Officially A Volunteer

I was sworn in to the United States Peace Corps. as an Official Volunteer for Peace Corps Guatemala on March 27th, 2008. WOOH HOOO!

These past three months of traning have been leading up to my current status. I´m very excited to have made it this far and I have so many people to thank for it. I had to overcome my terrible memory to build my comprehension of Spanish to an adequate level. I suffered for three weeks with some aweful bacteria in my stomach (I´ll spare you the details...). And I jumped through all the hoops that my technical trainer and training director placed in front of me.

All that being said, I still feel incredibly unprepared for the task ahead of me. I am not worried at all because I can look back thinking how unprepared I felt before I left the U.S. But now I face my two year stretch dead in the face and figure out how well I measure up.

I am going to live in the aldea Chirrepec in the reigon of Coban in the department of Alta Verapaz (Chirrepec, Coban, A.V.). 100% of the people living there are indegionious, which means they speak Q'eqchi (don't worry, you're not going to pronounce that right). So, as I come to know and understand these people I will also be picking up my third language spoken by only a minute portion of the population of Guatemalans and spoken no where else in the world! So as useless as it may seem when I leave it will be esiental to getting to know and love the people that I'll live with.

Luckly, I will be working with a few of the members of my community that speak Spanish, so hopefully I'll still be able to continue building that vocabulary. So as I head off... away from the comforts of my home away from home in San Bartolomé... I will be filled with a mountain of emotions, but with them comes a sense of calmness, open-mindedness, and optimism for what my future holds in the little Tea making Coopertive of Chirrepec.

Adios!


p.s. My new address is:

my name, PCV
Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 66
Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepequez 03001
Guatemala, Central America

Office Tel. # 502.2384.3800
(needed for courier packages:FedEx, DHL, etc.)


And my telephone number if you'd like to get a hold of me here:
502-4532-6433
You may need to try several times before you're call makes it through.

A compilation!

Okay guys and gals, here´s a compilation of the events of my life in Guatemala over the past few weeks. I haven´t been using my camera enough, so I´ll have to fill in a couple of details here and there. I've seen the bioreserve in Chilasco, Mayan Caves in Uspantán, Mayan Temples in Punta Piedra de Soch, the jungle of our surrounding parks, and wildlife living near our rivers. Now...

Let me present the Eco-Tourism sector of Peace Corps Guatemala. Here we stand in the midst of foggy tropical cloud forest, below the largest waterfall in Central America (Guatemala's got it all!).

These are the trails leading back up from Chilasco falls. The park is kept up amazingly well for the amount of erosion that takes place with visitors and the natural climate. These steps are a testiment to the quality of service and the mix of natural beauty you can expect here.

Later, I raced a friend of mine to see who could reach the top first (5km uphill at 3000 meters[I'm guessing])... not a good idea!

Random cow- usually seen on the streets of little pueblos like San Bartolome.. but I found this guy and his brothers (not pictured) grazing on the side of a river near Uspantán. We were on a makeshift river tubing tour when this cow started a starring contest--- he won.

Jungle shot. This is a local park in Sacetepeqez (sp?). I caught this photo of my friends Ted and Andrew just before a Velociraptor (not pictured) attacked them from the behind the fern trees. [not a true story]

Uspantán! We were led by a guide to a great view of this Aldea of Baja Vera Paz. These grounds are home to a host of Mayan rituals and ceremonies preformed by the local Mayan population below.

Pajuil, Guatemala (probably not gonna find this one on a map). Here we gave a charla (workshop) to a very rural and indigenous community about improving the quality of their arts and crafts to generate more income in local markets. With the use of a translator I was able to communicate in my broken spanish to these indigenous women who only spoke Pok´m Chi (thier native language).

After a hard days work we were invited to one local farmers house for some very interesting soup concotion (during this trip I had some really bad intestinal issues-which were resolved some 3 weeks later-needless to say, at this point I was a little weary of our meal).

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The Ancient Mayan World:

Here I am exploring the sacred caves of Uspantán with our Mayan Guide

At Ixchimché we were able to see a resorted Mayan city from almost 1000 years ago.

Here we were also invited to take part in a Mayan sacrifical ceremony. Each color represents something special to the offering. The red flowers signify the position of the sun.

Now, imagine taking a two hour van ride into a very remote part of the country. The only explination you´re given for your presense here is to help a local sugar cane farmer/ex-soldier(guatemalan marine) decide what is best to do with whats left of the Mayan ruins in his back yard (a.k.a. JUNGLE).

Now, knowing that you are about to be some of the first people in 1100 years to see these archeological sites, you step into the jungle to find this:

Three amazing Temples, Mayan ceramonial caves filled with ancient pottery, and the rarest and most reviered of birds in Guatemala (the Quetzal) flying around the treetops. Wow, what a site!

On one hand, this local farmer has single handedly defended his 200 acres of jungle throughout the violence that took place here during the civil war, which has left this place in pristine condition.

On the other hand, he is very afraid that if the government finds out about these precious Mayan ruins, he will have to give up his land.

Fortunatly some volunteers from Peace Corps have been working with him to dispel the notions that the govenement can sieze his land. This will enable him to work with Guatemalan Arecheological organizations and museums to preserve what is left of the Mayan history here.

Now... back home:
It´s always nice to come back to San Bartolome after long trips.

Here's my house on the left with the curved arch doorway.

Gotta get up and go to chuch!

Pop-dukes helpin out with the laundry. Imagine if you had to wash your clothes like this...

Here's a good shot on Don Cezar's farm. Frijoles growing to the left, alvacados growing to the right, and a couple of cows and chickens in the woods below.

Doña Dora: my host-mom dukes... always having a good time! Here shes laughing with a customer at our houses school supply/candy store. This is a convienient way to make a living as most of these kinds of stores are attached to peoples houses.

Dokkie - and the litter: life of a dog in Guate

And she' finally done it!

10 perritos (layin' on the floor)

... and two got a little lost...but mine has mom's milk seekin sensors equiped...to join the pack and survive another day: