Pondering in the Sunshine..

I swear I'm part reptile.  The two weeks of rain really kicked me in the stomach and took away all motivation and will to live.  But at the same time, all the inactivity left me feeling restless and a little Jack Nicholson in the Shining... But the sun showed its face last Thursday and kick started the collective metabolism of the entire country.  In my town, the hills are green, wildflowers are exploding along the roadsides, and its just easier to smile when walking around town.  Even the catcalls and whistles don't phase me. 

The blue skies and sunshine shook me out of my rainy day coma, and suddenly the clock is ticking. Loudly.  The weeks seem to be screaming by, as if I were on a train watching my life speed by out the window.  It's FRIDAY already?? I have a to-do list a mile long, and I have this feeling that before I know it, it'll be time to go.  Do all Volunteers feel this way when the clock starts ticking in these last few months? Like they suddenly can't remember what they've accomplished in the last 22 months and feel that they've been spinning their wheels...?

All it takes is a hike up in our little eco-park to remind me that i Have done things...a walk through the street to realize that the people here know me and greet me as if I belonged (mostly).  A dinner with my host family to realize that I've made some connections that will last.

The truth is I've been extremely fortunate in my experiences here.  We had a meeting yesterday with a group counselor to talk about Volunteer life and she reminded us of all the changes we've had to adjust to; family life, social life, food, shelter, culture, religion, job, language....When it adds up, the stress that is caused by such a drastic change is equal to TWO spousal deaths.....!  So, we forget to give ourselves credit for the radical step we've taken as Volunteers.  And yesterday we were reminded.  I think that's important.

I've heard it suggested that Peace Corps does more good for the Volunteers than it does for the host country we work in.  That's probably true.  The Volunteers that complete their service and return to the US are certainly better, more worldly, more capable, more compassionate than when they left.  And the United States absolutely needs more citizens with a global view and understanding, at this juncture in history.  I've learned so much from the Guatemalan people and from the experience of getting dropped into a completely unfamiliar situation, alone, and adapting. 

But the work that we do while here has an impact.  It's difficult to quantify and its easy to belittle your own service... soft development is much more challenging than 'hard' development.  And as more informed citizens, most of us will continue to 'be the change' once our service is over.  Many will join the Foreign Services, or even return to work for Peace Corps as staff, supporting new generations of Volunteers. All of us will have a more informed view of global policies and advocate for the countries we served in, and other countries like them.

In  a way, our 2 years spent in another country is just a pebble dropped in a pond-the ripples will be felt for years to come.

...Usually I know I dont wax philosophical  for you all, but it was on my mind after our meeting yesterday and recently as I process the move back to the US. 

On a lighter note...

It's only been half an hour and I feel really guilty about putting up such a downer post.  I'm not going to delete either though because it was/is legitimate and true... and hey, Peace Corps is Not always happy-its an emotional roller coaster.  To just omit the parts where i'm not 100% excited about everything would be a lie of omission.  But there are Happy Parts, as i was just reflecting, that I have failed to post.  This weekend my host family (whom i Love Love Love) invited me to the beach. 

So we all piled into their little toyota (all five of us) and headed down down down from the mountains to the coast.  About halfway there, I could feel that tropical heat start to thaw my bones out.  We checked into a (kind of) decadent hotel where i had to pay ten whole US dollars for my bed, which I thought was extravagant (on my PCV budget i usually pay no more than 5$ for a hotel), but just went with it.  After all, the hotel had a Really nice pool and it had been a while since I got to swim laps.  And also, what do they say? When in Rome...

After checking in, we went to a beachside restaurant where most of the family ordered fried fish.  I, still traumatized after a bad shrimp encounter at this same beach the last time I was there, opted for the safer option of a hamburger...washed down with a couple cold Gallo's.  Cold beer + beach=happiness.  With bellies full, we walked down to the waters edge to flirt with the waves for a while ( i was the only one who got all the way in, or even wore my suit for that matter). Around sundown we headed back to the hotel to aprovechar, or take advantage of, the pool and hotel grounds. 

Getting to show off my swimming skills (everyone else pretty much stayed in the shallow end) and jump off the high dive made me realize how much i miss swimming and water polo.  I hope I can find a water polo club on the central coast when i get back-I was googling masters' water polo programs just today.  If not, at least I'll be able to swim laps on a semi-regular basis. 

Anyways, we stayed up late talking and playing in the pool.  In the morning Aunt Panchi (who is also the woman who gave me my puppy)  and I walked down to the beach while the rest of the family slept in.  When we got back we all had a Huge Guatemalan breakfast (scrambled eggs with tomato and onion, queso fresco, fried plaintains, black beans, tortillas, hot sauce) and then layed out and played in the pool until check out time.  True to form, I was in the sun on the side of the pool until everyone had their bags in the car and had showered and were really, really ready to go.  Then I hopped up, showered and dressed in about 5 minutes, reluctant to leave the warm weather and the pool....

As if the day could get any better, we decided on my favorite chinese place in Xela for lunch/dinner when we got back.  Some hot Sweet and Sour chicken with white rice was the perfect end to a perfect weekend getaway. 

                           

Who says blogging isn't therapeutic? Recounting my weekend experiences made me smile, and now to warm up this chilly day I'm going to try this recipe that i found on http://www.greenlitebites.com/ for Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili.

 

Tropical Depression is Right...

Another dreary winter day in the altiplano as we ride out Tropical Storm ..It is hard to believe that a storm that has caused so much damage doesn't even get a name?  It rained in earnest starting on Tuesday night and continued until about midday.  It barely drizzled last night but it looks like the rain is starting again this afternoon.  They expect it to continue until Saturday.  Thankfully, I live up in the mountains and we have only seen minor damage to power lines and roads from washout.  But the situation in the rest of the country is grim, with Pacific coast communities and even other areas of Xela seeing roads and bridges washed out, rivers overflowing, landslides and flooding. 

Huddled up in the house sipping hot chocolate with the puppy, it could be a lot worse and I'm thankful that my community has been spared the debilitating damage caused in other parts.  However, can't help feel a little bit of the rainy day blues. 

Include Guatemala in your thoughts and prayers today, they're going to need it.

Yikes...

Trying to reflect on my 6-months-left anniversary is proving a little difficult. Suffice it to say that I have a hefty to do list and intend to stay busy, hopefully making the remaining months both productive and quick to pass.  There are good days here-mostly good days actually-and I will miss so many things about life in a quiet mountain town in another country. 

I'll actually miss the chicken bus rides, open air markets, casual conversation with random people in town, bringing my dog everywhere with me (mostly taking advantage of being a gringa there..), awesome street food, paca (guatemalan thrift store) shopping, getting to know new places, rain on my tin roof.... *sigh*

But I'm really looking forward to wearing sweats outside without getting weird looks, not being stared at in general, being with family and friends, Barbecues, long drives in the country, being out after dark..... 

So even though I have one more big fat plus on the side of coming home (my awesome boyfriend), I'm still ambiguous about leaving.  The fact is that I love living abroad, and I love my job.  Every day is an adventure, and those little "peace corps moments' sneak their way in at the most unexpected times.  It would be easy to start counting down, hoping that that moment when I step on the plane to head home comes soon-but I'm tryning not to take for granted the time that I still have here.  It's a balancing act I'm still working out-and probably will be until that final day arrives. 
 

More Pictures...

Since blogger has finally figured out how to make adding pictures easy for impatient/technologically impaired people like me-here are pictures from the rest of our trip-althought the best and most photogenic part was definitely the Island...

We bought seafood and cooked it in our hostel one night- crab legs were crazy good

They had $2 beers the last night we were on the island, which resulted in this picture....

Dancing Jaguar carving at the ruins in Copan

View from the Ruins

Blind Snake! I found on our day trip to Lake Atitlan

Bella and I got paddled around like Queens....



Macaw carving at Copan



Listening to the Kinks and getting around to posting pictures...even though its only gonna make ya jealous

First day on the island-beach, bearded man and beer in the cozie...

Half Moon Bay in Roatan-We snorkeled right off this beach most mornings



Playing with my underwater camera



Can you find the trumpetfish?

How about the Snake Eel?? This guy was soo cool, we saw them on a couple different snorkeling trips-one time we just watched him forage through the grass for about 10 minutes. Such a cool animal!

A-MAZING fresh tuna sushi-quite possibly the best sushi I've ever had

 

My Love Affair with the Caribbean

As many of you know, I was lucky enough to enjoy an extended visit from my boyfriend before he had to go back to Cal Poly to start the fall semester teaching and finishing his Master's... I went down to Honduras to reunite with him and start our vacation out right, on the island of Roatan off the coast of Honduras.  Every time I go back to the Caribbean it gets harder to leave.  A 3 minute walk from our hostel brought us to a white sand beach lined with palm trees and some of the best snorkeling i've seen.  It's hard to believe now that I'm back-luckily I've got pictures to prove it. 

We would wake up each morning, go to a shack called Cindy's Place where Cindy, a busty Garifuna woman served coffee and baleadas with a smile.  Baleadas are the tipico fast food of Honduras-handmade flour tortillas with beans and cheese and folded in half is the basic fare but the additional stuffing include meat, veggies and eggs.  Cindy made heaping breakfast baleadas stuffed with a generous helping of bacon served up with black coffee and real milk (all rare things in Guatemala). We would sip coffee looking out over the Caribbean sea on the porch of Cindy's Place, shaking out the cobwebs from the night before to enjoy another day snorkeling, baking in the sun, delicious seafood and tropical drinks.  Words can't begin to describe how enamoured i've become of the island lifestyle but suffice it to say we were thumbing through the real estate section-a distant dream but not totally unrealistic to think of someday renting to vacationing beach bums and.....

I digress.  After about a week and a half of working on my tan, snorkeling, and eating all the fish tacos and baleadas we possibly could, we had to move on.  I swear tears came to my eyes as we rode the ferry back to the mainland. 

Our next stop was the Copan Ruins, about 30 minutes from the border with Guatemala.  We only stayed long enough to go to the ruins in the morning and head to Guatemala the next day.  The ruins themselves were really neat.  Unfortunately, the guided tour was unimpressive, a complete waste of money... I was mistaken in thinking that just because the guided tour I did at Tikal was AMAZING, All subsequent tours of ruins would be equally Amazing.  I was WRONG.  The tour guide barely spoke english and did little more than regurgitate the history of the ruins i had already read in lonely planet. Major Bummer. It put us both in a bit of a funk.  I think we were both suffering from PCD (post caribbean depression) at any rate. 

Then it was back to Guatemala. We made it all the way back to Sija in one day of traveling, and not even a particularly long day in perspective.  The second half of Tony's stay was, well, It's hard to follow up the caribbean.  The weather here was a shock, and the cold prompted us to cuddle inside in a heap with my puppy and watch movies most of the time.  We did get out and hike in the park, get down to Xela, and make a few other day trips.  We took Bella to Lake Atitlan one day and even got her in a kayak-it was hilarious. 

That was my vacation and now its back to the daily grind-more on that plus pictures to follow.