Week 6: Casa Jaguar!

A little over a week ago we moved into our official room in Casa Jaguar and we LOVE it! It´s spacious, colorful and we love having our own little balcony! The balcony is too little to fit even our dinner table, but we eat dinner with the balcony doors open and the table pushed up against the doorway. ¡Que romántico! Here are some pictures of our home...for good this time (at least until Bryce finishes med school interviews, because it´s a safe place for me to live by myself while he´s gone.)

Welcome! The entrance to the shared balcony. Our balcony overlooks this balcony.

some apartment lobbies have a concierge...ours has a mayan god.

our room!

The view from our balcony. there´s a cafe on the street below that roasts their own coffee and it smells so good!

more room

more room...note the 2-toned hardwoord floor!

Sandra (the landlord/landlady) who does most of the painting and all of the gardening

the view from our balcony at night!

Los Vaos

Last weekend we hiked to Los Vaos, natural steam baths. There were Eucalyptus trees growing all along the path and when we got inside the steam room we could smell subtle hints of Eucalyptus. Ahhhh...Aromatherapy! The steam room was VERY hot. We could only take the heat for about 20 minutes but it felt wondefully cleansing. The whole operation is run out of one family´s house. We at breakfast there, played with their puppies in the sun and headed back down the mountain. A neat little Saturday!

Stupid American Moment 1:

As we were walking down the mountain on Saturday we came upon some cows grazing on the path in front of us. They were so cute and the whole situation was so picturesque that we couldn´t help but talk to the cows... just a little. As we turned the corner, continuing our cooing, we came upon the cow´s owner, Manuel, a guy about our age just doing his daily work. He was nice enough not to tease us and we ended up chatting with him for a while. He is friends with Sandra (our landlord) and offered to deliver fresh milk to our apartment once a week. So now we can drink our hot chocolate and think of the adorable cows.

Estonian Hitchhiker Circumnavigates the Globe:

Last Saturday night we met up with our friend Lisa, the coordinator for our Spanish school. She was hanging out with 2 of the new La Paz students, one of whom has quite a fascinating story. She is from Estonia and has made it her personal quest to hitchhike the entire globe. She started hitchhiking a year and a half ago from her house in Estonia and she estimates it will take her about 7 years to finish. Her final destiniation is Japan where she plans to settle down as a potter. She has never made pottery but she will learn. Bryce discussed with her the dangers of hitchhiking alone as a woman and she agreed with him, saying at least if she dies she will die doing what she loves and won´t have lived her life in fear. They wouldn´t let her cross the border into the U.S. from Canada, so a Native American man who she had met on the road bought her a flight. I love meeting all sorts of people here, but so far, her story takes the cake!

Namasté

Last Sunday we registered for an unlimited month of yoga at the Yoga House here in Xela. It´s a group house and most of the instructors live there. It´s 10 dollars for a month of unlimited yoga! That´s about the cost of one walk-in class in the US. The only class offered on Sundays is an advanced Ashatanga class. Bryce has never taken a yoga class. I have taken some beginner classes but I don´t know what Ashatanga means and I´m not very talented when it comes to ¨strengthenging my core¨(a.k.a I am jello). We decided to go for it. That was last Sunday. It is now Saturday and we are just getting over our soreness. We have a lot of work to do, but with unlimited opportunities!

More Weekend Fun!

The weekend before last we went with some friends to a soccer game- Xela versus Huehuetenango. Our team is called the Xela superchivos(literally, the super goats!). It was a swarm of drunkness complete with firecrackers aimed in the general direction of the crowd and confetti made from newspaper that fell in our food. It was a fun experience that ended in a tie, but who was watching the game, really? Not us.

That same weekend, on Saturday, Bryce and I spent a sunny afternoon sitting on the street with Martín(the landlord) while he sold his jewelry. We just talked about his life in México before he moved to Guatemala with Sandra, how he got into jewelry-making, and all sorts of other stuff. Bryce bought me a beautiful necklace made of seeds. Martín told me I can hang out with him and learn how to make jewelery, which sounds like a lot of fun.

Stupid American Moment 2:

Bryce wore a Tshirt to Spanish class the other day that said APO Theta across the chest. APO Theta is the co-ed service fraternity in which Bryce and I first met. When my Spaish teacher saw Bryce´s shirt he looked sort of alarmed and asked Bryce what his shirt meant. After some prodding, we learned that Teta in Spanish means tit and APOdo in Spanish means nickname. So Bryce wore a Tshirt that essentially said My nickname is tit across his chest. Neat.

Volunteering Updates:

Tuesday was the Voces de Cambio photography exhibit and graduation ceremony. It was lovely! Four students and one teacher from my Spanish school came to watch the program and two people from the clinic also showed up. It was nice to have the support of friends. As I mentioned in my previous post, the director of our Spanish school´s daughter is the Flor de Pueblo or la Reina Indígena de Xela. I invited her to speak as part of the program and she was adorable. She forgot a couple words but no one cared except for her, of course. The photos and essays were beautiful and it was wonderful to see such confident and capable young women sharing their views of the world and their opions with the public. I was honored to be a part of it and I hope and I can be more helpful in the future by getting the organization some funds to continue with their imortant work. Here are some photos of the event:

the artists´self portraits! I love these!

the sign-in table

Lisa browsing the exhibit. Our friend and Spanish school coordinator.

Mariela, flor de pueblo, awarding the diplomas

Bryce is conducting a survey of local pharmacies´ pricing structures in an attempt to save the clinic money. Pharmacy expenses are the clinic´s most costly, and Bryce estimates that he may save the clinic 5-10% of its annual budget. Bryce is also in control of all the petty cash flow in an out of the clinic, which in the past has been very disorganized. I think they found the right man for the job.If you want organization and precision, Bryce is your guy! Here are some photos of the clinic:




I can´t wait until school starts in January so that I can start being useful to the clinic. In the meantime I may be spending some time with 3 adorable Guatemalan kids a couple afternoons per week while their mom takes guitar lessons. Their mom is the sister of the director of my Spanish school and they live right next door to the school. Their names are Stephanie, Emily and Diego (or Diegito as he´s called)! On Wednesday we made paper guitars and started our own band...they taught me a song called Miguelito, El Gusanito/Miguelito, the little worm.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women:

November 25th, tomorrow, is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, an issue that is particularly serious in Guatemala. See excerpt below:

Violence against women in Guatemala has risen so dramatically in recent years that it has received significant international attention. According to a recent study by the Reina Sofía Center in Spain, more women die from violence in Guatemala than in any other country. So far this year, 122.8 out of every one million women older than fourteen have been murdered (Guatemala Human Rights Commission, 2007). In its report titled “No Protection, No Justice: Killings of Women in Guatemala”, Amnesty International stated that, “traditional systems of power and patriarchy remain largely unchallenged in Guatemala […] and stereotypes regarding the subordinate role of women in society are still firmly entrenched.” It is these “traditional systems of power and patriarchy” that allow such violence and that have narrowed women to the margins of Guatemalan society, affording them some of the lowest levels of education, health care, and political representation in Latin America (Central American Analysis Group and MacNabb, 1998). Although women’s organizations fought to have their rights recognized in the Peace Accords, women occupy few positions of political leadership. In Congress, 16 of 158 deputies are women (Gvnt. Guatemala, 2006), 1 of 22 Governors is a woman (www.inforpressca.com), and 8 of 331 mayors are women (AECI).

A collective of organizations that address issues of violence against women in Guatemala, including Voces de Cambio, is sponsoring a variety of activities this week and next, in honor of the national awareness day. Voces de Cambio will be helping out with a 5K tomorrow and there is a march on Monday. Wednesday Bryce and I went to an event at the municipal theatre that featured performances of all kinds by various women´s organizations.

San Francisco El Alto

Thursday I was sick with some sort of stomach virus but it only lasted 24 hours. Friday I went to San Francisco El Alto with a group from my Spanish school. SF El Alto is the biggest market in Central America. It was overwhelming. You could buy everything from fake Lacoste shirts to traditional clothing, to old sewing machines, to a sheep, pig or cow. I passed on the sheep but bought a brightly colored striped table cloth for our room and a bag for myself. I regret not having a camera but hopefully we´ll be back!

Today´s Trip to Fuentes Georginas!

This morning Bryce and I took a bus to Fuentes Georginas, a natural hot springs outside Xela halfway up a volcano. The ride was absolutely beautiful and the baths were certainly hot....maybe even a little too hot! Surrounding the 3 pools was lush vegetation (and a restaurant/bar). What more can you ask for?

Most beautiful picture EVER, taken by Bryce. View from the entrance to the baths.

Ridiculous mushroom tree at the entrance to the baths. Matches my ridiculous outfit!

Random FUN- Dancing Corn Men!!

Today when we got back from the hot springs there was some sort of agriculture festival going on in Xela. From what I could tell it seemed to be an organization promoting more food production within Guatemala to support Guatemalan farmers, instead of importing. Regardless of the cause, the dancing corn men were amazing!! They even posed for this photo.

Vamos Grano/Let´s go Grain, made of sawdust in the street

Guatemalan Decor: Funny Photos from our Home Stay

Though we have moved on from Blanca´s house we cherish the memories of our old room. Among them a pool clock, a prayer of the children, and a landscape painting. Honestly though, it was a very charming little room and a charming family. Blanca´s husband, Jorge, was nice enough to drive us to our new apartment with our millions of suitcases. We gave Blanca flowers and a thank you card upon our departure and there didnt seem to be any hard feelings. Although the dog, Guti, bid us farewell by peeing on my suitcase. ¡Adios Guti! I dont miss you.

Week 4: OBAMER in Guatermaler!!!

So we've survived our first month in Guatemala and what a month it has been!

OBAMANIA!!!

It was hard being away from family and friends for such a momentous occasion in American history, but I´m thankful we had good company with fellow progressives from around the world. We watched Obama´s acceptance speech at a Democrats Abroad party held at a local bar/cultural center. There was a large projection screen and a crowd of expats from all over the world gathered to cheer on Obama with lots of excitement and booz. It felt like we were right there with the crowd in Chicago!!

Obama´s victory was the main headline in all the Guatemalan news. People here are very happy that he won, though many people I´ve spoken with don´t really believe Obama will change America´s relationship with Latin America in any substantial way.


El Campo!! The Country!!



Last weekend, we had the opportunity to hike with Sandra and Martín (our landlords)to their house in the mountains. Just an hour hike from our apartment they have built the most amazing house with their own 2 hands. Their plan is to move there and allow foreigners to live there with them, sort of a mountain retreat center.

The hike was gorgeous: wildflowers everwhere, fresh vegetables growing on small plots, stunning views of the volcano and the city below. Sandra is friends with some of the campesinos who live on the mountain and they let her pick their vegetables, so we picked our own coliflower, beans and corn and cooked them that night for dinner! MMMM!

Sandra´s sister, daughter, 3 grandchildren, and 2 dogs accompanied us for the day. Last weekend was a national holiday called Dia de Los Muertos or Day of Dead. Most families spend the holiday in Xela visiting the cemetary to remember their loved ones. Sanda and her family preferred not to visit the cemetery, but instead spend time together at the country house. We ate fiambre, a beet salad tradionally served on Day of Dead. The kids (that includes Bryce and Martín) flew a kite, which is also a tradition at this time of year in Guatemala.

Sandra showed us her vegetable garden and told us about the frustration of having the trees next to her property cut down illegally by poor campesinos, to use or sell as firewood. She is afraid if she reports the problem there will be violent consquences, so for every tree they cut, Sandra plants a tree. She brought a group of school children to the property and showed them what was happening to the land they will someday inherit. They helped her plant trees and she encouraged them to talk to their parents about the importance to protecting their land so that it can support future generations. Beautiful.














Dia de los Muertos!! Day of the Dead!!

Dia de los Muertos is a religious holiday celebrated in parts of Latin America to honor and remember the dead. Families bring a special flower grown just for this occasion to the graves of their loved ones. In Guatemala, they also make decorative wreaths to place on the graves(see photos below). Because we were with Sandra and Martín on Saturday we didn´t get the opportunity to visit the cemetary, but we did stroll around the fair that was set up outside the cemetary. We drank ponche, a warm milk drink with cinnamon and liquor. There was food, music, games and carnival rides! Before last weekend the very same fair was set up in Central Park for another holiday. Basically, it´s always a holiday here! Always something to celebrate in Latin America!







Volunteer Update

Bryce started a 5 day work week at the clinic this week. He´s starting to take on the responsibilities of his new position as clinic manager. He also got to spend a day shadowing a doctor as he saw patients. Today was the current director´s last day at the clinic. The new co-directors started this week, and they are very nice. Antonette is from the States and Francisco is from Xela. I think they will be a dynamic duo.

I am still on a 2 day/week schedule at the clinic, reading over the curriculum binder which is becoming less and less intimidating the more Spanish I learn. I´m looking into spending some of my free time teaching English, either on a volunteer basis with children, or for pay at a private school for adults. I´m leaning toward working with children, since I am considering a career as an ESOL teacher in US public schools. The pay at the private school is only 2 dollars/hour, so money isn´t much of a factor in my decision.

I´m starting to do some grant research and grantwriting for Voces de Cambio, the organization that empowers teenage girls through photography and writing. I´m excited to help them out, but I don´t want to spend too much time in front of a computer writing in English so I´m trying to limit that work to 10 hours/week. In additon to the grant writing, I get to attend weekly meetings with the other volunteers who only speak Spanish, which is great. I´m also helping them organize and publicize the upcoming photo exhibit and will be attending a meeting with some past graduates of the program this weekend, to discuss their interest in participating in a week of awareness about Violence Against Women. Violence against women is a huge issue in Guatemala and the fact that women´s groups are organizing week of awareness is very exciting and very bold of them.

Bryce Update

Bryce volunteers at the clinic in the mornings. He has become famous already for his addiction to "choco bananos", frozen bananas dipped in chocolate. He has a choco banano lady who he buys from every morning. She hand dips the bananas and Bryce pays extra for a triple dipped banana. He takes two hours of Spanish in the afternoons. Then he goes to the markets and buys an obscene amount of vegetables every...single...day. He spends much of his time in Spanish class learning the names of obscure vegetables and inquiring about the appropriate prices for various items. Then once he gets to the market he inevitably falls in love with one of the women selling her wares. For example, he came home with 72 candles last night because ¨the woman was so sweet¨ and ¨it was a great deal¨. We cook delicious meals of fresh veggies almost every night. In summary: Bryce is very happy here. We have a lot of fun together.

La Paz Update




Spanish school continues to go well. I have a new teacher who I hope to stay with permanently. His name is Marvin, like the martian. He is an excellent teacher and very nice (he´s the short guy in the silly picture above). Marvin is interested in improving his English so we may arrange a free exchange, one hour of Spanish in exchange for one hour of English.

Last week Bryce attended a public event in Central Park with the Spanish school. Below is a picture of him with the 11 year old, Reina Indígena of Xela, the Indigenous Princess of Xela. She is the daughter of our school´s director. To win the contest she had to write a speech about what it means to be an indigenous woman in Guatemala. Her mom is interested in getting her involved with Voces de Cambio, the organization for which I am volunteering/grantwriting.




Last week Bryce and I attended a conference on Racism in Guatemala, with our Spanish teachers. The guest of honor was supposed to be an indigenous Guatemalan woman who earned an anthropology doctoral degree in the US. She is only the second woman in Guatemala to earn a doctoral degree and is also famous for winning a lawsuit against a Guatemalan company that wouldn´t let her through their doors because she was wearing typical indigenous clothing. Unfortunately, she couldn´t make it , but they read a letter from her. I can´t say I understood most of what was said, but I was happy to be there nontheless.

Tomorrow Bryce and I are cooking an Italian dinner for the teachers and students of La Paz. Our two closest friends here, Gaby and Tom, are leaving next week and we want to send them off in style. I dont´t have any pictures of Gabby yet, but Tom is the guy with glasses in the pictures above.

NEXT WEEK WE MOVE INTO OUR OFFICIAL ROOM IN THE NEW APARTMENT. HERE ARE SOME PICTURES OF THE BUILDING!CANT WAIT TO POST PICTURES OF THE ROOM ITSELF!!