Week 3: Another move!

Home Sweet Home...Finally!

So we've been in Xela for 3 weeks now and we have moved a total of 4 times. In two weeks it will be 5 moves in 5 weeks. wow!

On Sunday we moved into an apartment in a beautiful historical building called Pasaje Enriquez, right on Central Park. We have a shared balcony overlooking the city and with a great view of the mountains. We are in a very tiny room right now but in 2 weeks we will take over our neighbors' room which is very large and has its own small balcony for almost the same price!

As much as we wanted the authentic experience of living with a Guatemalan family, we are very happy to have some independence and flexibility in the food we eat and when we eat it. Yesterday we went to the market and bought all our own vegetables for veggie curry. I LOVE going to the markets. Such a rich sensory experience and unbelievably fresh and cheap. Our dinner cost me 1 dollar and Bryce 3 dollars!

Our new landlord is a very friendly, very hippy middle aged woman from Xela. She lives in the building as well with ther husband who is Mexican. Her husband makes beautiful jewelry and sells it from their home in the building. They are building a house in the mountains, and invited us to go with them to check it out this coming weekend. We can't wait! It is an hour hike straight up one of the surrounding mountains. They plan to move there fulltime eventually and open a retreat of sorts where tourists can take yoga and eat fresh organic food from their garden, etc.

Volunteering Updates

The clinic continues to be 2 mornings/week. Last Thursday a group of 3rd graders came to the clinic from a private school in Xela. The class raised money for the clinic by recycling their plastic and aluminum, and in return received a free tour. They were very cute and their teacher is from Harrisonburg, Virginia. Small world! Bryce did inventory by himself this week, and spent 2.5 hours on Friday morning, scouring the city for white cotton balls. Apparently they like their cotton balls in pretty colors here, but the lab manager doesn´t.

Last week I met with the team of 3Voces de Cambio volunteers. I was encouraged by how much of the meeting I was able to understand and discouraged by how little I felt I could contribute in preparing for the upcoming photography exhibit. I don't know the city as well as they do so most of the errands that need to be run in preparation for the exhibit are easier for them to do by themselves. I am going to help them publicize the event, however, by hanging flyers all over the city.

Weekend Fun!

Last weekend we took in some of the night life of Xela. We went to one of the many bars frequented by foreigners and saw a great band called Los Vigilantes del Funk. They do mostly classic rock and bluegrass covers which was a nice taste of home. They are all Americans and I'm told most of them are working for an engineering NGO that builds healthier stoves for local villages among other things. Very cool. Another night we went to a venue that is a cultural center by day and bar by night. Our friend was bartending there for a Madonna vs. Prince vs. Michael Jackson party. We don't plan to do all that much barhopping here, especially since the nightlife is dominated by foreigners and we want to spend more time speaking Spanish, but it was very fun and I think much needed. We will, however, be attending a Halloween benefit party for Nuevos Horizontes, a women's shelter in Xela.

New Photos!

I have a lot of photos to post once the internet stops being too slow to upload them.

Week 2 Continued: Viva La Revolución!

Today is the anniversary of the 1944 revolution in Guatemala. Dictator Jorge Ubico was forced to resign his office in response to a wave of protests and a labor strike. So this afternoon I went with my Spanish teacher to a protest in Parque Central in honor of the anniversary. Bryce is not taking Spanish class this week because he is still applying to medical schools, but he joined us at the protest. It was very interesting to hear the socialist groups criticize the global economic forces that keep Guatemala in a subservient and dependent relationship with multinational corporations and powerful countries like the United States. There was also strong criticism of the curruption that exists within the Guatemalan government, sex tourism, violence against women and children, poverty, racism and other social ills. Apparently this is one of the few days during the year that the government/police force tolerates any kind of public protest in Guatemala. Of course it was mostly rhetoric without much concrete policy reccomendations. Viva la revolucion! was a common chant. Also, el pueblo unido jamás será vencido (the community united will never be defeated!?). Of course, I felt right at home.

Last Thursday had the opportunity to attend a class of Voces de Cambio, an organizaton that brings teenage girls of varying backgrounds together to discuss political and social issues affecting women and their identity. The participants complete a 10 week course of discussuions, debates, photography and writing. Their photography and writing is then exhibited in Xela. I attended the final class of a group of 6 girls where they were honored for their accomplishments with a piñata and cake. They were very giggly and self conscious and...teenagerish. I didnt get to sit in on any of their more serious conversations. I did, however, get to meet the 3 Voces de Cambio employees/volunteers and I will be meeting with them again tonight. The photography/writing exhibit is November 18th and I think this meeting will be our opportunity to plan for the exhibit. It seems like a great organization and I look forward to working with them. I may also be helping them with some grantwriting!

Last Friday Bryce and I did clinic inventory with Maggie, the education director of the clinic. We inventoried the pharmacy and education supplies and then walked all over the city buying supplies for the upcoming week. This will be Bryce's responsiblity each week when he takes over as clinic manager.

Saturday I went Champerrico, a beach on the Pacific coast of Guatemala! There was black sand and warm Pacific water! I wish Bryce could have joined us but he was diligently working on medical school applications. I went with four other students from my Spanish school (two Americans, a Canadian and a young woman from London). The niece of the director of my Spanish school as well as her friend, accompanied us. They were very helpful and we all got to practice our Spanish together. It was a loooong day of chicken busses, but well worth the 4 hours of sunshine and swimming.

Thats all for now...more adventures to come Week 3!

Week 2: Bed Bugs!

Sunday Wanderings!

Sunday we took in the cut flower market, while eating fresh bread on the steps of a nearby church. Check out these photos! I tried to be discrete because I don´t think it´s very polite to take pictures without asking, but I couldn´t resist the beautiful colors!

More photos from Sunday Wanderings

1. chicken bus! I have yet to see actual chickens in the chicken busses.


2. La Tortillerilla where we baile and buy fresh corn tortillas!

3. El Parque Centroamerica, The Central Park in Xela



4. Parque Centroamerica



5. City Hall, also right on the Park. Sunday market in the foreground.



6. Innovative green roofing (this one´s for you Kate!)


7. Bryce wanted a picture of this beautiful building. While he was snapping the photo, a woman approached us and explained that the first photograph of Xela was taken of this building, by an Italian photagrapher. Good eye, Bryce!

Las Clases de Español!

We started school on Monday and moved into our not so great home stay. We move into a new home stay tomorrow, but more on that later.

Classes are so great! My teacher´s name is Ana and she is about my age, maybe a little older. She is a great teacher and we get along very well on a personal level too. My Spanish is coming back quickly with her help. Bryce´s teacher´s name is Sheny and they enjoy talking about the history and current events of Guatemala (*see La Violencia below). It´s amazing how well they communicate with each other about such complex topics, considering Bryce is still just learning Spanish.

Isabel is the director of La Paz. Isabel´s sister owns the house where we study so she sometimes comes to visit during the day with her 2 little girls and a 2-year old boy named Diego who Bryce has befriended. The environment at the school is very warm and friendly. Yesterday at school we made rellinitos, a Guatemalan snack that consists of fried plantains and black beans in the middle...mmmm. Today during class we went to an art exhibit downtown, that documents the history of the indigenous population of Guatemala and the violence against them during the civil war (*see La Violencia below). Saturday we are going to the beach as an activity with the school!

After class on Monday we went with our roommate to the Blue Angel where they show 2 films each night for $1.50 each. We watched Frida, about the life of Frida Kahlo. Bryce and I highly recommend it if you´ve never seen it! There are tons of great cafes like this one in Xela and I can´t wait to try them all!


The Home Stay: Pros & Cons

Pro No. 1: The home we moved into on Monday is lovely. The garden is probably the most beautiful home garden I´ve ever seen, except maybe for Bryce´s mom´s garden ;) Here are some pictures of the garden and our colorful room, to prove my point:

• It was a raining, so it´s not as pretty here as it is in real life.
  the door to our room our room for 3 nights only : /
  
• Pro No. 2: We´ve gotten to know our classmate, Gabby, much better. And she is a joy to have around. She´s considering moving with us tomorrow.
  
• Con No. 1: The biggest problem is that the family rents out rooms more as a business than for the cross cultural experience. We don´t eat with the family and they don´t care to chat with us much. Bryce tried to fill up his water bottle in her kitchen and she told us we would have to buy our own water if we wanted more than one glass per meal. She´s warmed up a little since that interaction, but it´s just not the experience we´re looking for.


• Con No. 2: In addition, there is a 60-something expat living in the house who is quite strange. He has a wife and children in Oregon but he has been living in Xela for almost a year. During that time he has made no attempt to learn Spanish. He talks a lot about organic agriculture which is cool I guess, but also makes occasional disparaging remarks about local people and their customs. He accompanied Gabby and her friends to a bar the other night and got drunk and beligerent, and wet his pants before heading home. ewww.


• Con No. 3: There are bed bugs. Apparently it´s a common problem here. You can´t get rid of them easily. Washing sheets doesn´t do it. Bryce suggested putting our sleeping bags in the freezer to kill them, but according to Gabby they survive down to -40 degrees. Heating them works better, but you have to put them in a hot car for 3 days or something like that. We don´t know anyone with a car and It´s not hot here so that method has proved difficult. I´m hoping my couple of bites from the night before were a false alarm, because this morning I had no bites. Bryce hasn´t gotten any bites. Apparently, men don´t get them as often.

Home Stay No. 2: Coming Soon!

So we are moving out tomorrow morning. We´ll be moving in with a family that is supposedly much warmer. The woman´s name is Blanca and we met her brifely this morning. She was very friendly. We will eat meals with the family and practice our Spanish with them. Two Guatemalan students also live with the family so that makes more people to practice with. Tom, one of our other classmates, lives there now and is really happy with the situation. So there will be 3 or 4 gringos in the house once Bryce and I (and maybe Gabby) move in, but we all want to speak Spanish in the house. I think it will be very fun and a good learning experience! Stay tuned....
Tonight we are watching the debate at an apartment right on Central Park!


La Violencia
I knew nothing about Guatemalan history until I decided to travel here 6 months ago. So for those of you like me, here´s a brief explanation. There was a 36-year ¨civil war¨ in Guatemala from 1960-1996. The ¨civil war¨ is now defined as genocide by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations. People refer to this period as ¨la violencia¨ (the violence). The government seized the land of indigenous Mayans, the indigenous people organized and revolted out of desperation, and the government began a campaign to eliminate of the indigenous Mayan population of Guatemala. It´s estimated that 200,000 people were killed during the war. Many of the politicians responsible for the deaths were pardoned and are still involved in Guatemalan politics to this day. Racism against indígenas (indigenous peoples) persists. For example, if an indígena goes to a public hospital, he or she will likely sit in the waiting room and never be seen. For this reason, Primeros Pasos has a policy that if someone comes into the clinic with needs that can only be met at the hospital, a med student from the clinic MUST accompany the patient to the hospital and insist that he/she be seen by a doctor.

More Photos...I need to take some prettier photos soon

More views from our room at Casa Argentina

Murals at Casa Argentina...murals of cassette tapes...and flying cassette tapes. There´s lots of marijuana available in Xela to stimulate the creativity of artists such as this one.

Week 1: Thank the rabbit and give him a carrot, son!

Hola desde Xela, Guatemala!

After nearly 6 months of planning and anticipation, we are finally here in beautiful Quetzaltenango, commonly known as Xela (¨shay-la¨), located in the western highlands of Guatemala (or ¨Guatermaler¨ as we lovingly refer to it with certain friends I miss very much)!

Over the next 8 months I hope to keep this blog updated with our most recent adventures and misadventures. Bryce will add his 2 cents when he´s not otherwise occupied searching for coco seco (the fruit of the coconut that was commonly found in the Dominican Republic but that Bryce is determined to find here as well) or drinking Gallo, a Guatemlan beer brewed here in Xela that is actually tasty.

Misadventure No. 1 : Getting to Guatermaler!

We arrived at National Airport at 4:oo am and boarded a flight to Houston at 6:00 am. Due to bad weather and our plane stopping in Corpus Christi to refuel, we missed our connecting flight and were stranded in Texas of all places for the subsequent 8 hours, having only slept a couple hours the night before. We slept on the airport floor and spent an absurd amount of money on airport food, including dinner at Pappasito´s Cantina...mmmm, ironic, right?

Every travel book we´ve read and every piece of advice we´ve heard from travelers advised us (a) not to stay in Guatemala City longer than it takes to board a bus out of town and (b) not to arrive in Guatemala City at night. Well, thanks to weather and Continental Airlines, we were now scheduled to arrive in Guatemla City at 9pm and would have to stay overnight, which was great for my already high level of anxiety (poor Bryce). My dad (my hero) managed to reserve a room for us at Patrcia´s B&B near the airport, which included transportation from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the bus station the next morning. We were very relieved to have that arranged, and it worked out flawlessly, except for a minor incident in which I was very slightly electrocuted twice in the shower while trying to use the hot water heater.

We boarded a bus to Xela the next morning about 60 seconds before it left the station...phew! Otherwise we might have spent another day at Patricia´s B&B, no offense to Patricia...the place was very comfortable and safe. Just be sure to interpret the phrase ¨bed and breakfast¨ quite literally here or you might find yourself imagining the quaint establishment I was imagining while stranded in Texas.

Stupid American Moment 1 & The Amazing Bus Ride Across Guatermaler

So we boarded the bus (not a chicken bus yet) and took seats next to each other toward the back. Within a couple minutes a Guatemalan man approached me saying something to the effect of, ¨What is your number?¨. I immediately thought to myself, oh no. he´s trying to give me his number. I knew it would be bad, but not this bad. What to do? Pretend to look confused. Somewhere along the line, as he pointed at his ticket and said something about his number, I realized this man was not so much enamored by me as he was pissed at me. I was blushing, as I usually do in this sort of awkward situation. oh shit. I´m sitting in his seat number. He´s asking me for my seat number not my phone number. shit. I am a stupid American. Bryce and I moved quickly to the seat furthest back on the bus, directly over the very hot engine....where stupid Americans belong, and remained there for the next 4 to 5 hours, admiring the natural beauty and how the vegetation changed as our altitude increased (Xela is 7, 795 ft. above sea level). I took off my boots on the bus to be more comfortable. My feet were burning up in my wool socks so I took them off too. Then I realized it wasn´t my socks that were making me hot. The floor of the bus was about 125 degrees from the heat of the engine. Every so often the driver would get off the bus just to check the tires. The road was windy and steep. We passed slower busses, risking head-on collisions with other busses and large trucks coming down the moutains. We bounced high into the air every time the bus hit a bump. It was the most fun I´ve had in a long time. Most of all...it was beautiful. So lush and green. Wildflowers everywhere. Steep green mountains. Indigenous farmers and small villages. We arrived in Xela in the late afternoon, without much rain yet (It´s still the rainy season for another 3 weeks). We loaded our 20 some suitcases into the trunk of a cab and arrived a few minutes later at the cheapest hostel in town, Casa Argentina.

Casa Argentina: Home for a week!

Casa Argentina is run by a very friendly and smiley local woman. She lives on the first floor with her family. The Casa is basically a hippy commune full of 20-something travelers (or the occasioanal 60-something) from all over the US, Europe, Canada, Australia, and the Republic of Vermont! (to name a few nationalities we´ve met thus far). Some longer-term volunteers or just people studying Spanish for a while, live here as well. We share a room on the top floor which looks out over the tin and adobe rooftops of the city. We can see all the church facades and rotundas in the distance. Great views of the mountains and volcanos. All for $5 a night (that´s $2.50 each)! Our room, inexplicably, has Spanish vocabulary flash cards taped to the wall which is neat. Some previous guest added a sense of humor to the set of flash cards by adding one of his own. Puta Madre does not mean Thank the rabbit and give him a carrot, son! But if some crazy hippy didn´t speak Spanish very well and found himself needing to use the phrase,¨Thank the rabbit and give him a carrot, son!¨, he would find himself in a very unfortunate situation thanks to whoever posted that flash card on the wall. Meals are not included at Casa Argentina so we´ve had a chance to try some delicious local food and even cooked ourselves a meal in Casa Argentina´s kitchen last night! See our cute little room below:

Stupid American Moment 2 & The Tortillarilla:

Things that are wrapped in corn husks are not always tamales as we think of them in the US. I asked a girl at the market what type of tamale she was selling. ¨Queso¨ she replied. She was right. I did indeed buy 2 pounds of local cheese wrapped in a corn husk. This isn´t like cheddar jack or american cheese. It´s a strange sort of white spongy substance, that when heated with delicious veggies tastes not unlike tofu or some other sort of meat substitute one could purchase at Juice Joint or (insert hippy town restaurant of choice here). I know this because Bryce and I cooked it with veggies and garlic for dinner last night. It was delicious and a very cheap dinner. We´ve also eaten some delicious black beans and corn tortillas. There is a tortillarilla across the street from Casa Argentina where 2 young Guatemalan women make fresh corn tortillas over what we think is a gas burning stove. They are very friendly and at first mistook Bryce and I for hermanos (siblings). When they found out we are a pareja (a couple) they demanded that we baile (dance) right then and there. They had music playing on the boombox and it was kind of romantic and stuff so we danced, awkwardly and a little embarassed. Now everytime we go back they tell us to baile! baile!. They are ridiculously charming which make the tortillas taste even better.

Settling into a Routine...

We haven´t yet. After visiting the clinic for a couple hours on Thursday it became clear that we need to spend most of our time learning the national language, which is Spanish...and we need to do so quickly. You would think this reality might have hit us oh...6 months ago when we planned a trip to a Spanish speaking country but that was just one detail among many, such as buying cool backpacks and outdoor gear. Bryce was informed that he will be one of 4 new managers of Primeros Pasos clinic now that the director is leaving in November. Wait...What? Jess is leaving? The only person who we have communicated with about the clinic for that past 6 months? The woman who runs the show and has run the show for 3 out of the 4 years the clinic has existed? The one who has gained the steady trust of the community and speaks fluent English and Spanish and is from Guatemala and so knows the culture of the clients better than anyone else who works there? She´s leaving? Yep. She´s leaving...soon. She has put her heart and soul into the clinic for the past 3 years and is ready to move on to other things such as a public health degree in the States. She is an amazing person and I´m glad we at least have the next 2 months with her as we get oriented at the clinic.

School just let out for the next 3 months so the clinic (being mostly a pediatric clinic that works directly with the schools) is not very busy. They do take walk-ins during this time but Bryce and I have been asked to focus on learning Spanish so that we can be useful starting in January when things get busy again. We will go to the clinic twice a week in the mornings for the next couple months and then start going everyday in January. Bryce will be the ¨clinic manager¨ in charge of the daily logistics that go into operating the clinic. It is my understanding that I will be a health educator, traveling (sometimes hiking up mountains?) to schools in the valley, where I will talk to children in Spanish ...about health...and then it is my understanding that I will answer their questions... about health...in Spanish. All of this is quite an incentive to learn to speak Spanish better than we do now. It´s also an incentive for me to learn about health issues facing rural children in Guatemala. I´m told there is a curriculum binder that I should start reading. It´s in Spanish.

Spanish: It´s good to speak it when you live in Guatermaler

Yeeeeeeeah. So we didn´t actually budget for Spanish classes, we thought we´d just kind of learn it by being here and talking to people on the street I guess. But Bryce is getting a small stipend for his position that he has generously offered to split with me so that we can both attend Spanish school. Jess also got us a big discount at La Paz Spanish school. We start Monday. We will get 25 hours/week of 1:1 Spanish instruction as well as a home stay and 3 meals a day, ALL for $100 a week. We plan to take classes for the next 2 months.

Elizabeth (a UVA graduate who is the fundraising coordinator for the clinic) took us around to 4 different Spanish schools on Thursday, all of which give a portion of their profit to the clinic. Xela is known across Central America for it´s language schools and there are probably 40 or more in the city. We met with directors and teachers and she helped translate our questions and their answers. We ended up choosing La Paz, the cheapest of the 4 options and probably the cheapest in the whole city. We´ve heard the teachers rotate between all the schools and so the teaching quality is pretty much the same wherever you go. You´re paying mostly for atmosphere and as far as I´m concerned La Paz has one of the best atmospheres we could hope for...

The school is located on a very steep cobblestone side street and has a quiet patio that overlooks the city, with stunning views of the mountains and volcanos (see photo below). The director, Doris, is very sweet. La Paz is very small and off the beaten path so most tourists don´t know about it. There are only 6 students studying there right now, including Bryce and I. The teachers and the director meet with the students on Mondays to discuss a schedule of after-school activities for the week. We can go hiking or to the hot springs or the beach. We can cook dinner together or watch a Spanish movie. All the activities serve as a way to get to know the country and practice our conversation skills in Spanish with the teachers and other students. We can take books home from the school´s library and we will get LOTS of homework to practice in addition to our class time.

Our Home Stay: Coming Soon!

We move in to our home stay Monday, which was arranged by La Paz (the Spanish school). We will live in a big house (near Casa Argentina, where we are right now) with a woman and her 2 daughters. Sadly, the husband passed away two weeks ago. Apparently the woman is a very good cook and happily accomodates vegetarians, which we usually try to be. The family rents multiple rooms so we will be living with a couple other travelers. One is a student at La Paz, a woman about my age from Canada who is super friendly and will be here for the next 2 months volunteering at Guatemala´s only women´s shelter. Needless to say she is awesome. The other occupant is a 60-something man who we will meet upon moving in. We can´t wait to unpack our stuff and get settled into a routine.


We love it here. We miss you all so much, though! Please keep us updated on your lives! More soonish...