a few photos real quick

To get my quetzales (money's) worth out of my internet time today, I decided to aprovechar (take advantage) and post a few pictures even though I have no content to post with them. Hope you enjoy anyway!

I made José Arulfo a chocolate cake for his 16th birthday just like the one I made for Kate´s going away party (see photos below) - because he kept joking that I was in debt to the family, specifically him, for having baked that other cake and then taken it away. But this one didn't want to come out of it´s pan... so we frosted it and lit it up as-is. I think it tasted just as good. :)

Maybe you all think taking pictures of my own clothes drying on the line is weird, but I just liked the look of the scenery and the little bit of town (Toto) that's visible through the washline.
And also that pinabete (avies guatemalensis, the pine tree to the right that's an endagered and beautiful fir species) that my host mom is AWFUL proud to have growing in the yard.

A beautiful sunset over Totonicapán, no?

Rainbows are a rarity here, because when it´s raining it´s usually completely cloudy and no sun makes it through at all.

July Landmarks

A few landmarks have recently passed in my world here: I have officially been in my new site for three months now (a Peace Corps "magic number"), and my Reconnect Conference for my training group is coming up. It was also recently my birthday. Combined, these two events call for a lot of reflection on my life here in Guatemala and self-evaluation on how I'm doing. Now that I've lived in my community for over three months, do I feel as integrated and connected here as I had hoped to be by the time Reconnect rolled around? Do I feel I've built relationships and trust, do I feel I belong and that the community accepts me?
Well, frankly, not as much as I had hoped. Maybe my standards for myself were a bit high when I envisioned myself at 3 months, maybe I had "delusions of grandeur" of how great a PCV I was gonna be. Or, on the other hand, maybe I just got lazy at some point and called a quits on really trying to branch out past my host family and my work in the park, to get involved in my community. I suspect there are truths to both those scenarios...
It kinda goes without saying, but I would like to emphasize that trying to integrate into a new community is HARD! At first, I expended an awful lot of energy on being friendly, chatting with everyone I ran into, trying to remember faces and names - just generally putting myself out there, a little vulnerable-feeling, open to new experiences and people. But I guess I didn't go much beyond that, and it's starting to feel like my current reality hasn't grown or been shaped by anything new in a while now. As human beings, we naturally settle into a rhythm and when we're satisfied we leave it as-is. But life as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I'm realizing, means constant analysis, constant brainstorming, constant creativity about what ELSE I could be doing, or who else should I meet or talk to - and therefore also requires constant courage to try out those ideas. It's quite a dilemma: still seems I don't know that many people in my town, which is not satisfactory to me, yet it's intimidating thinking about trying to go and meet them all. It's also intimidating to commit right now to new project ideas when they aren't related to my assignment - these are what Peace Corps calls "secondary projects." For me things like teaching English, working on community building projects, or working with the local women's group would be examples of secondary projects. But as I'm still holding my breath for things to pick up with projects in my park, I seem phobic of these other project ideas that have been coming my way, not wanting to get overcommitted. It's like I'm holding off waiting for the moment to be right, when it's not going to be any more "right" than right now!
But giving myself credit and recognizing successes, albeit small ones, is also an important skill for me to start developing. Last week a group of women biology students from the main university in the country came to study bees in our park, and Don Nico (one of the park guards) and I also took them to a certain sunny spot in the communal forest. And in explaining to them all kinds of things about the environment here in the highlands of Totonicapan, and then all the details about my community and who's who, I realized I actually do know a great deal... and that it would be awful hard to do the kind of work I do (or the kind of work these biologists came to do) if I didn't have a brain stuffed full of all that stuff. Furthermore, when we walked around my town, people recognized me, even if I didn't know them! And so for once, at least in comparison to these biologists from the capital, I wasn't the strangest-looking stranger in town! A good sign.
And last but not least, my birthday... turned out to be a lot more eventful than expected! It started with inviting my good friend Brittany to come to my house for the day to help me celebrate. I've stayed at her house several times now and gotten to know her family pretty well (we get along splendidly). But I've always lamented the lack of a good premise for Britt to come visit me and get to know MY host family, because they're such good people and I knew she'd love them. So the birthday was our chance... but that's not all. Apparently the evening before, Brittany's host mom Doña Horalia mentioned the need to go make purchases for her small clothing store in one of the bigger city's markets, but was undecided where to go (Guatemala City? Too far, a bit dangerous; Quetzaltenango? Always goes there, never anything new; Totonicapán? hm...) Britt mentioned she was heading to Toto the next day for my birthday and encouraged them to consider coming too - and that settled it! They called us to propose the idea, and we decided to have a big lunch at my house for our new guests (and I suppose for the birthday girl...☺) Now this was a major and rather gracious undertaking by my host family. Not only did we find out we'd be making a big lunch for six guests at 9 pm the night before, but they also had plans to be at church that entire Saturday morning, and my host mom wasn't going to be around due to her enrollment in a Saturday university class. So it fell to my host dad Arnulfo, sister Ixchel, Brittany (who came early) and I to make lunch... and it was actually kinda fun! But the real joy of this day was that Doña Horalia, Don Miguel Angel, and their 3 teenage boys ALL came the whole way up the mountain from Toto in their little car, traipsed through the milpa (corn fields) with me to get to my house, sucked in their breath in amazement at the view and commented continuously on how beautiful it all was... They kept telling me how good it was to see where I lived and to meet the good people I live with, kept saying how special a day it was because it was my birthday. And I felt so loved that my family would go to such great lengths and greatly inconvenience themselves to accomodate my unexpected guests and make it a special day, and that another family had come a long way to the house of complete strangers to help me celebrate - it means a lot to me and helps me feel like I have a place here in the hearts of a few Guatemalans. And they too definitely have a place in mine. It's interesting that in this small event I see the manifestation of a much bigger purpose: Doña Horalia said that because of Brittany and I being such friends and opening our hearts and friendships with both these families, "Through you, we have the opportunity to get to know another family of our own countrymen that we never would have met otherwise. How good it is that you bring us this opportunity!" And so sometimes, just by opening our hearts to new friendships and new people, we create lasting relationships between other people in our lives too. It felt like we built a bridge there. It reminds me that sometimes things other than my work, my actual assignment, might matter more and have a more lasting impact. And that relationship-building and "secondary projects" don't have to be intimidating at all - sometimes they're just inevitable and delightful, and that's the whole point.
So frankly this is a good point of reference, a good time to take the lessons I've learned from all kinds of little events like the ones I've written about here, and re-focus myself toward being a better Volunteer. It helps me be more intentional at how I'm living my PCV life, instead of just letting myself sail on through it and allowing it to just pass me by. After all, the unexamined life is not worth living. So I keep on examining... and encourage you to do likewise.

Thoughts originally thought on Monday, June 29th

I woke up this morning not really thinking about how everything had changed, despite all the discombobulated piles of recently-arrived things and new furniture everywhere. I went to the window, as I usually do in the morning, and looked down the valley over the city of Totonicapán, where the clouds were clinging like thick broth at the bottom of a bowl, as they usually do in the morning. I thought about how this might be one of those days when Kate, getting up in her apartment in town, might be fooled into thinking that today would be cloudy and rainy, when actually up here in the mountains it’s clear and bright.
And then I remembered that there’s no Kate living in Toto to ponder the weather anymore. Yesterday my best friend in Toto left to go back home!
More than anything else, what’s been on my mind through this process of Kate wrapping up her life here, is that I am not looking forward to the day when I have to find closure to my life here too. It started with meetings to wrap up her projects and introduce me to key people she worked with; then it was me scrambling to plan a few surprise going-away parties for her; then we were planning when and how to move all the stuff she had in her apartment that she planned to bequeath to me up the mountain to my house, since I decided to continue living with my host family (hence all the new things and furniture in my room referenced earlier). And while my head was still spinning from all that, at the end I had to think of how to tell her how thankful I am for how much she´s helped and guided me.
We moved everything up the mountain on Saturday, and since her apartment was no longer furnished she would be staying with friends up here in the village that night. And so the community organized themselves and invited us to a big prayer service in the church, where the outpouring of goodwill was almost tangible. After rosaries and a Gospel reading, Don Nico called Kate forward to stand in front to receive the line of those waiting to give goodbye-hugs – as is the custom here for birthdays, despedidas, etc. It apparently works for welcome ceremonies too: Don Nico then asked me to come up and stand a few feet away from her to receive the same line of huggers, only they were welcome-hugs instead, I guess. This, and the speech I was asked to give afterwards, certainly took me by surprise! I knew the names of maybe half the people who were hugging me (so of course I thought it a good idea, after graciously thanking him or her for the kind words of bienvenida, to ask “And what’s your name?” and try like hell to remember them all). Everyone in that church had something kind and thankful to say to Kate as they hugged goodbye – talk about having an impact in the community! Several were taking advantage of the moment and asking her how to get copies of the bird guide book and the endemic species láminas, which seemed like the perfect culmination of her Peace Corps service… there they were, wanting to know more and actually use the documents the volunteer generated!
In the end, I felt very much in her shadow. She has accomplished so much and is beloved in the village. Can you imagine a small town in rural Minnesota throwing a going away party for a foreigner who’s been living and working there for two years, and at the same time throwing a welcome party for the next foreigner coming to take their place? Hm, when was the last time immigrants in the US were given that kind of welcome, or that kind of farewell? There were a few men present at that prayer service who I know have spent considerable time and experienced considerable discrimination as illegal immigrants in the United States, and I couldn’t help but think of how incredibly gracious it was of them to come to this prayer service for two gringas in their village when they received nothing of the sort those years they spent on our soil.
Kate left on Sunday morning, and there were no tears but much sorrow. She will be missed, and I will undoubtedly be the main conduit of news between her and the community for the next year and nine months!
There was another traveler in town that weekend, actually: a friend of mine from my former work in Alaska, Jennifer, was touring Guatemala and fit two days in Toto into her itinerary. Now, Jen doesn’t speak much Spanish, so after being rescued from the rain in Central Park by my host mom, Emiliana (as Jen was sitting on a park bench thinking she would have to wait another several hours of this before my workshop in a different community was over and I could come get her), being whisked spur-of-the-moment to lunch at Aunt Margarita’s house, and then going with Emiliana as her guide up the mountain in the crowded back of a pick-up to our house… I think Jen can vouch for how kind most Totonicapánians are! They just took her right under their wings, though a stranger and unable to communicate with them. When I arrived at the house that afternoon, she had just come back from a nice mountaintop walk with Hugo, my 8-yr-old host brother, so it was obvious that she’d get along fine. I learned that it’s surprisingly stressful for me having guests who don’t speak much Spanish, but at the same time I think their capacity to learn and get a lot out of the experience is greater.
Plus she was a great help on Moving Day! Haha, “hay que aprovechar!” (gotta take advantage!)
But now I’m my own source of ideas, projects, successes and failures! Time to get the lead out. In a sense I’ve been resting on Kate’s laurels these first three months of my service in Totonicapán, since her work was an easy source of something to do and a way to feel like I was contributing. Now I’m looking forward to initiating environmental education lessons in some of the Totonicapán schools, creating a working library of ecological resources in my park, installing interactive ecological exhibits in our park museum, working with the Community Council of my village to improve their communal meeting space infrastructure through a grant application, and working with our Directorate (CDRO) toward developing a community tourism network in my village in coordination with CDRO’s other income-generation projects and initiatives. And yes, I am aware that that’s an awfully big to-do list! It’s good to have high hopes, right?
So that’s the news from Lake Wobegon, folks… or, well, you know what I mean. (I hear Garrison had a recent show from Avon, MN – woot woot! Wish I could’ve been there for that one, the show coming home…) In any case, wishing you well and a happy belated 4th of July!

Photos, finally!

I'm finally getting around to posting some much-needed photos! Starting from a while back, then... March, to be precise.

My training group at our Swearing-In ceremony
My APCD, i.e. my boss, Flavio, with the four of us from my training town.
Brittany and I with our Spanish professor, Jorge... what a good guy, I still miss our Spanish classes...
The two of us again with Martha, our Country Director (the Director of Peace Corps-Guatemala)
Big-group dinner after Swearing-In, at a pizza place in Antigua with ruins in back! Good friends Johanna, Oliver, Brittany, and Maria
After Swearing-In and dinner on the town, Rebecca and I decide it's time for some hard-earned celebration in Antigua.
Last day before the move to my new site, on the roof of my hostel, settling the final details and getting ready
One of my first weekends here my host family got real excited about climbing Campana Abaj, the summit of the mountain we live on. It's mentioned in a post below; here we are on the ascent, Arnulfo and Hugo leading the way and still in good spirits...
...with Emiliana and José Arnulfo and Emiliana not so convinced this is a good idea. Turns out they were right.
Let's just say we got back a little wet. First day of the Rainy Season! What are the odds?
But still, people are in good spirits.
An adventure, we're calling it.
They all made fun of me for getting down and washing dishes with the ladies who prepared the meal - or rather, they were making fun of Yovani and Luis who never do that, and here I was on my knees.
Kate held a training course for youth from the village in Tourism Guiding and Natural Resource Management, to train them to be guides in our park and also to be better-trained in managing the parcel of the Communal Forest they belong to. Here I am facilitating a game of "Birdie on a Perch" (any PRPs reading this will love that...) we called it "Chipe in su Nido" or Warbler in its Nest.
The youth in the course, on Graduation day, with we the park staff
The point of the course was to create alliances between our CDRO Association Directorate and the Board of Directors of the Parcialidad to which all these youth belong. This photo includes all those actors involved in the course, on graduation day.

I love this picture of my counterpart, Yovani, doing what he does best. Here he is at one of the 8 stations on our trail, teaching what habitat is.
Emiliana is on my village's Water Committee, Comité de Agua, which is in charge of capturing water from springs up the mountain that will find its way to all the homes. It's a big (unpaid) job that takes up a lot of weekends, like this Sunday when I went with to do some maintenance on one of the tanks/tubes that had broken. A good group of folks who take the time for the needs of their community receiving little in return.
Kate and I went over to Doña Delphina's house one day when she and Gabi were preparing chuchitos (like what we would consider tamales) for a big group. We helped! I still say I did more, since Kate was off playing with the kids most of the time :)
Me at the piedra! The piedra (really, its name is just "rock") is used to grind pretty much anything - in this case, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, roasted red peppers, roasted tomatoes, and bread crumbs.
We went to the inauguration of the Interpretive Trail at another park not too far from here, where another PCV and some friends of Kate's work. Luis, walking right behind me, was one of the artists who worked on the project in that park.
Ellory and Chris came to visit me for a day at the end of their semester studying in Quetzaltenango (the city otherwise known as Xela). I wanted to show them the park, and little Hugo and cousin César wanted to come too. Here we are hugging one of the bigger trees along the trail in the park.
Outside the park entrance, all of us! It was a fun visit, but too short... guess you'll both have to come back soon, guys!
The Volunteers in the departments of Totonicapán and of Sololá just south of me, hosted a party to welcome all the new recruits. The Lago de Atitlán is in Sololá, so naturally our party was on the lake, at a place you can only get to by boat. Theo (Ellory is his little sister) met up with us to join in the fun - and also to join in on the mango-yogurt and avocado-cracker snack.
Did I mention the party was a costume party?
The Lago de Atitlán, historically speaking, was an enormous volcano that monumentally exploded and left a huge crater in its wake. But it's still a volcanically active place, so now it´s a highland lake surrounded by active volcanoes. Good swimmin hole, eh?

My host family and I went down to Aunt Rosa's house ("Tía Chochi") for Mother's Day, Día de la Madre. Tía Lita (Aunt Margarita) and her daughter Narda made stuffed turkey, and the meal was scrumptious! Only problem was, we all overstuffed ourselves and the whole extended family had bad gas for the next day. haha...
They decided to dress me up in traje, which I wasn't at all opposed to! I got this pretty purple corte (the skirt) and huipil (the blouse) and took a photo with Ixchel my host sister and Emiliana my host mom. They don't smile much in photos, but I can assure you they are giggly, happy and funny people. I had a good time that day. (p.s. they made me stand down a stair or two so there wouldn't be such a height difference. hehe)
I only let them convince me to dress up in traje if Narda did, too. She doesn't wear the traje, and nor does her mom Tía Lita, but all the other women in the family do. So the aunts all begged her to dress up in traje too. And this photo ensued.
One morning when out birding with Kate, two younger siblings of one of the assistants came with. We found a big tree to take a picture of.

... It's a pretty big tree, folks.
Here are some nice shots of what the highlands of Guatemala are like... beautiful forests, lots of fog, gorgeous sunsets on my walk home, etc.





The rest of these photos were taken in the park on Kate's last day, the day of her "despedida" (going away party). Everyone pitched in to help make the meal (Yes, even the men!). We're all going to miss her.

The kitchen in my park: Yovani, Gabi (Luis's wife), Luis, Kate, Don Nico
Don Boni, with help from Juanito (Luis and Gabi's son)
Lunch: fried fish (mojarra)! and salad and avocado... man I love food in Guatemala! (mmm... better qualify that statement...)
You'll note the only blond in the photo: my friend Jen was visiting for a couple days and joined in on the festivities
Not sure what was so funny... probably Yovani, as usual.
Did I mention I made the cake? This was quite the undertaking the night before, Jen can attest to that as she was staying with me! It turned out wonderfully. It also instigated an interesting conversation that morning with Don Bonifacio on what pride is (k'iche' is his first language, and I don't think anyone had ever explained to him what "orgullo", pride in Spanish, meant) because I said I was proud of the cake.
Kate, with her traditional middle piece for the guest of honor at any party