Tengo 'Gripe'
After this week, I have decided that it’s going to be pretty impossible to stay ‘healthy’ while living here. If it’s not stomach issues (due to the parasite-infested water or uncooked meat covered with flies) then it’s ‘gripe’ – which basically translates to an extremely bad cold. My whole town – including myself – seems to have caught the same thing….which basically stems from walking in the pouring-down rain 2 hours a day for five days in a row and not having any dry clothes (or shoes) to wear. I washed my clothes in the ‘pila’ – our outside sink – on Sunday, and unfortunately, none of them have dried out because of our daily ‘bucket baths’. And then to top it all off, all of the clothes I wore this week are completely wet from ‘swimming’ upstream to get back to my house. So, for anyone that plans to come visit me while I am here, try not to make your travel plans during June – September…you might regret it; )I must say though – I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else after this past weekend. As some of you know (alright, mainly my brother Brian), World Cup games started on Friday – and this country has gone absolutely crazy!! Guatemala isn’t even in it, but these people are addicted to ‘futbol’. The next month should be pretty funny – because basically everything shuts down during the games and people stay in their houses glued to the television. In fact, my Spanish teacher actually stopped our class on both Friday and Saturday, so that we could watch the Germany/Costa Rica, El Salvador/Poland, and England/Paraguay games. Crazy!! In addition to watching it on tv, the men in my town hold a soccer match in the street almost everyday.
But aside from World Cup, a couple of volunteers and I went to Guatemala City today to see two Guatemalan teams play – Guatemala City and San Marcos. It was the championship game – and thankfully Guatemala City won, because the whole stadium was filled with Guatemala City fans. It was a pretty interesting experience – and needless to say, we were the only GRINGOS there. We waited in line for tickets for over an hour – in a complete mob of red and white (Guatemala City’s colors). It was scorching hot and we all got fried. Once we finally got into the stadium, we discovered that they pack people in just like the ‘chicken buses’. There were fans sitting or standing anywhere they could find space, people selling all kinds of street food and drinks, and men singing team chants for two hours straight. There were also multiple fights out on the field between the two teams – and it’s the first soccer match I have ever been to, that they had police with huge rifles stationed on both sides of the field.
Yesterday, I went to Antigua yet again. This is the most popular spot for volunteers to hang out on the weekends and to get away from our host families for a little while. There are definitely a lot of ‘gringo’ hangouts – and we have made one particular place our home away from home – it’s called Mono Loco (the Crazy Monkey) and it’s a great place for a cold beer and yummy nachos.
Several of you have sent me emails asking about the other volunteers in my group. I spend most of my time with the other 8 business development volunteers – however, there are 21 other folks that are going through training right now too – but they are in what’s called ‘Appropriate Technology’ and they are here to help put in water systems and build family stoves. As for my biz dev group, there are 4 guys and 4 girls – and we have all become extremely close in one month. One girl is from Wilmington and one guy went to Duke – which I thought was pretty crazy! Everyone lives in a different town from me – except for this guy named J.P. who lives right next door. Needless to say, we hang out a lot since there’s not much to do in my town. Then there’s Olivia who I have Spanish with everyday – our personalities are very much alike and we definitely have a lot of fun together!! Also there’s Jim – who is the most happy-go-lucky person I have ever met in my life. And finally there’s Kara, who has become my ‘Carly’ or Rach’ – but sadly, she moved out of my town this week…which brings me to another subject.
There were six volunteers that were placed in my town – and three of them have moved out of their host families in the past week and moved to another town. One moved out because of bed bugs and just general hygiene issues, another moved out because he was continuously sick from the food, and the other moved out because she didn’t have a door for her bedroom (it was just a part of the family room). So, I guess I can say that I have been blessed – because my host family is great and my living conditions are par compared to the others. Now there are only three of us – and I am hoping that no one else decides to leave because it could get quite lonely. Of course, I guess I should look at it as ‘practice’ for what it’s gonna be like once I get to my actual site…
I also had my second Spanish presentation this past week – 30 minutes of trying to teach a local group of entrepreneurs about record keeping and costs/expenses. I think it actually went pretty well – but I prepared a lot of things beforehand. I wrote out a role-play and asked two volunteers to act it out to the rest of the group – and then I also wrote out a scenario in which I had them break out into groups and practice the calculations on their own. So overall, I didn’t have to talk continuously for 30 minutes, thank god!
Friday, our small business development group went to a town called Oratorio – in the southeastern part of Guatemala, right near the border to El Salvador. We went to visit a current volunteer that is working with a Savings and Loan cooperative there. He has been in-country for about 10 months – and has had a slightly frustrating experience with his counterpart. Most organizations here are very resistant to change – and are terrified of technology. The volunteer has tried to introduce several new business processes and short-cuts – but the manager refuses to trust him or just prefers the way things have always been done. Probably the biggest lesson I have learned over the past month is that I am going to have to build major ‘confianza’ with the business that I work with – before I will be able to get anything done…which could take months or even years for that matter.
Which brings me to my next topic – which is what kinds of businesses or organizations will I be working with once I get to my site. The head of our program came to talk to us this week about the possibilities and what was available – however, she didn’t share where these sites were located (which we are all dying to know!). Once we have had time to review them, we will be meeting with her to discuss which ones we think would be a good ‘fit’ – that sounds a lot like consulting lingo, doesn’t it! Anyways, there are a couple that I am really interested in – 1) an agriculture cooperative that exports vegetables 2) a credit cooperative that needs help tracking savings and credit 3) the National Forestry Institute which needs help in the development of economic models, market studies, and financial statements 4) and then a company that produces environmental shampoos, medicines, soaps – that needs help in finding new markets and promotion of their products. A couple of them have certain requirements – like learning a Mayan language, knowledge of cooperatives, or certain computer/software skills. I should find out in another month where I am going to be placed – but right now, it’s all up in the air. However, they did pull out all volunteers in the eastern part of the country (and in some parts of the south) due to problems with drug trafficking – so this means I will probably be in the western or northern part of the country!
One disturbing thing that happened this past week – the governor of Solola (the town that I went to visit the week before) was assassinated in Guatemala City. This is the third political assassination in the last three months. The next presidential election is in 2007 – and folks are already starting to talk about it and show support for particular nominees. We have been warned that we might start seeing a lot of protests pretty soon – particularly roadblocks on the main highways. You have to remember that this is only their third election since the civil war ended in 1996…
Well, it’s almost bedtime so I’m going to wrap this one up! By the way, if I had to name one thing here that I could not live without – I would have to say it’s my earplugs. Whoever thinks that roosters only make noise at dawn – is completely WRONG! I have roosters outside of my window every single night – and they start their yapping at around 1 in the morning. Also, firecrackers are VERY popular here. Supposedly people only let them off when it’s someone’s birthday or a religious festival…but I am beginning to question that since there seems to be firecrackers every morning, anywhere from 1 to 4 a.m. The first time I heard them – I immediately thought they were gunshots!! I have grown quite accustomed to them though – I don’t even wake up anymore…
Buenas noches,
Carin
posted by Carin Robinson @ 6:16 AM
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