Swearing in, Party @ Antiguas and Settling in.

It took o nly about 40 seconds this past friday the 18th when the vice ambasador swore us in to become actual Peace Corps Volunteers. After, the whole group headed to Antigua to celebrate for the weekend. We said goodbye to our host parents of three months and headed for a funfilled weekend of drunkedness and happyness. I stayed at Kafkas along with Jessica, Kaying, Tim and Jane, and that night we celebrated at the famous Mono Loco, along with some other clubs I cannot remeber right now. Apparentlly it is dangerous to let 31 Peace Corps Trainees who have been housed in for three months loose. That night plenty of us were "BOLOed" or drunk.



We continued the party until Saturday night when we saw an awesome live Rock cover band. The band did plenty of Los Fabulosos Cadillac songs to have us jumping on top of each other, the energy in the room was fun and intense.
La SaLa, Antigua.
That Sunday was as depressing ad stressful as ever, Peace Corps IS a Rollercoaster Ride of emotions. With all the fun that weekend, everyone purposefully had forgotten they had to travel alone to their site with all their luggage. I personally had to take a shuttle to the Capital and a Pullman from there to Xela.

I didnt arrive to Xela until 7 pm that night making it too late for me to get to my site which is one hour north of Xela. I decided on staying in Casa Argentina which is a big Hippie Hangout in Xela and where the rooms are really cheap. Luckily 6 others from the group where also staying at the Hostel that night and were traveling the next day.
Casa Argentina Xela...

Casa Argentina, Xelaju, Guatemala, reminding people to clean after themselves

Settiling in has been O.K so far, I visited my site two weeks ago so the brunt of Culture Shock already has eased into my mind. I have been here almost three days and I have already started to work in some of my schools. I have also begun to look for housing for the next two years.

An hour ago I just finished giving a presentation to about 150 parents of students. Intense. Intense, Intense. Specally when you are a starnger in a community of people that have been oppresed for over 500 years. I was advised by the locals in My town San Vicente Buenabaj NOT to look at, or take pictures of children because of the bad reputation Guatemala has of children being stolen for illegal adoptions. But not too worry I am still ok, and I think I will be.

Extra Pictures from past 3 months.

Chicken bus the fell to it´s doom in the mountainous plains of Baja Verapaz
Fanny
Mixco Viejo Ruins
The crew at Volcano Pacaya

Kids picking up a car at El Chiux, Alta Verapaz
Gangs are a harsh reality in Guatemala.
My Home for Field Base Training.
Curious Parrot
Mayan Ceremony at Santiago Atitlan, Lake Atitlan.

My Host family.

Site Assignment and Site Visit.

Yes!!!

It is finally a reality. We were finally assigned our sites for the next two years. After much anticipation and an anxiety hair raising 2 day delay by our APCD Dr. Ball. We were finally given our site on June 25th.

It all took place in the municipality at my town of San Bartolome. Early that morning to reduce the anxiety, I took a jog through the campo. We then all met at the Muni at 9:00 AM and after some dialogue from the Doctor we were given the names of the sites and with a large map we were shown the locations.

Dr. Gonzalo Ball, our Youth Development Project Director.

The Manila folder held information about our future homes.

AND THE WINNER IS.......

??? ???????? ????????????
------------ is a small of the Municipality of ------------from the Department of -----------. It is located in the western highlands and is about 2,725 meters high. The population is roughly 14,000 people and has 14 caserillos (twps). The town is 98% indigenous K'iche and 95 % of the pop speak the Mayan Dialect K'iche. Because of it's altitude, the weather is Cold. The town is also 100% agricultural, growing mostly corn, beans, and potatoes along with some other yummy vegetables & fruit.

I had the chance to visit my site last week with the help of my counterparts who are ------------ and -----------, the local CTA (superintendent) of the schools in the town and the director of one of the Junior High Schools I will be working for.

Here are some other pics of --.-----------

(Due to PC policy I had to edit this post by deleting the names of my site). Sorry.

Mecanical baby from el Infierno (hell), and some art :-)

Field Base Training is two years of a Peace Corps volunters' life meshed up into 11 weeks, you either keep up with the cultre, lifestyle and language of the host country or get left behind in the dust. It is definatelly a test of ones physical, (intestinal) but most importantly emotional endurance. The rollercoaster ride of emotions being the most dificult part of the process.

here are some of the things I have been up to these past few weeks...

Heres a pic of the Mechanical baby fom Hell.

Several weeks back Our APCD Gonzalo set us up with a Guatemalan Organization which dedicates itself to teaching children the joys or downs of parenthood by providing them with mechanical babies. The children keep the babies for about a week and have to care for them as if it where their own. With the help of a chip planted inside of them, the babies are programed to cry histerically when they are cold , hungry, need to be carried, need their diaper changed or are just plain cranky. Maggie was my partner in this wonderful experience and we decided on naming the baby Milagro de Jesus Giraldo Hume. I kept her that first night and did not get any sleep at all. This experience has let me to postpone any child rearing for many years to come.

This past week we at San Bartolome Milpas Altas realized an event with the children in the community. We organized an Art Day at the Municipality which was a success. The children had to draw about the Comunity of San bartolome. A total of 35 people arrived and we had music and snacks. Good times...