Independence Day

During my 27 months as a Peace Corps volunteer I will partake in three Independence day celebrations, bookends of sorts for my time here in Guatemala. The second of three passed a few weeks ago and I wanted to share some photos from the day.

Independence day in Guatemala differs from American independence day in that it is primarily a school holiday. For several days leading up to September 15th, the big day, schools participate in Entorchas, or long runs carrying flaming torches from point A to point B (usually upwards of 30 miles). The kids ride loud, brightly decorated buses most of the time, only getting out to run through densely populated towns, where they are drenched by flying water bags and cheered on by onlookers.

On the actual day, all school-aged children participate in an enormous parade. Some of the highlights from this year's parade included two well-practiced bands playing recent pop radio favorites and a tribute to Michael Jackson, hundreds of high school girls in traditional dress carrying the local harvest vegetables, kindergartners dressed as certain respected townspeople, a reenactment of the Mayan holdout against the Spaniards, and gigantes- children on stilts that tower above the crowd. The sky was noisy with the sound of firecrackers, the kids strung out on sugary treats, and the town center packed elbow to elbow with folks from all over the municipality. It was a good day to be in Guatemala.

Library Project: Take 2

I was thrilled when I arrived at my parents house in New Hampshire to have to wade through stacks of books to get to my bed. Thanks to all of you, over 60 books were donated to the library project in my town! The challenge then became: How to get them back to Guatemala and then to my town, 300 miles from the capitol!? Luckily, when checking in for my flight in Boston, a very kind spanish speaking airport attendant found my begging hilarious and waived the overweight luggage charge on my bags so that I could get all of the books here. But that was only the beginning of the journey. Over the course of a week the books were passed from car, to plane, to bus, to be dragged through two towns behind me and Kayla, to bus again, and then finally to the LIbrary in my town.

The librarian and the students were beyond excited as I withdrew each book from the suitcase and handed them over for the inspection. Phase II of the Library Project: Complete!

The next step for the library is a children's reading corner and after-school reading appreciation program. A big thank you to all of you who sent kids books! I'm hanging onto them for now until the next phase is complete and I can give them to the library knowing they'll be well taken care of. They're getting plenty of use though...almost every afternoon, my room fills up with neighbor kids who come over to read "Jorge Curioso" or "Madeline." It's pretty amazing- these are very active little kids who have never owned a book in their lives and they sit as still as stones to listen to the stories. On days when I don't go out and invite them to come in and read, they climb the walls of the house next door to see if I'm home to read to them. These kids love books!

Again, thank you so much for being involved and making this project a success! I'll keep the updates coming as the project progresses.

Tikal

As I mentioned in my last post, one of my good friends, Kayla, came to visit me for a few weeks. Here are some photos of our trip to the incredible Mayan ruins in Tikal, El Peten.

A Friendly Visit

Although leaving behind family and friends to return to Guatemala was mildly heartbreaking, I convinced my good friend Kayla to come back with me for a few weeks to experience my life in Guatemala. I gave her the whirlwind tour of Antigua, Volcan Pacaya, My training town, and Lake Atitlan in the first few days, and then we returned to my town for a week. We taught my high school class together, made some gardens in old tires, ate tamales, visited neighbors, hiked to a village, and saw the sights of Huehuetenango, the city I live near. The grand finale of the trip featured Mayan ruins in Tikal, El Peten, where we baked in the tropical heat and photographed monkeys and ancient temples. Here's some photos of our adventures:

The Long Awaited Trip Home

It's been over a month since my visit to the US and I've neglected to post a single word about the trip. It was, in a single word, wonderful. I managed to cram a years worth of family and friends into a short 7 days, and yet somehow came back to Guatemala feeling rested. Some of the highlights included, amazing weather for some kayaking, a visit with some of my favorite people in Massachusetts, family reunion/cookout with a surprise visit from my brother who was living in Denver, lobster in maine, and a day long bike ride with my dad.

Too Much of a Good Thing

Although much of Guatemala still awaits the coming of the rainy season, which should have began months ago, my area of the country has begun it's rainy season in earnest. My last entry detailed the day that the rains finally began to pound the soils of the altiplano of Guatemala, and since that day we've had a fairly sufficient amount of rain. Last week as a friend and I packed for a short vacation to the Mayan ruins in Tikal, my town was hit with the far reaching fingers of a hurricane that passed though Southern Mexico.

Some neighbor kids were visiting me, playing on my porch, when we noticed the ominous black clouds rolling in from the mountains to the south of us. I hurried them off to their houses, not wanting them to get caught in the rain, and as soon as their feet had crossed the threshold the skies ripped open with lightening, thunder, and more rain that I've ever seen in my whole life. The missing pane of glass in one of my windows that had never concerned me before suddenly became the cause of a 2 inch flood of water covering the floor of my room. In the flurry of pushing all of my possessions to the one dry corner of my room, my friend and I failed to notice that the corrugated plastic roof covering the middle of the house was blown off by the wind, leaving 6 feet square open to the driving rain. By the time we noticed the impromptu skylight, several inches of water had poured into the rest of the house. Though the rains eventually abated, we spent the rest of the afternoon sopping, sweeping, and mopping up what must have been close to 40 gallons of water. Here's some photos of the whole shebang...