Quick Trip to the Coast

The closest we got to a Big Snake...

Only live snake found... baby red coffee snake

Some interesting inverts-an armored millipede

So in an attempt to pass this week by faster, I took my friend Tara up on her offer to come out to her site and catalog some of the local herpetofauna. We didn't have a lot of luck on the herps front, but it was an interesting trip nonetheless.

Her community, about an hour north of Retaleleu, (sp??) often shortened to "Reu", is truly a rural community. Only serviced by one bus leaving (6 am) and one bus arriving (12:30 pm), one tienda that sells a few staples, one papas fritas stand (occasionally), Nueva Alianza is the rural "out in the middle of nowhere" site that I think we all picture when we think of Peace Corps. Nueva Alianza has an interesting history, which I had the opportunity of hearing about from the local guide.

When the German owners of the plantation failed to pay wages to the farm workers for over a year and a half, they fought a legal battle against the German owners and won, getting a loan from an NGO that helps farmers to purchase land. The 35 families that stayed to fight for their right to earn a living have, in the 8 years that they have owned the finca have dedicated themselves to organic coffee and macadamia cultivation, as well as a small ecotourism operation. They converted the former finca owner's living quarters into a rustic eco hotel, where foreigners arrive and volunteer their time and technical knowledge for periods from a couple days to months at a time.

For me, the fascinating aspect of their history is that it happened so recently. The conditions on coffee fincas are little better than those of slaves in our nation's history. The labor is hard-often 10 hour days, and the families would live in poor conditions. And, in this case, the finca owner managed his finances poorly and decided not to pay the families for their labor. In Nueva Alianza, some families were brave enough to stay and fight for the pay that they knew was their right. Meanwhile, they lived off the land and often the parents would go without eating so their large families could eat. And while they have ownership of the finca now (if they can continue to make payments on their loan), many other fincas still operate with hired hands, receiving the same poor treatment and low pay for hard, hard labor.

Apart from their history, the jungle surrounding the finca was incredible. I went on a jungle hike with a couple of local self-proclaimed herp enthusiasts. We trekked through some of the thickest jungle that I have ever encountered (which isn't saying much) and got eaten alive by mosquitos and other fun insects. Unfortunately, didn't have much luck on the reptile front but got to see tons of cool birds, butterflies, other invertebrates, a waterfall, and beautiful panoramic views of the jungle.

I love visiting fellow Volunteers as it always gives me a fresh perspective. It is always impressive how variable our Volunteer experiences are. Some people live in more urban areas than me, while others live in much more rural areas. I have to give kudos to both Tara and Kate (volunteer from Quiche I went to help out recently), as well as all other Volunteers in rural settings, for their ability to live and thrive in their communities. In Sija, I have access to pretty much everything I could ever think to want-various comedors with everything from giant, mexican style burritos to hamburgers and pizza; internet; hardware stores; bike repair shop; tailor and shoe repair...the list goes on. How would I react to life in a more rural setting? Still to be determined. Because it's great to go visit these quaint, middle of nowhere villages, but its really good to be 'home' as well.

The JUNGLE!


And now, au revoir for a while...I plan to neglect my blogging responsibilites for two weeks to a month while I travel and get spoiled a bit by my 'beau' ....

Hasta luego,

Amber

Daydreaming of that island in the sun

With a little over a week before I head to Honduras to see my boyfriend after 10 months apart (!), I've come down with a serious case of pre-vacation heebie jeebies. Okay, I don't think that this condition has a technical term, but it should. You all know what I'm talking about. An exciting vacation is coming up, you should be working like a dog to wrap up loose ends at work, but you find yourself accessing the travel blogs and googling photo albums of your vacation destination.
Making matters worse, there was simply nothing to do this weekend. I hiked in the park with my dog but this only killed a few hours. I washed all my blankets, sheets, and pillowcases because it was sunny. I lounged in my hammock and read while the laundry dried. There was a band playing in the plaza for the wrap-up of the week's festivities for the local instituto's anniversary-but attending one of these public gatherings by myself just invites creepy drunk guys leering and shouting inappropriate comments at me-in english. This makes for less than enjoyable festival-watching as you can imagine.

I got creative in the kitchen. I made peanut butter-this is actually quite simple: just get a pound of peanuts, put them in the blender 1/4 cup at a time, adding vegetable oil as needed and blended until you get delicious, all-natural peanut butter. I made a mint-cilantro peanut sauce for some eggplant I bought in Xela this week. It tasted close to the sauce my mom makes for thai peanut noodles, not as thick or creamy though. I made lemon bars-and ate them all....

Thankfully, my Peace Corps Program Director has asked me to do a herp survey in my friend Tara's site, in the jungle. He's been asking me to do this for a while and we just haven't coordinated on a time that works for both of us. So, I figured there's no time like the present to get out there, and am heading out tomorrow for a short introduction trip. The problem with guatemala is a lack of a comprehensive, recent field guide for herps here but I'm going to dive in and see what we find. She lives in the jungle which means herp central and I can't remember the last time I saw a snake..... Suffice to say I am very excited. I will be going tomorrow and coming back Thursday-which means I really have two and a half days left of work here in Sija to wrap up and set things up for when I get back.

Where am I going and what am I doing on my trip to honduras, you ask? (Ok maybe you didn't but I can't think about anything else hardly so indulge me?) I'm heading first to La Ceiba to reunite with my man, and we are heading directly to Roatan, the other Bay Island for some snorkeling, hiking, lounging in hammocks for a few days. Then we are returning to the mainland and heading to Lake Yojoa-we have both heard from different people that it is a gorgeous place to go. An expat from Oregon has set up a microbrewery on the lake and what with the decided lack of quality brews here in Guatemala it seems as good a trip destination as any. There is also amazing birdwatching there, hiking to waterfalls, etc. After the lake, we are headed to Copan to see the ruins (finally) which, while nowhere near the scale of Tikal, are supposed to have amazing stone carvings depicting the history of the settlement and its rulers.

Then it's back to Guatemala where Tony will be staying for another two weeks before he has to go home. We are heading back here, to Sija, so he can experience a little bit of the life of a PCV here, and maybe do a weekend trip or two before he leaves. The beginning of September is going to be doubly interesting this year-not only is the 15th Independence Day, but the 11th is Election Day, and the week leading up to elections is supposedly an increasingly chaotic last-ditch campaign effort by all parties. All this means lots of noise-and that we may seek solitude from the crazy marching bands, loudspeakers and crowds of people sure to accompany all of these events.

All in all, I am just trying to get through this week quickly because I can't really be asked to concentrate on anything else at this point.

Nightlife as a PCV

Listening to: Willie Nelson

Ok, I realize that "it's cold" isn't news anymore. I really really need to stop writing it, saying it, starting conversations by complaining about it....But there's no escape from it until i crawl in between the flannel sheets Mom sent last November, and since I can't get in bed at 5 pm without feeling.........guilty? totally lame? lazy? I cope. Sort of. Just now I sat down to write and realized I've been cold ALL DAY, except for a period of about 30 seconds when the sun peeked out as I was getting home from work and I ran straight to the hammock to bask, then it went away =(

I'm bundled up in two pairs of pants and my fleece lined hoodie zipped up to my chin, sipping green tea and considering an invitation to go see the beauty queens do, well something -I'm not entirely sure to be honest, in the Muni Salon. This events starts at 8-which in Guatemala means between 8:30 and 9. Anyone want to place a bet on whether I'll go?

Before you jump to the conclusion that I'm not 'doing my part' to 'integrate' into my community, consider: my alarm went off at 5:30 am. This is early for me-not a morning person and the 40-something degrees and foggy weather isn't helping this condition. I pushed the snooze button twice, got out of bed at 5:48 am and was out the door, sans coffee, at 6:10 am, heading up to the park. Why the crazy middle-of-the-night awakening?

Turns out the interpretive signs for the trail that have been in process since last year around this time finally got finished =) and the NGO who funded the project decided we needed to start putting them up this morning. At 6 AM =(. Now I (correctly) interpreted 6 am to mean between 6:30 and 7 am (go cultural adaptation!) but still hate having people wait on me, and have found that the one time I come at the hour experience dictates to be the actual meeting time, everyone else is there on time and calling me 10 times in a row wondering where I am. Yup, this happens.

Anyways, so I get there at 6:20 am and sit patiently in the park entrance until about 6:45 am at which time everyone looks to me for 'the plan' as I am the only one who knows where all the signs go. We ended up getting 6 out of 10 stations installed today. They look great, and I hope they give park visitors some food for thought about their forest, and that they don't get vandalized or broken. The next step will be inviting teachers and classes to walk the trail, and use the signs to fuel lesson plassons of their own in the future. Until the people in the community connect with their park on a level where they realize the importance of preserving it, it won't be sustainable. This is a goal for the following months, to begin to plant seeds that will hopefully grow into a community wide investment in the park project.

To return to the point of not wanting to get out of my sweats and watch the beauty queens do whatever they do under flourescent lights with everyone alternately gawking and making conversation with me.... I've got soup on the stove, the last 3 episodes of season 7 of Grey's Anatomy or Pirates of the Caribbean 4 to watch, hot tea to sip...

As the Magic 8 Ball would say, "Outlook not good."

Feliz noche

I really want to express to those of you back home just how crazy our commute is on a regular basis. Like, when was the last time any of you used public transport?? I'm thinking city bus, long distance bus (like Greyhound), Amtrak, BART.... I remember the first time I took the Greyhound bus from San Luis Obispo to the Bay Area. My friend Nicole dropped me off at the Greyhound station in SLO-I wasn't aware before that day that SLO had a shady area. But indeed it does, and that area is (was-i heard that station has since been shut down) the Greyhound station. I remember we pulled up to the station and it was like, a run down one room ticket counter with bars on the windows, a mixture of white trash types and migrant workers, and me-20 year old white girl with her pet boa constrictor in her front pocket..... I remember being gripped with paranoia as the lumbering Greyhound made its way through the barrios and backroads of Central Valley California, and getting off in Santa Cruz (halfway to my intended destination) upon realizing I had a friend there that I could hitch a ride with the rest of the way.

I took the train from then on-which is actually a pleasant experience. I enjoy not having to worry about traffic, sitting in the viewing cart, sipping a few cocktails and either chatting with fellow passengers,r eading, or listening to music as I watch the California countryside slip by outside my window. If you haven't been on a train in a decade or so, I recommend taking a short trip someday. Take advantage of both the bar and your fellow Amtrak passengers-the train is a relic of past times and may not be around much longer.

Guatemalan transport-mainly "chicken buses"-is a far more efficient and affordable-if (considerably) less comfortable means of travel. It is truly impressive, in a country with so many glaring shortcomings in other arenas (politics, health, education, environment). You can decide on a destination not even knowing its relative distance or direction from your current location, stand on the side of any major highway and shout your destination out to passing buses to be picked up and carried on your way within an hour (usually less than half an hour). Oh, and it generally will cost you less than $10. I LOVE this about Guatemala.

Granted, you are traveling in less than stylish circumstances. The 'ayudante' will pack the bus to 150% capacity that it was ever intended to hold, and if you are not lucky enough to get the coveted window seat you will be plastered up against your neighbors (complete strangers generally having weight issues, hygiene issues, carsick and/or loud children on their laps), they do NOT serve beer (which i guess is a good thing since there is NO onboard bathroom nor are there bathroom stops), and on some of the windy roads (oh wait, they are ALL windy) you may be fearing for your life as the bus driver overtakes cargo carrying trucks around blind curves in the pouring rain. This ain't your grandma's bus ride.

But I'm sure hundreds of PCV's have tried to document the craziness that is third world public transit. What can I tell you that's different? I often have at least one moment that makes me smile, shake my head, and confirms that there's no place I'd rather be. Sometimes when the ayudante climbs up on top of the speeding bus to start untying someone's groceries, furniture, or (this Saturday) like 30 tires someone bought...When a song comes on my radio that goes perfectly with the pandemonium going on all around me... When I realize that I'm not just 'coping' with the ways of life here but have come to enjoy at least some of them.

And I think that maybe that is the key-that while there are things I will never enjoy or understand about Guatemala- I have come to really appreciate aspects of life here.