Recovering my sanity

Not only is this the first moment I’ve had to write an update since the last one, but it’s also the first chance I’ve had to sit down and breathe since then.  To say the past month was busy is an understatement.  I’ve emerged from it with the following lesson learned: I seriously prefer my months of doing nothing.  Well, the ideal would be limited productivity, but this is Guatemala (TIG) and my life here knows no happy medium.  Sighhhh haha

What occupied most of my waking hours (of which there were too many) was putting together the project proposal I mentioned, to build a warehouse for the Trigales onions.  I managed to get all the basic paperwork in before I left for Costa Rica, but my vacation was rudely interrupted by an email asking for more supporting documents (at which point I almost decided to talk the group out of it…I warned you about my predilection towards doing nothing).  So I returned from my incredibly relaxing week in paradise only to wind my body up with stress once again.  The group and I got everything else together in record time, but due to confusion over the deadline, I submitted the whole proposal too late to be considered this month and now have to wait until August to find out if the project will be approved for USAID funding.  I hope it will be.  I’ve also been working with my ag leaders group on a far more basic project proposal for producing mushrooms, which will have to be majorly amped up if they’re serious about applying for a $25,000+ grant from the Inter American Foundation we learned about!

The other main thing keeping me busy was getting together the GAD (gender and development committee) raffle for our annual 4th of July party (held on the 3rd this year, don’t ask me why).  I spent a weekend hounding and cajoling last-minute donors, and then doing the same to poor PCVs so they’d buy tickets, and I’m proud of it, and of my awesome committee.  We raised about Q5,300 ($684ish), which is only about 75% of last year’s raffle sales, but with half the number of volunteers and amount of prizes.  Idk I’d call that a success :)  The party was fun even without the presence of all the friends who’d left.  It was just too bad that this was the second year I’ve worked the party without getting to fully enjoy it (read: I was sad because I was too tired to dance the night away at the after-party lol).

Now that I’m finally done with all that, get me back to COSTA RICA!  I flew in a day earlier than my parents to hang out in San Jose with Anais and Melissa, who made a special stop on her Central American post-PC journey to meet up with us (I also had the very lovely pleasure of sending her off from Guatemala when she finally said goodbye on the 3rd).  We bonded over the terrible acting and direction of Prometheus (seriously?) and the wonders of Costa Rican supermarkets :)  And then it was off the next morning to the airport to meet mumsyyy and daddyyy!  I hadn’t seen them since Thanksgiving, but time had really flown this time.  So basically I was equally excited to see them as I was to see the hotels mumsy had booked for us ;)  Let’s just say she knows how to do her job…fantastic (look here and here)!  Two nights at a private waterfall park/botanical gardens/exotic petting zoo close to San Jose and four nights in the wonderful combination of beach, mountains, and forest known as Manuel Antonio National Park.  Horseback riding, whitewater rafting, ATV-driving, forest-walking…all great (with the exception of horseback riding – never again) yet strangely dangerous.  I knocked my dad out of the raft while falling out myself, rode my ATV off the road and into a ditch (so much for proving to my parents that I still knew how to drive…quote of the trip was mumsy’s “where’s my hija??”), and gashed open my toe before even stepping into the park.  I think I’m channeling the combined forces of both Darren and Kate’s klutziness lol.  Nothing a good dose of sunbathing, sleeping, and eating and drinking couldn’t cure :)  And of course the daily sightings of sloths (I want one…I want to be one), monkeys (adorable), and Jesus Christ lizards (we saw them running across the top of the pool!) didn’t hurt – I must get back!

Some highlights from the week:

the Bohrers on horseback...

...and at the beach...

...and on ATVs

SLOTH! (a.k.a. Darren)

And now?  Can you believe in one month I will celebrate my 2-year anniversary here?  I don't think I ever actually imagined completing the 27 months, yet here I am.  Tomorrow I start Zumba classes in town with my sitemates, in a few weeks I may begin the onion project, in a month I have my COS (close of service) conference.  And I guess in October I'm done.  (The third-year project doesn't look like it's going to work out.  I'm secretly glad.  Except that now I actually have to open my GRE book and look for real jobs.  Luckily I've got lots of free time back on my hands!)

Yet another year older

I write to you no longer as an irresponsible youngin’, but as a mature woman of 24.  Yeah, right.  Either way, with the passing of another June 7th in Guatemala, I have only spent one birthday in my 20s in the States.  Next year I’m planning on a quinceñera + 10 in New York :)

Luckily the international celebrations have been far from slacking.  I spent a week in Xela for Spanish classes and a GAD meeting (my first as Coordinator – success!).  The crazy new group kept me up until 3am when I had to wake up at 6:00 to get over to Antigua…to pick up Sam at the airport!  We had a great week together until June 3rd: eating in Antigua, visiting schools in Cunen (I forget that traveling to the middle of nowhere through winding mountain roads is not for everyone…sorry again!), shopping in Chichicastenango, and chilling out at Lake Atitlan :)  During that time I also received an awesome birthday package from Whitney with various favorite snacks and Guatemala-survival tools (like straws and rubber bands and Purell that only kills most germs!).

hiking Volcan San Pedro on Lake Atitlan

The week of my birthday was fairly slow and disappointing (some “why am I here?” despair moments, followed by further despair at the fact that I’m still experiencing such moments), so the best present I could’ve asked for was a wonderfully productive birthday day.  In the morning I met with my ag leaders in Cunen to start planning a mushroom-growing project, which has a lot of potential.  Then a lovely lunch with my neighbor ladies – the grandmother felt so bad that she forgot to wake me up at 5am with firecrackers outside my window in accordance with Guatemalan tradition – but I was like, THANK YOU!!!  It is a terrifying experience and I was glad to escape it once again :)  Finally, in the afternoon I met with the Trigales group to plan a project using USAID funds to build a warehouse for their onions.  Because of the timing of my upcoming vacation, we have to get the proposal together in 1 week (rather than the 1-2 months it usually takes volunteers), but it looks like we’re going to do it!  I’m also still trying to get Walmart to buy their product.  If both succeed, I’ll feel very satisfied that I’ve had a successful service, so here’s to hoping!

In continuation, I had a fun little party at my house on Friday with some Peace Corps friends (with lots of wine and a 3-tiered cake that I spent all day baking in my toaster oven!) and then this afternoon I cooked lunch for my host family.  I may have discovered a new favorite recipe: carrot croquettes!  Sounds weird and I never particularly liked ham croquettes, but my modification was delicious, just saying.  The celebrations will finally conclude with a trip to Costa Rica with my parents (and a night with Anais) starting on Saturday.  Let’s just say my mom picks far nicer accommodations than I am used to and it will be amazing :)

And despite the last few days of beautiful summer weather (for my birthday, obviously), we are undoubtedly in rainy season right now.  Things I hate about rainy season:

1. the various animals (i.e. frogs) and insects (i.e. gargantuan beetles) that seek refuge in my house

2. carrying around a cumbersome rain jacket and/or umbrella for days in beautiful weather and getting caught in a downpour the day I’ve decided to leave my rain gear at home

3. the moldy smell and damp feeling that penetrates everything

4. the streets that turn into rushing rivers in antiquated cities like Antigua (hence the name) and Xela

5. the streets that turn into mud in Cunen

What I like about rainy season:

1. the disgusting humid heat that blankets Cunen until the rain starts in the afternoon reminds me of summer in NYC? 

There’s some comfort in that although this is my third rainy season in Guatemala, it is my last.  Maybe.

Back to reality, kind of

It seems to be time for another update.  The thing is that so much has happened since getting my wisdom teeth out that I don’t know where to begin!  Well I guess the obvious place to start would be Darren’s arrival to Guatemala :)

I picked him up at the Guate airport and whisked him to Antigua.  It’s not that I didn’t think he could make his own way to Antigua (which some people implied, as it is a generally very easy feat), but the town was so busy with Semana Santa festivities that I thought it best to personally guide him.  Indeed, there were a million people around and we kept getting stuck in the various processions (which last ALL day and ALL night).  Even so, it was a good introduction to the country for Darren and he got to meet a bunch of my Peace Corps friends before our chicken bus ride to Cunen – no tourist amenities for my adventurous brother!  In our short stay in my site, he got to meet my host family and friends, shop in the market, cook me dinner, and laugh at my weird lifestyle :)  Of course, the joke was on him when I dragged him 12 hours across the country to Rio Dulce and Livingston on our way to...

Darren and I in Antigua at the end of Semana Santa

...Placencia, Belize, to meet up with my sitemate Kate and friend Rachel for some beach time!  At the Puerto Barrios dock while waiting for our boat to Belize, I thought I was going crazy when a random Guatemalan guy was like, hola Nicole!  It turned out that Marvin, Rachel’s boyfriend, was joining us.  I was like, I didn’t know you were coming…does Rachel know?!  (Yes, she did lol).  Anyway, after taking a boat, bus, and water taxi, we finally made it to Placencia.  Absolutely beautiful.  And fun; Darren enjoyed it too much.  But who wouldn’t love getting sunburnt, snorkeling in an incredible coral reef (though bringing contact lenses probably would’ve been a smart idea…I didn’t think how you obviously can’t wear glasses with a snorkeling mask, fail), and eating excellent Caribbean food?  It was with heavy hearts and itching skin that Darren, Kate, and I left Rachel and Marvin and headed for Mexico…where we finally arrived in Playa del Carmen 15 desperate hours later. 

getting ready to go snorkeling in Placencia

Funny side note: While waiting for a bus in Belize City, some local men shouted at Darren: hey man, we like your women!  Darren, rather than defending my honor, replied: I like yours too!  And they were like: but you got a snow bunny!  Moral of the story is that you may refer to me by “Snow Bunny” from now on if it pleases you haha.  Also, we got unceremoniously left at the Mexican border by our Belizean bus, with no pesos.  While not a very surprising situation, it was definitely unexpected.

Anyway, we arrived in Playa at like 11pm and as Darren had to leave for the Cancun airport to go back to New York at 4am, the logical plan was to grab dinner and not go to sleep.  So Darren’s 5 hours in Playa del Carmen were filled with tacos, a lost debit card, Israelis at the Chabad house, and beers on the beach…not bad.  He even made his flight, so mumsy didn’t have to kill me.  She only had to keep putting money in my account at a rate faster than at which I was spending it.

Kate and I spent another night in Playa and then flew to Mexico City…omg I need to go back!  We packed it all in: anthropology museum, Frida Kahlo’s house, Leon Trotsky’s house, Teotihuacan pre-Aztec ruins, Diego Rivera murals, shopping, eating, and dancing.  A lack of sleep and high levels of pollution took a toll, but I would’ve loved to stay more than 4 days.  Next were 6 hours to Oaxaca for a mole-filled stopover (sooo freaking delicious!) and an 11-hour overnight bus to San Cristóbal de las Casas.  Our 4 days there were filled with extremes: lazy afternoons reading in cafés, a 2-hour hike to a fantastic limestone bridge and grutas, a wild evening (featuring an immense amount of wine and a pair of hobo-musician dance partners), and lots of sleep.  The whole trip was overall extraordinary and I secretly wished I had taken early COS so I could keep traveling.  Especially once we returned to Guatemalan chicken buses (after getting dumped at another Mexican border with barely enough money to pay the exit fee…Mexican borders suck, I can only imagine what it’s like trying to get into the States!). 

Kate and I at the Teotihuacan ruins outside of Mexico City

lovely San Cristóbal de las Casas

So now I am here back in Cunen, after almost a month of being away.  Kate and Melissa are both gone for good, which is a weird feeling, but I’m luckily really happy with Tatiana and Mayra in their place.  I think even weirder is no longer having an office here.  Save the Children had cleared out from Cunen right before I left, but I’m only first feeling it now.  I feel kind of lost without a base from which to not only get work done, but chat and hang out with co-workers.  Plus I’m spending more money now on internet and things like toilet paper and water now that I’m in my house more – how did I go through 5 gallons of drinking water in a week without even being here the whole time??  Alas, work goes on with the schoolkids and various farmers’ and artisan groups.  And although mango season seems to be coming to an end (which is really okay considering how many I’ve eaten in the last few months), plums and peaches are back!  Rainy season is supposedly imminent, but we’ll see.  More importantly?  My best friend Sam is coming for a last-minute trip at the end of the month!  So it’s not really back to reality yet :)

Time for vacation!

Wow, I really don’t know where March went, but I’m so glad it’s over!  I can honestly say that it was my busiest month since arriving in Guatemala (aka EXHAUSTING).  Too few nights were spent in my own bed and yet here I am running around again, qué locura!

Let’s see, the craziness began with a last-minute-planned celebration for International Women’s Day on March 8th in Cunen.  I didn’t actually think it would happen, but the municipal women’s office got their act together, soliciting some money from the muni and inviting about 40 women from Cunen and the surrounding villages.  The day was an overall success, though completely behind schedule.  Let’s just say that splitting into 4 groups and having them rotate to different activities (basic nutrition talk, healthy cooking demonstration, microfinance talk, artisan candle demonstration) is not a Guatemalan concept!  But everyone walked away happy and hopefully I’ll be able to coordinate more activities with them when I get back from vacation at the end of April.  And then immediately following the event was a surprise despedida (good-bye party) for my sitemates!  They had no idea about it and were completely surprised when I led them into the fancy restaurant in town…where 3 people were waiting for us lol.  I totally should’ve realized that all the guests would show up at the hora chapina (Guatemalan time, typically 1 hour late).  The good thing was that I didn’t tell them who was coming, so they continued to be surprised as each person wandered in :) 

the Women's Day event participants, minus those that left early

at the surprise despedida

The next day I woke up early for the Vagina Monologues weekend in Antigua.  First up was a “premature evacuation” party on Friday night for all my friends COSing early.  Allie and I were running around picking up and soliciting wine for the Monologues first and somehow managed to consume at least 5 free glasses each and a bunch of appetizers.  So the party, which would have been fun anyway, was a total blast :)  Saturday was spent in rehearsal…and Sunday was the production of the Vagina Monologues!  It was honestly a really awesome experience.  Although I’d seen the show before, this was my first time participating, and it being a multilingual performance (Spanish, English, and some Mayan languages) made it particularly special.  I’d never before even heard Guatemalan women talk about their vaginas or anything sexual, and here were indigenous women, generally known to be more shy, up on stage shouting about it!  Very cool.  Plus we raised about Q4,600 (like $560) for the NGO we worked with and the V-Day organization.  Also, a friend recorded my monologue and posted it here on YouTube!  Help me reach more than 10 views!

(The video starts a few lines in, btw.  The monologue begins with: 

Down there?  I haven’t been down there since 1953.  No, it had nothing to do with Eisenhower.  No, no, it’s a cellar down there.  It’s very damp, clammy.  You don’t want to go down there.  Trust me.  You’d get sick.  Suffocating.  Very nauseating.  The smell of the clamminess and the mildew and everything.  Whew!  Smells unbearable.  Gets in your clothes.)

the premature evacuation party in Antigua with some awesome people

the cast of the VMons

After that came 2 weeks of constant work with the school kids and my normal groups (also some play with a St. Patrick’s Day party in Uspantan, no worries).  I even arranged a meeting with the Trigales association and an employee of Mercy Corps, which could potentially result in a contract with Wal-Mart!  I hope it works out, especially since they’re the group I’ve worked with the longest.  Then came the weekend I had to say good-bye to all my PC friends leaving…I was glad I got to spend some more time with a bunch of them in Antigua.  I knew it was coming, but it’s still a weird feeling.  Finally, in an end to the crazy busyness, I spent a few days translating for a Canadian NGO that builds stoves in Uspantan (where I managed to lose my wallet fml) and then on to Nebaj for a presentation promoting the Save the Children artisan groups.  Some people from USAID showed up and I enjoyed talking to them about their work, my work, and where I’ll go from here.  A third year in Guatemala perhaps??  (I’ve been offered the chance to stay on for a third year as a volunteer leader in gender.  I have until the first week of May to decide…man, I hate making decisions!)

And now it’s time for vacation!  Well, almost.  I had 2 wisdom teeth removed in Guate yesterday, so I’m hanging out in the Peace Corps office recovering.  I think I’ll make my way to Antigua tomorrow, though, because I’m getting pretty bored here.  With Semana Santa (Holy Week) under way, there should be plenty of excitement – Antigua’s known for having one of the world’s largest celebrations, with multiple processions daily from the many churches, walking over the beautifully detailed alfombras (carpets made of dyed sawdust, and fresh flowers, fruits, and vegetables) laid out in the streets by the church patrons.  Of course, this also means that a majority of the streets are closed to cars and buses, so I’ll be going to the airport on Friday to pick up Darren so he doesn't get lost!

Life goes on

I was down for a while, but life goes on.  And like the sun and hot weather in Cunen, my cheery disposition has made a comeback.  Yes, an inordinate number of my friends here will be gone by the end of the month.  But a few more people are staying than I originally thought, and there are now lots of new volunteers consolidated to Quiché to befriend, including my new sitemates who got here this week.  Most importantly, for probably the first time in my service, I actually have a lot of work, or at least plans for it.  School gardens, cooking classes, nutrition with pregnant women, collaborating with the municipal women’s office, on top of my work with the Save the Children groups, should keep me very busy.  And being busy keeps me out of my house, having pity parties with myself.  So, there’s that…lol

If you want to keep me from being depressed (or to provide props for my pity party), feel free to send me letters and goodies!  I will love you forever :)

Nicole Bohrer

Voluntaria de Cuerpo de Paz

Barrio San Francisco

Cunén, El Quiché

14010

Guatemala, Central America

In other news, last week was a quarterly GAD meeting at the Peace Corps office…where I was elected Coordinator!  Not going to lie, I was the only one who wanted it, but the vote was unanimously positive ;)  With most of the committee members finishing their service, a bunch of cool new girls were brought on board and I think we’ll be a great group.  We’re all excited for our multi-lingual production of the Vagina Monologues next week, in conjunction with a Population Council project in Antigua!  I’ll be doing “The Flood” in English (I’m practicing daily!), but most of the monologues will be presented in Spanish by the young women participating in the project Abriendo Oportunidades, with some Mayan languages thrown in as well.  Below is the awesome poster for your viewing pleasure :)  All this has inspired me to plan an International Women’s day celebration with the Cunen muni for Thursday; the theme is “Empower rural women – End hunger and poverty,” right up my agricultural alley.  I’m really excited, I hope it actually works out!

the Vagina Monologues poster

After the GAD meeting, I took advantage of my very last opportunity to visit Whitney in her site…omg her village life is so incredibly different from my life in Cunen, which made it so great to see!  I felt like I finally got the real PC experience: sleeping in a wooden room (not a mud hut, sadly), running to the latrine in the rain, taking a bucket bath, cooking over an open fire, and communicating solely in an indigenous language (which I obviously wasn’t doing).  I honestly feel like if that was what I’d been assigned to, I could’ve gotten used to it.  Nevertheless, I was quite content to take a burning hot shower as soon as I got back to my fancy house!

coloring in Whitney’s house

Now what I’m most looking forward to is Darren’s visit!  His plane arrives at the end of Semana Santa and then I will orient my pampered (as if!) brother to the hostels and chicken buses of Guatemala, before heading to the beaches of Belize and Cancun, for literally a hot second.  I’ll be sad when he leaves, but Kate and I will somehow recover enough to continue on to Mexico City and San Cristóbal de las Casas, in Chiapas, just over the Guatemalan border.  I’m waiting for this month to fly by until then!

the wheat fields I find so beautiful (clearly I’m a city girl) in Los Trigales (trigo = wheat)

Feria times, pt. 2

As always, time flew this past year and before we knew it, it was feria in Cunen once again!  While it was a fun week of diversion and no responsibility (because you know I worked not one day), last year really was better.  What couldn’t be controlled was the shitty weather; it was unusually chilly and rainy throughout the entire week.  But the more important difference this year was that the muni tried to keep costs as low as possible; a quite prudent step, considering that the new mayor announced Cunen to be Q6 million in debt…impressive for such a small municipality (suffice it to say that everyone’s cursing the old mayor).  Even so, the activities were abundant: election of the Mayan queen on Sunday night, election of Miss Cunen on Monday night, a First Communion on Wednesday afternoon (and the first of like 7 convites), burning of the castillo and toritos (castle and little toros, both comprised of fireworks, neither particularly safe!) on Wednesday night, and…Los Conejos on Thursday night!  Last year Los (Internacionales!) Conejos played in the park and the dance was free, but this time it was a private dance with a Q45 entrance fee…so worth it!  I love them; it’s a like 15-member marimba band that’s super fun to dance to.  Mary Frances from Uspantan joined us to dance the night away…celebrating Darren’s birthday from afar :)

the First Communion girl and her sister (on the left, I want to steal her) and cousin

Cunen en fiesta

las gringas y Los Conejos!

It was a fairly emotional week as well, at the base of which were boredom and a sense of uselessness during the day, as I wasn’t working.  Add to that: finding out that neither Whitney will be coming to Quiché nor Rachel to Cunen because they and the majority of my friends chose to take early COS; about 12 out of the original 32 volunteers in my training class will remain in country.  And finally: the news that my grandfather passed away that Tuesday night, the second grandparent I’ve lost since arriving here.  It’s true that you sacrifice many things and are changed in various ways in the Peace Corps, but some things you just don’t foresee.

Anyway, Monday was back to reality and thankfully back to work.  The 2 girls replacing Kate and Melissa, Mayra and Tatiana, came to Cunen for a few days for a site visit, during which I got to spend some time with them and help them find housing.  They’ll definitely be great replacements for my sitemates in terms of continuing their work, if not in terms of continuing the current “Cunen threesome.”  Then Thursday I had a meeting with the Save the Children ag project coordinator, who had some interesting news.  Both to give me a counterpart agency and to continue the project’s work once it ends in the next couple of months, they legalized the community agricultural leaders into an association, with whom I’ll be working.  It seems that I’ll be doing more organizational strengthening rather than marketing stuff with them, as they don’t actually produce anything (they’ll continue offering agricultural and basic veterinary services to their communities, plus whatever entrepreneurial projects they want to embark on).  I’m curious how motivated they are, which I’ll see when I meet with them this week.  Stephen’s in the same situation in Uspantan.

On the bright side, Kate got her application for Small Project Assistance (SPA) funds approved by PC and USAID, so she’s starting her stove project this week!  Melissa decided to skip the traditional SPA route and is funding her project solely with municipal support and help from friends and family – please donate and help her meet the goal of building 30 stoves in 90 days, about half of which are going to women I have a community garden with!  And while you’re at it, my friend Rachel needs financial help as well – any and everything is appreciated!  Both girls are staying on past their COS dates to see their projects through and make sure that the families they’ve been working with for over a year have this small improvement in their lives.

Well that’s about it for now.  I got back today from a night at my friend Kate’s site in Chajul (which forms the Ixil Triangle with Nebaj and Cotzal) for her going-away party, as she has exactly one more week left of her 2 years.  I’d wanted to visit her for a while as it’s an ecotourism site; I was impressed by the aldea’s beauty and the novelty of walking around in clouds because it’s so high up in the mountains!  I have some more trips planned for the month, for work and for fun (I’m also seriously looking forward to a planned 2 weeks in Belize and Mexico with Kate in April), but for now it’s back to the daily grind in Cunen :)

Security situation update

Some of you may have seen something I wrote on Facebook the other day: “The Northern triangle of Central America [Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala] is the most dangerous place in the world outside of an active warzone.”  While the Peace Corps kids may be alright, the rest of the country and region are pretty fucked, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s first Global Study on Homicide.  The Obama administration has offered billions of dollars to help with the issue, and it seems that Capitol Hill has also taken a personal interest, as became clear to us PCVs when we were summoned to an all-volunteer conference last week.  Apparently Congress has been asking for some time why Peace Corps is operating in such dangerous countries; according to the Inter-America and Pacific Regional Director Carlos Torres, the specific question was: "What are you doing to protect the angels of our country?"  [sidenote: why does Congress always get caught up in the details and never look at the big picture?  And more importantly, what makes us angels??  It's not like we enjoy living on less than $300/month...!]

Anyway, in light of the new information presented to us, I decided an update was due, especially since some people seemed confused by my last one.  First of all, I am not going anywhere and neither is PC/Guatemala.  We are instead being consolidated into the 6 “safest” departments (which are like states) in the Central Western Highlands – those with the lowest homicide rates.  As El Quiché is one of them, I’m not affected by the decision at all.  For everyone currently in sites outside of the 6 departments – including San Marcos and Huehuetenango, which are in the Highlands, but will most likely soon be put under states of siege/martial law to combat the drug problems there, like in Alta Verapaz last year – they can either get a site change or take early COS (close of service, your status after 2 years of service), which has been extended to everyone on top of Interrupted Service.  Moreover, to bring numbers down as quickly as possible to better provide volunteer support, the volunteers who were slated to leave in March now have to leave in February, and the July group has to leave in March.  Again, as my COS is October, I’m not going anywhere.

On a more personal level, many of my ag friends affected by the policies are opting to get a site change for their last 8 months or so; Whitney may even move to an aldea of Uspantan, which would put us at 6 hours apart rather than 12!  Sadly, a whole lot of my muni friends have decided to take early COS and are leaving right away; I spent a nostalgic Thursday night with Noor before she disappears.  Another muni friend, Rachel, however may get sent to Cunen for her site change, which would be awesome.  Kate and Melissa, my present 2 sitemates, are part of the July group and are being forced out early, putting serious difficulties on their ability to finish planned projects (mainly building improved wood-burning stoves with USAID funds).  The good news is that the two of them will be replaced by 2 girls from their program (who came to country the following year) being evacuated from San Marcos.  So their hard work will not have been in vain and I will not be alone.

To be honest, I toyed with the idea of taking early COS…I wasn’t sure if Kate and Melissa would be replaced and if they left in March and Save the Children in May, what would really be keeping me here until October?  However, I would’ve wanted to leave in May/June, but the early COS option expires on March 24th, which is just way too soon for me.  I understand why many of my friends are taking the option – you get all the benefits of having been here for 2 years and it’s an opportunity to get out of a bad or stagnant work/living situation (though I’m totally judging anyone who’s been at site 6 months or less and isn’t even considering a site change).  But with the (albeit minimal) work I have here and the Foreign Service off the table, I figure I might as well finish out my time, during which I can take the GREs and apply for grad school or jobs for 2013.  All the uncertainty had totally freaked me out, but I’m back on my original track now.

Oh but what I’d wanted to stress was that it wasn’t the latest security incidents here that provoked all this change, though I’m sure they didn’t help.  Carlos Torres explained to us how Peace Corps has been evaluating at its Central American posts for a while now.  While Guatemala and El Salvador were deemed safe enough to keep us here while they make safety changes – including a transportation policy that involves a highly inconvenient PC shuttle on the Inter-American Highway – Honduras was not.  With the highest homicide rate in the world, Honduras has super dangerous pockets all over the country and so even if a PCV was in a safe site, they'd still be traveling through dangerous places on bus routes.  As I mentioned previously, all their volunteers were sent home temporarily while the security situation is being evaluated…though it seems that their chances of returning are quite slim.

At least one good thing about the conference was being able to see all my friends one last time before they leave; here's a photo of what remains of my training class (the serious faces are a play on how Guatemalans pose for photos lol).  We’ll be about a third less by March 24th…qué será, será.

And on the bright side, this week is feria in Cunen, so the fun times live on :)  We went to the cofradia’s (Catholic brotherhood) town lunch last Saturday with Jenny’s family…and ate at her family’s part of the cemetery…totally normal.  Melissa and I spent that night in Nebaj at honestly one of the most fun parties I’ve ever been to.  So actually between all the happy drinking and sad drinking (from everything going down), the conference was kind of a nice break haha.  It also forced me to cancel several work meetings, just as things were getting productive again…oh well.

Ok that’s enough rambling for now.  Since I’ll no longer be visiting home for the Foreign Service interview, come visit me hereeeeee!