School Days

In preparation for 2 Alternative Spring Break trips that are coming to work with Primeros Pasos, I've gone to a few schools recently. The kids are too cute and the walks to the schools quite beautiful. So, I'd thought I'd share a few of the pics.








These pictures were taken at 2 schools, Las Majadas and Bella Vista. These schools are very close to each other, but neither have bus access so they are about a 30-45min hike from the closest bus stop. They recently did get a paved road so you can now travel there by car.

As I think I've mentioned before, the education system in Guatemala just became free for everyone. This might sound like it's a great idea, but it's actually made things a lot worse for the schools and teachers. First of all, the government decided that instead of making students pay to attend school, that they would supply the schools with the money necessary for supplies and school materials. School has started, but the schools have yet to see any of the money promised. Therefore, class sizes have grown by 30 - 50%, but there is no funding for supplies, chairs, desks, etc...

Secondly, they have not increased the number of teachers at the schools. At Las Majadas, there were 6 teachers for 300 students. Some of the grades have been combined into the same classroom, making classes between 50 and 70 students. The director must also teach, so while he was talking to us his class was running around the school. Classroom management is close to impossible when you are that outnumbered and dedicated teachers begin to give up. The large class sizes has also lead teachers who were assigned to schools choose not to work rather than deal with the system. Schools have reported having empty spaces and no teachers to fill them, or teachers who stayed a short while and then left. At Bella Vista, a smaller school of about 100 students, there were two teachers for 6 grades. While we were there discussing projects, both teachers were talking to us the whole time and the kids were just running around like crazy. One girl, when I asked her if she was going to go back into the classroom, told me "I'm in sixth grade. I've already learned everything i need to know, I don't need to go back into the classroom." It's also been said that the large class sizes means that children know the teacher can't control them all, so after a little while they just stop coming. All of the teachers we've seen, just look like they don't know what to do. And unfortunately, there isn't anything they can do. They are understaffed, under resourced and without much hope. It does make you wonder how you even start to tackle such a problem, or how long it will take for it to ever start to get better.

On a lighter note, here are some other pictures of the scenery which is really beautiful.

Churches and buses

San Andres Xecul (pronouced Che-kul) and Salcaja are two towns no more than 15km away from Xela, and felt like a perfect spot for a little Saturday adventure. Both towns are know for Churches, with Salcaja also being known for a super strong Sangria-type drink and Rompombo, an egg, cream, and rum drink that is puke yellow colored. We started in Salcaja, which is home to the oldest Central American Catholic Church - build in the 1520's. Unfortunately, we couldn't get into the church, but it did look quite old on the outside (as you can see for yourself in the picture). There was also a Saturday market that was nice to walk through. We then took a short little bus ride to San Andres Xecul, that has very brightly colored churches. The towns were cute and nice little half day excursion. Other than the Church in Xela, they were the first churches in Guatemala I'd seen. It was just a pity that we couldn't go in either one of them. I'm also not really sure what the story is behind the crazy colors.

The next day, I had an adventure of a different sort. Last week, I contacted a group call AMIGAS, that runs and trains women and youth to do health education in their communities around Xela. On Sunday, I was invited to go to a town about two hours away, Columba, where they were piloting a session on STD's and HIV/AIDS for teens. The session lasted about three hours and it was really great. The youth were so into the workshop, asking important questions and seeming genuinely grateful for the information. It was also interesting, but not really surprising, to see how liberal the facilitator was about certain topics, and conservative about others. For example, there were very open conversations around STD's, with graphic pictures, how you contract them, and what the symptoms are. But, while the materials had images of homosexual couples, these relationships and their sexual behavior was highlighted many times as being "unnatural." Afterwards, we all had lunch, and I was able to talk to some of the youth about what they thought of the talk and what their parents and other classmates thought about these topics.

On the way home, I experienced the Chicken Bus in its true form. Sunday is a huge travel day especially in between big towns - and we traveled on the most packed bus I have ever been on. People jammed in with no breathing room, as well as anywhere between 3 and 5 people hanging on the outside of the front door. As soon as you thought that the bus wasn't going to stop and pick up more people, we would pick up a few more, who would proceed to hold on to what ever rail on the outside of the bus they could. For the first 45 min of the ride, I was jammed in between someone's butt and someone else's knees. Then, the bus broke down and we all got to spend about 20 min outside. Amazingly, the driver had a bunch of spare parts and tools in the bus and was able to fix it in no time. I don't think any description I can write can really recreate the craziness of the bus repair. But, imagine three people running around, screaming at each other, grabbing tools and parts, and doing acrobatic jumps over the open (and hot) engine for about twenty minutes. And then yelling at us to get back on the bus faster, because we were behind schedule... All and all, I was quite impressed with the driver and the 'ayudante' (helper) and our 1983 school bus.

Random tidbits

Some random things that make me chuckle:

1. Cows on a leash. It seems that in order to make sure your cow doesn't run away, you put it on a leash (or a piece of rope) and then walk it, for exercise of course, or just tie it up while it eats and hangs out in your yard.

2. Balled up underwear. If you don't do your laundry on the pila - the big sink with rivets for you to hand scrub your clothes - you take them to a lavanderia. There, you drop off your dirty clothes and a few hours later pick up your perfectly folded and washed clothes. It's pretty easy to get used to this service, especially to my favorite touch - the folded (or balled-up) underwear. I wasn't sure if was acceptable to drop off underwear, but having it returned to me in a little ball proved that they are used to it. I think it's the cutest thing ever, after I get passed the thought of someone having that much to do with my underwear.

3. Talking about puberty to sixth graders, in Spanish. This was the first week that students came to the clinic. For each school, Primeros Pasos starts with the sixth graders and then works it way down through all the grades of each school. Therefore, this week we had sixth and fifth graders. They have to sit through a lovely workshop on nutrition, hygiene, and every 12 year olds favorite topic – puberty. It was really amusing to see how they were rowdy during the nutrition and hygiene discussion, and then quiet and nervous when we switched to the male and female reproductive parts… I think the best part was right when I was talking about wet dreams, I look over to one student in particular. He staring straight at me, but his hands are tucked between his knees and his arms are squirming. I thought it was really cute and yes, it made me chuckle.

San Lucas Toliman

I've just gotten back from a few days at the Lake Atitlan, which some have dubbed the most the most beautiful lake in the world. It is quite beautiful, probably most unique because it is surrounded by volcanoes, and about 365 meters deep. I went to go and visit a friend, who was working in a small town around the lake. A med student, she is doing a four week rotation at the clinic. The town, San Lucas Toliman, is not a tourist town. Most guidebooks specifically state not to go there, because there is little to see. For the most part this is true, but since I wanted to learn more about the work she was doing, at the San Lucas Mission, I didn't need the town to offer a whole lot (which turned out to be a good thing).

The San Lucas Mission is a pretty incredible project and has a powerful presence in the activities of the town. A Catholic Project, the Mission was vital the town's survival during the Civil War in the 1980's. It provided stability for the residents, as well as a safe place for orphaned children and families. Today the Mission has a variety of projects that both give work to the people in the town, but are run by San Lucas residents, empowering them to rebuild their community and take ownership of the Mission's work. These include: a reforestation project, a coffee plantation (the Mission bought land and then redistributed to the San Lucas residents. The Mission pays the coffee farmers to produce the coffee and then it's sold to visitors and people in the US.), a clinic and a hospital, health education, and a school.

I went to San Lucas with a friend from language school, Brittany. After a bus, boat and pick-up ride we made it to San Lucas around dinner time. The first day our Med Student friends were giving a presentation to the Health Promoters on TB and we decided to tag along. I think the cultural experience of the meeting was more interesting then the actual presentation. The meeting, which was supposed to be from 9-11am, ended up being something like this:

9 - 9:45: Wait for people to show up
9:45 - 10:30: Introductions (name, where you come from and your favorite food)
10:30 - 11: "We should take a break now, verdad?"
11 - 12:30: A discussion on ground rules, with lots of odd silent pauses. The best part was during the discussion on turning off cell phones during the class, the leader of the discussion's phone rings. He proceeds to answer it and talk for a min. When he comes back, he changes the rule from "Turn off cell phones" to "Put on vibrate and limit calls to 1 min."

12:30 - 1: Stacy and Jason finally start the presentation
1 - 2: "We should eat now, verdad?"
2 - 3: The end of the presentation.

It was interesting, to say the least.

The following days we worked on some of the Mission's projects and spent some time down by the lake. We sorted coffee (not as much fun as it sounds) and broke concrete so that they could plant a garden. Breaking concrete was fun, we essentially were given a large nail, hammer, and then told to go at it. I had a good time.

In honor of Valentine's day, and 3 out of 4 of us being apart from our significant others, we decided that we should have wine, bread, cheese and chocolate. This also provided a reason for us to wander aimlessly around town in and out of shops. For wine, we found the grocery store that sold non-boxed wine. We agreed upon a bottle of Chilean Merlot, that unfortunately tasted like someone had poured the box into a bottle and then sold it. For chocolate, we couldn't find anything that wasn't in a Milky Way or Snickers bar. We did though find a bar of chocolate that is used to make hot chocolate. Figuring it was our best bet, we bought it. While it was better than nothing, I wouldn't recommend it if you have a chocolate craving in San Lucas. It has the texture of compressed cocoa powder with lots of sugar and cinnamon. The grains kinda come apart in your mouth, although it is much better if you eat it with bread. For the final two components, we took bread and cheese from the Mission (where I was also eating all my meals.) For a San Lucas V-day, and our final night on the lake, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Look at these crazy colored chicks at the Market!

DICAP Drama

A week ago I moved into an apartment called DICAP. This past Saturday I moved out of DICAP into a place that I like much more. Here is the drama from my week in DICAP...

Sunday: Move in day. Internet doesn’t work but I decide to give it a day to see if it will work tomorrow. Woman #1 at the front desk tells me that this same thing happened to another guest. She says that this other guest took it to the shop downstairs and they fixed it. I make a note to myself to take it there on Monday if it doesn’t work.

Monday: Internet still doesn’t work. I first go to my neighbors to see if it’s just my computer that it doesn’t work for. It is. My neighbor comes over to try to figure it out and he has no idea. I take it to the place downstairs, and after 10min - he can’t figure it out. I go to a café where I email with Edward, my go-to computer guy, who says that it’s most likely a router problem, not a setting on my computer. I decide to try and see if Woman #1 will reset the router, because that is often a simple solution.

When I get back to the apartment, Woman #1 isn’t there, but Woman #2 is. Woman #2 says that resetting it isn’t possible, and she points to the router. The router is hanging out of a window into the stairwell. I tell her that it must be plugged in somewhere, and it must be possible to unplug it because it’s a fairly common solution to internet problems. Still skeptical, she says that she doesn’t have the key to the room where it’s plugged in. However, she will call someone to see if they can do it. I thank her and go on my way.


Tuesday: After I get back from volunteering, I ask Woman #2 if she had been able to reset the router. She says no. She called the person with the key and they didn’t come. “I hope they come today.” I say, and she agrees. She hopes so too. As I leave, Woman #3 appears, and asks what is going on. Woman #2 explains the situation, and then I add that if it isn’t resolved, I would like to just pay for the week and go live in a different place. I explain that one of the main reasons I had moved in there was because of the internet, and it’s the only place in all of Xela where it hasn’t worked. Upon hearing this, the tone of all future conversations change. I am instantly told that getting my money back (because I had already paid for the month) isn’t possible. They don’t have the money, she says, it’s already been sent away. But then, Woman #3 looks at Woman #2 and says, “Go do it now! Go reset the box!” And then they tell me to go and get my computer. I go upstairs to my room to get my computer and I place in on the main table. While I’m in my room they barge in (because they have keys to all the rooms) and hover around my computer that is in the living area. They look at it, to see that resetting the computer didn’t resolve the problem and then leave.

Wednesday: As I come back before lunch, Woman #1 stops me. She also wants to reset the router and wants to see my computer after she resets it. I go back up to my room to get the computer, and a few minutes later bring it down to the office to prove to her that it doesn’t work. At this point, I state again that I’m thinking of leaving and just paying for the week. Again, I am told that this is going to be very difficult. “The administration doesn’t ‘like it’ when people only stay for a week and the situation is very delicate.” I ask Woman #1 to ask the administration, and she promises that she will do what she can. She also decided to call the technician, to see if can come and fix my computer. She asks me to leave my computer, since I needed to go to the clinic that afternoon, so that he can swing by and look at it while I am out. At this point, I have decided that I want to leave this apartment and figure that if I don’t let the technician look at my computer that they won’t even consider giving my some of my money back. I leave my computer all afternoon at the apartment and the technician doesn’t show up.

Thursday: In the morning, while I’m at primeros pasos, I get a call from Woman #1. The technician is there, ready to look at my computer. Given that I told them that I would not be there in the morning, I didn’t leave my computer at the apartment. The technician and I make an appointment for him to come back at 5pm.

At 6:15pm, he isn’t there yet. Woman #2 comes into my room, again without knocking, to tell me that he’s not here yet. I thank her for all that she has done, but ask her to call him and tell him not to come. At that point, I just want to be able to move into a different apartment in peace. I tell her that I need to decide if I’m going to move into a different place, so that I don’t loose it. She says that she will try to reach him, but then says “but it’s not like you have anywhere to go, do you?” At 6:45, she comes back in to tell me that he is here. I have friends coming over for dinner at 7pm, and have been waiting for two hours. Which I was half expecting, but am still a little annoyed. He works on my computer and is unable to do anything. He plugs in a whole bunch of numbers that seem arbitrary and can’t figure it out. When my friends arrive, I thank him again for his help, Woman #2 for hers, and tell her that I’m most likely going to leave. She states that the administration said it wasn’t possible for me to get my money back, and I ask her if I can talk to them. She tells me that tomorrow (Friday) I can give them a call.

Friday: Before lunch, I pop into the office and ask Woman #1 if I can call the administration. She says that I can do it in the afternoon. I return 2 hours later, and ask Woman #2 if I can call the administration. She gives him a call and he doesn’t want to talk to me on the phone, but wants to make an appointment for Saturday at 10am. I decide that I will pack up to move before 10am, so after our meeting I can leave.

Saturday: I'm not surprised that at 10am the administration guy, Jose, hasn't shown up yet. At 10:15am, I decided to go down and see if he is coming. Woman #1 and #2, say that they are not sure, but we can't call him yet because it's a "delicate situation." At 10:45, I go down again to see if they can at least call him. If he's going to come, I'll wait, but if he's not I tell them that I'm leaving. He doesn't pick up when they call. I go to get a cup of coffee, as this was too much to deal with, without my morning coffee. When I get back 20min later, Women #1, #2, and #3 are there. They tell me that he hasn't come yet, and they really don't think that i'm going to get my money back. "The administration really doesn't like it when people stay a week and we don't allow that anyway." I have to remind them that they do, in fact allow people to stay for just a week. After saying this three times, they remember that they had told me that they do. We then have a 15min discussion, where I basically thank them for all of their help but tell them that I should only pay for what I used, that I would love to be able to give them a good recommendation and right now I can't, and that I don't understand why I can't just talk to the administration. I keep saying "I don't think that's too much to ask."

They then concede, and we call Jose. He picks up, I explain my situation to him and he agrees to refund me some of my money! He was so nice about it, I really don't understand all the politics behind it, but was just happy that it was over... and that i don't have to deal with Woman #1, #2, or #3 again.

Saunas, Soccer and Volcanos

I had a great weekend exploring the great natural wonders of the Guatemalan Highlands, in the area right around Xela. On Saturday afternoon, I took a hike with a few friends to Los Vahos, natural saunas in the hills. About an hour walk through the countryside, you get to a small house that has been built around natural cracks in the earth that produce steam. Inside, there are two separate sauna rooms that each have one area that is directly where the steam comes in and another that is a little less intense. Incredibly hot and wonderful, for about $2.50, you (and whomever you go with) get the room to yourself for an hour. And an hour is pretty much all you can handle. Given that Xela can be cold, and the showers aren't the warmest, it's a place that will heat your core and last you for at least a good 24 hours.

On our way back from the Sauna, my friend Dave and I decided to go see the Xelaju soccer game season opener, which was a great time. We entered in the wrong section of the Stadium and therefore weren't able to sit in the rowdy fan section, but were still surrounded by lots of fanatic families. I was surprised by the security, I wasn't expecting to get patted down. They don't let you take in bottles either, which makes sense. But instead of making you throw your drinks out like they do in the US, they have plastic bags with straws at the entrance that you pour your drink into. I love how creative Guatemalans can get with their plastic bags. Once you are in, there are loads of women selling plates of tacos with meat and cheese, Dominos guys selling slices of pizza, women carrying around giant pots of hot Piña drink (which was great given that it was so cold that night), and what looked like 10 year olds selling bags of roasted and candied peanuts. Oh yes, and of course, the 5 year old boy who sang Mariachi songs and was dressed up in the traditional attire during half-time. I think we might see him again in 10 years when he gets famous, he was quite the performer.

I also always knew that Guatemalans love their fireworks. They use fireworks, the small crackly kind, to celebrate just about everything. Most mornings, between 5 and 7am, you can hear them go off to wake people up on their birthdays or anniversaries. But the soccer game was a whole other level. People in the stands not only had smaller crackers, but were launching flares and full-on fireworks, the kind you would see at the fourth of july. Periodically throughout the game, fireworks would go off in the stands, which were fun, except when you thought some of them were going to land on you a burn a whole in your shirt.

Sunday morning, I headed off with 2 of my new roommates and 2 friends to climb Santa Maria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santamar%C3%ADa_(volcano)). 12,380 feet tall, it's kinda the Pikes Peak of Xela. As in, your point of reference no matter where you are in town and the surrounding communities. It was a great, challenging hike with a really rewarding view (per usual, pictures will follow next week). The beginning of the hike was magical. We left Xela in a dense fog, and about 20min into the hike we had gotten to a point where all you could see was a blanket of cloud over Xela and the valley with just the mountains surrounding it in clear view. It was beautiful. At each point throughout the rest of the 3 hour hike, you kept thinking that it couldn't get any higher and any more beautiful, but it would. At the top there were loads of Guatemalans who had camped out overnight. They had built large fires, were cooking food and enjoying the top. It is also a sacred spot, so there were over 30 people praying, crying wailing, etc... one side of the peak. I was surprised as to how big the peak was and how much you could see. It felt like a 360 degree view of the Guatemalan highlands. We spent an hour up there, taking the in the view and looking at Santiagito, the smaller, but very active volcano right next to Santa Maria. Santiagito erupts about every 40min and you can see the crater and the smoke coming out. I thought it was very cool.

On a side note, I also moved again this weekend - saturday morning to be exact. I like my new living situation a lot better and I will share all the dramatic details of the move in a later blog (because it does merit its own entry). I'm headed to the lake tomorrow to spend two days at a clinic that a friend of mine (that I met here) is working at. I am looking forward to it and will be sure to share. Much love to you all!

Karaoke!

I have decided to make it a personal mission to do Karaoke in as many countries as I can. I began this mission last night, attending El Cuartito's Karaoke night. It is judged Karaoke, but by the Karaoke machine, so I think it's a little messed up. You get a score out of a hundred and I spent much of the night trying to figure out how the machine worked. There were some people who were not really on key, barely in tune at certain points who got scores in the 90s. I, on the other hand, with "Hopelessly devoted to you" and "Ironic" only made it to an 86. I think all the machine cares about is your timing, so if I can focus more on that and sing songs I actually remember maybe in the future I'll do better. I mean, winner gets a free pitcher of Mojitos - how can I not aim for that? Nevertheless, it was a fun evening. A predominately Guatemalan singing crowd, it was quite amusing to see the songs they chose and listen to their group songs.

This week has been quite relaxing. Due to governmental changes in the Guatemalan school system, and teachers threatening to strike, the schools that Primeros Pasos works with haven't started yet. They were supposed to start in mid-January and looks like they will actually start next monday. This means that us Health Educators are using this time to learn the curriculum and help out with random projects at the clinic. I have enjoyed learning about how the clinic and registration works, sorting the pharmacy and medical donations, cleaning the supply cabinet and spending time with the Guatemalan and American med students and staff.

On Wednesday, Primeros Pasos' women's group had an event at the clinic to kick off the year. The turn out was pretty incredible. The women's program works with 3 communities meeting once a week to discuss nutrition, hygiene, family health and other things that are of interest to the women. All the women who are active participants in the group get free health care for themselves and their families. Over 50 women and their children came to the event. They played icebreakers, nutrition jeopardy, and matching games. The women were really into it, laughing as they and they children (both in their hands and on their backs) ran around the meeting area in a musical-chairs-type game. Word of the group has spread quickly with many more women wanting to join. It was really impressive to see what an effect this group had had on their health and their families. I should be able to go to some of the communities in the near future and shadow these groups.

I'm staying in town again this weekend, doing two separate hikes. I will write all about it, take pictures and post them. Love from Guatemala to you all!

wait, am i in guatemala?

While I am actually in Quetzaltengo, Guatemala, sometimes I do have to remind myself of it. Xela is not a tourist city, because there is little to actually see here. It is the second largest city in Guatemala and I think there is a church, a park, and a cultural museum. But it's known more for the spanish schools and neighboring hikes then for the city itself. This means that it's a great place to settle down and learn spanish, work and live - and it appears that's exactly what a lot of foreigners have done. There are cute coffee shops and restaurants almost around every corner of the center (Zone 1), with coffee, espresso, north american style desserts and dishes, and free wifi. Including the one I'm in right now - where i just had a chicken sandwich that tasted like heaven with mustard and whole grain bread. There are also bars with a funky atmosphere and live music, that could just as well be in California, or on U street.

There are plenty of restaurants that cater to (or profit from) the vegetarians who come to Guatemala. You can buy tofu by the pound and go to all vegetarian restaurants. Not to mention, I think I had the best indian food of my life last weekend. No joke.

I've also been experimenting with different ways of getting exercise. Running in Xela isn't ideal, I think the fumes you inhale counteract the workout itself. But, I have been going to a yoga studio a few times a week. Full of foreigners and a few guatemalans, the classes are both in English and in Spanish (depending on the teacher). I would have never guessed that I would do more Yoga in Xela then in the states (and for less than $2 a class!). I think it's a bit of a haven for a lot of people, as each class is always packed - but the room is also oddly shaped and relatively small. Apparently there is an American style gym a little outside of town that has classes, so I might even start spinning again!

On a side note, I moved into my own apartment this morning. It was a little awkward telling the family that I was moving out, but staying in Xela. Although I think they understood and they had a new student moving in today. I enjoyed my time with them, but am also happy to be on my own again. The apartment that I moved into is a series of suites with 3 rooms in each suite. I haven't met my suitemates yet and am not sure if they are out of town or just weren't in when I got there this morning. We share a bathroom, kitchen and living area and have a TV and internet. Again, something I was not expecting to have.

This last week, my host Senor practically disappeared and I feared that either I had become boring, uninteresting or done something terribly offensive. He was so chatty before and then from one day to the next he was gone. On Friday, I found out that he decided to stop eating in the kitchen because he's on a diet. It was too tempting to eat in the kitchen. He has a metal rod in his back and his doctor says that too much weight puts strain on his back. That I can believe, but the diet he has to follow is also know as starvation. He can only eat fruits and vegetables, 1 tortilla/day, 1 egg/day and 2oz of meat 2-3/week. No wonder he can't keep to it.

We, on the other hand, ate a range of eggs with ham and cheese, just cooked vegetables or carrots with about a jar of mayo, broth with noodles or pasta. In speaking with other students, I actually feel lucky though. It seems pretty common that the families eat different food than the students - they mostly eat better food, like they will eat meat and not serve it to the students. But other that I know have had meals of just chips with tomato sauce, potato cakes served with mashed potatoes, rice and tortillas, or pancakes layered with bananas. I'm thankful I had vegetables every now and then.

So, I'm looking forward to living on my own again. I have my first full week of orientation at Primeros Pasos and am ready for this next phase of my Guatemala adventure.