Welcome Home

I moved into a house on my own this past week. I spent the first 3 ½ months in my site living with a wonderful family, but it was time to be out on my own again. Based on some life decisions, like quitting my job to travel and then join the Peace Corps, I haven’t really been on my own since the December of 2006 (thanks K.C., Mom & Dad, the host families, and people who put me up on “Paul’s Imposition Tour 2007”). Kind of crazy. It’s a fun little house with plenty of room for just me. My favorite part is an odd room which is more or less built on top of the house. It has windows on three sides and is very airy (and quite dusty too). Kind of reminds me of a tree house or a fort you would have had as a kid. I’ve taken to drinking my coffee up there in the morning. This is my house for the next two years. It brings a question to mind…what’s home or perhaps where’s home? Certainly my youth was spent in Seattle (okay, Federal Way if you want to be exacting). Then the Air Force settled me in 3 States and 3 Countries over the course of the next 14 years (and countless more for shorter durations). There were the 8-months spent vagabonding around the U.S. and now Peace Corps Guatemala. The question of home may pertain to the building, but there is so much more to it than that. People have come into and out of my life with varying degrees of impact. Some have been there throughout. Life in the moment has always been a confluence of people, events, and locations. Sometimes for the very good and sometimes for the very bad. Sometimes for the very fun and sometimes I’ve had to “embrace the suck”. The “houses”. There was the spilt level on 305th Street (aka the “Family Home”), the dorm room, the thatched roof cottage vintage 1600, the apartment with the view of the Pacific Ocean, the dorm room part II, the house with the apple orchard and far too much land to maintain, the bachelor pad, and the “Family Home” once again. All were the canvas for my memories. It will be interesting to see what new ones I will create in this quirky little house. There was a saying we had in the Air Force: Home is where the Air Force takes you. I suppose even since I’ve hung up my flight cap, the sentiment holds true.

Quick Facts

When I got my assignment to Guatemala as a Peace Corps Volunteers part of me was wondering what Peace Corps is doing there. Guatemala seemed to me to be more of a tourist destination than a place that needs Peace Corps Volunteers (granted I have a tendency to vacation in some austere locations). And besides, the Peace Corps has been in Guatemala for over 45-years...is there really stuff left to do? During a conversation early in my training, I asked one of the staff members “when will the Peace Corp’s work be done”. His was response was “when there were no longer children starving in the countryside”. Fair enough. I thought I would take a few minutes to share with you, my three faithful readers, some facts about Guatemala I have come across in my time here which have helped me understand and contextualize my service. I tried to stick to the facts which are more or less not disputed or colored by political debate.
- Over 2 million people lack access to basic needs such as healthcare and education (of 11 million) - 1 of 4 rural children graduate from elementary school
- Half of all children suffer from chronic malnutrition
- As of 2003 57% of the population lived in poverty and 21.5% in extreme poverty
- In my municipality of 30,000 plus people, 90% of the houses are made of Adobe, 2% are made of wood, and 8% are made of block
- My municipality ranks #21/332 in the nation for Poverty and #12/332 for extreme poverty
- The 1996 Peace Accords ended a 36-year civil war, the longest and bloodiest of Latin America’s cold war era civil wars
- The civil war left an estimated 200,000 dead or “disappeared”.
- The Earth’s axis tilts 23 degrees off vertical causing seasonal variation
- For the period of 2000-2004, only 7 percent of congressional representatives in Guatemala were women, and only 11 percent were indigenous.
- The United Nations recently listed Guatemala as the fifth most dangerous country in Latin America, with 44 homicides for every 100,000 people.
- Of every 100 homicides, 93 are left unsolved
- Guatemala received a score of only 2.5 of 10 on Transparency International’s 2005 Corruption Perception Index, ranking alongside Libya, Afghanistan (been there), and Philippines, slightly worse than Zimbabwe, Belarus, and Vietnam, and slightly better than Russia, Republic of the Congo, and Venezuela (they all sound like great places to visit).
- Of the denunciations of public servants presented to the Public Ministry, only three percent are investigated and concluded
- Many existing Municipal Planning Offices lack qualified personnel for technical analysis and advanced planning (I’m working in a Municipal Planning Office)

Sweet 15

For the ladies in Latin America, it’s the 15th birthday that is celebrated in style. It’s a coming of age, not in any sort of scandalous way. I was fortunate to be able to celebrate the 15th birthday (quinceanos) of the daughter of my host family Faviola this past weekend. What was probably the best part about it for me was that I wasn’t just a guest. I helped the family set-up the decorations for the celebration, I was one of the last to leave at 4 in the morning after we cleaned up the majority of the decorations, and I was the only non-family member to dance with Favi during the formal part of the evening (at the urging of the fam). All the aunts, uncles, and cousins came for the event; needless to say it was a full house. The festivities began with mass on Saturday night. Favi had her own chair and kneeler in front of the alter and there were special blessings just for her. She wore something that was a cross between a prom dress and a wedding dress (not actually tacky in any way). The party was in the municipal salon. She made a grand entrance and there were speeches made by her father and godparents. She gave a lovely speech thanking the right people. One rather fun tradition is called “El ultimo baile con un muneca” (“The last dance with a doll”). She danced with a doll and then at the end handed it over to her next youngest female relative, supposedly signifying her transition from childhood to adulthood. Good food. Good dancing. Good cake. Good fun. I think this experience and others like it, more than working in the office during the day, is what I’m going to cherish from my time here in Guatemala.

When you come out to Visit

I had the opportunity to go with some of my Guatemalan counterparts to some potential “eco-tourism” sites around the Tejutla area. There is no succinct definition of “eco-tourism”, but basically it indicates that the main tourist attraction is the environment or perhaps something cultural and that the visitor is conscientious and will attempt to do no harm. Our first stop was a little adlea called Los Arcos. As the name implies it has an arch. Allegedly it was build 1000 or so years ago, but I’m not sure anybody knows. There isn’t much too, but it was kind of interesting, although I see it from the bus every time I head out of town. Next we went up the ways to El Chorro Viente Polos which has a beautiful waterfall. The road to it is less than perfect and I’m sure it’s impassible in the winter. There was somebody shooting guns at the bottom so we decided not to go down there. The third site was a corn field near Cuya. Surrounding the field were three small mounds, perhaps the size of a small one-story home in the US. As it was related to me, these were ancient Mayan sites of worship althought they looked a lot like piles of dirt. Also in the middle of the field was small stone table which was perhaps used for some sort of sacrifice. The next stop was a hilltop outside of Cuya with a nice view of the valley. Our final stop was a place called agua tibia (warm water). The water wasn’t actually warm. There were signs that some people in the past had tried to make this a destination of sorts (pools and the like), but it’s all in disrepair at this point. Maybe I’m jaded because I’ve seen the Great Wall of China (or at least the portion that’s a replica built by the Chinese government in the 1980’s), but I’m not sure I would go out of my way to see any of these sites. The most spectacular of all the places was certainly the waterfall, but it’s a long drive to just look at it. It’s actually encouraging to see the municipality try and think in terms of how to take advantage of its resources, but I’m not convinced that Tejutla is going to be a tourist destination except for those of you who come out to visit, in which case we’ll undoubtedly be looking at an old broken table in the middle of a corn field. I'm sure you can't wait.

Panahachel—strikingly beautiful, but…

I’m not a loather. Really. I ended up spending New Years with the majority of the volunteers from my training class in Panahachel (Pana). Pana is located on beautiful Lake Atitlan one of the most spectacular places I’ve seen in the world. It’s a large lake with mysterious winds surrounded by three majestic volcanoes. Certainly the view is wonderful. It was also great to see my friends from training who I haven’t been able to spend much time with since we headed off to our sites. Mi problema was, more than anything, the sheer number of gringos in the town and the blatant catering to the tourists. It’s okay if you cater to me, but I don’t want to know you’re doing it. In terms of self definition (and we all have one), I have always thought of myself more of a traveler or explorer than a tourist. If given the choice of staying at a 4-star resort or a simple accomidation I will almost always choose the simple one unless someone else is paying the bill. I have no desire to go to Cancun except in a sort of anthropologist capacity. I had a relatively nice and comfortable hotel and a hot shower with more than adequate water pressure (a luxury here). I was with friends and good times were had. A little drinking. A little dancing. Staying up past my bedtime. Nevertheless I couldn’t get past “Pana-Rock” (Pana’s version of Hard Rock Cafe) and the vendors covering every square inch of the main road. This place is also commonly referred to as “Gringotenango”. Perhaps I should be more accepting. I have a friend who related to me a story before I went to pana. She had been volunteering at a mission in San Lucas Toliman also on Lake Atitlan. One afternoon she and some other volunteers decided to take a boat over to pana. They were discussing their plans with one of the staff at the mission. He looked at them with a bit of disappointment, and asked them “why”. There response naturally was they had heard it was a nice town and fun. He replied, in all seriousness “well, if you like it, it’s your damn own fault”. Will I be back? I’m not a lemming (again, self definition), but if the group goes I’m probably up for it. I’ll definitely head back to Lake Atitlan to explore some of the other villages surrounding it. There is supposed to be a nice hike from Xela to Lake Atitlan which takes a couple of days. Of course, if someone else is paying the bill, I’ll stay at a 4-star resort.

Christmas in Guatemala

This wasn´t my first Christmas away from family, and in all likelihood it won’t be my last. This was, however, my first Christmas in Guatemala and with that came a number of new traditions. The first of these was the “Posada”. The word Posada roughly means rest. It is a sort of reenactment of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem and not finding room at the inn. The tradition has evolved into a nightly pilgrimage to a different family´s house the 10-days leading up to Christmas. There is a procession with two children dressed as Mary and Joseph and statues of Mary and Joseph. Lots of candles. When the procession arrives at the house a series of responsorials are sung. Alter a while the crowd is let into the house (or courtyard). Some prayers are said and it ends with tamalitos and tea or coffee. It is a very simple and reflective way to prepare for Christmas. The days leading up to Christmas my host family was busy preparing a Nativity set. This included cutting out a cloth backdrop and Stars, buying different types colored sawdust, getting out the little play animals. Christmas eve the ladies in the house busied themselves making Tamales. At about 10 pm those of us who were not directly evolved in Tamale making went to mass. A simple celebration, and surprisingly no overwhelmed with people like Churches in the U.S. on Christmas (and Easter). At midnight, about the time mass was ending, people started lighting off fireworks in the streets. When we made our way back to the house the family respectfully placed the baby Jesus in the manger and then said a series of prayers ending with a decate of the rosary. After that tamales, bread, fruit punch, candy, and nuts were in order. There were only a few gifts exchanged, none amongst the family proper and we talked until a bit alter two. Christmas day was simple as well. We ate a late breakfast followed by a late, although large, lunch. We capped the day off watching the movie Elf in Spanish (my gift to them). Although one would always prefer to be with their own family during the holidays, this was a joyous Christmas with my Guatemalan family.

Dennis Rodman comes to Tejutla

Each year in the six-weeks leading up to Christmas the community holds a basketball tournament. The timing is such because it’s the dry (albeit cold) season and the students are out of school. As luck would have it, the father of my host family was able to find me a team. Those of you who know me in person (versus just knowing me through the internet) know that I’m 5´11 ¾” tall. I’m not sure exactly the average height of the Guatemalan male, but I’m guessing it’s about 5’5” if not a little under. I have a theory that it has to do with drinking coffee with dinner everynight starting at the age of 2. I also get the sense that they play a lot more soccer than basketball in this country. I base that on the lack of some fundamental skills in basketball. Don’t get me wrong, they can dribble and shoot, but it’s a bit rough. With the exception of one freakishly tall Guatemalan, I’m the tallest guy in the tournament. I’m also the only one who seems to get the fundamental concept of blocking out and rebounding. The first game the team wasn’t really flowing. It could have been that fact that they don’t ever practice and I hadn’t picked up a basketball in three years. The second game things were going a bit better. I was a rebounding machine until I got two technicals and kicked out of the game. Yes, I know…poor form. Here’s what happen. The other team found their best defensive technique to be to hold onto my shirt when I was under the basket. I got a bit worked up when this 5´2” Guatemalan muscled the ball from me since his buddy had my shirt wrapped up in his arms. Once I got free I elbowed my way in to get the ball back, perhaps with a bit more force than is acceptable in a church league. Just like back home, the choose referees here with less than perfect vision. So I got the first technical for the incidental blow to the chest of the other player with my elbow. After that I decided it was important that I explain some of the rules of the game to the ref. Of course I turned to my native tongue to do so. It turns out that he actually did speak a little English after all, at least he understood the F-Bomb when I dropped that a couple of times trying to add emphasis to some of the finer points. Last two games have gone better—Double-Doubles with a good amount of points and boards. We actually won the last one. It’s like what Coach Lindeman used to tell us on the Track Team…we’re just out there to have fun, and winning is fun! We´ll see how the rest of the tournament goes, hopefully I won’t pass up the opportunity to keep my mouth shut this time.