New Address
Sorry it´s been such a long time since my last post….I had to bury my computer so it will be a little more difficult to post things on a regular basis. Luckily, I am making a trip to the US in January, so I will probably purchase a cheap laptop then. For those interested, I am gonna fly into North Carolina on January 5th and then head back to Guatemala on the 15th. I can´t wait to see everybody!
As mentioned above, I have a new address for any packages or letters. I have found that it´s a lot quicker to send directly to my site, it doesn’t go around the world for 90 days…
Carin Robinson
Voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz
c/o Nawal Estereo
Nahuala, Solola
Guatemala, Centro America
Now, where to start…it´s been such a long time….
Let´s see, I had one really bad week here, when I got bit by a dog on my street (of which now I am scared to death of dogs), slid all the way down a muddy path in the rain (I fell and couldn´t stop), and then had some kind of fleas or bugs in my bed (and now have scabs all over my legs from scratching). Sounds fun huh? Also, for some reason or another, the power has been going out constantly here in Nahuala. During this same week, the power was out for almost four days, in which I couldn´t bathe. And finally, because I have so much mildew and mold growing in my current living quarters, not only has my laptop died, but also my phone and camera. Not a great week to say the least…
As for work, I have been keeping pretty busy. I went to a place called San Lucas Toliman with the radio this past week, to hand out fliers and promote the radio. San Lucas is right on the lake, so I ended up taking a boat ride to some other lake towns that I hadn´t been to, San Antonio and Santa Catarina, both known for their ceramics. This week was also my first week taping a transmission and doing interviews by myself, without my colleagues from the radio. An 18 year old girl died in Nahuala while giving birth, so the town held a meeting to talk about what happened, ways to prevent what happened, and important information for midwives. Most women here do not go to a hospital to give birth, so they end up using a midwife in town to help out during the birth. Unfortunately, most midwives have not been trained properly and do not have the appropriate resources. Anyways, I went to tape the different speakers in order to air the workshop on the radio, and basically, the main message was that women need to go to the hospital if complications occur, and not wait, until it´s too late…
I also travelled to Pana with my women´s groups to try and sell some of their weavings. We didn´t have much luck, because the tourist season is down and businesses just aren´t buying. We did find a couple of organizations that are willing to work with the ladies in the future, and we even found someone that would like to teach them about color combinations and quality control, etc. Overall, it was a successful trip. Most of these ladies have never even left their towns, so this was a huge journey for them!
Another activity of mine is teaching English…both to kids and adults. I have been teaching English to about 8 or 9 kids every night for an hour before I go to bed. (Kids are out of school now, from October until December, it´s there summer break). And I also started teaching an adult English class on Mondays and Wednesdays for one hour. Everyone here wants to learn English, and even though I am not a proponent of imperialism, I can´t say no to wanting to learn new things…
Last night, my sitemate Eric and I went to a graduation party for the daughter of our language teacher. Unfortunately, the power was out, so we ate fried chicken, rice, and tortillas by candlelight. They stuffed about 30 or so people in their house, which was pretty impressive. The host proceeded to ask Eric to say a prayer, which we thought was pretty funny, because we don´t know any prayers in Spanish. We, of course, were the only Gringos there, and we ended up getting more invitations to parties, dances, etc, before we left. Everyone in town thinks that we are a couple, and even though we tell them repeatedly that we aren´t, they think we are lying. His host mom always asks me why I am not living with him..hilarious!
My language teacher also shared with us our Mayan ´readings´ based off our birthdays. Evidently, I am going to be a nurse or doctor and help heal people. I am not going to make much money, but instead work directly for making other lives´ better. I supposedly should watch my health….which means I will probably have complications later in life. And finally, my teacher told me that I ´speak strongly´ to people, which I have no clue what this means! Hopefully, this just implies that I speak loudly….and not harshly…
And finally, I was set up on blind date with a Guatemalan this past weekend. It was basically a double-date….another volunteer, her Guatemalan boyfriend, and her boyfriend´s best friend. The best part, we travelled there by car, not chicken bus. This is the hardest region to reach in Guatemala, because there is only one road to get there, and it´s not even finished yet. They live in Acul, a town right outside of Nebaj. Her boyfriend´s family owns a cheese factory there, along with a bed and breakfast. It was a really fun weekend and I made some great friends, even though the attraction wasn´t there. Acul is in the middle of absolutely nowhere, but it´s beautiful and very peaceful! I watched the cows being milked, then how they make the cheese. We went hiking one day, and then headed to a local comedor to try out the tamascal…which is basically a sauna where people bathe. I met an old man that lives there that showed me his house that he rents out, and told me that anytime I wanted to rent it out for the weekend, to just give him a call…really nice.
The next morning, instead of hanging out with them another night, I headed to Nebaj to hang out with a volunteer from my group. I had to jump in a little microbus to get there, and I didn´t have a seat, so I basically hung out the side door, and everytime we hit a pothole, I thought I was just gonna fall right out. My friend and I also went hiking and then checked out a local swimming pool (these people had never seen a white girl in a bikini before!). This area was the hardest hit during the civil war, and some of the people´s stories are amazing. Also, the native dress is very different from other parts of Guatemala, so you automatically know when you have met someone from Nebaj. I will definitely be going back to visit, since my friend lives there and it´s only four hours from Nahuala! …of course, this means travelling on Sunday when there is no road construction. Nahuala has probably the worst location right now in Guatemala, because of the roads…construction on both sides, which means sitting on a bus for hours and hours just to go 15 minutes down the road. The other night, the road was completely closed because of a landslide. See what I have to look forward to for the next two years!!!
Finally, I have adopted the tamascal as my new way of showering. I love it! It´s basically a small igloo made out of concrete that´s located outside of the house, where you heat water off of hot coals. It´s really low to the ground, so I have to get on my hands and knees and crawl inside. There is typically a candle inside to help you see. And all you do is just use buckets of water, both hot and cold (because it´s unbearably hot in there, just like a sauna) to bathe. The kids in my family think that it´s funny that I bathe in there just like them, so they are constantly standing outside asking me questions. But if they aren´t hanging out, it´s extremely relaxing. I´m told that this is where most Guatemalan couples make babies…interesting.
Alright, I will try and do better this next time, and write within a couple of weeks!!!
Love, Carin
Semuc Champey
See Muck:)
Howdy,
My work at the radio this past couple of weeks has primarily been focused on demonstrating new promotional activities to two young ‘jovenes’ that are training to work within the marketing department of my organization. The radio has been transmitting from a town called Totonicapan, a laid-back, pretty Guatemalan highland pueblo with few tourists in sight. The town’s Feria Titular de San Miguel Arcangel (basically the Festival of the Archangel Saint Michael) runs from September 18th to September 30th. During these two weeks, the town is full of outsiders, the market is absolutely crazy, and the center is alive with music and dancing. Entonces, we made the most of the crowds by handing out flyers (Escuche 93.1 Nawal Estereo) and going door-to-door selling air-time to local businesses.
I also attended two more meetings with my womens’ weaving groups. Both are micro-credit organizations that are supported by CARE. One group is in Ixtuahuacan, which is about an hour away from Nahuala. I get dropped off on the side of the road, and then start walking towards town. I always walk with stones or a stick, and am attentive to potential altercations with stray dogs. (Typically, three or four canines can emerge from nowhere and intimidate me with ferocious barking and glaring teeth.) I usually just motion to throw a stone, without releasing it, causing the dogs to retreat, a behavior undoubtedly formed over years of abuse from the locals. During these travels, there is the rare occasion that a battered Toyota pick-up passes. The opportunity to hitchhike, legally, enhances my spirit for adventure. I usually leap in the back for a bumpy ride, only to discover that the bed is crowded with men, women, children, livestock, produce, chicken wire, scrap metal, and a spare tire that one lucky passenger has already claimed. And then my sudden faith falls in the hands of a driver who has an apparent sixth sense for oncoming vehicles, pedestrians, and animals.
Once I finally made it to town, I had no clue where the meeting was being held. Maps, marks, signs, and addresses simply do not exist in Guatemala. And asking for directions is risky business, considering the confusing outcome. A Guatemalan without the answer to your question, especially involving directions, will fabricate one anyway. This could have something to do with their generous hospitality towards foreigners, always eager to lend a hand, even if it means sending you in the wrong direction. Anyways, I did find it eventually…
The meeting was held inside a house that is currently being built, so the floor is dirt and there are no windows or doors. The women sat on their haunches while we collected interest from each of the members. We then distributed more yarn to the group for the next month’s weavings. Supposedly, a part of their monthly interest goes to a communal fund that is used for emergencies or sicknesses within one of their families….but no one seemed to know where that money was or what happened to it. My main objective with this group is to help them manage their money better, while also learning to ‘ahorrar’ or save for the future. Right now, they see no point in putting away a little money each month in order to invest in more materials, etc…they only look at the short-term. My second group is actually in Nahuala, and is more organized than the first. One of the ladies in this group knows how to spin thread, which is something you do not see much of anymore. Each 1 ½ pounds that she spins, the company that we work with in Guatemala City pays her 500Q (about 75 bucks) – which is a lot of money for a woman that is currently supporting 5 grandkids. Unfortunately, I will be delivering this yarn to the business in Guatemala City until one of her grandkids is old enough to travel there by themselves and become the intermediary...the lady is just too old and doesn’t speak any Spanish. Anyways, this group is really interested in learning about basic business concepts in order to grow their organization and sell more stuff, so I plan to start giving them individual workshops by the end of October. Most of these women know select, day-to-day Spanish, and therefore speak in fragments, only using key words (kinda like my own Spanish:) Therefore, my fluency in Spanish is of little value – it is equally effective, and much less confusing, to use fewer words, more visuals, and body language. Fortunately, I will be working closely with a colleague who serves as a field interpreter for CARE, making verbal communication possible.
I am now studying Kiche with a private instructor, and progress is slow. The Kiche language is characterized by clicking, clearing of the throat, and other startling sounds like receiving a sharp blow to the chest. Because it’s not a written language, there are no conventional study materials like grammar books, vocabulary lists, or pronunciation guides. I will keep you posted on my progress…
And for those that were worried about my lack of hygiene, Nahuala had no running water for four days last week - so needless to say, I was not able to shower, much less use the bathroom. The water in the outdoor sink ran out within one day. At least I had hand sanitizer!
Daylight-savings also occurred this past Saturday; so now we are two hours ahead of CST. This change in the hour has made things even more clear to me…all sense of urgency has dissipated as I run no risk of arriving late to a meeting with no set start time; when we meet is only as precise as morning, afternoon, or evening. I have also learned that Guatemalan culture places equal importance on social interaction and work productivity, with the former at times taking precedence over the latter. So walking hastily to the office, as if I were catching a train, is insensitive to proper social protocol. I think I could get used to this…
As for my weekend, I made an excursion with three friends to Semuc Champey in the north of the country. It’s a very long trip (3 hours to Guatemala City, 4 hours to Coban, and then 2 more hours to Semuc), but I can’t wait to go back! The ride from Coban is along a rough, bumpy slow road that takes you out into the middle of absolutely nowhere. There are so few shuttles that run out this way that the locals literally end up sitting atop the bus in order to pack people on. The surroundings are so surreal – and exactly what I imagined Guatemala to look like. Semuc Champey is famed for its great natural limestone bridge 300m long, on top of which is a stepped series of pools with cool, flowing river water. The water is from the Rio Cahabon, and much more of it passes underground, beneath the bridge. Once you enter the entrance of the park, you can hike up to a ‘mirador’ to see the overall network of the pools. Even though this was hard to reach, the beauty and perfection of the pools, ranging from all sorts of blues to greens, made it completely worth it. Once we hiked down, we hopped from pool to pool, enjoying the waterfalls cascading down all the way. But, surprisingly, the park is actually not the most spectacular part about this area…it’s the caves hidden within the rocks! We went on a cave tour that would definitely be banned in the U.S. It was more like an ‘extreme’ cave tour….we swam through by candlelight, had to climb on slippery rocks, jumped through waterfalls, climbed up ropes, dove into deep water, slid through holes with rushing water that pulled us back up…lunacy…all in the confines of a pitch-black system of caves. Major adrenaline rush! I felt like I had accomplished something huge afterwards:)
We stayed at a place called Las Marias, a rustic, laid-back hostel right next to the national park. You stay in tree houses, they only have electricity from 7 to 10 at night, there is no hot water, and it’s the only establishment within an hour from the park. Pretty cool! It’s right on the river, so you can rent a tube and float down or just make a splash on the swinging vines alongside the edge. They catch your dinner in the river each night…some of the freshest fish I have ever eaten! And, if you can believe it, they even had a Marimba band come and play on Saturday night, even though they had to finish before the lights went out at 10.
I returned on Sunday for Dia de Nino…which translates to Kids’ Day. This holiday is pretty much just like Father’s Day or Mother’s Day, but just for the kids. During school on Monday, the kids’ were treated to a huge lunch, piñatas filled with candy, and lots of toys and games. (My host brother also mentioned that they had a dancing contest…and that one of the prizes was for the best ‘bolo’ dance…which translates to ‘who could do the best impersonation of a drunk guy’). They also held a ‘marathon’ through town, with all the kids racing for first place. Last year’s winner led the ceremonies with a flaming torch. Maybe the U.S. should adopt this holiday…
Finally, I am convinced that Guatemalans really know their medicinal plants. I got a bad cold this week, and was taking regular over-the-counter medicine, but decided to trust my grandmother once more with one of her ‘secret’ cures. Again, she went to the garden, presented me with a brown-colored rolled up plant (who knows what it was), and proceeded to rub it all over my face around my nose and sinuses. Well, it worked! I am feeling better already:) I love my granny!
That’s all for this week folks,
Carin
There are Many Kinds of Wealth, Many Ways to Build it
By Mike Trask
St. Charles County Business Record
St. Charles, Mo.
October 2, 2006
This week's Biz Bites is different from the column I normally write, but there is a business angle somewhere in this piece, so I hope my readers will indulge me.As some of you already know, my family recently suffered a terrible loss when my 25-year-old daughter, Katie, drowned off the coast of Mexico. She and her husband, Adam Kralik, had just completed a two-year volunteer service in Guatemala. They were vacationing and a week away from coming home when it happened. While in Guatemala, Katie mostly taught hygiene and self-esteem classes to girls in the village, and when the school didn't have enough for her to do, she took it upon herself to teach English to youngsters in her home while they helped her with her Spanish.
Adam often was in the countryside working on various infrastructure projects, on which Katie would occasionally assist. Katie also became interested in entrepreneurship while inGuatemala. She wasn't so much interested in starting her own business as she was in helping some of the women she met become business owners. During some of our phone conversations, she would tell me of women and even girls who struggled to make a living by selling hand-crafted goods and other commodities. Katie would explain to me the possibilities that existed if only this group had a simple distribution system in place or that group had a small marketing plan in place to attract the tourists. She had to cook all their meals from scratch and gradually developed a healthy respect for the Guatemalan diet; so much so that she wanted to help a group of women open a restaurant. But that was outside the scope of her responsibilities. My son-in-law recently told me that they had talked about making enough money in the United States to return to Guatemala one day to invest in various startups there. I doubt that my daughter, the sociology major, ever thought of herself as a potential venture capitalist. She just looked at it as helping people. After the funeral, my family had the opportunity to visit with some of Katie's co-workers. During our conversations, I learned that there is a bit of a controversy about how much aid we should provide Guatemalans and how that aid should be directed. There is a concern on the part of some about contaminating a wonderful Mayan culture that exists there. Believe it or not, there are places in the world where people live happily without microwave ovens, refrigerators and televisions (except perhaps when the World Cup is being played). From the comments I heard, I got the sense that most of Katie's co-workers believe that efforts to provide more educational opportunities for children and work to create potable water systems and other infrastructure projects are definitely worthwhile ventures. However, I also got the sense many volunteers also believe that while providing this aid, we should take care not to impose our values on the people we help. There has been a great deal of discussion in St. Charles County in recent years about the quality of life we enjoy here. But quality of life is a relative term. In one of our last phone conversations, my daughter expressed some trepidation about returning to the rat race here. She had come to the realization that having possessions isn't the same as having happiness. She was truly happy helping Guatemalans for little pay. But, in a way, Katie was quite wealthy. During the past couple of years, I have written numerous stories about wealth creation in this county. But for some reason, I didn't look behind the numbers. I didn't really examine the meaning of it all. Since my daughter's death, I too have come to a realization: that money is a tool. Like any tool, it can be used for good or bad. As our expenses mounted, numerous people in this community came to our aid. Some we have known for a long time, others we hardly knew at all. Some were friends and family, others were business owners and employees. A nonprofit with the Spanish acronym PAVA (Programa de Ayuda a los Vecinos del Altiplano -- translated, Aid Program for Highland Communities) works in Guatemala on infrastructure projects. PAVA has started a fund to build a Guatemalan school that will be named after Katie. The generosity of many St. Charles Countians is helping to ensure the school one day will be a reality. It is reassuring and extremely comforting to know that while this county has grown richer, its wealth hasn't degraded our culture. Our values remain strong.
