Category Archives: Guatemala

Week of Holidays

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I´ve just returned from a Halloween party in San Martin, which is about an hour away from San Juan Comalapa. I went with some of the Long Way Home crew and our other volunteer. Our host is a friend of the Executive Director of Long Way Home and the annual Halloween Party has been a tradition for four years. There was a live band from Chimaltenango that played a mix of metal and rock. The crowd was mostly young men and we gringos were certainly the only ones dressed up in costumes. Halloween is not a popular holiday here, so the fact that there was any kind of crowd was a success. The next day we went over to the cementery to watch some of the festivities of Dia de los Muertos, which is a Catholic holiday that honors the deceased. The tradition is to decorated the headstone of the loved one with flores, candels, and their favorite foods or drinks. Also, people fly kites to allow the souls to reach heaven and decorate them with paper that makes loud noises to scare away bad spirits. All day we watched thousands of these kites fly high up into the sky. As I watched, I wondered why is there not a holiday in my culture that celebrates the lives of those that have passed on? Is it not important to us to remember? Or is it that we are not a Catholic nation?

I´m sure it is a mixture of things, but I feel blessed to have experienced such a special holiday. No matter my culture or religion, I have decided to celebrate this holiday for years to come because I believe it is important to give an offereing, an act of rememberance to those who have gone before me. I want to have a special day for them.

In other news, yet another volunteer has arrived from Cananda and I am excited she is here. It is always nice to have more company and another travel buddy. I believe we are going to go to Antigua next weekend to check out some sites.

Work is going well. We collected 300 river rocks while we were in San Martin to finish one of the buildings known as the garrita. Last weekend we finished pouring concrete on the upper level of aula 0, which will someday be the art building. Sadly, two staff members, the Project Mananager and the Volunteer Coordinator, are leaving to the States next week so there will definitely be a different atmosphere around the worksite. It will take some adjusting, but I´m sure we will manage.

I´ll let you know in a couple of weeks.

Shannon

Well, it´s bee…

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Well, it´s been a while hasn´t it? Two weeks to be exact since my last post.

There are a couple reasons for that. One, the internet at my host site comes and goes as frequently as a door-to-door salesman, so even when I can log in I never have enough time to finish the post. Second, as a general rule I am not allowed to go anywhere by myself, which has been an incredibly difficult adjustment for me. Currently, I am the only volunteer here so if there is not a staff person to go somewhere with me then guess what, I can´t go. Ugh. Sometimes it is very frusterating not having my independence. I know it is a cultural thing and a form of protection, but I don´t know if I will ever get used to it. Thankfully, there is another volunteer coming in just a little over a week, which means I can drag him along wherever whenever. Haha, that sounds a bit mean, but I´m feeling a bit desperate to have someone to go places with me.

Well, enough of my lack of independence rant. Moving on to some more exciting and positive news. This weekend I have had the most wonderful opportunity to stay with a Guatemalan family! The Long Way Home staff left for a retreat and, of course, I could not stay by myself so they arranged for me to stay with a family who has opened their doors to other volunteers who wanted to do a home-stay. I am only staying until Monday, but so far it has been such a treat to spend time with a family from Comalapa and see how they live. Yesterday for dinner we had tamales, which are much different than the tamales I´ve had in Mexican restaurants or from my friends´ moms. They were wrapped in a huge banana leaf and all mushy, which was absolutely delicious! I described to them the tamales I am used to and they told me that is called a chuchito. I was amazed that the same food could be prepared and called something completely different in two countries that share the same border. Que intersante!

Well, it´s almost lunch time and Ana, my house mama, told me to be back by 1:30pm. I wonder what we will have today? (:

Shannon

 

Estoy aqui!

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I´ve only been in Guatemala for five days, but I feel a timelessness as if I´ve been here for ages. The nervousness and anxiety I was feeling before I arrived has completely melted away. Papa, you were right. I was ready.

A driver named Donal and a staff member, Lisa, from Long Way Home picked me up from the airport. Donal forgot his sign that says Long Way Home, so if Lisa hadn´t been able to recognize me it might have been a whole other kind of experience. The trip from Guatemala City to San Juan Comalapa is about an hour and a half. Lisa asked me if I wanted to stop at Taco Bell and I was like, “um, of course!” The drive through was called Auto Bell and they served potatoes as a side. It was a really awesome first experience in Guatemala. Afterwards, we drove to Comalapa in the rain and thank goodness Donal is such a good driver because traffic in the city is insane! Huge buses that they call chicken busses weave in and out of traffic cutting off motorbikes, cars, and bicycles. I´m sure accidents happen all the time, but Donal is an expert, so we made it safe and sound.

For now, I am staying in the volunteer house in an aldea (a tiny village) called Chimiya. But now that I´ve been here for a little while, I am seriously considering staying with host family. I really want to feel connected with the city and the people. Some past volunteers have told me that is the best way to be accepted into the community. They said they can put me in touch with some families, so we´ll see how that works out.

As for work, I am still trying to find my place within the Long Way Home crew. Their Volunteer Coordinator left unexpectedly right before I arrived, so they are in some transition. I am going to ask if I can take on some of that position´s responsibilities because that is where they have the most need. So far, I have been doing some construction jobs and working with the Guatemalan crew, which has been amazing. Most of them are indigenous Mayans and they have been teaching me their language, Kaqchikel. In return, I´ve been teaching them English. My Spanish has improved already and I am fully enjoying speaking in another language. I actually feel like a bit of a different person when I speak Spanish. I don´t know how to explain it, but it definitely feels different.

My first weekend here, I traveled with some other volunteers to Lake Atitilan and Antigua. We took the chicken buses, which are such an experience themselves that I think I am going to write a whole blog on them. For another time. Anyway, in Atitilan we stayed in a small village called San Marcos. There isn´t much of a night life there, but there are many yoga and meditation retreats. We ate some delicious curry and found a girls soccer game to watch with the locals. The next morning we left pretty early to travel to Antigua where we stayed at a hostel called Earth Lodge. Ay chicas, what a place! There were travelers from all over the world; Europe, Australia, Israel, Chile, and New York. I met so many cool people for example this guy Marcos who lives in Guate City. He drew me a map of all these places to go and things to do. His friend, Mariela, was visiting him from Chile and we all hung out together for the night. In the morning I did yoga from the top of a mountain looking out over Antigua and two volcanoes, Fuego and Agua. It was a beautiful experience.

With the weekend at an end, I am back in Comalapa ready for my second week of work. I have already done and seen so much I´m not sure where to go next! But thanks to people like Marcos, I have plenty of suggestions.

The internet here comes and goes, so hopefully you all will be hearing from me soon. Hasta que, cuidale.

Shannon

Pre-Departure Mash Up

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I never thought I would feel anxious about this trip to Guatemala, but I need to admit that I am. This past Saturday I returned from a week long trip to northern California with my Mom to see my Nana, Uncle Skip, and my cousin Holly. When I got home, I had overwhelming feelings of anxiety and sadness. I couldn’t understand why. Was it because I missed my family? Was I scared to leave my friends? Was I nervous about speaking Spanish? To help find some advice I sought out my roommate Emily who has just returned from her own study abroad adventure in Argentina. While I was sobbing in the shower, I asked her, “Emily, what’s wrong with me?” and she said, “Shannon! There’s nothing wrong with you!” On the other side of the shower curtain she explained to me that yes, there will be good and bad days, yes, you will struggle understanding people, and yes, you will be home sick. But, the experience of growing and learning about myself in another language and culture is one of the most challenging and certainly the most valuable. She assured me that I am ready for this adventure and that everything in my life has only prepared me more for it. In the end, I think I just needed a solid pep talk.

Now here I am. T-minus 12 hours to a three month adventure of a lifetime. Am I ready? Well, that depends. I have my suitcase packed, my finances in order, and my passport on hand. Said my farewells, hugged, kissed, and waved goodbye. But, even after all that I may never be ready. It’s kind of like what I’ve heard about parenting – you’re never ready to be a parent. You just do it and see what happens. So, that’s what I’m going to do.

In the wise words of my Papa, “Don’t look back, Shanny, you can only look forward.”