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.
Monday, September 26, 2011
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...
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| We bought seafood and cooked it in our hostel one night- crab legs were crazy good |
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| They had $2 beers the last night we were on the island, which resulted in this picture.... |
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| Dancing Jaguar carving at the ruins in Copan |
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| View from the Ruins |
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| Blind Snake! I found on our day trip to Lake Atitlan |
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| Bella and I got paddled around like Queens.... |
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| Macaw carving at Copan |
Listening to the Kinks and getting around to posting pictures...even though its only gonna make ya jealous
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| First day on the island-beach, bearded man and beer in the cozie... |
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| Half Moon Bay in Roatan-We snorkeled right off this beach most mornings |
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| Playing with my underwater camera |
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| Can you find the trumpetfish? |
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| 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! |
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| A-MAZING fresh tuna sushi-quite possibly the best sushi I've ever had |
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
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.
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.
Friday, August 12, 2011
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
Monday, August 8, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
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
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
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