should need is donations. We only have to build 6 more stoves to give everyone in that community a stove. If you are at all interested possibly making a donation towards a stove please contact me. They cost a little over a 100 US dollars to construct, so any donation can make a huge impact. I will be able to send these donations down to Comintancillo and have the peace corp continue the project. We will probably be setting up a donation account through friendsofguatemala.org.
In other news from the week, our visit to the Xocomile water park with the fammily was soooooo fun! This might have been the best water park I have ever been too! The rides were amazing and the kids didnt even stop to breath when they were riding them. Little Georgina and Irving past out completely on the way home. I was really cool to see their reaction to it all. They hardly ever leave Comintancillo, and they had never heard of Burger King when we went there for breakfast. At times I was worried they might be overwhelmed, but I think they really enjoyed themselves at the water park.
Things are starting to wind down here, this is our lat full week in Comi, the next blog will be from xela or antigua. Hope everyones summers are coming to a good end.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Stoves!
Stove project got underway this week! I am sore all over and both my brain and body hurt! We had to coordinate the purchase, transportation and delivery of over $500 worth of materials for the stoves this week, all in Spanish. Amazingly enough everything went extremely well, granted our driver was late and we had to go to a different store to get more materials. We managed to get one stove built and the rest of the supplies delivered to the other 3 families. The community, chixal is about an hour walk away up hill. We made the walk the first time to meet all the community memebers and give our charla. I was dead after it haha. Luckily we were able to ride in the delivery truck the next time when we delivered supplies. The delivery was tough as the three families lived at least 100 meters off the main road. This meant we had to carry the 50 pound bags of sand up and down hills to there houses. That was a long day. It was nice though seeing the community come together to help move those supplies, they seemed really excited. I also had to try 3 different kinds of arozz, which is a suggary rice drink that each family has a special recipe for. After three large glasses from each family as thanks, which i couldn´t turn down, my stomach was claiming mutiny!
We also built our first stove of the project this week. This one was for our host mother. For as much as she cooks for us its really the least we could do. I think she thanked us about 10 times in the last week. It was really fulfulling to see that pure joy that the whole family seemed to take in just having a wood burning stove. The stove was tough to build though. This was the first one kevin and I had built without the help of Justin. It took us three days, as we also did not have the help of a local mason. But it turned out awesome and when our host mother saw it the frist time she exclaimed "que bonita!". I am really excited to start on the next three!
When are finishing up our 8th week here. I am really starting to feel comfortable here and its wierd to think that we have about 2 more weeks left in Comi. I think about how nice it has been to get to know our host family as well as the store owners and other peace corp volunteers. I am so grateful for how they welcomed us into their homes and have been nothing but helpful and nice. I constantly see people walking around without shoes, children malnourished, women farming until the sunsets, men drunk stumbling though town. But with all of these harships the people still great you with a smile, and a hello, even though they know that we live beyond comfort, with the best healthcare systems and are always well fed. It truly floors me. I know I am going to miss it and while I am excited to go home, I know a small part of me in going to be left here.
I love all the responses so keep them coming. Also we are taking our host family with some of the peace corp volunteers to Xocomile next weekend. Xocomile is apparently the best waterpark in central america and I have been told it puts American ones to shame. It should be fun!
We also built our first stove of the project this week. This one was for our host mother. For as much as she cooks for us its really the least we could do. I think she thanked us about 10 times in the last week. It was really fulfulling to see that pure joy that the whole family seemed to take in just having a wood burning stove. The stove was tough to build though. This was the first one kevin and I had built without the help of Justin. It took us three days, as we also did not have the help of a local mason. But it turned out awesome and when our host mother saw it the frist time she exclaimed "que bonita!". I am really excited to start on the next three!
When are finishing up our 8th week here. I am really starting to feel comfortable here and its wierd to think that we have about 2 more weeks left in Comi. I think about how nice it has been to get to know our host family as well as the store owners and other peace corp volunteers. I am so grateful for how they welcomed us into their homes and have been nothing but helpful and nice. I constantly see people walking around without shoes, children malnourished, women farming until the sunsets, men drunk stumbling though town. But with all of these harships the people still great you with a smile, and a hello, even though they know that we live beyond comfort, with the best healthcare systems and are always well fed. It truly floors me. I know I am going to miss it and while I am excited to go home, I know a small part of me in going to be left here.
I love all the responses so keep them coming. Also we are taking our host family with some of the peace corp volunteers to Xocomile next weekend. Xocomile is apparently the best waterpark in central america and I have been told it puts American ones to shame. It should be fun!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
At little less shenanigans
Hey everyone don’t worry this one is nowhere near as long as the last one. I apologize for any burned corneas from reading the last one.
I wanted to say thank you real quick, for those who have emailed me about the blog. I truly appreciate the support and it is nice to know someone is actually reading all this! It’s also nice to get updates on what going on back home, so keep them coming!
This week had none of the shenanigans like last week, but it was interesting all the same. We spent the week planning out our stove project. We also learned of the community and families that we would be building the stoves for. The community is called Chixal (chishal), which our host mother thought was funny, since chix in Mam (the Mayan language here) means to go the bathroom. We got quotes on supplies as well and planned the transportation of the supplies. We also worked with Kelly, one of the peace corp volunteers in Comi, to create a charla. Charla translates loosely to seminar. We have learned, and seen first-hand how important education is to aid. Its goes along with the biblical saying “give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for life.” It’s not enough to just give these families a stove. We need to teach them why a stove will improve their health and hygiene, and save them large amounts of money on wood. We will be giving that charla next week. Kelly will also include some new cooking techniques in it as well.
We are also trying our best to make this project inclusive of the whole community. We are buying all the supplies locally, hiring a local driver, and paying a mason to work with us and learn how to build stove for the future, as well as requiring the families to pay for 20% of the stove. These were all things I never considered when I first got here. I feel very blessed to have been able to work with Justin on his stove project early on. He showed us not only how to build the stove but how to make them impact the community in the most positive way. I have seen and heard about aid projects were organizations just come in and hand things out. Only about a third of it ends up being successful. For instance, recently a Canadian organization came in and gave out dental care visits for 5 Q (about 60 cents US). Now the few local dentists that are actually here are going out of business because everyone in the community is waiting for the next much cheaper visits by the Canadians. They are also putting off needed dental care in waiting for the Canadians (it only costs a 100 Q for a visit to a Comintancillo dentist, about 13 US dollars). Another stove project done here about 3 years ago failed miserably. They built 40 stoves, and today only above 15 are in use. The simply came in for 3 weeks, built all the stoves (for free) with no education, and left. Most of the families sold pieces of the stove for money, others used it as a shelf, and others cut off the chimney because they thought that smoke meant a good fire. We hope through our methods this won’t happen to our project.
Because we have been doing mostly planning here, we have had more time to spend with our host family and in the local community. One thing that was really moving was going to church with Alex, one of Dona Hilda’s (our host mother) sons. While my Spanish is getting better I knew I would have trouble understanding the mass. What I forgot, however, was that it was a Catholic mass. They are the exact same as in the States, just a different language. It hit me during mass, as I said the Our Father, Kevin and I the only ones saying it in English; that all over the world, even in the poorest places, people celebrate mass the same way we do! Another thing to note was how packed the church was. Sunday is not a day of rest for most people in Comintancillo. They need to work their farms each day just to put food on the table. Yet the whole community it seemed took an hour and half out of there day for God. It’s makes me cringe to think that I won’t drive 10 minutes to church sometimes because I want to watch some football game. Things are sometimes painfully put into perspective here. Another cool thing during the mass was the Peace Be With You. No one shook hands... they all hugged each other. You have to note that I stand at least 2 feet taller than everyone there, not to mention my skin color which many people in Comintancillo only see in photos. I might as well have been an alien, but people in front and behind me in the pews, people I have never met, hugged me.
We hung out later that night with Alex and some of his friends. I really enjoyed this. Alex is 20 but him and his friends flirted with girls like they were 16. I guess courting kind of changes when you share a room with your mother, brother and two sisters and don’t have a car. His friends were also really eager to learn some English. They kept playing songs for us ranging from Eminem to Michael Jackson, asking us what they were saying. I was glad that I didn’t know translations for some of the words to Eminem songs. They laughed when I told them what Thriller was talking about. It’s weird how American culture permeates here. From rap songs to Ohio State T-shirts, from school buses from South Bend to Coke products, from Lays Potato chips to Michael Jackson. It’s almost surreal.
Next week we start work on our stoves and it will continue into next week. It’s weird to think we now have less than 30 days until we are back in US. I know that time is going to move quickly, especially with all the work we have. I hope I can make the best of the time remaining.
I hope everyone is doing well back home! Paz y Salud, Buen Dia!
I wanted to say thank you real quick, for those who have emailed me about the blog. I truly appreciate the support and it is nice to know someone is actually reading all this! It’s also nice to get updates on what going on back home, so keep them coming!
This week had none of the shenanigans like last week, but it was interesting all the same. We spent the week planning out our stove project. We also learned of the community and families that we would be building the stoves for. The community is called Chixal (chishal), which our host mother thought was funny, since chix in Mam (the Mayan language here) means to go the bathroom. We got quotes on supplies as well and planned the transportation of the supplies. We also worked with Kelly, one of the peace corp volunteers in Comi, to create a charla. Charla translates loosely to seminar. We have learned, and seen first-hand how important education is to aid. Its goes along with the biblical saying “give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for life.” It’s not enough to just give these families a stove. We need to teach them why a stove will improve their health and hygiene, and save them large amounts of money on wood. We will be giving that charla next week. Kelly will also include some new cooking techniques in it as well.
We are also trying our best to make this project inclusive of the whole community. We are buying all the supplies locally, hiring a local driver, and paying a mason to work with us and learn how to build stove for the future, as well as requiring the families to pay for 20% of the stove. These were all things I never considered when I first got here. I feel very blessed to have been able to work with Justin on his stove project early on. He showed us not only how to build the stove but how to make them impact the community in the most positive way. I have seen and heard about aid projects were organizations just come in and hand things out. Only about a third of it ends up being successful. For instance, recently a Canadian organization came in and gave out dental care visits for 5 Q (about 60 cents US). Now the few local dentists that are actually here are going out of business because everyone in the community is waiting for the next much cheaper visits by the Canadians. They are also putting off needed dental care in waiting for the Canadians (it only costs a 100 Q for a visit to a Comintancillo dentist, about 13 US dollars). Another stove project done here about 3 years ago failed miserably. They built 40 stoves, and today only above 15 are in use. The simply came in for 3 weeks, built all the stoves (for free) with no education, and left. Most of the families sold pieces of the stove for money, others used it as a shelf, and others cut off the chimney because they thought that smoke meant a good fire. We hope through our methods this won’t happen to our project.
Because we have been doing mostly planning here, we have had more time to spend with our host family and in the local community. One thing that was really moving was going to church with Alex, one of Dona Hilda’s (our host mother) sons. While my Spanish is getting better I knew I would have trouble understanding the mass. What I forgot, however, was that it was a Catholic mass. They are the exact same as in the States, just a different language. It hit me during mass, as I said the Our Father, Kevin and I the only ones saying it in English; that all over the world, even in the poorest places, people celebrate mass the same way we do! Another thing to note was how packed the church was. Sunday is not a day of rest for most people in Comintancillo. They need to work their farms each day just to put food on the table. Yet the whole community it seemed took an hour and half out of there day for God. It’s makes me cringe to think that I won’t drive 10 minutes to church sometimes because I want to watch some football game. Things are sometimes painfully put into perspective here. Another cool thing during the mass was the Peace Be With You. No one shook hands... they all hugged each other. You have to note that I stand at least 2 feet taller than everyone there, not to mention my skin color which many people in Comintancillo only see in photos. I might as well have been an alien, but people in front and behind me in the pews, people I have never met, hugged me.
We hung out later that night with Alex and some of his friends. I really enjoyed this. Alex is 20 but him and his friends flirted with girls like they were 16. I guess courting kind of changes when you share a room with your mother, brother and two sisters and don’t have a car. His friends were also really eager to learn some English. They kept playing songs for us ranging from Eminem to Michael Jackson, asking us what they were saying. I was glad that I didn’t know translations for some of the words to Eminem songs. They laughed when I told them what Thriller was talking about. It’s weird how American culture permeates here. From rap songs to Ohio State T-shirts, from school buses from South Bend to Coke products, from Lays Potato chips to Michael Jackson. It’s almost surreal.
Next week we start work on our stoves and it will continue into next week. It’s weird to think we now have less than 30 days until we are back in US. I know that time is going to move quickly, especially with all the work we have. I hope I can make the best of the time remaining.
I hope everyone is doing well back home! Paz y Salud, Buen Dia!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Tajumulco, Honduras, and a New Project!
Hey everyone long time no post!
Well a whole lot has happened since my last post. I have climbed Tajumulco, set up a new project, and been to Honduras and back in the last 2 weeks!
I’ll start with Tajumulco first. This may have been one of the craziest, dumbest, out of control things I have done in my entire life. We asked around with a few of the peace corp workers on the best way to climb Tajumulco. They all made it sound so easy and told us we could easily follow the trail and wouldn’t need a guide. Justin and Laura, the peace corp workers we have been working closely with in Comintancillo, gave us everything we needed to climb; packs, tent, rain gear, wool sweaters. We left from San Lorenzo, where I left the blog last, and took two 45 minute bus rides to get to the base. We were having awesome weather the week before with miles of visibility and no rain. Unfourtunately two days before our climb we had the opposite, rain, cold, and low visibilty. Perfect conditions for a 4,500 foot climb! We met up with two Peace Corp climbers who were working in Coban who wanted to climb with us. The climb started off easy, we had low visiblity but it was warm and dry. I climbed the first half in a t-shirt and shorts. We stopped about half way from base camp after a good 2 hours of hiking for a snack. This is when things got bad. Soon it started to get colder and rain. The rain came with about 20 mph winds and we got soaked even before we could get a rain gear on. We finally made it to camp after about 2 hours of hiking. We had to scrabble and get the tents up to avoid hypothermia. I wasn’t warm for another 3 hours. It was too wet to start a fire and we decided to all sleep in one tent to stay warm. We were asleep by 7 pm as there was nothing else to do and we had to be up by 4 am to summit.
4 am came quick and It was still raining! We put on everything warm and waterproof and headed for the summit. We had trouble finding the trail at first with only headlamps, but we managed to keep a pretty good pace. Soon the sun started to rise and we realized we were not going to get a great view we could barely see 20 feet ahead and once we reached the face of the summit we could barely see each other. We headed down without even staying on summit. We were cold, tired, wet, and disoriented. We packed up at base camp and started out descent. We followed the trail for at least 2 hours, but the rain picked up and we lost trail quickly. This is when things got bad. We were soaked and out of food and water. We had no idea where we got lost and we realized that if we went down the wrong side of the mountain we could end up in the jungle or nowhere near civilization. Deep down I am sure everyone was panicking. We decided to head back up the mountain and try to find the trail even if it meant going all the way to base camp. After about 2 hours of hiking and still no sign of the trail, Kevin spotted in the mist what looked like people. Sure enough it was a guide and two hikers. What a Godsend! We made it down safely with the guide.
The trek wasn’t over though we had no place to get warm and we were 2 buses from home. We caught the first bus easy, but at the second bus stop no buses came. The wind was howling and rain was still intense. We were freezing and miserable. Again out of nowhere an SUV stopped and asked if we needed a ride. He had a full car with his wife and three kids, but they all pilled in the back to make room for us. He drove us 45 minutes right to the front door of our place, and wouldn’t accept any money. A man with his family stopped for 4 soaking wet gringo strangers and there huge packs. I really I amazed at how generous some of the people are here! God shows himself in the most unique ways.
The following week we met with Ruben, the president the NGO we are working with AMMID. We discussed how we could make the best impact possible in our next 6 weeks. After considering our 4 weeks of experience in stove construction, Kevin and I decided to run our own stove project. We are going to use the $500 we raised to build 4-5 more stoves. We would build the stoves for families that are selected by AMMID for their need and participation in AMMID programs. This worked out perfect as it would take at least a week for the families to be selected and Kevin and I would be traveling to Honduras for a week. When we returned would require the families to attend “charlas” or seminars that educated them on the health benefits of the stove as well as cooking methods for the stoves. This will hopefully bridge some of the cultural barriers that cause some of the stove projects to fail. After the meeting we felt excited and content knowing we would have a solid amount of work when we returned.
On Wednesday we started our travel to Honduras, we headed to Xela first. The following day we head to Pananchel, which is a city on Lake Atitlan. Lake Atitlan was absolutely beautiful, it was a lot like Lake Tahoe with mountains all around and the water a crystal clear blue. There is so much natural beauty in Guatemala that I really was not aware of. We met up with Mike and the rest of his friends that we would be traveling with us to Honduras. The next day we headed out onto the lake with some kayaks which was even more beautiful. Later we headed grabbed our buses and began to head to Honduras. Our first stop was Copan, which is just across the border. This also happened to be the day after the military coup occurred in Honduras. At first we weren’t even able to cross the border, but the decided if we paid 20 dollars a person they would let us cross. So we basically bribed the border officials to get across...
The next morning we headed to the Copan ruins. They were huge! The structures there were over 3000 years old and some of the temples still stood 70 feet tall. I took some really cool pictures so stay tuned for those. We walked around for over 2 hours and it still wasn’t enough to see them all. We also saw these huge beautiful birds called MacCaws. I got pics of them too!
We jumped on the road straight from the ruins. The plan was to head to La Seba, a border town about 6 hours north of Copan where we could catch a ferry to Roatan. We had been watching the news at the Hotel and we heard of street riots and we were a bit worried about encountering them. It was weird being in a country that had a relatively unstable government. It was also interesting speaking with some of the locals. They seemed very somber and worried. We take a lot of things for granted in the US but man, I can’t imagine not even being sure of my own government.
We didn’t get very far. We hit a police road block about an hour into the drive. They told us that they weren’t letting anyone through and that the roads into La Sabe had been shut down. Great! We had to find a way to get to Roatan as we had already paid for the villas we were staying in. Mike managed to charter us boat from a port town in Guatemala which I have since forgotten the name of, so we drove back out of Honduras and 6 more hours north to the cost. We arrived at dark and the boat we were taking was leaving at 4 am the next morning. We didn’t even get a hotel. We left before the sunrise on a boat ride that would take at least 11 hours. The boat was also nothing more than a bunch of open air bench seats, again great idea. At first the ride was easy and enjoyable, especially when the sun rose, but then things got bad. The seas got rough and about half of us got sea sick. It was miserable for at least 6 more hours and then things got even worse. The three Guatemalans running the boat said they were lost and low on gasoline. They didn’t have a radio, a map, or even a working compass! Luckily one of us did and we made the decision to head south and hopefully hit the cost. Ha ha I laugh about it now, but we were low on gas with no idea where we were and we couldn’t see land. So yah two impending doom situations in one week! We boated south for about another hour and miraculously we saw land coming out mist, and as we got closer we saw it was Roatan! Ridiculous, we went through travel hell for 2 days and we finally got a break!
We got to Roatan, finally and went into our amazing villas which had a fantastic view of the bay, as well a fridge full of beer and our own private pool! But best of all they had a soft bed! For the next four days we worked on our scuba certification. Roatan is known for its brilliant reefs and sea life. We were not disappointed. Scuba diving is one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. It’s like flying under water and everywhere you look there is something you have never seen before. We saw sea turtles, puffer fish, groupers the size of me, eagle rays, eels, sharks! It was amazing! We spent the whole week diving in during the day, and chilling out and enjoying the beautiful nights with friends at the villas. I loved the vacation, but the end came too quick!
We had to scramble to leave on Saturday because the president of Honduras was attempting to return Sunday and we knew it would make the country almost impossible to travel in. We took the way out that we were supposed to take in. Things went pretty easy, though we encountered two break downs on the buses! We made it across the border by nightfall and spent 4 of July in a small border town in Guatemala. To celebrate the occasion we did the most American thing we could, we ate at McDonalds and then saw Transformers, in Spanish hahahaha. Kevin and I made it back to Xela the next day were I am writing to you know. We will be returning to Comintancillo today and begin our project work next week. I certainly miss the simplicity there and I am excited to go back and see the kids.
So thats 2 weeks in about three pages for you! Sorry for taking so long to get this out. I will be doing these weekly again so stay tuned for more updates, also when I get the pictures together I’ll send out links to those!
Hope everyone had a fantastic 4th!
Adios y Buen Dia!
Well a whole lot has happened since my last post. I have climbed Tajumulco, set up a new project, and been to Honduras and back in the last 2 weeks!
I’ll start with Tajumulco first. This may have been one of the craziest, dumbest, out of control things I have done in my entire life. We asked around with a few of the peace corp workers on the best way to climb Tajumulco. They all made it sound so easy and told us we could easily follow the trail and wouldn’t need a guide. Justin and Laura, the peace corp workers we have been working closely with in Comintancillo, gave us everything we needed to climb; packs, tent, rain gear, wool sweaters. We left from San Lorenzo, where I left the blog last, and took two 45 minute bus rides to get to the base. We were having awesome weather the week before with miles of visibility and no rain. Unfourtunately two days before our climb we had the opposite, rain, cold, and low visibilty. Perfect conditions for a 4,500 foot climb! We met up with two Peace Corp climbers who were working in Coban who wanted to climb with us. The climb started off easy, we had low visiblity but it was warm and dry. I climbed the first half in a t-shirt and shorts. We stopped about half way from base camp after a good 2 hours of hiking for a snack. This is when things got bad. Soon it started to get colder and rain. The rain came with about 20 mph winds and we got soaked even before we could get a rain gear on. We finally made it to camp after about 2 hours of hiking. We had to scrabble and get the tents up to avoid hypothermia. I wasn’t warm for another 3 hours. It was too wet to start a fire and we decided to all sleep in one tent to stay warm. We were asleep by 7 pm as there was nothing else to do and we had to be up by 4 am to summit.
4 am came quick and It was still raining! We put on everything warm and waterproof and headed for the summit. We had trouble finding the trail at first with only headlamps, but we managed to keep a pretty good pace. Soon the sun started to rise and we realized we were not going to get a great view we could barely see 20 feet ahead and once we reached the face of the summit we could barely see each other. We headed down without even staying on summit. We were cold, tired, wet, and disoriented. We packed up at base camp and started out descent. We followed the trail for at least 2 hours, but the rain picked up and we lost trail quickly. This is when things got bad. We were soaked and out of food and water. We had no idea where we got lost and we realized that if we went down the wrong side of the mountain we could end up in the jungle or nowhere near civilization. Deep down I am sure everyone was panicking. We decided to head back up the mountain and try to find the trail even if it meant going all the way to base camp. After about 2 hours of hiking and still no sign of the trail, Kevin spotted in the mist what looked like people. Sure enough it was a guide and two hikers. What a Godsend! We made it down safely with the guide.
The trek wasn’t over though we had no place to get warm and we were 2 buses from home. We caught the first bus easy, but at the second bus stop no buses came. The wind was howling and rain was still intense. We were freezing and miserable. Again out of nowhere an SUV stopped and asked if we needed a ride. He had a full car with his wife and three kids, but they all pilled in the back to make room for us. He drove us 45 minutes right to the front door of our place, and wouldn’t accept any money. A man with his family stopped for 4 soaking wet gringo strangers and there huge packs. I really I amazed at how generous some of the people are here! God shows himself in the most unique ways.
The following week we met with Ruben, the president the NGO we are working with AMMID. We discussed how we could make the best impact possible in our next 6 weeks. After considering our 4 weeks of experience in stove construction, Kevin and I decided to run our own stove project. We are going to use the $500 we raised to build 4-5 more stoves. We would build the stoves for families that are selected by AMMID for their need and participation in AMMID programs. This worked out perfect as it would take at least a week for the families to be selected and Kevin and I would be traveling to Honduras for a week. When we returned would require the families to attend “charlas” or seminars that educated them on the health benefits of the stove as well as cooking methods for the stoves. This will hopefully bridge some of the cultural barriers that cause some of the stove projects to fail. After the meeting we felt excited and content knowing we would have a solid amount of work when we returned.
On Wednesday we started our travel to Honduras, we headed to Xela first. The following day we head to Pananchel, which is a city on Lake Atitlan. Lake Atitlan was absolutely beautiful, it was a lot like Lake Tahoe with mountains all around and the water a crystal clear blue. There is so much natural beauty in Guatemala that I really was not aware of. We met up with Mike and the rest of his friends that we would be traveling with us to Honduras. The next day we headed out onto the lake with some kayaks which was even more beautiful. Later we headed grabbed our buses and began to head to Honduras. Our first stop was Copan, which is just across the border. This also happened to be the day after the military coup occurred in Honduras. At first we weren’t even able to cross the border, but the decided if we paid 20 dollars a person they would let us cross. So we basically bribed the border officials to get across...
The next morning we headed to the Copan ruins. They were huge! The structures there were over 3000 years old and some of the temples still stood 70 feet tall. I took some really cool pictures so stay tuned for those. We walked around for over 2 hours and it still wasn’t enough to see them all. We also saw these huge beautiful birds called MacCaws. I got pics of them too!
We jumped on the road straight from the ruins. The plan was to head to La Seba, a border town about 6 hours north of Copan where we could catch a ferry to Roatan. We had been watching the news at the Hotel and we heard of street riots and we were a bit worried about encountering them. It was weird being in a country that had a relatively unstable government. It was also interesting speaking with some of the locals. They seemed very somber and worried. We take a lot of things for granted in the US but man, I can’t imagine not even being sure of my own government.
We didn’t get very far. We hit a police road block about an hour into the drive. They told us that they weren’t letting anyone through and that the roads into La Sabe had been shut down. Great! We had to find a way to get to Roatan as we had already paid for the villas we were staying in. Mike managed to charter us boat from a port town in Guatemala which I have since forgotten the name of, so we drove back out of Honduras and 6 more hours north to the cost. We arrived at dark and the boat we were taking was leaving at 4 am the next morning. We didn’t even get a hotel. We left before the sunrise on a boat ride that would take at least 11 hours. The boat was also nothing more than a bunch of open air bench seats, again great idea. At first the ride was easy and enjoyable, especially when the sun rose, but then things got bad. The seas got rough and about half of us got sea sick. It was miserable for at least 6 more hours and then things got even worse. The three Guatemalans running the boat said they were lost and low on gasoline. They didn’t have a radio, a map, or even a working compass! Luckily one of us did and we made the decision to head south and hopefully hit the cost. Ha ha I laugh about it now, but we were low on gas with no idea where we were and we couldn’t see land. So yah two impending doom situations in one week! We boated south for about another hour and miraculously we saw land coming out mist, and as we got closer we saw it was Roatan! Ridiculous, we went through travel hell for 2 days and we finally got a break!
We got to Roatan, finally and went into our amazing villas which had a fantastic view of the bay, as well a fridge full of beer and our own private pool! But best of all they had a soft bed! For the next four days we worked on our scuba certification. Roatan is known for its brilliant reefs and sea life. We were not disappointed. Scuba diving is one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. It’s like flying under water and everywhere you look there is something you have never seen before. We saw sea turtles, puffer fish, groupers the size of me, eagle rays, eels, sharks! It was amazing! We spent the whole week diving in during the day, and chilling out and enjoying the beautiful nights with friends at the villas. I loved the vacation, but the end came too quick!
We had to scramble to leave on Saturday because the president of Honduras was attempting to return Sunday and we knew it would make the country almost impossible to travel in. We took the way out that we were supposed to take in. Things went pretty easy, though we encountered two break downs on the buses! We made it across the border by nightfall and spent 4 of July in a small border town in Guatemala. To celebrate the occasion we did the most American thing we could, we ate at McDonalds and then saw Transformers, in Spanish hahahaha. Kevin and I made it back to Xela the next day were I am writing to you know. We will be returning to Comintancillo today and begin our project work next week. I certainly miss the simplicity there and I am excited to go back and see the kids.
So thats 2 weeks in about three pages for you! Sorry for taking so long to get this out. I will be doing these weekly again so stay tuned for more updates, also when I get the pictures together I’ll send out links to those!
Hope everyone had a fantastic 4th!
Adios y Buen Dia!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Week 4
Hey well this is the entry for our fourth week in Comi. I added and album on facebook with some selected photos from our time here. They have captions to kinda explain it all, check em out!
Here is the new blog entry:
Last week marked the end of our stove project, so this week kevin and I began work on updateing and upkeep of the farm we are lving on. The first task we took on was creating a steam shower. I spoke about this a bit last week, but the previous one had tons of leaks. This week we took the whole thing apart and cleaned all the fittings and put it all back together with new pipe glue. This took us the better part of 3 days. Unfortunately tuesday, the water stopped working in our Aldea (aka village) of Los Bujes so we couldnt test for leaks. Last week it was the power this week its the water. In speaking with our host mom this happens from time to time, last year the water stopped working for 3 months! Hopefully it wont be that long. I am worried though, because as I speak the water still is not on. Luckily we are able to use the water from the catchment system we fixed for cooking and washing.
We took most of thursday to walk around and kinda explore more of the area. Maybe it was the culture shock or maybe it was me expecting the bad conditions that caused me almost overlook the poverty here for 3 weeks. The roads here are unpaved and when it rains you end up with huge ruts in the road. Most families (parents, children, and their children) live in two room shacks with dirt floors and leaky tin roofs. Its a luxury to have and outhouse, let alone a hole in the ground. People farm to survive here, and only about 2 % have enough crops to actually sell. This isnt the farming you are used to seeing in the states either, we live in moutainess terrain and most people here farm literally on the side of mountains. Kevin and I are often winded on our walks from town to town, but we seriously get passed by ederly woman with a child on their back not even breaking a sweat.
Perhaps that is also why I don´t notice the poverty here as well. Everyone seems to accept it. They truly love life here. People always great you on the streets with a smile. The kids in our host family don´t complain that they have to share a bedroom with their sister mother and two brothers. They don´t complain that they get to shower once a week to save water. They see cards as the most exciting thing to do during the day. They go to school and then work in the field for 4 more hours, then do homework. And they are so happy every day. Suffering, or what we in america might consider suffering, is a way of life here, its what these people grow up into. They accept bad teeth, parasites from bad water, upper respiratory infections and asthma in 2 year olds from cooking, fleas in their bed, and the struggle to put food on the table every night, as normal life. In meditating on these things I thank God for the many gifts that I never even considered gifts until now. It pains me that I was ignorant to these things for so long. It bothers me that I have complained about not having my own bathroom, having to take out the trash, not getting a car at 16, or not getting to eat what I wanted for dinner.
I am sure I will still complain about these kinds of petty things when I get back, perhaps that is a blessing and curse. I ask those of you who do read this blog, to maybe take the time tonight to be thankful you have clean clothes, food on the table every night, hot runnnig clean water, and the family you have around you. Many others are not so blessed. Don´t feel guilty for these things, but rather just don´t take them for granted.
Ok, sorry for the seriousness of that, but its something I feel I shouldn´t hold back. I have been struggling with the thought of if I am even doing enough here. The defintion of enough here is so vague. We want to help in every way possible, but sometimes aid is so misdirected here (thats a whole new discussion I´ll save you). I know that part of my job here is to observe and spread my knowledge, and I wouldn´t be doing it much justice without my previous words.
On a much lighter note Kevin and I are heading to base camp of Tajumulco tomorrow morning. We will be making the 2 day climb to the summit, which is the highest point in Central America. On a clear morning you can see all both the Pacific and Carribean. Again I want to thank all of you who donated for allowing me to chance to experience these things as well provide fund some of our projects. We also did a Mayan Sauna last night called a Chuh, it was the hottest sauna I have ever been in, it was basically a small conrete box that you heated up with hot coals and fire. Then you poured water on the coals to create steam. You then used aloe leaves for you skin. I felt, well I dont know how I felt, but the kids loved it and it was a good bonding experience for us and the Family.
Next week we will present our new project of either grey water treatment (which will allow people to use their wash water for irrigation), or catchment systems (for collecting rain water for the dry season). AMMID, our NGO, will decide what and where is most needed in the community. Wednesday Kevin and I will leaving Comi to head to Honduras to take a personal trip. We will return the weekend of the 4th for 4 more weeks of work.
Adios and Asta Luego
Here is the new blog entry:
Last week marked the end of our stove project, so this week kevin and I began work on updateing and upkeep of the farm we are lving on. The first task we took on was creating a steam shower. I spoke about this a bit last week, but the previous one had tons of leaks. This week we took the whole thing apart and cleaned all the fittings and put it all back together with new pipe glue. This took us the better part of 3 days. Unfortunately tuesday, the water stopped working in our Aldea (aka village) of Los Bujes so we couldnt test for leaks. Last week it was the power this week its the water. In speaking with our host mom this happens from time to time, last year the water stopped working for 3 months! Hopefully it wont be that long. I am worried though, because as I speak the water still is not on. Luckily we are able to use the water from the catchment system we fixed for cooking and washing.
We took most of thursday to walk around and kinda explore more of the area. Maybe it was the culture shock or maybe it was me expecting the bad conditions that caused me almost overlook the poverty here for 3 weeks. The roads here are unpaved and when it rains you end up with huge ruts in the road. Most families (parents, children, and their children) live in two room shacks with dirt floors and leaky tin roofs. Its a luxury to have and outhouse, let alone a hole in the ground. People farm to survive here, and only about 2 % have enough crops to actually sell. This isnt the farming you are used to seeing in the states either, we live in moutainess terrain and most people here farm literally on the side of mountains. Kevin and I are often winded on our walks from town to town, but we seriously get passed by ederly woman with a child on their back not even breaking a sweat.
Perhaps that is also why I don´t notice the poverty here as well. Everyone seems to accept it. They truly love life here. People always great you on the streets with a smile. The kids in our host family don´t complain that they have to share a bedroom with their sister mother and two brothers. They don´t complain that they get to shower once a week to save water. They see cards as the most exciting thing to do during the day. They go to school and then work in the field for 4 more hours, then do homework. And they are so happy every day. Suffering, or what we in america might consider suffering, is a way of life here, its what these people grow up into. They accept bad teeth, parasites from bad water, upper respiratory infections and asthma in 2 year olds from cooking, fleas in their bed, and the struggle to put food on the table every night, as normal life. In meditating on these things I thank God for the many gifts that I never even considered gifts until now. It pains me that I was ignorant to these things for so long. It bothers me that I have complained about not having my own bathroom, having to take out the trash, not getting a car at 16, or not getting to eat what I wanted for dinner.
I am sure I will still complain about these kinds of petty things when I get back, perhaps that is a blessing and curse. I ask those of you who do read this blog, to maybe take the time tonight to be thankful you have clean clothes, food on the table every night, hot runnnig clean water, and the family you have around you. Many others are not so blessed. Don´t feel guilty for these things, but rather just don´t take them for granted.
Ok, sorry for the seriousness of that, but its something I feel I shouldn´t hold back. I have been struggling with the thought of if I am even doing enough here. The defintion of enough here is so vague. We want to help in every way possible, but sometimes aid is so misdirected here (thats a whole new discussion I´ll save you). I know that part of my job here is to observe and spread my knowledge, and I wouldn´t be doing it much justice without my previous words.
On a much lighter note Kevin and I are heading to base camp of Tajumulco tomorrow morning. We will be making the 2 day climb to the summit, which is the highest point in Central America. On a clear morning you can see all both the Pacific and Carribean. Again I want to thank all of you who donated for allowing me to chance to experience these things as well provide fund some of our projects. We also did a Mayan Sauna last night called a Chuh, it was the hottest sauna I have ever been in, it was basically a small conrete box that you heated up with hot coals and fire. Then you poured water on the coals to create steam. You then used aloe leaves for you skin. I felt, well I dont know how I felt, but the kids loved it and it was a good bonding experience for us and the Family.
Next week we will present our new project of either grey water treatment (which will allow people to use their wash water for irrigation), or catchment systems (for collecting rain water for the dry season). AMMID, our NGO, will decide what and where is most needed in the community. Wednesday Kevin and I will leaving Comi to head to Honduras to take a personal trip. We will return the weekend of the 4th for 4 more weeks of work.
Adios and Asta Luego
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Xelaju
Hey ya’ll
Im writing from our hostel in Xela which actually has wifi haha big deal for me! Kevin and I are taking break as we did a lot of work this week. We completed four stoves in two different communities this week, Quexlemu and Ixmolcol. The stoves take two days of six hour work to complete. We were able to complete the ones we started last week and start one new one. We also started work on a prototype for a steam shower using the stoves we are building. We are using the heat generated by the stoves to heat a serpentina (basically a coil of metal pipes) full of water which then runs to shower on the farm. So far we have encountered a lot of leaks, but I think by next week will have it working.
Things are pretty routine in Comintancillo, but we have still had some interesting things happen. From what I have learned Comintancillo is the bolo capital of the word. Bolo’s are drunk Guatemalans, really drunk Guatemalans. I thought I had seen what truly wasted was (especially at Dayton), but they take it to a whole new level. When we walk into to town at seven am to catch a bus we see at least 4 or 5 bolos passed out in the street. It’s worse when they are awake though. Bolos love to harass gringos, they usually can barely walk and point at us and yell in-audible Spanish. It has happened several times but one particular time in Ixmoloco is worth telling. We were walking to pick up wood from a house down the road from where we were working and we here someone yell hey you. A Guatemalan reeking of liquor jumps out and proceeds to hug Kevin, Justin and I. He followed us to the house stumbling and tried to help us carry the wood literally ripping it out of our hands, then he followed us to the site we were working. He knew about 5 things in English, most of them curse words and just kept repeating them. He had followed for at least 30 minutes and he at one time asked what time it was. That’s when it hit me, it was 10 am! I thought to myself, jeez when did u start drinking 6 am?!
While that situation is laughable, it’s also troubling. I have also learned Comintancillo is the poorest municipality in Guatemala (the second poorest Latin American country) with 95 % of its inhabitants below the poverty line. These bolo’s, mostly men, waste away what little money they have on alcohol, while their wifes, who because of machismo don’t usually work, try to make due with 5 kids, no money, and a farm to run. Its honestly scary and pathetic.
On a more positive note we were able to visit the families who had been using their new stoves for a couple weeks. While some are still not using them correctly, the overall consensus from them is that the kitchen air is clearer and they are using less wood. This means that the stoves are doing their job.
We are spending today and tomorrow in Xela. We will most likely work on things on the farm, fixing the steam shower as well as our host family’s stove. We are planning to climb Volcano Tajumulco at the end of the week. The volcano is the highest point in Central America, and on a clear morning you can usually see the Pacific and the Caribbean. It’s a two day hike and the peak elevation 14,500 feet. This is the first large mountain climb I have done, so say some prayers for me!
Also last week I did see the Quetzal, but only the female; the males are the vibrant ones. Still pretty cool experience, I had never been in the heart of a jungle before (I had about 25 mosquito bites though, no malaria yet!)
Thats it for now, I hope everyone is enjoying their summers! Adios.
Im writing from our hostel in Xela which actually has wifi haha big deal for me! Kevin and I are taking break as we did a lot of work this week. We completed four stoves in two different communities this week, Quexlemu and Ixmolcol. The stoves take two days of six hour work to complete. We were able to complete the ones we started last week and start one new one. We also started work on a prototype for a steam shower using the stoves we are building. We are using the heat generated by the stoves to heat a serpentina (basically a coil of metal pipes) full of water which then runs to shower on the farm. So far we have encountered a lot of leaks, but I think by next week will have it working.
Things are pretty routine in Comintancillo, but we have still had some interesting things happen. From what I have learned Comintancillo is the bolo capital of the word. Bolo’s are drunk Guatemalans, really drunk Guatemalans. I thought I had seen what truly wasted was (especially at Dayton), but they take it to a whole new level. When we walk into to town at seven am to catch a bus we see at least 4 or 5 bolos passed out in the street. It’s worse when they are awake though. Bolos love to harass gringos, they usually can barely walk and point at us and yell in-audible Spanish. It has happened several times but one particular time in Ixmoloco is worth telling. We were walking to pick up wood from a house down the road from where we were working and we here someone yell hey you. A Guatemalan reeking of liquor jumps out and proceeds to hug Kevin, Justin and I. He followed us to the house stumbling and tried to help us carry the wood literally ripping it out of our hands, then he followed us to the site we were working. He knew about 5 things in English, most of them curse words and just kept repeating them. He had followed for at least 30 minutes and he at one time asked what time it was. That’s when it hit me, it was 10 am! I thought to myself, jeez when did u start drinking 6 am?!
While that situation is laughable, it’s also troubling. I have also learned Comintancillo is the poorest municipality in Guatemala (the second poorest Latin American country) with 95 % of its inhabitants below the poverty line. These bolo’s, mostly men, waste away what little money they have on alcohol, while their wifes, who because of machismo don’t usually work, try to make due with 5 kids, no money, and a farm to run. Its honestly scary and pathetic.
On a more positive note we were able to visit the families who had been using their new stoves for a couple weeks. While some are still not using them correctly, the overall consensus from them is that the kitchen air is clearer and they are using less wood. This means that the stoves are doing their job.
We are spending today and tomorrow in Xela. We will most likely work on things on the farm, fixing the steam shower as well as our host family’s stove. We are planning to climb Volcano Tajumulco at the end of the week. The volcano is the highest point in Central America, and on a clear morning you can usually see the Pacific and the Caribbean. It’s a two day hike and the peak elevation 14,500 feet. This is the first large mountain climb I have done, so say some prayers for me!
Also last week I did see the Quetzal, but only the female; the males are the vibrant ones. Still pretty cool experience, I had never been in the heart of a jungle before (I had about 25 mosquito bites though, no malaria yet!)
Thats it for now, I hope everyone is enjoying their summers! Adios.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Workin for the weekend
We got started on work this week. We took the first two days to fix things on the farm. We managed to fix their catchment system and the farm rainwater tank is now filling up. It shouldnt take long, we hardly go a day here without a good 2 hours of rain. The rest of the week we have spent working on stoves. I wanna take a moment to explain the stove project we are working on here.
The cultural norm here is for families to cook on open fires in their households. This makes for a very smokey home and releases harmful amounts of carbon and carcinogens into the air. For most families their consists at best two rooms in their homes. This means that 3 times a day when cooking is done for meals that the whole family, including new born children, are exposed to the harmful affects of the open fires. The leading cause of death in Guatemala is upper respiratory infections, closely followed by dysintary. These open fires are a strongly linked to the upper respiratory infections found in Guatemala. I see these affects first hand in my host family. They cook with an open fire, and I often have trouble breathing when I join them for meals. Little ten year old Georgina already has a signifcant nasty cough.
The NGO we are working with, AMMID, has made a strong effort to reduce the onset of the respiratory infections. The have started a large project that builds rocket stoves in select household across the country. These stoves use a combustion chamber and a chimney to completely eliminate smoke in the household and burn half the wood that normal fires use. This not only improves the health of the families, but reduces their carbon footprint and saves them money each year on wood. AMMID uses volunteers like us as well as donations from several larger NGO´s to fund these projects and deliver the stoves at 20 percent of the cost to the families.
We started work on the 2 stoves this week. They take about 4 weeks to complete. We usually have to walk to the villages, and these two are a good hour hike away. Lets just say with the altitude, hills, and the hikes i´m burning the tortillas and beans right off my belly. The families are very nice and often cook us lunch. The kids just stare at us as they have never seen gringos before. Its nice to see some of the comleted stoves too. The families that use them seem to already be healthier.
Kevin and I have gotten over our fight with the evil ameobas of Guatemalan water and I think we sqeezed out a tight victory, though I think the toilet was a casualty of war. We are heading to San Marcos with several of the peace core volunteers to a nature presever this weekend. We are hoping to see the Quetzale which is the national bird of Guatemala which only about 2% of the people in the world get to see, its super indangered as it was hunted for its beauty. I´m keeping my fingers crossed that we will actually see it!! The peace corp people here are pretty awesome, its nice to have some gringo comfort.
On a sappy note the scenery here is fantastic. Most of the homes are built on the side of the mountains and the views we have all the time are breathtaking. The coolest is right after it rains. The temperature drops and the mountains seem to almost steam. The sun sets with the steam and plays some unbelievable colors. There is so much natural beauty out here!
Thats all for now, I hope I didn´t forget anything. Look for next weeks update, we should be working on more stoves, and maybe I´ll have a picture of the Quetzal! Adios, asta luego.
The cultural norm here is for families to cook on open fires in their households. This makes for a very smokey home and releases harmful amounts of carbon and carcinogens into the air. For most families their consists at best two rooms in their homes. This means that 3 times a day when cooking is done for meals that the whole family, including new born children, are exposed to the harmful affects of the open fires. The leading cause of death in Guatemala is upper respiratory infections, closely followed by dysintary. These open fires are a strongly linked to the upper respiratory infections found in Guatemala. I see these affects first hand in my host family. They cook with an open fire, and I often have trouble breathing when I join them for meals. Little ten year old Georgina already has a signifcant nasty cough.
The NGO we are working with, AMMID, has made a strong effort to reduce the onset of the respiratory infections. The have started a large project that builds rocket stoves in select household across the country. These stoves use a combustion chamber and a chimney to completely eliminate smoke in the household and burn half the wood that normal fires use. This not only improves the health of the families, but reduces their carbon footprint and saves them money each year on wood. AMMID uses volunteers like us as well as donations from several larger NGO´s to fund these projects and deliver the stoves at 20 percent of the cost to the families.
We started work on the 2 stoves this week. They take about 4 weeks to complete. We usually have to walk to the villages, and these two are a good hour hike away. Lets just say with the altitude, hills, and the hikes i´m burning the tortillas and beans right off my belly. The families are very nice and often cook us lunch. The kids just stare at us as they have never seen gringos before. Its nice to see some of the comleted stoves too. The families that use them seem to already be healthier.
Kevin and I have gotten over our fight with the evil ameobas of Guatemalan water and I think we sqeezed out a tight victory, though I think the toilet was a casualty of war. We are heading to San Marcos with several of the peace core volunteers to a nature presever this weekend. We are hoping to see the Quetzale which is the national bird of Guatemala which only about 2% of the people in the world get to see, its super indangered as it was hunted for its beauty. I´m keeping my fingers crossed that we will actually see it!! The peace corp people here are pretty awesome, its nice to have some gringo comfort.
On a sappy note the scenery here is fantastic. Most of the homes are built on the side of the mountains and the views we have all the time are breathtaking. The coolest is right after it rains. The temperature drops and the mountains seem to almost steam. The sun sets with the steam and plays some unbelievable colors. There is so much natural beauty out here!
Thats all for now, I hope I didn´t forget anything. Look for next weeks update, we should be working on more stoves, and maybe I´ll have a picture of the Quetzal! Adios, asta luego.
Monday, June 1, 2009
1st week in Comintancillo
Below is the blog update. A few other things, 1 please please please send me updates about you lives too, 2 i attached some pics or ruben and the kids and the view of comitancillo so check those out, and please foward this on to people I forgot to add so they dont kill me
Hey all, it’s been a while since I posted so there is a lot to tell. For the sake of not writing you a novel, I’ll do my best to keep it short. Last time I left you we were in Antigua and were taking a 4 am bus to Xela. We decided to stay up all night... we thought we would catch some of the night life in Antigua. Mike was the only one who managed to stay up the whole time. Kevin and I grabbed about an hour of sleep. We jumped a micro bus to Guatemala City and then took a bus from there. The bus we took was definitely from the 1970’s paintjob still intact. The ride took about 4 hours with all the traffic. The roads here are... interesting. Anyone can use them, including donkeys and golf carts. We reached Xela and spent the day resting, we also met a friend of mikes for dinner who had been traveling through Central America on a motorcycle (f-ing crazy). That night I also had my wallet stolen, luckily it was my 2 dollar Wal-Mart wallet and there was only cash in it. Xela is normally a pretty safe city but things like that still happen.
We left Xela the next day for San Marcos, the largest city closest to Comintancillo. We grabbed a “chicken bus” which is very true to what they actually are. These buses are old school buses that have worked their way down from the schools of the US to Central America. Most of them are pimped out with crazy paint jobs and Mercedes Benz symbols on them, however there were some that had not yet been pimped and still had the yellow paint jobs with black letters from their old school districts. I actually saw one from South Bend (shout out to Dave and Krystal). You literally had to jump on these buses as there moving and you sit 3 to a seat. Nice thing is though they literally cost nothing; 10 quetzales which is about 1.50 US. The AMMID (the organization we are working with) coordinator, Ruben, picked us up in San Marcos and drove us to Comintancillo. The road to Come is no better than a one lane dirt road, but I still saw freaking Chicken Buses on them.
We arrived in Comintancillo in the evening. Comintancillo is bigger than we thought, it has over 60,000 people (bigger than Archbold... sorry Dan). Most of the inhabitants are subsistence farmers that live in the hills surrounding the city center. We are at about 9,000 feet elevation. We are living in a big concrete box with two windows and a door called La Granja. It has one light bulb and a power outlet which is better than I expected. It is used for the volunteers working with AMMID. It is part of our host family’s farm. Their house is a two room shack were we will eat most of our meals. The host mothers name is Dona Hilda. She is no taller than four feet and speaks very slow deliberate Spanish which is much easier for me to understand. She has 6 children but only 2 live with her, Irvine who is 13, and Georgina who is 10. Irvine is shy, but is usually our guide around the city. Georgina is the complete opposite and is always following us around. They love to play cards and I was able to teach the “ir de pesca” (go fish) and “lucha” (War). They really can’t get enough and are always asking us to play.
We came for one of the best weekends, the annual celebration of the Virgin Mary. It was a three day festival with a huge market, giant parade, fireworks, and soccer tournament. We caught several soccer games which were a joy to watch. They played on a giant dirt field with absolutely no grass, yet it didn’t seem to bother the teams. We watched the parade which consisted of each school with their students doing special dances. The funny thing was is that a lot of the dancing was to American music. I must of heard the theme song from Night at the Roxberry 15 times. Sunday there was supposed to be a huge procession and fireworks, unfortunately I spent the whole day and most of today in bed with dysentery. I’m not going to lie, it really sucks to have and having to use an outhouse is well ... no fun! Hopefully this will only last another day. I think I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel. We start work later today working with rocket stoves in a small community in the mountains. We met the only other person in Come who speaks English, Jason, today. He is the Peace Corp volunteer who we will be working closely with for the next ten weeks. It’s nice to have him, because while my Spanish is getting better, I am still sure I talk like a 5 year old. That’s all for now. I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer. For all you Cleveland fans, I am truly sorry... not!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Antigua
Yo,
I´m writing you from Antigua, which about an hour west of Guatemala. We met up with mike vehar and victoria yuko at the airport and jammed in a taxi to Antigua. We arrived here yesterday around lunch time. Antigua is about a third of the way to Comintancillo. We are staying at a small hostel in town and today mike, kevin, and I are sharing one room.
Side note, on the way to antigua victoria told us about her 24 hour horror story in antigua . I won´t go into details, but the moral of the story is don´t drink 6 rum and cokes (cuba libres) and then wonder off alone.
Victoria left for the US this morning, she was only here for a 3 week stay with some of the younger ethos students. Yesterday we ate a bagel cafe (super americanized) and then headed to the market, which is quite the experience. You seriously can buy anything, car speaker, mangos, rope, sunglasses (got some sweet $3 fockleys), cats, chickens, anything! Mike taught us some bartering skills for when we need to buy supplies in Comintancillo. You can usally drop any price at least 10-20 quetsalles, which is the local currrency.
Later in the night we went to another super americanized thai place. Antigua is still a very touristy town so it is still slightly sheltering from the true guatemala, that is also why I have been able to send out an update so quick, there are internet cafes everywhere. We then headed to a small bar and played some yuker and drank some cuba libres. You can´t argue with rum and cokes that are only 75 cents!
The next morning i was woken up by at least 17 roosters. I think now I know why the c word is used to describe a jerk hahaha. We did get to sleep in the only things we needed to do today were find a cell phone and a get a bus ticket to Xela (pronounced shala), which is the next stop on our way to comintancillo.
We found a cheap cell that kevin and I are going to share. The number is 51652370, but to call from the US it is 011-502-516-2370. We get incoming calls for free, so feel free to call us, but you will have to pay internatinal rates, google guatemala calling cards to get cheap rates. We also got a bus ticket for 4 am! tommorrow. Its mainly so we can get to xela in time for the champions league final haha. Ok time to go I am running out of time in the internet cafe!
Adios,
Scott
I´m writing you from Antigua, which about an hour west of Guatemala. We met up with mike vehar and victoria yuko at the airport and jammed in a taxi to Antigua. We arrived here yesterday around lunch time. Antigua is about a third of the way to Comintancillo. We are staying at a small hostel in town and today mike, kevin, and I are sharing one room.
Side note, on the way to antigua victoria told us about her 24 hour horror story in antigua . I won´t go into details, but the moral of the story is don´t drink 6 rum and cokes (cuba libres) and then wonder off alone.
Victoria left for the US this morning, she was only here for a 3 week stay with some of the younger ethos students. Yesterday we ate a bagel cafe (super americanized) and then headed to the market, which is quite the experience. You seriously can buy anything, car speaker, mangos, rope, sunglasses (got some sweet $3 fockleys), cats, chickens, anything! Mike taught us some bartering skills for when we need to buy supplies in Comintancillo. You can usally drop any price at least 10-20 quetsalles, which is the local currrency.
Later in the night we went to another super americanized thai place. Antigua is still a very touristy town so it is still slightly sheltering from the true guatemala, that is also why I have been able to send out an update so quick, there are internet cafes everywhere. We then headed to a small bar and played some yuker and drank some cuba libres. You can´t argue with rum and cokes that are only 75 cents!
The next morning i was woken up by at least 17 roosters. I think now I know why the c word is used to describe a jerk hahaha. We did get to sleep in the only things we needed to do today were find a cell phone and a get a bus ticket to Xela (pronounced shala), which is the next stop on our way to comintancillo.
We found a cheap cell that kevin and I are going to share. The number is 51652370, but to call from the US it is 011-502-516-2370. We get incoming calls for free, so feel free to call us, but you will have to pay internatinal rates, google guatemala calling cards to get cheap rates. We also got a bus ticket for 4 am! tommorrow. Its mainly so we can get to xela in time for the champions league final haha. Ok time to go I am running out of time in the internet cafe!
Adios,
Scott
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Flights!
So... a little update
Today I got a christian leadership grant for twice as much as I asked for! This is fantastic as we now have even more money to put towards rain water catchment systems! This is all thanks to those who so generously donated. Thank you so much!
Also, my partner Kevin and I have booked our flights to Guatemala City. We are leaving on Monday the 25th of May. We will be returning in August on the 10th.
Thats all for now
Today I got a christian leadership grant for twice as much as I asked for! This is fantastic as we now have even more money to put towards rain water catchment systems! This is all thanks to those who so generously donated. Thank you so much!
Also, my partner Kevin and I have booked our flights to Guatemala City. We are leaving on Monday the 25th of May. We will be returning in August on the 10th.
Thats all for now
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
First Post
Hey y'all
If you are visiting here it means you got my letter, which is fantastic. I'm grateful that you have taken enough interest to even visit my blog. I'll be updating this throughout the semester, and on into the summer when I travel to Guatemala. Yes, they do have internet there in case you were wondering.
Keep looking for updates. All the best!
If you are visiting here it means you got my letter, which is fantastic. I'm grateful that you have taken enough interest to even visit my blog. I'll be updating this throughout the semester, and on into the summer when I travel to Guatemala. Yes, they do have internet there in case you were wondering.
Keep looking for updates. All the best!
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