chicken bus...

Just to clarify the pictures I posted from last week. The first is obviously of me when we first arrived in Guatemala. The picture in front of the old looking building was in Antigua with the other PC trainees from my town and some of our host family. The cute little girl in the picture is part of one of the host families in our town…unfortunately she’s not part of my host family.

Well this week started off rough as my body went through its adjustment to “Guatemalan food/water” phase, hopefully I will be fully adapted soon! But other than that I am really beginning to enjoy my time here in Guatemala. I look at each day as a new adventure. I’m making an effort to live in the present and stop worrying about what tomorrow will bring. As I get use to my neighborhood I feel that people in my neighborhood are getting use to having me around too. It was kind of nice to hear my name being called by the neighborhood kids yelling for me to come over to play soccer.

This week we had our first ET or early termination. Not sure what the reason was but it is unfortunate. Hopefully it won’t lead to others. From what I have heard, it seems that everyone is pretty content or at least willing to stick it out for a while. I have obviously asked myself if I really have what it takes to do the full two years. As a fellow volunteer said, “it’s a marathon”.

On a lighter note. I was eating a bowl of captain crunch, with warm milk of course that is the way they eat cereal here…it’s not so bad, and I noticed that I had spilled some milk on the table, so I went to the kitchen to find some napkins to clean up the spill. I came back to find a chicken on top of the dinning table pecking away at my captain...it made me laugh, don’t see that everyday!

So if any of you have visited Guatemala or where born here you know what I’m talking about when I say ‘Chicken buses’. For those not familiar with what a ‘chicken bus’ is, it’s basically an old American school bus. You know the yellow ones that have flashing stop signs when they stop. These however have been modified with larger row seats and racks for bags. We were told in orientation to be very aware while riding these buses because of the large number of pickpockets and thieves. Well it's hard to stay conscious of your surrounding when your body is stuffed between rows holding 7 people across (try and picture your little yellow school bus) while an ayudante (helper) is trying to squeeze by to collect money. All the while you are barreling around curves going way to fast, not to mention curves with no guard rail and a significant drop off. But it’s all good because at least they have awesome Reggaeton music playing!

I do have a cell phone now in Guatemala so feel free to call me whenever, incoming calls are free here!

502.5908.8468

Also any letters or packages for the first 3 months can be sent to the Peace Corps office in Guatemala City here is the address (they usually don't take that long to get here):

Felipe Sutantri, PCT
8 Calle 6-55, Zone 9
Guatemala City, 01009
Guatemala, Central America
Office Tel. #502.2384.3800 (needed for courier packages: FedEx, DHL, etc…)

I made it...

Well, I have survived my first week in Guatemala. It has been an emotional roller coaster of excitement, sadness, and constant wondering of “what am I doing here”. I’m not sure what is scaring me the most. The thought of not having a hot shower or Starbucks for 27 months or getting malaria, amebas, rabies, or any other of the common illnesses here. I’ve definitely learned a lot about myself in this last week. I understand why people never leave the comforts of what they know. Let’s just say I am definitely out of my “comfort zone”. Starting a new job in a new town is pretty tough. Try starting a new job in a new country, speaking a different language and adapting to a new culture…might be time for me to consider counseling.

The next 3 months I will be living in a municipality called Parramos in the department of Chimeltanango. My host family is nice and my living conditions, compared to some of my fellow volunteers, are not so bad. There are 3 other PC trainees in my town. We have Spanish classes in the morning and technical classes in the evening. The workload has been pretty intense, it’s like being back in school again. We will be constructing “lava manos” or hand washing stations at a school in the aldeas (small town) about an hours walk away. Currently the school has 1 hand washing station and 4 latrines, all outdoors of course. We will add an additional 4 or 5 hand washing station. We will also be working with a local health center. The health center has all kinds of issues, so there will plenty of work. In addition to constructing much needed technologies we will also provide health education or give “charlas” (presentations) to the community on common health issues. This should be interesting considering my level of Spanish.

Thanks to everyone who sent me words of encouragement through email or comments on my blog, I will definitely need more of that in the coming months. Since I have email access every Monday, I will try and post something each week. Thanks for checking in!