Life is Beautiful

I am so thankful for the life I have and for what makes it up: the unique experiences, the wonderful people I'm blessed to have around me and the incredible lessons I continually learn.

The view from my tent in the early morning, camping with the family on the mountain near where we live.

Enjoying the night eating and talking by the fire. A little cold but way worth it :)

Picnic by the river! We decided to make grilled chicken, salad, guacamole, etc outside one Sunday afternoon as a sort of goodbye party for Eddy and one of the cousins, before they took off for other cities to start school. Here we have Fatima and Danika...my favorite girls!

Doña Oralia making lunch with me in the shade.

I taught the boys how to throw an American football...super fun! Now we head out occassionally to go play.

Before I headed home for Christmas, we were visited by April (the volunteer who was here before me). It was a grand surprise that I struggled keeping for several months. In honor of the visit we of course had a party :)

Found this huipil from Santiago Atitlan super cheap at the market and wore it celebrate the birthday of the Virgen Guadalupe.

My dear friend Patty from San Antonio Aguas Calientes made the trek out to visit me. Unfortunately it was one of the coldest weekends in December and we stayed outside till late watching the fireworks/firecrackers in Santa Lucia Utatlan for their fair!

On a random trip down to San Marcos La Laguna with Selvyn and his family...the new baby (Mariajose) is absolutely adorable!

Eddy was the only one who'd go on the ferris wheel with me. I think I've determined that half the fun is the movement of the wheel and the other half is the rush of wondering if it'll fall apart.

Fatima's 4th birthday. My favorite is when they make them take the first bite out of the cake.

Mayra (on the left) came to El Novillero from the coast to work for a time with her sister. Mama Lupe and I put her in traje to take pictures to remember her time with us.

I know it's late, but here's a pic from Thanksgiving. We have Molly, me, Luis, Beberly and Erin- good times, good food and good friends.

The first of November there's always a huge festival in the town of Sumpango, with giant kites intricately decorated.

Chico, Oralia, Braulio and Luis hanging out at the marimba concert during the fair.

Again during fair week, watching Braulio play soccer again a team from the capital. Marta (our accountant at the park) lent me this pink traje (for those of you who know me well will be surprised, as I am definitely not a pink person!)

Work...almost too much fun :)

Corazón del Bosque is part of the Red de Turismo Comunitario de Sololá (the Community Tourism Network of the Department of Sololá). Last November the majority of the members sent representatives to visit Ak'Tenamit (http://www.aktenamit.org/), a developed site of community tourism (one of its many programs) on the eastern coast of Guatemala, in Livingston, Izabal. One other volunteer (Erin) and I were given the opportunity to accompany the group with the goal of learning all we could from the interchange to improve not only our own sites but to strengthen the network overall. It was a quick 4 day trip (two days of travelling!) that included several meetings, a visit to their fair-trade store, restaurants, a community stay and a stopover in Rio Dulce. Here's most of us visiting the Castillo San Felipe.

This is the view we had on our boat ride from Livingston back to Rio Dulce- it's almost breathtaking to see the cliffs covered with trees that plunge down to the water's edge.

We hiked two hours to a community, spending the night at their "hotel", sharing a meal with community members and ending with a marimba concert/dance party. The community's called Plan Grande Quehueche (http://adrenalinatours.com/comunitarytourism/aldea-maya-plan-grande-quehuecche.html) Don't worry, I didn't hike in my skirt...this was on the way out, which was in a pickup.

The ceiba, Guatemala's national tree.

One of the many interesting bugs we found in the jungle. It was great to explore a different ecosystem and be reminded of how diverse Guatemala is. It felt like a different country compared to my neck of the woods (all mountains, and pine/oak forests).

So I don't have a picture yet of the finished product, but here's a little taste of the playground we started building last fall. It's made of recycled tires and wood from the forest. They went a bit crazy on the colors, but what can you do. Now we're only lacking a few finishing touches, benches and flowers. I'll post when that's done (hopefully soon!!!).

Another project we started last fall was a course on making handicrafts. We started out teaching a group from the community, mainly women, on how to kill rabbits and cure the skins to use the fur. I would have included some of those pictures but wasn't sure how people would react...especially my animal rights friends! I have to admit it still makes me a bit squeamish...I'm much better at murdering chickens. But anyways, after we finished learning about furs, we moved on to making baskets, jewelry and such out of pine needles.

Here are some examples from one of park workers, Don Martin. Absolutely beautiful and 100% natural pine! If the group gets a little more formal I'll start helping them make contacts, as there's already a domestic and international market for such products.

When the Sicklers came to town

My two families together! Crazy to see the cultures of North Dakota and rural Guatemala meet up; it definitely says something for globalization :)

My parents hanging out in the corn field on my walk to work.

We stayed at a beautiful hotel for a couple days on the lake...incredibly refreshing (except for the 100 stairs we had to climb up the mountain to reach our room!)

Matt and I kayaking on Lake Atitlan.

My family looks like giants compared to my old host family in San Antonio!

I never thought I'd be the one to end up teaching my mom how to do laundry...but then again it changes things when you don't have a washing machine. I wash my clothes at the pila (the cement basin) almost every weekend...super fun...

We hiked up Pacaya with a guide and were fortunate enough to see the lava! It was spurting out slowly, and they grey you see on top is the lava cooling. Although I wouldn't by any means call it cool; the air was thick with heat.

El Volcan Payaca

My poor mom going up the volcano on horseback...I don't know if she'll ever forgive us!

We stopped on the way to my house for a quick visit to the ruins at Iximche.

My dad and brother at the top of Cerro de la Cruz, overlooking Antigua. The volcano in the back is the Volcan de Agua.

A New Year….lots to update

So I know it’s been quite some time since I’ve posted, and for that I apologize. It’s not that there’s been a lack of things to share; just so many that I haven’t taken the time to sort them all out and share. But now the hard part is where to begin. So let me start with a brief refresher: I’m still in Guatemala, (it’s been just over a year since my arrival). I still call El Novillero home and have grown quite used to life here (except for the cold that sometimes comes and leaves me frozen to the bone…for example it was 45 degrees inside my room when I woke up this morning). Work in the park has been good, keeping busy in the office trying to implement better procedures, increase marketing, improve the products and services, do client studies and monitor conservation. One fun (albeit difficult) project we’re completing is a playground out of recycled tires and wood. I got a manual from a fellow Peace Corps volunteer and it turned out pretty good, I’ll have to post pics.

I’m still living with the family and enjoy it more than ever. They’re a joy to be around, love me like family and are super fun overall. One of my more recent adventures with them was taking them camping for the first time (well, the two oldest boys had gone before, but not the parents, the youngest and some cousins). One thing you might not know about Guatemalans is they NEVER go camping (who wants to sleep outside on the ground when we have a perfectly fine house and beds?) Well I wanted to go so I got together some tents, my dear friend Molly and s’mores materials. We hiked up to some land Miguel Angel owns and camped at the top of mountain with the most gorgeous view (in the morning the sun rose over the volcanoes- amazing!) Although it was cold, we all loved it :) Besides that, there never seems to be an end to family get-togethers, movie nights and cooking experiments.

The last few months of 2009 also brought me some important visitors; my parents and brother were able to stay for a week in October. It was great showing them around (although for those of you who know my mom, you can believe she kept me busy translating!) and sharing a bit of my life, mixing my two worlds. Highlights include hiking up Pacaya (my mom on horse), hanging out in Antigua, visiting ruins, kayaking at the lake and hiking around Corazón del Bosque. And now everyone understands why I’m so tall (they still talk about Matt…)

Thanksgiving was spent at the lake…beautiful view, friends and food. I have to admit it was a little cheesy buying deli turkey breast and heating it in the toaster over. But at least the stove top and package gravy made a good combo with the chive mashed potatoes. The best part of the meal was Molly’s gift to us of squash pie (tasted just like pumpkin from home!) And there was enough left over for breakfast :)

Christmas I decided would be a good time for me to head back to the States and be with family and friends. My girls from college picked me up a snowy night at the airport in Chicago- it was quite interesting to experience the extreme cold again, walk on carpet, have hot water come out of the faucet and turn on the heat. Things I don’t spend time missing in Guatemala but definitely took advantage of when I was home. I only had two weeks in North Dakota and they flew by- so much to catch up on (sometimes I feel like I forget other peoples’ lives keep going even though I’m not there!) After having my fill of Christmas goodies and old fashioned consumerism I headed back to my life Guatemala (which feels now so comfortable and simple), arriving in time for my welcome-back party at the house (how I missed caldo de pollo criollo and tamalitos!).

The best part is I’m excited about 2010. We’ve already started some new projects at work, I’m working more on my master’s thesis (I’ll get in to that later), learning more K’iche’ and livin’ it up. I hate catching up so briefly when there’s so much that’s taken place….so I’m setting more goals for myself to post. Keep checking in and don’t feel back to nudge me when it’s been awhile!

Photo Journal

Participating in a workshop on marketing and photography at the park. I wanted to put this first so it would be clear that I do work as well, because all the photos that follow are of my random adventures...

My friend Marie from Miami took the trip down to see me and I of course had to take her the lake where we kayaked (or moreso I kayaked and let her enjoy the ride :)

Going out for an afternoon boat ride on Lake Peten Itza.

Climbing temple after temple at Tikal.

Tikal was just as beautiful as they all say.

Overlooking the ruins...gives you an incredible feeling!

The temple of the Jaguar. Even more impressive in person.

Eddy's 14th birthday party. Probably the most exciting one yet with traditional dances, merengue, duranguense, marimba and then we joined in with some line dancing, the cupid shuffle and even the dance from Slumdog Millionaire (thanks to Jess and Erika)!

My family had never heard of smores before so of course I had to fix that. We didn't have Hershey's and graham crackers, but Chiky's work just fine. Here's my host brother Chico using the stove to make his.

One of my good friends here Molly celebrated her birthday by inviting my family and I to her family's humble abode in the mountains overlooking Totonicapan...quite the party :) Molly and I pulled off a descent Guatemalan lunch and she treated us to a pumpkin-like pie.

Tiff came to visit and we definitely took advantage of her time by traveling around my area, including the ruins at Iximche.

On our way to the Nature Reserve in Panajachel (cute trail with lots of monkeys, butterflies and a waterfall).

Traveling with the two of them is quite the adventure. I have to say we make quite a group- the American, the Frenchwoman (Chloee) and the Indigenous Guatemalan woman (dona Filomena)- I love it!

We look like quite the cave explorers, don't we?

When my friends Jess and Erika came to visit I dragged them on quite the tour, one of our stops being the zip-line at the park Chuiraxamolo.

Semuc Champey. What can I say- it's one of the most beautiful sites I've been to so far in Guatemala. Limestone pools with caves, an underground river and surrounded by lush jungle.

We spent a day white-water rafting with the association of a fellow Peace Corps volunteer (www.guaterafting.com). It was quite exciting as it was my first time and we conquered a few class 5 rapids...

My "second family" here invited me to the wedding of their son (second from right). Chloee and I of course arrived in style with traje from Santiago Atitlan :)

Chloee and I decided one Saturday to hike up the nose of Rostro Maya (Indian face). It's the tallest point in the photo below. The trail was a bit challenging but worth it to walk through the coffee fields, corn, forest and so forth. We began in San Juan La Laguna and ended up in Santa Clara La Laguna.

It feels so amazing to be on top of the water in kayak...with an incomparable view. Sigh.

Apologies for getting behind

So these past few weeks I've felt this guilt on my shoulders about not writing here to let you all know how life is going. Sigh. I feel like I'm always so busy and am beginning to think that it's me, overcommitting as usual. But life is good and I'm happy. I have various projects at work, the main ones being our marketing plan (we've already joined facebook and are about to upload to youtube...I'll post it here soon) and putting together business plan workshops for other community tourism projects. I'm also teaching English and environmental ed in the elementary school each week which has been an interesting challenge. It can definitely be fun and now I have little friends to talk with every time I walk down the street :)

As far as life stuff goes, I had my 25th birthday the end of May (I can't believe I'm already a quarter of a century...) My family here threw me a birthday dinner, complete with magic candles thanks to Molly and a dance. My co-workers at the park also surprised me with a birthday lunch; I felt quite loved :) June flew by, and at the end I had my first visitor from the States. My old college friend Tiff and I did a 5 day whirlwind tour of Antigua, Solola, Panajachel, San Marcos La Laguna, Santa Clara, the ruins at Ixmche and of course El Novillero. And then there was the 4th of July, which means a huge party for volunteers. I have to admit I really enjoyed our barbecue of hamburgers, hot dogs and potato salad. And then the next week my family and I took a road trip to visit my volunteer friend Molly in Toto for her birthday...it was super fun and well worth packing the six of us in their small car!

And on the occasional day off I've gone hiking with Chloee our French volunteer, kayaking on the lake, more birthday parties, cooking with friends, movies with my little brothers, exploring small town fairs and so on.

Last week I went back to the Peace Corps headquarters for a two day Reconnect conference. It was pretty interesting to hear from my fellow volunteers about their experiences (aka crazy stories) and discuss how we are all handling the seemingly endless cultural differences. Every time I travel or spend outside of the US, I seem to learn more about where I come from and what makes up how I see the world; you come to understand that we all have very different "eyes". But oh how I love it!

Good days

Volcano on Lake Atitlan...
Teaching high schoolers about taking care of the environment and the importance of reforestation.

My tree I planted in the forest!Walking the trails and climbing up Tikalito- 192ish stairs up the mountain.

Rachel taking a break.

Mama Lupe's birthday party (she's on the right). My host mom (Dona Oralia) is on the left and my host dad (Don Miguel Angel) on the right.