Almolonga`s central park, Independence day festivities...

Zunil traje...

Almolonga traje...

Happy Guatemalan Independence Day! 190 years and going strong...

Today, September 11th, which holds so much emotion for me as an American, also holds emotion for me as an American living in Guatemala. Today is election day here, it's the culmination of months of campaigning and debate. The mayoral races are the most contentious and in Almolonga passions run high between the three parties vying for power. Peace Corps asked me to leave my site for the weekend as a preemptive precaution, so I'm staying with a fellow PC volunteer about 45 minutes away until Tuesday when all settles down.

Last night I was thinking about how much has (and hasn't) changed in the past ten years. Thought I'd share what was on my mind:

"Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that forever changed our world. 10 years. Time plays such tricks on us, doesn't it? Saddness passes, but not without its scars. And we're weak after all. Delicate flesh that feels. Or maybe we're delicate because we feel. Whether weak or strong-here we are, all connected. Our passions, no matter how polarized, are what make us human. Our capacity for good and evil, is what makes us human. Our hurt, is what make us human.

But it is our ability to forgive, to be compassionate, to choose to rise above guns, tanks, bombs, planes--that, that is what would make us good.

And that is my hope for our world. That each person, each small human, would choose goodness over hurt. "

My weekend.

(jealous?)

my day-

1.decided to wear a dress. mistake. ive never been harassed so much in my life. heeeeyyyy bbbbaaabbbbbyyy
2. had to judge little girls. yes, another nina escolar
3. got blisters on my feet by 11 am
4. rode a super crowded bus and almost fainted.
5. tried to get off said bus in said dress. struggle fest.
6. while walking to bus number 2, a dog emerged from under a truck and barked at me. then 8 more dogs came out from under the same truck. i ran into the street and started screaming, swinging my purse in giant swoops to break through the circle the mad dogs had formed around me and worrying that if they bite me i dont even have jeans to protect my legs. rabies anyone?
7. i realize while my heart was still pounding that a lot of people witnessed the scene of the insane gringa screaming in the street.
8. got home and the electricity was out. not really a big deal, but heck, just thought id add it in here for kicks.

im laughing right now. honestly though? what on earth.
oh peace corps. love it!

I've already talked about beauty pageants here in Guatemala. They are, for lack of better words, a big deal. Each school has a Niña Escolar who represents the school in district wide events for the entire year. The truth is I'm not a huge fan. These things always tend to end with tears, and it seems to me that it teaches girls at an early age that what is important is how new their traje is. But on the other hand, the girls do have to give a speech so there is some skill involved.

That being said the Niña Escolar presentations are pretty freaking cute. Little girls in their best trajes are adorable. They walk in doing this little sidestep dance to marimba music (the traditional music here in Guate).

These pictures are from the Niña Escolar competition at Chacap in Zunil so the girls are all wearing the Zunil traje. Their top is called a wipil in Spanish (or 'pot' in K'iche'), their skirt is called a corte in Spanish ('uq' in K'iche') and in their hair they use a cinta intricately wrapped through their hair, and heels of course!

It's important for you to know that the girls dress in traje everyday! The only thing they don't really use is the cinta in their hair (older women use the cinta everyday). These girls play basketball in their heels and cortes, I guess when you grow up in them it's comfortable...

Most of the schools I'm working with are super interested in teaching their students about trash... Strange? Why, yes. In the US we put our glass in one bag, our cans in another bag, our paper in another bag and throw out the rest (or put it in the compost pile). Here in Zunil the trash issue is city wide. They have a trash truck that charges Q2 for each big bag and they take it off your hands, throw it off a cliff and light it with a match. Or if your family doesn't have the Q2 to pay (25 cents) then you burn it yourself or throw it in the river. Yes, trash is an issue.

So as a part of Healthy Schools, the teachers really want to work on trash management so that the next generation won't continue with the status quo. It's hard because you don't want the kids classifying their trash and then having them haul it all to the river in the end. So what do you do with this classified trash when there aren't good industrial recycling options nearby? YOU GET CREATIVE!

Enter the paper brick! This brick is pure paper (newspaper, notebook paper, whatever kind of paper minus cardboard and toilet paper). The paper brick was a peace corps invention back in the day and it's still chugging. You have the kids put all their paper in a bag then once they have enough you tear it up, and let it sit in water for two days. After two days it comes out looking like a strange and not-so-appetizing dough that you throw into a metal mold which pushes the water out (with a bit of elbow grease) and bam. you have a paper brick.

What do you do with said paper brick once it dries? You use it to cook. Most families here still use firewood so by utilizing the paper brick, which lasts up to FOUR HOURS in the fire and releases equivalent or less smoke than firewood, you reduse the number of trees that get chopped down from the mountaintops and you use what would have been trash for something productive.

No, it's not a perfect solution. But it's a start...

The wet paper in a huge bin

Sixth graders in Zunil putting the paper into the mold to make the bricks

Pushing the handles down on the mold to get all the water out

The final product set out to dry! We made around 30 bricks with one week's worth of paper from a school of 500 kids... They are planning on giving to the three schools in the district who still use fire to cook the school snack!

Some views from my neck of the woods...

This is the view of the volcano Santa Maria from Zunil. The school bus (more commonly known as a chicken bus, is how I get from Almolonga to Zunil in about 20 minutes). Those of you planning to visit, better find your self a a step machine because we'll be hiking up it!)

A nice view of Zunil, on a sunny morning as I head for a school in an aldea of the town center.

The view from my house!

The view from my house in the afternoon when the clouds move in...

the pila.

so this is how we use water here in guatemala. it's actually a brilliant idea based in the reality that most towns don't have access to water 24/7. For example, in Almolonga we get water from the city faucet everyday from 7-8 am. So you fill up the pila then and have water for the whole day.

We use little plastic buckets (called palanganas) to dish the water out to wash hands, dishes, and clothes...

Special thanks to my mamacita for making these pictures possible and to the best RPCV (and cousin) ever whose music gave me the patience to wait for these to upload!

Well hello there. Long time, no see...

I've been reading a lot lately about the history of Peace Corps. I even taped a picture of JFK up in my room. Do you think he's handsome? (jury is still out in this neck of the woods) It's just incredible really, how much I absolutely love my work here. And then I think of that multiplied by the 200.000 volunteers who have served since the creation of PC 50 years ago, all over the world. How much good can be done? How many laughs can be shared? And would you look at that, all without A-47s strapped to our backs! I know that you all think that I'm sugarcoating my experience here. My biggest fear about heading back home in 21 months? Will I ever be able to find work as fulfulling as this?

Today I visited Escuela Oficial Rural Mixta Santa Maria de Jesus. The fourth grade teachers there asked me to teach a half hour class on environmental contamination. Here are some pictures:


I made a timeline using chalk outside from 2 weeks to 1,000,000 years and handed out trash to the kids. They had to decide how long that it would take for their item of trash to decompose. I think it was a hit!
Have a great week!

p.s. shout out to my amazing friend Allie who knows her way around just about anywhere, kitchens and hearts included! feliz cumple chica!

I got caught in the rain. And by rain I mean torrencial downpour. In Xela. So there I was, walking around the city streets barefoot in ice cold water. And the moment seemed right. To start talking outloud to myself. 'You idiot. Buy boots already.'

The proverbial last straw. I went to the Co-op and my Guatemalan brother sold me some fine boots. Black and rubbery. All the men wear them here when they go out to the fields to work, and the women too. And he laughed when I told him my story. I wore the boots home from the store. But little did I know that everyone in Almolonga would think it was the funniest thing ever that this gringa was wearing Almolongan boots. I kid you not, they were pointing at my newly aquired wellies and laughing. And I had to smile, because with every step in my toasty dry boots I was walking a step closer to their hearts...