Final Week at Primeros Pasos

My time working at Primeros Pasos has come to end. I can't believe how quickly the 2 months have flown by! It was a great last week, as we were able to go into the schools and teach 6th graders Sex Education and STD prevention. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I, and 2 other Primeros Volunteers, went to three different schools with classes that ranged from 20 to 45. Like in the clinic, the 6th graders were very interested and, for the most part, well behaved. There was the occasional chuckling and giggling. We passed out cards at the beginning so that they could write anonymous questions that would be answered at the end. Many of the questions were "Why?" questions. Such as "Why do boys voices change?" and "Why do girls grow bigger hips?" as well as "Why do people get HIV/AIDS?" Interestingly, even though we explained how HIV/AIDS and STDs are transmitted, there still seemed to be the conception that you could just "get it", from one day to the next. Some of the questions also asked us to reexplain basic concepts that we had just covered. This leads to me to wonder what we take for granted in teaching this information. If they haven't had any education on the human body or how or bodies work, I can imagine that being thrown all sorts of Sexual Education can be overwhelming and difficult to comprehend. I also think this was the first time these students had heard the birds and the bees. While I am excited to move on to my next adventure, I am a little sad to not be able to teach anymore.

Some of you have also asked me what I do for fun during the week or around Xela. So... I generally try to leave Xela every other weekend. When I spent the weekends here, I like to do one of the day hikes right around the city or go to a neighboring town. During the week, I hang out at night with my housemates quite a bit. We cook together one or two times a week, or other Primeros Pasos volunteers will have a dinner at their house. Given the amount of foreigners in Xela, there is always something to do, whether its a movie, a benefit party for one of the NGOs, going to get a drink or listen to music. I also like to just hang out at home during the week and read or watch a movie. I have discovered how wonderful sleep is here, and try to get as much of it as I can!

In other news, Steve is arriving tomorrow and we are headed to Semuc Champey, north of Guatemala City and then the Lake and Antigua. I will be sure to write all about it and post many pictures. I'm then headed to Mexico for some beach, ruins and a Visa run. So, it might be a while but I will blog again soon!

Relaxing times and traditional healers in Xela

This past weekend I hung around Xela and revisited some relaxing places. It was my friend Emily's last weekend in Xela, so on Saturday she and I did one of her favorite hikes to Los Vahos (the natural steam rooms). Even though I don't love steam rooms, these are a great retreat. The hour walk/hike gets you out of Xela and into farmlands within 10 min and is a great escape. Additionally, since my shower here is more of a hot trickle then an actual shower, it's wonderful to feel really hot for once. On Sunday I went back to the hot springs, the Fuentes Giorginas. These are up in the hills about 30min outside of Xela. This time though I went with a housemate's family (Guatemalan) who brought food to grill. We spent most of the day there coming in and out of the hot water, eating food off the grill and even did a little hike above the Fuentes. Next time I go back, I'm going to do it this way again!

This past week I started volunteering a few afternoons with a new organization, PIES del Occidente. They have a variety of projects, but primarily focus on Nurse and Midwife training, have 2 clinics in small towns outside of Xela, have a domestic violence program, have radio shows and also work on other various other projects related to women's health. They are much more in line with my interests. This past week, I went with the Communications Director to help her film a documentary on traditional Mayan medicine. The documentary is for Med students at the local university in order for them to learn about and understand traditional medicine. Unsurprisingly, traditional medicine is widely used (mainly everwhere but larger cities) but not taught in the University or valued by modern medicine folk. Here are the people we met and interviewed...

Chayero: One day we drove to a small town, Puesto del Aire, looking for the local Chayero - a blood healer. He was this adorable 70+ year old man, (but who looked much older). Finding his house, and his not so friendly wife, was pretty easy. But finding him was a whole other story. He decided that he would come and meet us, so went for a "walk" right around when our appointment was. We proceeded to spend the next 1.5 hours driving up and down the one road into the town looking for him walking. We had driven 2 hours to meet him, so were not going to give up easily. We called his cell phone, and he didn't pick up and his wife just waved her hand in the direction she thought he had gone. We did eventually find him, as we were just giving up hope and doing one final drive by. He said he picked up his phone the first time it rang, but no one was on the other line and he had decided to go for a walk... Nevertheless, 2 hours later, we were able to avoid another drive out into the town and interview him. The Chayero only cures "external" illnesses or pain - meaning, no stomach aches, coughs or anything of the sort. He has a piece of glass attached to a stick that he essentially flicks at your arm vein to let some of the blood out. This is supposed to ease the pain and cure you when chemical medicine, as they call it, doesn't work. He has far fewer patients now then he used to, and hasn't trained anyone to be a Chayero. I'm not really sure what is going to happen when he is no longer able to work.

Curero - a bone healer. This man was easier to find, and was there when he said he would be. We saw him make his cream that he uses to heal muscle soreness and problems. Using sheep lard, leaves, incense, and some berries he makes this potent smelling cream. Let me tell you though, I've never smelt something as terrible as the melting of the sheep lard, it is nasty! For the bone healing, from what I could tell, he essentially pops bones back into place if they've been dislocated. Or, he can tell through feeling if you've broken something. He is still pretty popular and has a number of patients a week.

Comadrona - midwife. I don't think we consider midwives traditional healer, but in Guatemala they aren't respected as they are in the US. This probably has to do with them not having any formal training here and many guatemalan's thinking that only western medicine is real medicine. This Midwife started when she was 18 and is now 69. She estimated that she had attended over 4,000 births! During her exam of a pregnant woman (obviously), she used her hands over the belly to estimate how many months along the woman was. She also pushed the fetus around to see if everything was ok and healthy. I'm not really sure what she was looking for, but hopefully will find out in the near future.

Doing these interviews was a really interesting adventure! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but hopefully will have a copy of the documentary for all who are interested!

El Volcan Tajumulco

This weekend, I hiked the tallest mountain, which also happens to be a volcano, in Central America - Tajumulco. It was an absolutely amazing trek. It's 4,223 m (13,854 feet) high and some claim it is still active, however none of those recent eruptions have been documented. (A volcano has to have had no eruptions for 500 years to become officially dormant.)

My housemate and fellow Primeros Pasos volunteer, Marissa, and another friend Fernando and I went together on the trek, guided by Quetzaltrekers. Quetzaltrekers is a non profit that leads trips with volunteer guides. All proceeds of the treks go to Escuela de la Calle and Primeros Pasos. We were all really impressed with the guides, the food and the organization of the trip. (this picture is of Marissa and I with Tajumulco on the right and the other peak on the left, base camp was in the middle)






We left Saturday morning at 4:45am at the Quetzaltrekers office and then took a pick up truck to the bus terminal. We then took a chicken bus ride to San Marcos, had breakfast at a small comedor, and then got on another bus to the trail head. At the trail head, there was another group getting ready to trek up - they had mules to carry their water, tents, food and sleeping bags. We called them slackers. They also had a police escort.

At around 10am we started hiking up and after a few breaks, a nice lunch (homemade by the quetzaltrekers) and a snack, we arrived to base camp around 3. There were 8 other participants, 4 guides and 2 11-year olds from the school that Quetzaltrekers supports. We were all extremely impressed with the 11-year olds, and extremely jealous with the amount of energy they appeared to have! The guides kept telling us that our group was one of the fastest they had ever had and I loved how we all stuck together. The weather was pretty cloudy, so we couldn't see any of the views around us and had no idea how high up we were or where we were.

(This a pic of Fernando and I on the way down, a little out of order, but you get the idea) Base camp was on the saddle in between the top of Tajumulco and another peak to the side of it. After setting up the tents and having some hot drinks, because it was getting quite cold. The plan was to then see the sunset from the peak that is to the side of Tajumulco. We hiked up there around sunset, but the peak was completely covered in clouds, so we didn't get to see a thing. Nevertheless it was a nice hike, and nice to be without our packs. We then had dinner, and were all in bed around 8:00pm!

The next morning was another early one, but well worth it. We all woke up at 4am and hiked to the summit to watch the sunrise. This was the most challenging part, because we were all still half asleep, the terrain was the most challenging and it was pitch black dark. As we started hiking up, for the first time we saw how high up we actually were and it was incredible. The cloud was breaking over the towns in the valley below us and you saw the city lights and a blanket of cloud cover.

We got to the summit, pulled out our sleeping bags and watched the sunrise over the clouds. Words can't describe how amazing it was, so here are some pictures. You might not be able to see it in the pictures, but in the background is the tip of Santa Maria (the volcano near Xela), Sant'Agito erupting next to it, and Fuego (near Antigua) erupting in the distance. It was an incredible hike, and I didn't want to come back down! At the top with the shadow of Tajumulco and Tacana in the background:

Pictures!

I love all the different foods that new places bring. A few weekends ago I went to the beach, El Tulate, with the other "Posada" Residents. Other than being a great weekend at the beach, in the sun, getting tan (jealous yet?) I also had some amazing seafood.




Here is Marissa eying our food. We were starved! The food takes at least an hour to make after you order it. They make everything to order, because they never know how many customers, if any, are going to come for dinner. It didn't seem that the restaurants had any of the food before you got there either. We would see someone - sometimes the 14 year old looking child (or someone) of the chef - disappear into "town" for a little while and then run back with what appeared to be a part of our meal. Either the vegetables, tortillas, or even the fish... The "town" iscomprised of a strip of restaurants, one hotel, and a few tiendas, so I wondered if they just borrowed foods from the other restaurants. I think we were the the only overnight vistors we saw all weekend. The fish, ceviche and shrimp was all amazingly good and well worth the wait!


Back in Xela, these are the infamous chocobananas. I'm not sure where it comes from, but a favorite snack is chocolate covered fruit. The Primeros Pasos staff do have a favorite place to purchase chocobananas, chocomango, and chocopina. There is one store near the bus stop where the woman dips them to order, so they are always fresh. Plus, you can choose one dip or two, white or dark chocolate (or a dip of each.) It is a favorite breakfast for some too...


This is a common sweets table at the market. Just about everything coconut and everything candied you can imagine. The most common intense looking sweets are candied sweet potato, squash and pumpkin. I will most likely not try those.



Ok, this isn't food, but it is a raccoon looking animal on a leash - in one of the restaurants at the beach (where we chose not to eat). It was rather bizzare, so I decided to share, as a good blogger does.

Update

It's been about a month and a half since I've been here in Xela. I can't believe how quickly time has flown by! So, here is a general update of how things are going, what I'm doing and all those small things that often don't get recorded.

For the moment, I'm still volunteering at Primeros Pasos. We haven't started to go to the schools yet, as there aren't enough Health Educators to do the daily work in the clinic and go to the schools. One class of 20-40 students comes to the clinic each day where they have a doctor's visit and have a 30-45min workshop, facilitated by us Health Educators. Depending on the age of the class, different topics are covered. Topics include nutrition, hygiene (washing fruits and vegetables, hands, brushing teeth, etc...) and puberty. It has been interesting to teach these classes and work at the clinic. I've learned about the Guatemalan Health Care System in general, talk to Guatemalan medical students and see some of the major illnesses and health problems in this region. I think I'll work with them for one or two more weeks, and then pursue some other, more reproductive health focused, opportunities that I've been looking into. Also, my spanish is slowly getting better and I'm getting more comfortable with it. It's easy to speak lots of english here, but I'm actively trying to find more opportunities to speak only Spanish and teaching the classes does help. I should be starting with a language partner this week that will hopefully help. You might also find me back in language classes in a month or two if my language isn't at the level i'd like for it to be.

I've rented a room at the Posada San Andres, and really love both the community and the Posada. (pictures on my flikr account: http://flickr.com/gp/35669856@N05/q82661) It's a spanish style house, so there is a main courtyard with all the rooms surrounding it. This means that to go anywhere (kitchen, bathroom) you have to go outside. I both love this, because it has a rustic and homey feel, and dread it in the middle of the night when I have to go to the bathroom or in the morning when i need to take a shower. Regardless, the hammock and couch on the patio make up for it. There are 8 of us who live here total, and surprisingly you never really have to wait to cook dinner. There is also a cat who lives here, Kitty. She is taken care of by one of my house mates and therefore is safe and clean. She is a little spastic, but I love being around a cat again.

Unfortunately, at the moment I have fleas. We went to the beach last weekend, which is where I think i picked them up. They are kind of like lice or bedbugs and a pain to get rid of. I have washed everything and put my mattress out in the sun for hours to try and kill them. It hasn't worked yet so I might have to give it a second go later this week. One of the med students at Primeros Pasos told me that eventually everyone who stays long enough in Guatemala gets them. I was hoping that it wouldn't happen to me!

Carnaval

It's been a while since my last post, and even a week since Carnaval - but the food and the event make it definitely worth a quick post. For Mardi Gras, and the holy days that follow, there was a huge street fair near the cemetery. Vendors overtook the park in front of the cemetery and the entire street alongside it. Selling everything from typical lent foods (such as dried fish and iguana and many coconut sweets) to giant pots (and I mean giant - 2 of me could fit inside), bags and ceramics. There were also carnival games, ferris wheels and cars that you could drive around. The best part though, was all the street food. Tens of "restaurants" were set up all in a strip. Restauranteurs spent a day setting up their stores, building stoves and bringing in seating areas to serve great looking food.

Our evening consisted of first Chicken Pepian, which is reminiscent of a mole sauce. It was delicious! To accompany our Pepian, we had two hot drinks: Caldo de Leche and Rompopo de Fruta. We then moved onto a form of pizza, a la guatemalan. Thick, freshly baked dough with a drop of tomato sauce and cheese (not sure if it was Mozarella). Our final entree were Mexican tacos, that reminded me how you get used to always eating the same flavors. There was something about them that was very not Guatemalan that probably made them taste even better. The evening ended with freshly fried churros, that are good, even to me - a non-churro lover.

While the food was great, and it was fun to go around to 5 different stands and try all sorts of things, the excitement of the evening was probably in the flour. We went to Carnaval on Mardi Gras, the biggest - and most vicious night. I didn't know this, but soon found out, that it's tradition to crack eggs filled with confetti on people's heads and throw flour on people. Therefore, there was no shortage of high school and middle school aged kids having their fun. While a few of my friends got attacked with the flour right from the start, I managed to stay clean. We even got a little retaliation finding those that had thrown flour, and cracking some eggs on their heads. Towards the end of the evening, all of us began to let our guard down a little and the group I was with got a little ahead of me. As soon as we separated, I was mobbed by a group of at least 5 or 6 kids, who loved throwing as much flour (mixed with a little real egg this time), onto the poor gringa... I think you could have baked a loaf of bread with the amount of flour I had in my mouth, hair, eyes, clothes... and I had gotten so close to coming out almost totally clean! Here are some pics of the tacos and Marissa and Sat - post being floured.