So, as you can imagine, so much has happened in the past 6 months!! And I’ll do my best to update, but please bear with me. To make things easier (for me, of course) I will update using the top 10 list that I did in a previous post. So, here goes:

10. Peace Corps Worldwide celebrated 50 years of service on March 1, 2011. President John F. Kennedy signed executive order which established Peace Corps some fifty years ago and today over 200,000 Americans have joined him in this legacy and I’m proud to be one of them.

Throughout the year, several Peace Corps posts around the world will have/had celebrations that commemorates this landmark. Here in Guatemala we celebrated last month. All 250 volunteers located through the country were invited to the beautiful residence of the US Ambassador to Guatemala. There we reflected on JFK’s legacy he had some 50yrs ago and we also listened to the US Ambassador speak, the Guatemala Country Director, as well as special Peace Corps envoys from Washington. It was a fantastic day and certainly a day to be proud of being a Peace Corps volunteer.

09. My roommate from UNC junior year, Blake, visited me here in Guatemala – he came all the way from Australia. It was great to see him after soooo many years – the year 2004, to be exact. During his visit, we visited the beautiful Lake Atitlan, the market here in my village, and Antigua. It was a blast.

08. A few weeks ago, my training group (the group of volunteers who all arrived together January 2010) celebrated our 1 year anniversary of being an actual volunteer. YAY!! This now means that we have less than one year left remaining in our service. Time really does fly….

07. The school year started again this past January and after nearly 4 months, the Guatemalan government has yet to pay some of its teachers. SINCE JANUARY! So, as you can imagine, folks started to get fed up and began protesting. We are now in the second week of no classes while the teachers all go to Guatemala City and demand that they get paid.

You know, it’s really sad and unfortunate that many teachers haven’t been paid. But, we as Peace Corps volunteers are not allowed to insert ourselves in such protests – mainly because most of it is politically motivated as this is an election year.
So, I now have some free time on my hands while there’s no classes.

Once schools get started again, and after Semana Santa (Easter Week) I will start the process of certifying schools that are “Healthy”. This means that the schools meets minimum conditions for infrastructure, that the school teachers are teaching at least 2 health classes per week, that students arrive to school clean and free of any dirt, and that they are practicing healthy habits in the school, such as washing hands and brushing teeth before and after the school, respectively. All these topics I have taught the teachers through various workshops and trainings.

06, 05, & 04 -El Salvador , Honduras and Nicaragua – For my vacation last year, I decided to take advantage of the Central American countries that are close by, and do some exploring, I had a blast, literally. My trip lasted about 3 full weeks throughout these 3 countries. The memories I created, the people I met, what I saw, and more importantly, what I did was amazing and mill definitely be remembered for a lifetime. I spent a few days in El Salvador – went to the beaches and the capital city a few days before New Years.

I spent New Years’s eve and the day in Managua, Nicaragua. This city left me speechless – literally. Whoa.
After Managua, traveled south to Granada for a few. Great city – lots of tourist and beautiful people.

After Nicaragua, I met up with my best friend here in Peace Corps, in Honduras. This country was beautiful and will definitely need to travel back again. Phew Lord.

03. Christmas – I didn’t make it back home to North Carolina this past year for Christmas. So, I met with some other Peace Corps volunteers here in Guatemala. On Christmas Eve, which is the main day, we exchanged gifts, had dinner with their host family in the local community, and at midnight set off fireworks. It was an AMAZING experience and was a great way to culturally integrate.

02. Kirk’s visit – My best friend from the best city in the world visited last October. School was out and I was able to show him around my site and the surrounding communities.  It was great to have him around and reminisce about things. Hope he’s able to visit again sometime soon. Or if any other people wants to come visit – que sean bienvenidos!

01. Thanksgiving  was spent at another volunteers site located about 12 hours from my site – but that’s the joys of Peace Corps is that we have soooo much time to travel, that 12 hours doesn’t seem like a long time.
He had about 20+ volunteers at his house, because there was no power in his site during the day, Thanksgiving dinner wasn’t served until 11:58pm.
Our dinner menu-
We killed 4 ducks
Apple Crisp
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Garlic Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Cranberry Apple Stuffing
Rice Pilas
Green Beans
Duck Juice Gravy

So, yummy menu. But something that I ate, made me sick for about 3 weeks. My stool sample was the worst I’ve ever seen. Phew.

As you can see, many exciting things have happened during the last 6 months. Wow. What an adventure and what a ride I’m experiencing here in Peace Corps Guatemala.

Here are some photos to enjoy:

The Guatemalan school year is coming to a close. This week the students are in end-of-year exams – meaning that my work is pretty much done until January!

I believe that we had a pretty successful year, despite the hardships and difficulties we faced (landslides, bridges falling, schools being destroyed because of the rain, etc.) However, I think that this break from school will be a good thing and I will be looking forward to next year.

Here are random pictures that I’ve taken over the past few weeks. Enjoy!

Last month I was walking through a small village to visit one of my schools. The walk is about an hour and a half through the cornfields and down a dirt road – beautiful scene, however. Any many people of this community don’t even speak Spanish, rather the Mayan indigenous language of Kaqchikel. As I approached the school, I noticed a family was starring at me to the left. I waved at them and kept moving – as I have already became accustomed to people starring at me.

I visited the school, passed out toothbrushes and toothpaste, and observed healthy practices. On my way back, I noticed the family was still outside their house, so I decided to speak and I’m glad I did because it opened up a world of opportunities. They had tons of questions and I was happy to answer them all, mainly because I had no one else to talk to and was glad to communicate with them in Spanish.

Keep in mind that this place was very rural – with very little amenities and its not rare to see chickens, pigs, ducks,  and cows just running rampant. I commented on this to the family and also said that I have never seen an animal being killed before. So, the dad (Marcelo) said that for his birthday, Sept 25, that they were going to kill chickens and serve them for lunch. He asked if I was interested in attending. And thinking that I need more cultural experiences here in Guatemala, I decided that this was my opportunity.

Marcelo called earlier this week to confirm that I was still attending the festivities and said that he would arrange for a car to pick me up and take me  to the village.

Saturday morning comes and I’m excited and looking forward to it. Although in the back of my mind I’m hoping that I don’t become sick to the stomach…

I arrive at the party and was introduced to the rest of the family and some neighbors. 30 minutes after being there, Marcelo tells me that his wife was out to kill the chickens. (keeping in mind that men in Guatemala and most of central/south America do not take part in domestic duties)

The chickens were being kept in a cage in the back of the house. When the wife opened the cage, of course the chicken tries to escape but she grabbed them by the neck very fast and brought it to a pole. Now, for those that are vegetarians or are grossed out by things like this, I suggest you stop reading.

The wife’s sister then came to the “slaughter” scene with a HUGE knife and I thought – OH NO! While the wife was holding the chicken by its neck, her sister then took the knife and cut the throat open of the chicken. Blood then dripped out and the chicken was still trying to fight for its life – moving around and flapping its wings like crazy. This went on for about 3 minutes and until the chicken had lost all of its blood and stopped moving – signifying that it has officially dies.

Once it’s dead, the put the chicken in a pot of HOT BOILING water. This allows them to be able to pluck the feathers.

Once the feathers were plucked, her sister came into the kitchen with another knife. And I was like, “Damn, we already killed the chicken – what’s that knife for?” Forgot that we now have to cut it open…

This was probably the wost part as I can’t stand to see things being cut open. They basically gutted the chicken open, removing the heart, intestines and other chicken parts.

There were a total of 3 chickens – 2 males and one female. When the female chicken was cut open, there actually were 4 eggs still inside. How exciting!

After they were cut open it was then time to season and prepare for cooking.

I was reluctant to eating the chicken – mainly because I had actually witnessed them being killed just hours before. But figured I couldn’t turn it down. (Black people love them some chicken, right??!)

The chicken actually tasted the same as any other chicken, but probably with less flavor. It was served with soup and rice.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent playing games, dancing and listening to music.

When I returned back to my house, I thought to myself – “Wow, This is Peace Corps. When else would I have the opportunity to witness three chickens being killed and then eat them hours later?!”

This is Peace Corps.

Until next time,
Sergio

In an effort to update on what’s been happening, allow me to do a top 10 list that will hopefully sum up the last 2 months:

1. I was so lucky to have my mom visit me here in Guatemala for nearly two weeks in August. We had a blast (at least I think she did) hanging out by the most beautiful lake in Central/South America, visiting my schools, eating great food, walking though the cobble stone streets of La Antigua Guatemala, and just enjoying quality time. I glad she was able to visit because now I believe she has a better understanding of my role as a Peace Corps volunteer. Definitely looking forward to her next visit. Fun times!!

2. August 15 marked the anniversary founding date of my town, Sololá, Sololá, which is commonly known as feria time, or fair time. It was awesome because people from surrounding villages and towns came to celebrate by means of eating junk food, getting on the John Deere powered broken down Ferris Wheel, going to see the lady who claims she has 10 eyes, and simply not working. I must say that this time was an excuse for people to get drunk and act a mess. Drunk men walked all over the streets into the late hours and it was difficult to sleep at night because of all the ruckus.

3. Guatemalan Independence Day – Again, another excuse for 3 weeks of no work. September 15 is Independence Day here in Guatemala, and believe it or not, Guatemalans are proud of their country so you see everyone walking around with the Guatemalan flag and signing the national anthem. I was invited to a few school celebrations, which was fun. I try to take advantage of every opportunity I get to integrate myself in communities.

4. I also had two college friends visit, from the University of North Carolina, and we had a blast. Because my host family literally has the best house with the view of Lake Atitlan and various volcanoes, they wanted to stay there. My friends also had the chance to visit some of my schools and see what I do as a Peace Corps volunteer. One thing that was interesting during their visit was a very remember-able boat ride across the Lake. As we started to leave the dock, I noticed a few storm clouds. So, 5 minutes into our ride to the lake town of Panajachel, we run into the intense storm. Immediately, the boat ride changed because at this point, we were rocking back and forth and holding our for dear life. Side note: For those that don’t know, I can’t swim and am terrified of large bodies of water. So, by default, I start to panic and draw attention to myself. And I remember my friends trying to calm me down because I thought the boat was going to flip over any minute. Ha, but luckily we made it safety to Panajachel and immediately went straight to the bar for a “calm me down drink”. Fun times.

5. Rainy Season – It has been raining literally since May 1 of this year. In fact, it was rained more than usual this year. We have gotten so much rain that the roads and grounds here in Guatemala has just given up and have started to cave in. And because I live in the Occidente, or western part of the country, mudslides are common. So common that in fact, it has interrupted my ability to travel to certain work sites and schools, making it very difficult to progress with my Healthy Schools project. The rainy season will be over at the beginning of October and I can not be more than happy.

6. STANDFAST!!  We were put on what’s called “standfast”. This means that all Peace Corps volunteers are on lock-down and instructed not to leave our villages/towns. This is the second time that we’ve been on standfast since the nine months I’ve been in country. Volunteers who were caught leaving their villages/towns would be administratively separated from Peace Corps, or basically get kicked out as safety is something that is taken seriously.

7. MOLD! Because it has literally rained since May 1st, mold has started to grow all over my apartment. Mold is everywhere and I don’t know how to get ride of it. And everything seems to be damp all the time. For example, one morning last week I wake up and started to make a cup of hot tea. But when I reach for the tea bags that were purchased just 3 days prior, I noticed that mold had started to grow. That’s right, mold is taking over my apartment. Even my United States Peace Corps passport has mold all over. Uggh!

8. Volunteer Advisory Council – I was recently elected Volunteer Advisory Council representative for the state I live in and a neighboring state. Pretty excited about this…:)

9. Lynching and setting bodies on fire – That’s right, modern-day lynching meets Guatemala. Last week in my town of Solola, there was a lynching of two men, carried out in public. They lynched these men because of allegations of robberies and kidnappings. After the lynching took place, they set the bodies of fire. Similar situation happened in a smaller town across the lake. And my question is, WHERE ARE THE POLICE and what is being done?! Must say this makes me a little nervous although there is no serious threat to any Americans.

10. Despite all I say that may appear to be negative about my experiences here in Guatemala, I really am having a great time and making a difference in people’s lives, one children at a time. I say this because a few friends in Los Angeles and New York seem to not want to visit because of the assumption that I’m living in a hell hole. In fact, it’s quite the contrary. I live in arguably the best site that any Peace Corps Guatemala volunteer has, and I’m loving every bit of it. Definitely having the experiences of a lifetime.

Stay tuned,
Sergio

This week my training group (the group who entered at the same time) had to travel back to La Antigua for what is called “reconnect”. Reconnect is a time for us to all get together and celebrate our 6 month anniversary in country. I must admit, I didn’t realize how much time has passed. It was great to see most people, although it can be overwhelming at times. We all shared stories of what’s been happening in our site, in our work, success stories and of course frustrations.

Reconnect is a two-day event and the remainder of the week is spent in Spanish class – but because I can speak Spanish at an advance/intermediate level, I was excused.

But getting back to the blog title, we had the once in a lifetime chance to meet the US Ambassador to Guatemala!!! He came to the Peace Corps Headquarters to speak with us. We had the opportunity to share stories and tell him in detail what work we are doing in our sites, etc. He even brought us lunch. I’m telling you, it was such an awesome experience. He’s a calm, down to earth type of guy (even though he’s the most powerful American in Guatemala) that it makes you want to talk to him for hours.

After the two days in La Antigua, I came back to my site to visit more schools. Wednesday, I went to one of my schools. The school is not in bad shape and the kids are beginning to implement healthy habits. As I was getting ready to leave, the school principal gave me an invitation to attend a ceremony. They were celebrating the fact that the community put money together so that the school can have running water. Yes, that’s right, running water. It’s amazing that this concept is unheard of in the States. Nonetheless, I was excited to accept the invitation.

The day of the ceremony rolls around and I put on my best outfit (jeans and a shirt..ha!) and make my way to the school. After arriving, it was clear they were excited – balloons, confetti, and all sorts of decorations were posted. I was excited! I meet several families who were present. Then the ceremony begins. The director is the MC.

After her opening words, she randomly invites me to the podium to speak. She says in Spanish: “And we are so proud to have Sergio who comes all the way from the United States, to help us teach our kids healthy habits. Our kids are going to be healthier than ever. Let’s give a warm welcome to Sergio who is going to give a few words…..”

I WAS LIKE NO!!!!! I’m not prepared to speak….

But that doesn’t quite work in Guatemala…you hardly say no to things.

So, onward I went to the podium to give a few words. I was so nervous that I have no idea what I said….

It’s moments like this that makes me happy to be here. To know that I’m making a difference in people’s lives…people who want to be helped. Rather than sitting at a desk from 9-6, with a boss that’s screaming at the top of her lungs because she’s bitter….

Until next time,
Sergio

The world cup has come and gone, and boy was it a fun time!! Guatemala didn’t qualify for the world cup games in South Africa, but being that it’s a Central American country, the fever was definitely felt here. Everyone was literally glued to their TV’s to watch the games – myself included. In our office, a couple of guys had put money in a bucket so that they could buy a TV for the office. Also, the official World Cup song, “Waka Waka” by Shakira was literally played on every single radio station, club, bar and restaurant around the entire country. I must admit, it’s a pretty good song and a bit addictive.  When the song is being played in the clubs, people GO CRAZY, doing the Shakira dance. FUN TIMES!!!

Also, after a goal is made by either team, the announcer will say, “GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL”. He says this for about 2 minutes, literally. And this is heard and felt around the ENTIRE country. You could be at the market, walking down the street, at the Lake, on the bus, at the grocery store, no matter where you are, you will know when a team has scored. And everything comes to a halt – trying to figure out which team has scored.

The games were fun to watch, especially when the US played. A couple of friends and I went to Panajachel, by the Lake, to watch the game against Ghana, and it was a good game, although the US lost.

Then the American Independence day rolls around. Each year, Peace Corps Guatemala puts on an all volunteer conference and 4th of July party. So, all 250 volunteers come to the PC Headquarters for more training, learning, cookout (BBQ) and fun times. I decided that I would only go to the volunteer conference and not the 4th party for several personal reasons, which I will leave unsaid at this time. Nonetheless, I had a great 4th of July.

Everything with the Healthy Schools project is going well. To recap: we have trained all of our schools teachers and principals on how to teach healthy habits and personal hygiene to their students. This means that students much wash their hands after using the restrooms and before eating snacks. They must also brush their teeth after snack. We also train the teachers on how to effectively give health lessons to their students. We are working with about 300 teachers and 12 superintendents in an entire state in Guatemala. This translates into about 4000 students. (Yes, lot’s of work). But, it’s fun.

Let me leave you with a great feeling I had today: I payed a surprise visit to a school, just to check on them and see how they are coming along with their healthy habits. After being lost because I was told the wrong directions, I arrived at the school and as usual, kids are running around. I looked for the school principal and after she saw me, her eyes popped wide open, surprised to see that I made a surprise visit. Nevertheless, she was nice and we spoke for a bit about how her school is doing. Then, she walked me to every classroom so that I can take a look at their process. And boy, I was happy to see that all classrooms had already implemented the process that I had taught them. All kids had their toothbrushes and toothpaste and was ready to use them after snack!! And they also had their Rincon de Salud, which is basically a health corner. I was surprised to see that they had come very far in this process!!! It’s good to know that I’m making a difference in students lives here in Guatemala!!

Then, after I left the school, I randomly stopped by the post-office to see in the off-chance someone was gracious enough to send a package. And guess what, my good friend from High School sent me a box full of goodies!!!! Thanks, Ashley!
You see, it doesn’t take much to make me happy and I felt great after having receiving goodies from the US.

But don’t worry, no pressure to others who have yet to send anything.

Until next time,
Sergio

So, you may know that my favorite fruit is strawberries and it makes me happy on market days to be able to buy a POUND of strawberries for only 0.40 cents. That’s right, .40 cents!!! Where in New York City a pound would cost around 4 dollars!!! (If you purchase at whole foods!)

The strawberries here are not clean and have not been treated in any way – therefore, you have to wash them with chlorine and water, for an hour, before you can eat.

I decided that I would skip the step of adding chlorine and would only wash them with water.  That’s right —- I only washed my strawberries with water…

And boy do I regret this decision!!!! That night, I was awaken at 3am with a bad case of diarrhea and it last all though the night and well into the next morning. It finally stopped that night and I thought all was fine, until 2 days later, the diarrhea came back FULL FORCE!!!! Again, waking me in the morning. This time, it was serious, and I was feeling really sick. So sick that I couldn’t move out of my bed.

I called the Peace Corps nurses in the capital city and told them my symptoms:
diarrhea
runny nose
lots of gas
oily and smelly diarrhea
cold spells
vomiting

So, after telling the nurse, she basically diagnosed me with with “Giardia” – which means that a food parasite (or food worm) is attached to my small intestine and is trying to take over.
I WAS LIKE!!! GET IT OUT MY SYSTEM!!!

She told me to go to the pharmacy and take medicine, and that’s exactly what I did.

The following 24 hours was probably the worst moments ever – my body trying to kill this food parasite.

It finally came out and I flushed it down the toilet!!!

Feel much better now. Lesson learned: CLEAN STRAWBERRIES!!!!

Check out these lab views of Giardia:

So, allow me to rewind a bit so set up the scene of the past 4 days. Thursday night at approx 11pm local time, all Peace Corps Guatemala volunteers received a text message from our security coordinator informing us that Volcano Pacaya has just erupted and is spewing volcanic ash in and around the capital city and that volunteers are not to travel to the capital. I was asleep when I received the message – therefore I didn’t really pay attention until the next morning.

Friday morning comes and my site mate and I are excited about the weekend because other volunteers were planning on visiting us by the Lake and hanging out all weekend. We were chilling at my house when all of a sudden it starts to rain heavily. Then, at approx 5pm we receive another text message from the security coordinator informing us that a tropical storm is on the way and that all volunteers are placed on LOCK-DOWN. Which basically means that we were not allowed to leave our towns/villages until further notice. We were like, “What, you’ve got to be kidding. Where did this storm come from?”

It continued to rain all Friday night and the entire day on Saturday. Heavy rain, thunderstorms and lightning. I basically sat in my house and did nothing. Nothing!!

The rain let up on Sunday but the damage estimates just started to come in and boy they were not looking good. Landslides and mudslides started to happen all across the entire country. They were so bad that in fact entire communities and villages were completely demolished because mudslides fell on top of their houses. People lost everything.

The lockdown was lifted Monday afternoon when Peace Corps finally decided that it was safe for us to leave our sites.

Also, in the capital city, they are dealing with the both problems: the volcanic ash and the problems the rain has caused. So bad that in fact a giant sinkhole happened there! Seriously. Check out the pictures:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/latin_america/10211104.stm

http://gizmodo.com/5551916/the-gates-of-hell-just-opened-in-guatemala

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/world/americas/02guatemala.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

The government of Guatemala (which is a mess, by the way) canceled classes the entire week and ordered school officials to go out and help their communities.

So what does this mean for us: THE ENTIRE WEEK OFF!

Enjoy these pictures!

Guatemala is a country that is prone to all types of natural disasters. Hurricanes, heavy rain, volcanoes, and earthquakes. And people here do their best to prepare for whatever disaster. In fact, on June 8 the entire country will have an Earthquake simulation.(not sure exactly what this means).

Peace Corps main concern is our safety, like seriously. So, if anything serious happens they will do their best to put us safe. For example, it’s has been raining non-stop for about 3 days now and many of the roads and highways are flooded, making it dangerous to travel on all main roads. Therefore, all volunteers in the country have been placed on lock-down, which means that we can’t leave our towns/villages unless for an emergency. As you can imagine, have been a little bored….

If things get worse with the heavy rains, then the next emergency action plan would be to consolidate us to a safe location. (I have two options – a hotel 10 mins away that sits by the lake or a hotel an hour away that located a beautiful forest.) And if things get absolutely unsafe for volunteers to be in Guatemala we would be rushed to the airport or American Embassy and evacuated out of country. Obviously, I hope it doesn’t get to this point.

In other news, things are going better now with my project and we are moving right along. This week, we start our two-week long workshops for the teachers, school principals and superintendents of school districts. We will start by introducing the healthy schools project so that the schools can implement healthy habits such as washing their hands, brushing their teeth and showering daily.

Things are going well with my new host family and I am still liking my living situation. My host dad is the recipient of a scholarship to study in the United States and he is leaving in July. He has asked me to teach English to him. I have been teaching English for about 2 weeks now. But here’s the funny thing: He asked me to teach HIM English. And our first day of class, he brought his ENTIRE family. That’s right, his entire family!!!! Was a little caught off guard. But it’s all good. I guess the more the merrier.

Mother’s day here in Guatemala is today. It’s always the 10th of May, no matter what day it falls on. And I was clearly reminded that it was Mother’s Day when I was awaken by fireworks, bombas, music playing and church folk singing at 5am this morning. That’s right, 5am!!! Needless to say, wasn’t able to go back asleep. Boy, gotta love holidays in this country.

Many moms take the day off. Instead, they attend school with their children – and there’s all sorts of partying going on. In fact, the schools here have been preparing for mother’s day for about 2 weeks now. Making all sorts of stationary and “I Heart You Cards”. It’s still interesting how children in this country aren’t learning anything in school.

Also, please enjoy these new pictures – some are from the balcony of my new home and some are from the beautiful Lago de Atitlan (Lake Atitlan.) Enjoy: