Camionetas

Transportation here can be quite an experience. The most comfortable method of travel are Pullmans but they’re rare and only on the Pan-American Highway. The most common form of transportation are camionetas and riding on them is an essential experience of Guatemalan life. Camionetas are school buses from the U.S. that have somehow found their way down here. Usually they’re painted different colors but sometimes you’ll see the traditional yellow with the name of a U.S. school district on the side. At the front of the bus there is the leftover English sign that reads “Your child’s safety is our business.” These signs are pretty funny because if you’ve ever been on a camioneta you know that safety isn’t exactly a priority. The system is quite simple: the more people you can fit on your camioneta the more money you’ll make by giving them passage. As a result everyone is packed in on top of one another. I am especially at a disadvantage when it comes to riding in camionetas. I have long legs and when I sit down my knees are mashed into the metal back of the seat in front of me. The bumpy, unpaved road to Salquil Grande only makes this worse and I just have to grin and bear it. Sometimes you’ll get preachers who come on and scream the word of the Lord up front during the duration of the ride. Though it can be annoying, it’s also rather impressive. I like to think that it’s part of their training in seminary: they have to deliver sermons on a certain number of buses. The most bizarre form of camioneta busking I’ve seen (and this happened twice) was a man got on and made balloon animals (he was very good) and then ask for donations. Yes camionetas are quite the experience but unfortunately riding on them is your best chance of being robbed so you always have to be on the lookout.

My usual camioneta ride is the 5 a.m. bus that departs Salquil Grande for Nebaj. I wait outside of my house for the camioneta to roll-up, lights flashing in the dark, foggy street. I’ve mentioned before that they play a variety of music on the camionetas but on those that run between Salquil Grande and Nebaj all you’ll here are Christian tunes. Everyone is sort of in a sleepy half-awake state as the sun comes up during the ride. Once I would love for something like “Angel of Death” by Slayer to come blasting on and just see everyone whip their heads up in surprise. The other day on the bus someone was playing “Tarzan Boy” by Baltimora which made me smile because I remember it was on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III movie soundtrack I bought when I was 6.

The other common method of transportation are microbuses (in Africa we called them bush taxis). These are preferable to camionetas because they’re faster, usually more comfortable and sometimes the music is better. This past weekend I had a fun microbus experience. I was headed to Quiché, the department capital, to buy some things for my house so I caught a microbus in Nebaj for the beautiful three hour ride. We’d only made it two blocks when the woman next to me pulled out a bag and started gagging. Within ten minutes two other people were vomiting. I hugged the window, opened my book and tried not to smell. The first part of the drive from Nebaj to Quiche is a winding, rapid descent down the mountains with a stunning view, easily one of the most spectacular drives I’ve ever been on. Luckily the weather was sunny and clear and I could see for miles and I tried to focus on the beautiful day as opposed to the Guatemaltecos ralphing around me. I don’t know who Ralph was or what he did that made his name synonymous with vomit (although I have a clue) but I feel sorry for the guy.

On another note I’ve got a new address now that I’m out at post and it’s apparently more reliable than my previous one so please send stuff! Oh and also big thanks to Zach, Miles, and Will for keeping me up to date with good music.

Cowboys, Chickens, Knives, & Aggies

Man have I been bad about updating my thing. I’m curled up in bed right now because my stomach is being difficult. It’s raining outside (shocking) and I’m listening to Mule Variations because Tom Waits feels right. This is the perfect environment for writing and it has definitely been wayyyyyy too long since I’ve updated this thing. Two weeks ago was our field based training. We spent the week visiting towns and volunteer sites in the state of Jalapa, in the eastern part of the country. The Oriente (as they call the east) is populated with Ladinos. People are much more open compared to the people of the Occcidente (the west) which has a more conservative, indigenous (Mayan) presence. Probably my favorite part about the east is that all the men wear cowboy hats. They are worn all over the country but they’re much more prevalent out east. You’d see a group of four men talking in the park all gathered around wearing their white cowboy hats, jeans, and boots. I bought a cowboy hat in Antigua and I can’t wait to wear it to work.


I'm a baaaaad man


Our base was Mataquescuintla, the pronunciation of which I butchered continually throughout the trip much to the chagrin of my Spanish instructor. We stayed in Mataquescuintla but during the day we would travel up into the scenic mountains that surround it to visit smaller communities. Our first day we visited a volunteer (that one of us will be replacing) in her beautiful mountainside village. They grow a lot of coffee there. I don’t drink coffee, I made it through college without drinking coffee, but something tells me I’ll be a coffee drinker before I leave Guatemala. It’s seriously like water here. Babies begin drinking coffee at 6 months which is absurd to me. I tried to explain to my family that I don’t drink it but they just can’t wrap their heads around it. On numerous occasions they’ve brought up how weird it is for someone not to drink coffee. We’ll see what happens. Right now my only vice here is Coca-Cola. It’s so delicious because they use real sugar here, not artificial like in the U.S. Anyways, I digress. It felt so nice to be in a rural area. The slower, friendlier lifestyle.

I’d say there were two real highlights of the trip. The first would be our presentations and how much of a disaster mine was. A women's group had requested presentations on certain agriculture related topics. My topic was tire gardening. There are really only two difficult parts of teaching tire gardening: cutting and then flipping the tire inside out. My presentation went relatively well until we got to those two steps. I had a nice icebreaker and a group activity that conveyed the theme but then came the hands on part. The cutting of the tire part wasn’t too terrible. Tires destroy knives and when I cut into it my knife’s locking blade collapsed on my hand (cuts #1 & #2). The real problem came when I flipped the tire inside out. I had practiced and knew that flipping a tire inside out isn’t exactly easy so I grabbed the tire and immediately threw my strength into it. It worked but it was an old tire and in my haste I had failed to avoid the exposed steel cords that reinforce the sidewall. This resulted in patchy cuts #3-6 on my left hand and slitting my right thumb open (cut #7). At first I didn’t notice the cuts but when I touched my one of my posters as I was presenting it left some blood. The cuts weren’t serious but I was worried about my thumb. Needless to say the end of my presentation was accompanied with nervous laughter from the audience which wasn’t sure how bad the cuts were. I finished presenting and immediately doused my hands in antiseptic. Tires tend to be a little dirty. With the exception of the scene I created, I was pleased with my presentation. The women responded well and got involved in the cutting process.


Tire flippin'


The second highlight of the trip was our vaccination session. I’ve received probably 20 + shots in the past two years and it felt nice to dish out some of my own even if it was just to chickens. I have to say they are much better patients than humans. If someone tried to give me a shot on the back of my neck with a needle almost as long as my face you’d probably hear something close to Steve Martin’s car rental outburst in the Planes, Trains and Automobiles.


No he didn't get a sucker or a bouncy ball.


Speaking of doctors and shots, I don’t know how much press it got stateside but last week’s release of the Guatemalan Syphilis experiments in 1940s certainly got a lot of press here. If you don’t know what I’m talking about it was recently revealed that as part of a U.S. government sponsored medical experiment U.S. public health doctors deliberately infected Guatemalan prisoners, mental patients and soldiers with syphilis in the mid-1940s. Not surprisingly it was carried out by the same immoral doctor who was in charge of the Tuskegee Experiments. Terrible, terrible stuff. Anyways, I hope that this recent revelation will not complicate my service here as an American volunteer.

On a lighter note, we were translating our résumés into Spanish today and I came across something funny. On my résumé I have “farmhand” written as my position at Poplar Ridge Farm where I worked during the summer of 2007. According to my dictionary the word for “farmhand” in Spanish is “peón” from which the English “peon” is derived. I will not be listing my job title as “peon.”

Hmm what else has happened? We went to the city to see a speaker from Texas A&M give a presentation on adult education methods in agriculture. That was pretty neat but sitting there with a name tag that had the Texas A&M logo above my name I couldn’t help but think of my mom and how she would feel if she saw me wearing that. I’m sure the Longhorn in her would not approve. Our tech trainer is a Texas A&M grad and I think he just enjoys calling us all Aggies. The rain got so bad that I finally bought some rain boots. My BluBlockers are making my world a brighter place, I feel like I’m walking around in bizarro world whenever I put them on, Zach. We had our last school presentation today which comes with some relief. Our class was quite a handful.

Training is winding down; we swear in as volunteers on the 29th and then it’s off to our sites for the next two years. We find out where we’ll be serving next Thursday so count on a post about that. If you’re interested and you happen to have a map of Guatemala handy I can tell you this much about our potential sites: 3 sites are located in the state of Quiché (not pronounced like the French cuisine), 2 in Jalapa, 1 in Chimaltenango, 1 in San Marcos, 1 in Sololá, and 1 in Zacapa. So I will be living in one of those states for the next two years.

Amongst the tall corn

On Saturday I arrived at San Bartolome Milpas Altas (literally Saint Bartolome Tall Corn), my home for the next 3 months. Located just west of the capital in the central highlands of Guatemala, San Bartolome is a city of about 8,000, five of whom are Peace Corps trainees. The town lies along the Pan-American Highway (how appropriate) which runs all the way from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. The weather up here is cold and it rains everyday. San Bartolome is nestled in the mountainside and sits at about 7,000 ft above sea level. Needless to say the town is very, very hilly. I live in the steep hills just outside of the city, about an eight minute walk to the center of town. It's a hike to mi casa from San Bartolome but I like it up there, it's muy tranquilo compared to the inner city where the other four volunteers live. In fact the only noise I hear are the numerous "bombas" which are shot off continually throughout the day and night.

Let me try and paint a picture of the property on which I live. Like all homes in Central America, there is a gate at the entrance. When you enter there is a drive at the bottom of a hill that leads past four houses which are located up the hill. These four houses belong to my family and extended family. The drive is bordered by avocado, lime, and pear trees and continuing down the drive leads to pasture, a pig sty and a small soccer field. All of this property belongs to my family. It's very, very nice and I have an incredible view of the highlands from my doorstep.

I live in a house with a family of four: Mi madre Olivia (35), mi padre Raul (31), Carmen (5), and Carla (2 1/2). They are a very warm and welcoming family and I'm the fourth trainee they have put up. It's fun to have siblings. Whenever I come home Carlita will yell "Daniel!" and run up and immediately lock herself around my leg (she goes up to my knee), prompting Carmen to do the same thing. Yea, I feel the love. Raul does party planning. Kinda like Zach except he hasn't gotten into the tents yet so Zach if you're reading this, and you want to expand your business southward in your mission to tent the world, I know a guy you can talk to. My first night in the hills of San Bartolo two kids asked me to play soccer with them on that small field. They're about 13 so I towered over them and could speed past them with my long legs. They called me the Hulk and I called them Shrek and Donkey. It was Shrek and Donkey vs. the Hulk which if you ask me wasn't fair. After running around for 10 minutes I was completely out of breathe, I'm not used to playing soccer at 7,000 feet. Still it was a lot of fun.

Sunday I spent with the family. They're Catholic and as is custom on Sundays, they lit a candle to burn all day in front of their shrine of some saint. In the afternoon the whole family piled into the car with Eminem blasting on the radio and Raul drove us further into the hills all the way up to the my family's farm. Raul is a reggaeton fan and Olivia likes Marco Antonio Solis (YES!). They walked with me up the terraced hills which bore the fruit of their labor: avocados, peaches, some vegetables I'd never heard of, and lots and lots of corn. It was a great family outing and a nice beginning to my three months here.