Oh… San Andres. you're going to have to use your imagination with this, it is so hard to move pics once they go, and i wrote it ahead of time since I dont' get much time online. good luck!

Things are busy here. And hot. Sometimes oppressively hot, but there are also fantastic storms with lightening and thunder that are a wonderful reprieve, as well as amazing to witness. Also, I am adjusting quite a bit, and many days I can do a pretty awesome schedule of getting up early (I have the most amazing view of the sky lighting up over the lake out my windows with specific colors that indicate whether it’s around 5 or around 6), having breakfast, helping with the English classes at one of the schools, going to the library to either clean or organize some of the books, having lunch, shower and siesta-ing (when I’m lucky), teaching English at another school, going to the library, going back home for dinner, back to the library and finally bed.


It’s pretty exhausting and there’s always something to do, but at least I don’t have to go die in the ecological park with the mosquitos and other crazy bugs. My very first day I was walked the almost hour to the park, mostly via dirt road



and thrown into the ecological park to plant trees. While it was fun to use a machete and some pick-ax looking thing, there were a million mosquitos and it was even hotter out there.
The entrance area of the park



the lake out of order




My first tree




Here’s a small example of what’s there insect-wise (the kid who collected him said this is a really small representation of what’s there…)





San Andres is by far the most rural place I’ve been. The title of my last blog referenced the fact that it’s built on an insane incline and you’re either going up up up or down down down. Pictures can’t even begin to represent it, so I won’t even bother. I had a pretty comedic afternoon of trying to find the post office my second day in the suffocating, blistering heat of around 1:30. My host mom said it was “up, past the library” so I went up and kept my eyes peeled. At the town center I didn’t see anything so I asked some ladies, who weren’t interested in talking to me, so one pointed vaguely towards the bank. I walked over, asked someone in a tienda, and they said up the hill about 500 meters. So I went up about that far and didn’t see much, but it looked like there was more up around the bend, so I kept going. I decided to ask a guy before I walked all the way up, which I’m glad I did because the guy told me it was down the hill. Awesome. So I walked down the hill, past a couple buildings, decided to ask again, and they said up the hill. Huh. At this point there was no way I was walking back up the hill, but lucky for me they said it was closed anyway. Everything has weird hours here, and there’s no use trying to figure it out, really. So I gave up, tried again the next day, did a similar song and dance but eventually did find it, but it was closed. However, a bit later I tried again, and success! Open and found. This is a good example of how figuring out most things went for me. But I’m good with steep learning curves and wasn’t expecting things to be easy or similar to anything I know, so I’ve been mostly laughing it off and appreciating the exercise (which I’m going to need plenty of with the portions I get here. When Tim and I used to work at the tavern together he would play a game called “lets see if I can make so much food Stacey can’t finish.” Well, I think my host mom is playing the same game…)

Anyway


one school, right by the town center. (teaching the abc song)




Out of order, Mateo's school, mentioned below...







My house is about 20 minutes from the town center (straight up) and 10 min to the lake (straight down),
2188

Which is amazingly clear, if not completely cool all the time. It’s amazing how luke-warm this gigantic lake can get, but again, that’s just how hot it is.

one school is about 30-40 minutes walking from my house (it’s in the neighboring town, San Jose, but when I don’t take a nap, I go cool off in the lake before the walk since it’s on the way)

I’ve gone to Mateo’s school--the expatriate, volunteer coordinator, ecological park manager, teacher, library builder and manager--which is about 20 min from the town center down a dusty dirt road, with the ecological park being another 20 minutes from there.

He has the best deal in town, where school is free as lon gas the student passes, but because it’s much harder than the other schools, students often don’t want to attend. I could write quite a bit of my small experience of the quality of schools in Guatemala, but it’s mostly just depressing. My first week I really struggled with the point of being here, since most of the things I wanted to do would require me to be here for at least 6 months to a year and the lack of correspondence between past and future volunteers nearly completely diminishes the effectiveness of starting many projects. However, what I’ve mostly been getting out of this so far is the similarity between the issues here and in the States, and probably in most of the world. It seems that everywhere I got in Guatemala (or the States, for that matter), the same problems with health care, education, poverty, gender issues, etc exist, it’s just the severity of the degree from one place to another that really make the difference. By recognizing this, though, it’s really inspired me to do more when I return to the states since all the projects I’ve thought would be helpful here would helpful with students in my own community.


So I’ve been focusing on just little things. I read with the kids, color with the kids, practice English with those who want to and don’t worry about those who don’t. When we help at schools I try to encourage students to engage, but if they really resist, I have a hard time really going toe to toe with them because who am I to demand they care when I’ll be leaving in a couple of weeks? However, there are plenty of kids who are dying to learn that there is plenty for me to do.


Some of the kids at the library

Eric(looking at the camera), who is obsessed with Michael Jackson, with a kid I don’t know and a volunteer, Jessica. (they’re looking up the lyrics to Billie Jean so he can practice enunciating in English)

I feel bad I’ve forgotten her name, but she comes with her sister, Mercedes, and sometimes Diana (I think?) who’s around 3 or 4 and will do whatever she needs to to keep them entertained but be able to read at the same time. She loves to read out loud and is amazing at keeping her sister entertained while still reading to me.

the deaf boy that I’ve become buddies with. He likes to play matching games and color and try to get me to do anything. I think he just likes effectively communicating anything to anyone, but Mateo has been working on sign language with him. I wish I knew it because he’s super smart and picks up everything fast.

Then there’s little girl stopped me in the street to say I need to meet her at her house after dinner and take her to the library. It was adorable.




So the kids totally make it worth it. I don’t have much time to study Spanish, but very few people, other than the volunteers, speak English, so I get plenty of practice saying the wrong thing. Hah.


Speaking of the other volunteers… that’s the only big downfall, but I’m trying to use it as a learning/growing experience as well. 3 of the volunteers are 21 year old recent graduates of University of Maryland (where my sister happens to go).. and as much as I try to connect with them, I mostly can’t. One, Stephanie, is the one I can get along with the most because she’s super smart and less… umm… I don’t know, completely 100% certain of how the world should work, probably because she comes from more humble beginnings. But they all come from a private school, parents pay for college (and who knows what else) background and are mostly completely type A. One keeps referring me to as “cup half full” sort of person just because I don’t bitch about every fucking thing I encounter that is not how it is in the states.

But, no need to focus on that, just needed to get it off my chest. It really makes me miss Trevor and Finn, who I’m glad I told them they were the best case scenario for house mates when I was with them in Xela, because they really were. It’d be nice to have someone I connected with here, but when I start to get fed up, I just remind myself I’m not here for them and that’s been working so far.


My family is nice, but I’m awkward of course. The mom and dad are both great at talking to me, but we don’t always have meals together so it’s weird. Plus I don’t really have time to hang out at home, but maybe this weekend I’ll make a point for some tv time. The food is not as good as Norma’s, much more salt and margarine, but it’s still really good most of the time. One word: empanadas. Plus, I can’t really judge because it’s a completely different situation with very little access to the food that was in Xela, as well as a pretty large socio-economic difference between the families. The only thing I haven’t liked was boiled bananas (oh god) but there is still plenty I want to make when I get home.

My room is comfy, and the bed is perfect for making a tent out of my mosquito net (which are almost non-existent when not in the eco-park, surprisingly). However, I have quite the clan of monstrous roaches that hang out at night if I’m up late studying, as well as occupy the bathroom on a regular basis. But, it could be worse, since two of the other volunteers have had tarantulas in their bathroom and I’ve convinced myself that if the roaches are around, that means the tarantulas are not. I don’t care to know whether or not tarantulas actually eat roaches or not, because it’s made me make friends with the roaches and also made me less scared I will encounter a tarantula. There are also tiny little lizards that make a noise that fits a large goose (but a little higher pitched), but they’re cute so I don’t mind. That’s just in my room. In the town there are of course dogs that wonder but also



horses

goats

another out of order, from the school mentioned below

Pigs (these are the cute ones, but there are mastiff sized ones as well)

And ducks (with babies in tow), turkeys, guinea hens, but no pics of them …


Last week, after a short volunteer week trying to figure things out, we packed 21 people into a 18 person van and drove 4 hours to Rio Dulce.

I was late, of course, so I ended up with a “not a real seat seat” on the way there, but made the best of it. Then a 30-45 boat ride to a Mayan school that did high school as well as tourism training (the biggest industry in Guatemala, especially near Rio Dulce) where we ate (with our hands and a leaf, my first time)

got a tour of the school in a complete jungle setting (scary effing spiders, but also toucans and really amazing butterflies) and saw a pretty awesome festival...

and then the ladies left for “la isla de mujeres” since the women had to stay faarr from the boys. It was great. We swam, ate, played cards. I saw the biggest lizard I’ve ever seen on a gigantic leaf. The only bad thing was the bathroom, which one of the girls described as something she’d expect to see in a “Saw” movie. I got up in the middle of the night just so I could pee in the woods (scary, but worth it) without anyone knowing, that’s how bad it was.


In the morning we took a boat to Livingston, which is actually the very first town I entered in Guatemala (with the broken ATM, so I didn’t stay long..). It was nice to actually get to see the town. After a tour, we all piled into the back of two trucks, seee below

And set off to what I thought was going to be a school. It started as a river…

And a beautiful walk along the beach, with only a bit of trash, for about 20-30 minutes…

And then turned into a completely disgusting walk through an unbelieveable amount of trash for at least another 30 minutes…

I already felt pretty strongly about trash creation and plastics and all that, but I swear after this walk, I’ve realized there is a *LOT* more I am willing to do to reduce my trash output, and that maybe I need to have some conversations with my friends as well. I know that it’s a huge global issue, but this walk made it so tangible and terrifying. Especially since many of the products were fairly recent, so you knew it wasn’t from like 30 years of build up. The trash issue is escalating exponentially and before we know it, we’re going to be facing something totally Wall-e style. Sigh.

this is out of order but I can't fix it, the truck ride to the river and falls

Anyway, we were hot, exhausted and disgusted and then suddenly we arrived somewhere. I had no idea what was going on, because the entire tour was in Spanish and while I’m getting better, my comprehension is still not fantastic. After a long wait, we were finally lead through a restaurant and then up to… oh my god water fall pools!

I had seen something like this in Jamaica with Ellen and it was such a wonderful treat. The students were thrilled, most (if not all) of them never having seen anything like it. I know a couple had been to Livingston before (well, at least one), but many had never left San Andres and most never had seen the Ocean.

The water was perfect, and we all enjoyed our break

Jumping began, of course.

Then we had to walk back through trash, and, of course, I had to be one of 3 that ate it in a trash puddle that was so full of trash we mistook it for land. Disgusting.


Back for lunch, a little wifi (score!) and then returning to the long trek home. On the boat ride back up from Livingston I had a really wonderful half hour or so of reflection because I realized this was the first big circle I’d made so far and it was interesting to see how much I had learned and changed in only the past 4 weeks. On my first boat ride up Rio Dulce it was one of the most beautiful and amazing things I’d ever seen, and the second time it actually seemed average to the other incredible sights I’d taken in across Guatemala. Then I knew almost no Spanish and was stoked to be on a boat full of gringos, and now I could converse a bit with Caraima, who kept getting completely soaked by the giant waves we were speeding across. And other, mostly inexplicable, changes that I thoroughly enjoyed contemplating.


The weekend was mostly full of me trying to figure out what I wanted to do while I was here and studying Spanish, which I desperately needed. It’s wonderful to be in an immersion setting, but I still need to study a ton and I simply do not have time during the week. I’d like to start getting up at 5 to study when it’s early (read: cool), because if I have time around lunch, I just sleep. I fully understand how the time of siesta came to be. While the other volunteers complain it’s “too hot to sleep” I somehow manage to pass out in order to make the sweltering afternoon disappear


I also have to admit I have been counting the days until I go home, mostly because I came and will leave on a new moon, so every time I see the moon it’s a reminder of how much time is left. It’s not because I don’t like it here, but just mostly because it’s my last leg, I like to count, and there are many things I’m beginning to really miss.

However, I’m also starting to get scared to come home. It’s going to be really different. Things are so calm here. I haven’t had anything to drink the whole time I’ve been gone and I haven’t really been angry either. There are a lot of things I love about here, the simplicity, the walking everywhere, the animals roaming the street, the fact that everyone (with the exception of literally maybe .5% of the people) will return my “buenas tardes” or “Buenos dias” with enthusiasm, the amazing hot freshly made tortillas and especially the kids. I don’t know what it is about them, or maybe it’s just that I’ve never spent much time with kids in general. They’re so fun and most of them are just dying for someone to sit with them so they can learn more. Anyway… of course I’m coming home, but I’m scared it’s going to be weird.