Wedding in NH!

I've been a delinquent blogger these last few weeks, but not without good reason I assure you! Two of my most beloved friends got married last week in New Hampshire and I traveled home for the festivities. The ceremony was lovely and they couldn't have picked a more inspiring backdrop for their vows.

It's always a strange experience jumping right back into life in the states- with schedules running on time, warm water running from the tap and hugs from people I haven't seen in a long time, this trip was the same, surprising me occasionally with luxuries and oddities about American life that I'd forgotten. I think it was a good introduction to the life I'll soon be re-entering. This time, as I return to "normalcy" in Guatemala, it will be for a few short months and then I'll be saying my goodbyes. I've already begun with the teary moments and nostalgia...but that's for another post. I'm attaching a few photos of the wedding festivities, the rest are on Facebook, and I promise I'll be back to my regular tales of misadventure soon!

Fiestas Julias!

Huehuetenango, the city near where I live, is famous for their two week July party. Last year the festivities were canceled because of the looming threat of Swine Flu, making this year's fair doubly anticipated. My friend Greg has been in town for the week and my neighbors were thrilled to have two fiesta newbies to show around. We walked the fairgrounds, towering above everyone, ate everything in site and rode the rides. The lasting impression: Guatemalans know how to party!











Pictures compliments of Greg Bish!

Kids Corner: Open for Business

Inside the library building we hung balloons and laid out snacks, sweat beading on our foreheads from the Guatemalan heat. Outside, dozens of excited kids waited for the door to be opened so they could see the kids corner they'd been watching come to life over the previous months. The mural on the wall was painted, the shelves and child-sized cushions placed on the carefully polished floor and finally the shelves were stocked with colorful books. The kids corner was complete!

At 2:30pm, we opened the door and let the flood of little bodies pour in, most of them having arrived punctually for the first time in their lives- spurred on by the promise of a gifted book for the on-time arrivers. New books in-hand the kids sat anxiously as we welcomed them to their new space, cutting the giant red ribbon and finally allowing them to go inside and check it out. Each kid left with a crisp new book and the promise of a weekly story-time. The kids corner, I'm happy to announce, is open for business.

The Latrines are Finished!

Driving down into the valley Tuisquimak occupies one catches glints of light reflecting off of the tops of tin roofs, the latrines recently completed. 41 tiny tin huts poke out from their surroundings, symbolizing a significant improvement in quality of life and hygiene of this small village of 300 people. This week was the celebration for the completion of the project. The women rose at 3am to begin cooking lunch and by the time we arrived at 10, the elementary school which also serves as a common meeting area was filled with the mixed smell of cooking fires and handmade pine decorations; our ears were met with the sounds of school children and the lively plom-plom of the marimba. As we walked up to the greet them, fireworks were set off and huge smiles were flashed our way. It was quite a day- truly one of my most joyful since living in Guatemala. I wanted to experience every moment, to make memories to carry home with me.


Don Mario, Don Juan (Mayor), my dad (who came as representative of my parents' church who donated half of the funds), myself, Doña Micaela (president of the womens' group) and her daughter Vidalia in front of a completed latrine


Doña Maria's gift to me was a "cinta" for my hair, which she helped me to put on


A little boy standing in front of pine decorations; women cooking in the background


The Marimba, a must-have at every Guatemalan party


Seated with the women of the Tuisquimak Womens' Group

Dad's Visit

The long-awaited visit from my dad has finally arrived. He flew in to Guatemala City on Sunday afternoon and our whirlwind week of activity began. We spent a night in Antigua, tasting the delicious coffee and getting a tour of some amazing colonial houses. The 6 hour drive to Huehue on Monday scared him into trying to convince me to come home, but after meeting my friends and neighbors he changed his mind and concedes that I live a good life, despite the apparent travel dangers.

So far we have participated in two project inagurations, 3 meals with friends, rides on bumpy village roads and world cup fever! There's more fun to come but for now, here are a few pictures of what we've been up to. Full explanations of the project inagurations coming soon!


On my porch- dad's new favorite hang-out


Creepy stuffed squirrel for sale on the side of the road. You can buy them live too.


Lake Atitlan


Antigua! In front of Volcán Agua

A Slight Change of Plans

My plan for this week involved a visit from my dad and celebrating the successful finish of the latrines in Tuisquimak. Instead, I watched a volcano cover Guatemala in ash, ran for shelter from a tropical storm, and as a result spent 8 extra days in Antigua, all without my dad. Needless to say, sometimes things don't go as planned.

On Friday of last week I arrived in Antigua to say goodbye to a friend who was leaving for the US, however, the eruption of Volcán Pacaya covered the capitol city and airport in ash, grounding her for an extra day. Then hot on one disaster's heels, came another- Tropical Storm Agatha. Though she was much less powerful than meteorologists predicted, Agatha damaged something like 50,000 homes and left a death toll nearing 200 in her wake.

There were about twenty Peace Corps volunteers stuck in Antigua when we were put on "Standfast" meaning basically that we can't move from our current locations. Initially, we really had no idea what was going on outside of Antigua. The rain had stopped and all seemed okay. It took a while for the local news service to catch up on the story and by the time they did tales of giant sinkholes, whole towns covered in water and bridges out all over the country poured in. After a few days of sitting around feeling slightly helpless, we finally got an opportunity to help out with the clean-up effort.

We were brought to one of the Peace Corps staff people's houses to see how bad the damage actually was. Eduardo's house two story house was literally covered in mud up to the second story. As he explained to us the damage and the fear that his family faced when the landslide of mud poured down from off a nearby volcano he struggled to fight back tears. He then walked us through his neighborhood and showed us that many houses were in the same condition. The day was spent shoveling out hundreds of buckets of dirt from people's homes, working alongside people from all the surrounding towns who had come to help out their neighbors. The whole thing, really, was overwhelming. It's hard to know what to say to people who have lost everything. So we grabbed shovels and dug in.


Shoveling knee-deep mud out of a local business


A family whose home was flooded but who have been able to move back


Eduardo's house

We Went Shopping!

The money is in, the holes are dug and the community of Tuisquimak is chomping at the bit to get their latrines built and ready for use. Purchasing materials is trickier than it sounds though, especially in Guatemala where any variable invariably makes for an adventure.

Our adventure started at 7am when I met the president and treasurer and 9 men from the community in front of the municipal building to go to the city to buy supplies. We bussed into the city and found our first hardware store closed (all materials must be purchased at pre-determined supply stores that are proven to be the least expensive by way of price listing which we did a month earlier). When it opened, the corrugated tin that we were purchasing from them wasn't cut to size so we spent our first 2 hours cutting them with scissors. We then moved onto our next hardware store only to find that almost none of the supplies that they promised us were always in their storeroom were available. However, a few frantic phone calls to my Peace Corps boss and my friend, Jaime the Architect, fixed the issue- we changed the design of the latrines and bought different supplies that were available (new skill to put on my resume: Adaptability)!

Next we arrived at my neighbor's house. He's our cement man and has been working 'round the clock for the last 2 weeks to pour and mold 41 latrine seats and 41 latrine floors. He finished the night before and all 82 pieces were waiting for us. Those things are HEAVY. The poor guys that came from Tuisquimak to help were dripping sweat in the 85 degree heat, but still smiling and joking, excited to get their latrines.

Finally (and I'll admit, I was stressed at this point...we were 5 hours behind schedule and my brain was seriously overworked) we were on our way up the dirt mountain road to Tuisquimak. We moved along at a snail's pace, being careful on the washed-out areas so as not to break the cement floors. As we crested the mountain and arrived in the outskirts of Tuisquimak the truck driver began to blow the air horn, signaling to the community members to gather. By the time we arrived at the school there was quite a crowd- I'm pretty sure literally the whole turned out to see the stuff arriving. Grandmas, mamas with babies strapped to their backs, old men puffing on cigarettes, little kids in galoshes..everyone came to see the action.

It was an incredible feeling to hear the womens' names called one by one and see the family members who will be the beneficiaries of the project come to collect the pieces. Rural Guatemalans have seen a lot of disappointment in their lifetimes, many have experienced the civil war and nearly all have been unable to attend secondary school because of lack of resources. I don't think they believed that this project was actually going to happen until they saw the truck pulling up. The next few weeks will hold a lot of busyness as we begin the process of building these babies. Keep checking back for updates!


Loading the 300 pieces of corrugated tin that will make up the walls of the latrines (first we had to cut them all to size!)


Doña Honoria (treasurer) and Doña Micaela (president) of the women's group from Tuisquimak. The trip to pick up the supplies was a fun field-trip for us and also a great opportunity for them to learn how to manage the group's new checking account.


These are the cement form toilet seats. They're actually pretty comfy, albeit a bit cold. They also weigh about 60 pounds.


Carrying their supplies to her house. Seriously, these women ROCK!


We're pretty excited about these guys