The Posh Corps

It’s Christmas Day and I’m sitting on the patio of a coffee shop on Providenciales, Turks and Caicos waiting for my Dad, Beth, and Hannah’s plane to arrive.  Their morning flight was cancelled, and they won’t arrive until 8 tonight, so I spent the morning on the beach, and then treated myself to a latte and Greek salad for lunch.  I whiled away the afternoon reading and sipping on my latte.  I thought that my first trip out of Guatemala would be wracked with culture shock, but I find myself easing into my old lifestyle as if I had never even left.  This has left me thinking about the relative comfort of my life in Guatemala.  I spent most of 2010 and the first four months of 2011 mentally preparing myself for twenty-seven months of dirt-floored houses without electricity, bucket baths, latrines, cooking rice and beans over a wood fire, minimal communication with my friends and family… basically a life without the worldly comforts that we, as Americans, take for granted every day.  This romantic notion of the Peace Corps is what so many of us held in our hearts until the day we stepped off the plane in Guatemala City.  

My life in Guatemala is, as it turns out, nothing like I expected.  I often think of myself as, rather than a Peace Corps volunteer, a woman living and working in Guatemala.  I think this feeling stems from the regularity of my schedule, my abundance of sitemates, and the surprising comfort of my living situation. Despite the occasional lack of protein in my diet, I think I eat better in Guatemala than I did in the US.  I live in my own 2-room house with electricity and tile floors, I have an oven and a refrigerator (on loan from a group of Canadian dentists that come to Guatemala twice a year), and I recently had a hot shower installed in my bathroom.  I have regular dinners with the five other volunteers that live within a 30-minute radius of me.  I have a cell phone and internet, and I skype with my family and friends on an almost daily basis. For months, all of this gave me doubts about the “authenticity” of my Peace Corps experience.  I would lie in bed wondering if this is what life as a Peace Corps volunteer should be like.  Is this what we signed up for?  Is it less of an adventure if I’m not malnourished and living in a mud hut?  Is it less of an adventure if I am not only able to talk to – but also to see – my loved ones in the US with the click of a button?  Is it less of an adventure if I’m so close to home that I’m able to go on a Christmas vacation in the Caribbean with my family?  I’ve recently realized that the answer to all of these questions is no.  It’s not any less of an adventure, it’s just a different adventure than the one I had visualized time and again leading up to my arrival in Guatemala.  The comfort of my life and the quality of my alimentation make me a happy and able volunteer.  I wake up every morning feeling healthy and ready to take on the challenges of working in a broken and failing school system.  Every night, if I choose, I have the opportunity to decompress by talking to a loved one about the triumphs and challenges of my day. 

Peace Corps is not about proving how tough you are by living in dismal conditions.  Peace Corps is about service.  As I have come to see it, my quality of life gives me the opportunity to commit myself wholly to my service.  Many label Peace Corps Guatemala as the “Posh Corps.”  I have yet to decide whether or not I agree with that label, but I have decided that, even if I am serving in the Posh Corps, I’m no less of a Peace Corps volunteer than the one living in a mud hut in sub-Saharan Africa.  In just my first five months of service, I’ve built solid working and personal relationships, I’ve gained the trust and respect of the vast majority of my students, and I’ve planned and executed surprisingly successful secondary activities.  Peace Corps’ favorite phrase is “capacity building.”  My lifestyle in Guatemala has given me the opportunity to build the capacities of my students and teachers, and I now realize that I wouldn’t have it any other way.

How is it Already December???

November seems to have flown by in the blink of an eye.  Everyone told me my two years would be the fastest of my life, but I have trouble believing that I’ve already been here for 7 months.  School’s out for summer now, so I’ve been attending graduations and planning summer activities.  I also have some activities planned for December, so I’ve been doing a lot of planning (office work), rather than enjoying the sunny, dry weather.  During the day, the temperature gets up to around 80, as long as the sun is out.  At night, however, it plummets to the low 40s… brrr.  Who could have thought it could be so cold in Central America?

Summer break is full of adventures.  This waterfall is a 20-minute walk from my house.

 As I mentioned, I’ve been attending the graduations (clausuras) of my schools.  At the clausura in Chixal, I was the guest of honor, and I gave a five minute commencement address in Spanish!  I was very proud of myself.  After the ceremony, all the students lined up so each of them could have a photo taken with me.  It’ll be kind of depressing when I get back to the US and I’m not a local celebrity anymore…  This week, I attended the clausura in Tojcheche.  This was an all-day event, starting with a Catholic mass at 10am, and finishing up after dinner around 7.  I didn’t have to give a speech, but I did get to hand out diplomas.  Once again, I was asked to pose in photos with all the students.  I must say that I’m very sad to see my tercero kids go…  I’ve really enjoyed working with them, and I feel like I’ve built up some great relationships.  Hopefully I’ll be able to find a way to work with them next year when they are attending diversificado (high school).

Giving a commencement speech in Chixal (wearing traditional Comitancillo traje).

Handing out diplomas in Chixal.  This is Alicia, one of my favorite students.

At the clausura in Tojcheche.

 November 1 was Dia de los Santos or Dia de los Muertos.  All the families go to the cemetery to repaint the tombs and put out flowers, cigars, and liquor for the dead.  The cultural center hosted a kite competition, and kids brought their homemade kites to fly above the cemetery.  At night, everyone puts candles on the tombs, and the cemetery glows, even from miles away!  I grabbed all the kids from my host family, and we went for a walk through the cemetery.  It was beautiful.

Getting ready to fly a homemade kite.

Adornments on the tombs.

Newly repainted tomb.

The cemetery at night, completely lit up by candles

November was also filled with travels.  I left early in the month to go to the Peace Corps office in Santa Lucia Milpas Altas, which is near Antigua, about 7-8 hours away by bus.  In the office, we had a three-day training related to youth sports, and how to incorporate our life skills curriculum into sporting activities.  We got some great new resources which should come in handy next year.  This was also my first opportunity since swearing in to see the 13 other youth development volunteers from my training group.  On Sunday, the 36 healthy homes volunteers from my training group arrived for reconnect.  Reconnect consisted of two days of meeting centered on how our work is going, as well as medical and safety/security sessions.  All 50 of us stayed in a hotel in Santa Lucia, which I must say was a bit overwhelming, however it was great to see everyone.  I got a number of opportunities to go to Antigua with friends, and I even got to go to a sports bar and watch the Seahawks beat the Ravens!  During the second half of the week, we had three days of Spanish classes, which were very helpful.

After reconnect, I hurried back to Comitancillo on Saturday, did some laundry, and left again on Sunday for vacation.  I met Chelsea, Emelye, and Jon in Xela, and we got up early Monday morning to head to the beach.  We arrived at the terminal in Xela (which is normally FULL of buses and people) to find it completely empty.  It turns out that all the bus workers were protesting, and we were told there would be no buses all day, and possibly none the next day.  We were pretty bummed because we had taken annual leave for Monday and Tuesday, and the last thing we wanted to do was spend it in Xela.  We walked over to the Peace Corps office to try and figure out a plan B.  After trying and failing to find a ride out of town, we ditched our packs in the office and went to breakfast and did some shopping.  We went back to the office around noon to get our stuff, and called a cab to take us back toward the central park in Xela.  He said he’d meet us at the terminal.  We hurried over to the terminal to find that there were four buses there, one of which was headed to Coatepeque – exactly where we were hoping to go!  We hopped on, and about 4 hours later we were on the little boat that was taking us to the island paradise of Tilapita!

Jon and I on the boat ride to Tilapita.  Photo credit: Chelsea Swanson

 Tilapita is basically a long sandbar with mangrove on the leeward side and miles of black sand beach facing the Pacific Ocean.  There is one hotel on the island, a few small restaurants, and that’s about it.  We were the only people in the hotel, so we had the pool, the hammocks, and miles of beach all to ourselves.  The hotel isn’t the greatest, but it doesn’t really matter because all we did in the rooms was slept.  The ocean water is like bathwater… it’s amazing.  Every evening, I went for a run on the beach, and then jumped straight into the ocean.  Anyone who comes to visit me will have to go to Tilapita.

The sandy streets of Tilapita. Photo credit: Chelsea Swanson

Sunset in Tilapita.  The black speck in the ocean is me, taking a dip after an evening run. Photo Credit: Chelsea Swanson

 After three days at the beach, I headed for Retalhuleu (Reu) with Ashley, Christine, and Grace on Thanksgiving Day.  We met another volunteer, Adam, and went out to eat a Mexican Thanksgiving dinner.  It was amazing.  Friday, Christine, Grace and I went to visit the ruins of Takalik Ab’aj.  These ruins are really cool, because they have both Mayan and Olmec influences.  This is very uncommon, especially because the Olmecs are not known for living this far south.  The ruins are very cool… another place to visit with anyone who comes down here.  Friday night, we stayed in Loma Linda, Adam’s site, which is situated just below Volcan Santa Maria and Volcan Santiaguito.  Santiaguito is currently one of the world's most active volcanoes, erupting every 15 minutes or so.  At night, when you stand on the front patio of Adam’s house, you can see the volcano spewing lava into the sky!  

Guatemalan Mexican Thanksgiving dinner with Grace, Adam, Ashley, and Christine. Photo credit: Ashley Melton

 Saturday was a day of excess.  Adam, Christine, Grace and I went to Xocomil, a water park that costs Q100 (~$12) to enter.  It was such a blast.  Xocomil is nicer than any waterpark I’ve been to in the US.  We headed back to Loma Linda, only to take off early the next morning for home.  The trip home was quite an adventure.  We got on a bus in Reu, only to have it break down about ten minutes later.  We flagged down another bus and continued on our way.  10-15 minutes later, traffic stopped completely.  It turned out that a concrete truck had gone off the road over an embankment and the tow truck that was trying (and failing) to pull it out was blocking the road.  I hopped off the bus and walked to the other side in the hopes of catching another bus.  While I was walking, a lady came up to me, handed me her baby, and asked if she could take a picture of me holding it.  Once again I felt like a celebrity, just for being a gringa.  I hopped on a micro bus headed for Xela, figuring my luck had to turn around.  We got close to Xela, and the micro stopped and the driver said he wasn’t going any further.  He dumped us off on the side of the highway, and we had to flag down another micro to take us into town.  Luckily my trip from Xela back to Comitancillo went very smoothly.

I’m home from my travels now, preparing for 5 days of workshops I’m doing with my teachers next week, a six-day summer camp the week after, and a 3-day English camp the week after that.  With all the work I have coming up, I don’t doubt that December will go by even faster than November!

p.s. I didn't bring my camera on my Thanksgiving vacation, but my travel companions took more pictures.  I'll add them as soon as I can get my hands on them!