Photos from Guatemala

Here are some of my photos. Once you are at those pages, you can view the slideshow by clicking on the icon in the upper left-hand corner.

Arrival and Training


Swearing in and first pictures of Santa Maria Visitacion


First 3 months at Santa Maria Visitacion


Tuesday, August 16, 2011

August 15

Monday, August 15
Today was probably one of the best days I’ve had in Guatemala!  I’m finally feeling better after having stomach and other health problems and it was just a really good day!  It’s really nice to feel healthy again.  The daughter of someone who works in the Peace Corps office is coming to live in Santa Maria to work with the women’s group here so today I went to look at houses with her and her mom and met Dona Lucia, who seems like an amazing woman!  She leads the group and they make pine baskets to sell in the capital and are going to learn from the new girl how to make shoes out of tires and some kind of plant I think.  Also, when I run, I go into one of the communities, and the kids usually stare at me or run away because they think I might steal them.  They are starting to get used to me, though, and so today some kids started racing me and it was really fun!  They were making fun of my red face but they helped me make it up this hill that I always have trouble with.  And I got a package, which makes any day better!  I’ve already started one of the books I got, Love in the Time of Cholera, and can’t put it down!  That’s the problem…if it’s a good book, I can’t just read little bits at a time.  Today was just beautiful too.  It’s starting to rain more in the evening, around 5:30 or 6, so I have time to go running in the afternoon and get to see the beautiful mountains!  I am amazed every time at the breathtaking views.  It feels sometimes like I’m in a magical land, with mountains appearing out of the clouds it’s hard to believe its real sometimes!  The road winds through different terrains with corn and beans or coffee fincas.  While I was waiting for the new girl to arrive, I was sitting and just talking to the kids who were getting out of school and it felt really good to feel a part of the community!  I don’t feel as bad anymore not working in the office all the time and I think my counterpart is getting used to me not being there from 8-5, which is good.  This Thursday I am going to start teaching vermiculture to his class, so hopefully that will go well!  It will be an experiment, since I’ve never done vermiculture, but this weekend I might go visit a friend who has good setup and see how he does it. 
Election time is really exciting!  There are lots of things going on right now, lots of campaigns and people painting the country with all kinds of political slogans and signs.  One party’s slogan is “Hasta la victoria siempre!” which Che Guevara is famous for as well.  Another party, which actually has a lot of support, has suspicious ties with the war.  Another party with a decent amount of support does not actually have a legal candidate yet because she is the wife of the current president and they divorced so she could run for presidency and the supreme court has told her that she can’t run numerous times because she broke the law to be able to run.  So she is using her supporters to protest and cause roadblocks to try and get the supreme court to let her run.  Rigoberta Menchu is running for presidency, as well as several other women, and it’s great to see women involved in politics here!  Locally, there are four candidates for mayor in my town, one of which is a woman.  Luckily things have been pretty tranquil and there hasn’t been any violence- just a couple of political rallies and parades.  In some places, like the town next to me, there have already been political clashes.  Some schools are planning on closing early for elections because they will probably use the schools as places to vote.  Speaking of elections, I had to go into the Peace Corps office and picked up a magazine that was about the 2012 elections back home.  I am so behind on politics at home!  I really have no idea what’s going on except for the fact that I missed Shark Week.
So I apologize for not posting in a while!  I have been busy being sick and going to workshops, but now I’m settling back into a routine.  With the women’s committee, I am continuing to learn how to sew with them and will soon start an apron.  The women’s group also wants to build greenhouses, so I am going to help them look for funds and write a proposal.  With the high school, we are going to start planning out their recycling center for the upcoming school year.  A couple other teachers have come up to me with projects they want to do, but I am still not quite sure how to make them happen.  Overall, I’ve learned so much in the time I’ve been here!  I can’t believe that we are halfway through August already.  There’s so much to do and time goes by so fast!  I want to stay in my community but at the same time I want to travel around too because Guatemala has so many places to see!