Tropical Storm Agatha

Tropical Storm Agatha hit this weekend bringing heavy rains throughout Guatemala. Just before the storm one of the 30+ volcanoes (Pacaya) erupted spewing ash all over the capital city and closing schools across the country. Agatha did manage to get my sweats and shoes wet on my way to yoga, but other than that Lizzy and I are doing fine. It was very entertaining watching people try to jump across the roads that had become rivers. The one in front of my house looked ready to be kayaked. My favorite part of the day was watching an older man jump across the river and then have a huge smile spread across his face with his accomplishment.

Theft and attempted Theft!!!

We had our first close encounter with theft today. We piled onto an overcrowded bus on our way to the Peace Corps office and a few minutes before we got off, a well dressed woman made her way down the aisle and stopped next to Liz and leaned up against her. She put her blazer across the top of Liz's backpack, which Liz was wearing in front, and then proceeded to unzip Liz's backpack. Liz noticed what was going on, grabbed the woman's hand out of her bag and the woman just stood there nonchalantly as if they had just exchanged a greeting. It was unbelievable. Before the woman got off, she rubbed up against one other volunteer but this time cut her bag with a small razor she had and managed to get away with a bunch of small things, such as chapstick and hand sanitizer. I hope everytime she uses her hand sanitizer she thanks the nice american girl who unwittingly gave it to her.

When we got to the office one other girl from our group realized that the same woman had cut her bag as well but didn't get away with anything. So the moral of the story is never trust a well dressed woman rubbing up against you in a bus no matter what. No matter how old or nice she looks...and keep loaded bear traps inside any bag in Guatemala on a bus (or stool samples, as one volunteer recently was on their way to the doctor with their sample and it was stolen.).

First Trip to Antigua

This past Sunday we made our first trip to Antigua. It is a very charming city full of Spanish colonial architecture. The city boasts over 40 churches and I lost count after seeing 12 churches in a matter of hours. Some of those are pictured above. From the colorful houses and cobblestone streets to the beautiful restaurants and so much more, there is a lot more Antigua that we hope to discover. My favorite place on this trip was the park in the center of town with its very special fountain. Look closely and you will notice what I mean. In addition, I really liked the family playing traditional instruments in the street. If you look closely you can see that the drums the boy is playing are actually turtle shells.

Making Banana Bread

The other day I made banana bread with the kids in my family. Although my family has a functioning oven, I don't know that they have every used it for anything besides storing the beans and tortillas in. When I asked my mom here if she had measuring cups she laughed and said that she thought she got some for her wedding (8+ years ago). The kids were totally excited about making Pan de Banano and each took turns stirring in the flour. It ended up taking close to 2 hours to bake because the oven has high and low settings but no numbers. In addition, everyone in the family had to take turns opening the oven to see how it was coming along. I explained to Marleyne that whenever she opened the oven all the heat would leave and it would take much longer and would not bake as well and she actually understood what I said in my horrible spanish because she told her husband Donaldo not to look in anymore a few minutes later. When the bread was finished we all sat around and enjoyed a piece and the next day the kids asked if we could make banana bread every week, so we now have started a tradition, wednesdays are now banana bread days.

Lizzy in Sumpango and a trip to the Pacific!

Greetings from the Pacific Ocean. Lizzy came out for her first weekend in Sumpango and we went on a family trip to the coastal town of Sipacate. Of course here a family trip consists of a rented school bus packed with over 30 of our closest relatives here in Guatemala. We woke up at 3:30 to leave and along the way picked up family waiting on the side of the road. As the sun came up we enjoyed views of the local volcanos bathed in pink morning light. It was amazing.

Shortly after starting our trip at such an early hour, the driver began blasting some awesome fiesta music which were able to hear very well since our seats were located at the back of the bus...right next to the speakers. It was just the thing for 5 a.m.

When we arrived at the beach we walked on the black sand beach which was scorching hot at 9 am. We wanted to get in the water but the waves were anywhere from 6-10 ft high and we may have been the only people in our group who could actually swim. Luckily a breeze picked up later in the day that blew away the heat as well as some of the bugs.

(This was one of the less comfortable lounge chairs, but you can't beat the view.)
( Pictured are Donaldo, Christian and Valentina. They are my host family)

For Lunch we had some amazing seafood that had been caught locally at 5 a.m. that morning while we were on our way down. My bowl had an entire fish in it with tail hanging off one side, a full crab in the middle, 3 shrimp with their heads and legs still attached, mussels and sea snails. I kind of felt bad eating an entire underwater neighborhood, but you really can't turn down food here...actually, I really enjoyed it.
Here is our awesome set up. I think going to the ocean was more of an excuse for the family to cook seafood. Within an hour of arriving the cooking began and 4 hours later everything was ready.




Grilled Crab and Tortillas. The kiddie table with the ocean in the background and Donaldo dishing up his famous ceviche, which was basically the freshest salsa I've ever had with extra lime juice and shrimp and some other seafood. It was amazing.
Here Liz is helping out cooking while I play water volleyball in the pool. I don't think anyone had ever seen someone with my particular shade of skin. I frightened many of the children. If you look in the gigantic pot you can see some fish tails floating and a few of the crab.

Here is our party bus and some of the family across the street from the beach.

Here are some pictures of our first day in Sumpango. Lizzy and I hung out in the park across from the Church and witnessed a wedding procession, if you look closely you can see everyone going into the church. Later we met up with Peter, who is one of the other volunteers here and we went up to the soccer fields to strike up a game. Unfortunately it was raining heavily and soon everyone called it a day. The views from the field aren't bad though. You can see only one volcano in this picture. On November 1st the celebrate day of the dead here and they are famous for their gigantic kites that they fly in order to convey messages to their ancestors. Its amazing how big these kites are and how ornate as well. Beginning as early as July people begin working on them and some measure as much as 40 feet across.

The trip was amazing and everyone in the family was very welcoming to Lizzy telling her that she was family and that their door's were open to her should she ever need anything. We got back late at night, exhausted but happy. It was another great week in Guatemala.

Kyle's first visit to San Bartolo

Kyle came to visit me during our first weekend together. We spent the day on Saturday in town, enjoying the basketball games that take place every saturday all day long in the town´s center. There are people everywhere, smallest to oldest, everyone out just having fun, sharing the day. Kyle and I caught a small soccer game with the little one´s in front of the municipal building...unfortunately it ended when they couldn´t help but notice the money in our pockets and insisted we buy them all drinks. In San Bartolome we are lucky to have a new sports area on the top of the hill. The girls in my group and I have played a few pick up soccer games on the field with the local kids. As Kyle noticed, it´s also the best place to catch the cool air and get an awesome view. A few of the photos, where there is a lot of greenery and a dog, are of the hike we went on with my brother, Cesar. There is a local forest that is nature reserve of San Bartolome. The hike was beautiful with trees so tall they were swaying into one another when the wind picked up. There were areas that were very thick and it felt more jungle like with vines hanging down and gigantic bannana tree leaves. Although is area is protected, in one of the pictures you can barely make out a person in front of Cesar and I. This person was running through the forest...after poaching a huge bag full of plants, ultimately to sell in the market. Cesar also showed us where there are three caves protecting natural springs which provide some of the water for the community. As we reached the top, there was a magnificent view of Antigua and of course of two other volcanoes. Doaki, our family dog, was just as thrilled as we were to come along for the day!

Lizzy in San Bartolo

The first of many new recipes to come...during one of our classes my group learned how to make Chilles Rellenos at Dona Rosa´s house. It took a lot of work and a few hours, but man are they tasty, the hotter the better!





This picture isn´t so great, but it is of a woman carrying 4 huge loads on her head, can you spot her?











San Bartolome is the name of the small town I, Lizzy, live in. It sits at the bottom of the mountains so there are many hikes to go on. Here are a few pictures from the view above as I walk to a friends house for class. As you can see, at the top of the mountains is where most people grow crops. This is interesting when thinking about erosion and emergency plans in the case of an earthquake...Not to worry, we have a plan!In the middle is also a picture of some of my family. Mom, Dona Dora, Dad Don Cesar, Sister Julissa and my two adopted nephews, Diego, 4 and Sebastian 1.

Making Tortillas

Each day I have hours of language and technical training with Felipe, who is the very short man in the back of these pictures. I am in a group with 3 other people, Pedro (Peter), Christina and Maggie and for school on this day we made tortillas and learned to wash our clothes in a Pila (the traditional sink that is used here complete with water cistern, pics of that are to come). The women of the house could barely contain their laughter at our abilities and the old dog next to the stove seemed very disappointed in our efforts as well. It was a lot of fun and I can now say that I know how to make tortillas by hand....well, at least I can make them by hand after I buy the prepared corn. Anyways, things are going great and I am having a lot of fun.




This picture was from my roof during an awesome lightning storm just in front of the volcanoes and behind the clouds.

Sumpango Arrival and Host Family

I (kyle) arrived in the town of Sumpango on May 1st. It is a fairly large town in contrast to Santa Lucia with close to 45,000 inhabitants. When I arrived I learned that it was the Dona (mom) of the house's birthday and that there was going to be a fiesta. Above is the family gathered around the table.
My family is great and have really taken me in. Donlado and Mareyley have two little girls, Amanda (8) and Valentina (6) and a little boy, Christian (3). Amanda has already designated herself as my guia (guide) in Guatemala and we exchange spanish and english phrases.
On Sunday the family took me to the town center where the streets close off for the Sunday market and people sell everything imaginable. The colors were amazing as were the fresh fruits and vegetables, many I had never even seen before. I loved that the backdrop for this market was the volcanos which seem to be visible from just about every city I have been to so far. I was also able to watch a traditional wedding ceremony of a couple that couldn't have been more than 16.

After the market we went up into the hills to Donaldo's uncle's dairy. It was pretty interesting to see a small scale commercial dairy operation. We got to feed the calves bottles, watch them give the cows shots and even harrassed this guy a little bit. It was a lot of fun. After this trip all the children crashed on the couch and didn't even get up for dinner. The first weekend has been great and I feel so fortunate to be here in Sumpango.

Add your own caption to this cow. The skin on his neck was my favorite.