Well it's September 15th which is Guatemala's day of independence (it shares this date back in 1821 with El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica). As such an important day the town is alive and brimming with commotion. This morning there was a parade which wove through the streets. It reminded me of those Montreat parades I used to march in, with kids dressed as different things like the Quetzal (Guatemala's national symbol). The most interesting part of the parade was probably a group of children dressed up in black face to depict the Garifuna people (West African descendants who inhabit the eastern part of the country). I don't think that would exactly fly stateside. Everyone was decked out in their blue and white, school bands marched and little kids set off fireworks in the streets. It's such a neat thing to experience another country's day of independence, witness all their patriotism and pride. It's been a while since I've updated. I've been very busy: lots of presentations with little prep time but it's good to practice shooting from the hip. Tomorrow I've got to give a presentation on tire gardening in Spanish which should be interesting.
It was a good weekend. Saturday we took part in a traditional Mayan ceremony. I'm looking forward to learning more about the Mayan culture and since my program is Food Security it's likely I will be in a more rural, Mayan village. It was very interesting. It's been an amazing year experiencing different religious ceremonies. In the past year I've been to a Jehovah's Witness service, a Christian service, participated in a voodoo ceremony, an informal Jewish event, a Pagan/Wiccan solstice party and now a Mayan ceremony. It's been awesome to take part in such a wide array of sacred events. I'm completely fascinated with different cultures, ways of life, beliefs, etc. It's a desire to understand one another through learning and absorbing different cultural aspects.
I spent this past Sunday up at the farm with my family. When we got to the farm we found their guard dog Rex lying lifeless. It turns out a coyote had gotten him. It was a little sad but we dug a grave and buried him under the corn. We hung up plastic bags to scare birds away from the avocado trees and we cut down some corn to sell. It was a great to spend the day with the extended family and not have a tech or Spanish session to attend. I've been playing some soccer which has been good exercise especially up here at 7,000 ft and I'm going to have a nice tush by the end of training thanks to the steep hill that leads to my house.
We're taking a field trip next week which should be quite the outing. Yup that will be me and eight girls. I may commit seppuku before I make it back. I'm enjoying Food Security, I find the information really interesting and I'm looking forward to working with the Guatemaltecos after swear-in. We've got a garden set up right now and we've been tending to it. We're growing some basic crops that will harvest within the couple months we're in training like root crops (radishes, beets, carrots), some tomatoes and then three cousins (broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage). So far so good, we're seeing sprouting although we need to do some thinning (or "purging" as Stalin would call it). The only problem has been that some chuchos (street dogs) did some digging in one of our beds the other day.
Something I would like to address are the landslides that recently caused a national emergency here. Some of you probably heard about it some of you may not have. The major American media programs (CNN, FOX, MSNBC, etc.) spend very little time on international news so you have to look elsewhere to find out what's going on in other parts of the world. I recommend BBC.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Guatemala is ripe for natural disasters and landslides are among the most prevalent. This rainy season has been the most powerful in Guatemala's history. The country has received more than three times the normal amount of rainfall. Last week torrential downpours caused several landslides throughout the country. In Nahuala in the state of Solola (north of where I'm located) along the Pan-American Highway two landslides occurred. The first took out a bus. When help showed up there was a second landslide. The current estimates are 46 people dead. It's awful, thousands have had to evacuate their homes. These disasters come after the devastating Tropical Storm Agatha that hit Guatemala in May. Remember pictures of that sinkhole? According to BBC.com the president estimates that roughly 263 have died so far this year as a result of the rain. The bad news is their predicting it will only get worse. It's tough with such tragedy happening all around.
Here are some photographs from BBC.com: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11193592
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