Elyse O'C: life after MKE

Still nice and busy with the past week (or so) full of lots of events - here are a few, and (again) sorry for the length, but as you'll see, I've been a bit preoccupied recently...

Abel (the AWESOME muni driver) was giving Waleska a ride part of the way home after the Madison crew left, so I hopped in the car to get to Chichi for the Sunday market to grab some things for the MU EWB silent auction coming up this fall

This meant another lovely night at Hotel el Mashito and some food, beverages, and wifi at the Mayan Inn
I got a huipil blanket and backpack

Right when I hopped off the chicken bus in Joyabaj I headed into the big alcalde auxiliares meeting at the muni building

This is a meeting that happens once a month and consists of auxiliary mayors for each of the 120+ communities in the municipality as well as Cocode members (essentially committees for larger groupings of communities that focus on and help coordinate development initiatives and projects), and depending on the size of a community, there will be 1-10 auxiliares and 5-10 Cocode members, so the meeting hall was full of about 500 people (at least that's what it felt like...)
Being the giant gringa that I am, as soon as I came into the back of the room to listen in, I was waved up onto stage by one of the main muni guys I work with, Hector, from the planificación office
Once I made it up and onto the stage, I was informed that I would be "presenting myself" to the group so they would know who I was and what I was working on
I ended up being the last person to speak, but despite how antsy everyone was to leave the 3hr+ meeting, watching a gringa talk on stage was well worth the wait, so with Florencio (the Alcalde's) help, I was able to keep everyone's attention and get my message out - a little frightening, but it went well!

The rest of the week was spent in various meetings prepping for the start of my mapping work and tracking data on the filter/water system from Alejandro's info - the data shows some interesting and concerning social trends (looks like there's a lot of leaks/perpetually open taps throughout the system), but he's super happy and excited about the quality of the water these days, so I'm excited to keep working with him to figure out how to make this system sustainable and consistent! (yikes)
The Guatemala City Rotarians came for a visit

they plan on helping with health and hygiene trainings to support the education component of the EWB filter as well as generally to help with the ongoing hygiene education that Lauren and the Hospital/Margaret and the schools do on a regular basis
they've also contributed to projects in the area, so Mincho and I took them on a little tour of projects - this tour included a stop at a roadside vendor of cusha (Guatemalan cane sugar moonshine)...

Spent an extensive amount of time chatting with Mincho's daughter, July (who works for Hector in the planificación office), mainly working to update documents of data/info collected by my Aunt Janet when she was doing work like this 14 years ago (her maps are still the only maps of the muni). We also discussed a plan of attack for the map-making process such as developing a one-page survey for each community (again based on my aunt's previous work)
Made a day trip with Mincho out to Nueva Providencia to adjust/tighten up some cables along the pipeline - while it was a long day (4am - 8pm), it was nice to get those items taken care of and to chat with the community some more

They were mostly interested in when we would be returning after the completion of the project so they could throw a party for us

Enjoyed some solid bonding time with the PCVs here in Xoy, Lauren and Margaret, over some vino, cooking of chepes (made out of masa, fresh black beans, onions, and cheese and cooked in dried corn husks), Modern Family episodes, and Enneagrams (Margaret has actually taken the test, but Lauren and I tried to self-identify, which is quite difficult...)
MU arrived for their pedestrian bridge site assessment!

had a lovely time in a beautiful place helping them assess and take data for their senior design project
Mark carted down a TON of stuff from my mom - yummy yummy food stuffs that the PCVs and I are quite excited to get into as well as gifts for just about anyone and everyone I've encountered since being here - needless to say, it was a lovely package to open!
Had my first community meeting as the solo interpreter for the group, so that was exhilarating and went quite well if I do say so!

We had a few nice dinners including the big one last night with the MU group, PCVs, Waleska, and Doug Stahl (MSOE faculty mentor) who has been in Xela for the past week taking Spanish classes with his HS-age daughter and her friends
OH and FERIA has been happening

this is the 10 day festival here in Joyabaj that is a pretty standard festival (almost every muni has one), but differentiates itself because it is one of the few that still has the Micos performing around the palo (guys who dress up like monkeys, climb to the top of a ~70ft pole, and swing down it (pictures below - hard to describe...)
I missed most of the big events making site visits with the MU group, but definitely got to see the parvulos (kindergartner/preschool) parade on Saturday morning - SO CUTE

Waleska, Doug, and the girls will be here a few more days for some other site visits and meetings, then I will probably head out to another bridge site for the weekend with Mincho and some engineers from Guatemala City, then next week should be "normal" with Feria over, the groups out of Xoy, and me roaming around the campo making the map!

PICTURES

Visit from the Rotarians in the hospital cafeteria to talk about health and hygiene classes and how they can help - I'm on the left, Lauren in the pink, and Dorian (Lauren's counterpart) on the far right

Carlos, the Rotarian who planned the event, explaining to all of us how much 1/4 of a liter of cusha is in terms of drinks (given that it is almost pure alcohol...)

Explaining the filter system to the Rotarians - picture courtesy of Mincho

Visiting the Chiquiate ped bridge

Early morning on our way around the lake to NP

The lovely little comedor "Volver Volver" where we stopped for breakfast and lunch

Fresh concrete patches made by the community - only a few little spots needed some extra concrete and I'm happy to report they are now fixed!

Nice and tight hangers!

MU surveying!

Digging test pits for the geotech analysis at the bridge site - a little puppy came to help

Community meeting - Mincho leading the way on explaining the preliminary Memorandum of Understanding to the community

Group photo with the Alcalde Auxiliare (right)

FERIA

There is a parvulos beauty contest wherein each school votes its prettiest girl to ride in the parade and be judged against other 3-5 year old girls - this makes me a bit uncomfortable, but it's their tradition (and honestly appeared more tame than what is portrayed on "Toddlers in Tiaras")

Each school has a theme - here's the Spanish theme...

The Tikal theme...

Smurfs!

Aladdin... (RIP Robin Williams :( )

Not clear on this theme, but they were so darn cute!

Hawaiians? The tops were made of soda bottle caps

Jungle!

Another beauty contestant

Traditional Traje!

Swash buckling Pirates of the Caribbean!

Finally, the Micos

Quite impressive to watch

My oh my it's been a busy 5 days (and then some...)! Sorry again for a long post, but I have been without wifi/internet connection at all/the cable to upload my pictures, so here ya go!

Saturday 7/26

4.5hr Chicken bus ride from Xoy to Antigua

This ended up being far more pleasant than anticipated b/c I had first pick (excuse my use of literally, but I was LITERALLY the first person on the bus) of a nice window seat and rack space for my bag and got to keep my bus and seat for all but the last 45min of the ride.

Hung out at La Casaca for wifi and a wonderful cappuccino and smoothie

Also, in my trek from the bus to el parque central, I stopped by some tents selling books in the center and purchased "The Little Prince," "Anne Frank's Diary," and "Rigoberta Manchu" in Spanish to boost my dwindling reading supply and assist in some Spanish learning/practice

Shuttled to Guatemala City to meet my new favorite midwesterner, Mary H.
Spent the rest of the night chillin at the Holiday Inn

The goal of this stay was to enjoy some quality gringa time and consisted of:

watching movies such as Jurassic Park III and Superbad dubbed in Spanish

Superbad looses A LOT of it's humor without the voices/delivery, so I said critical lines like "He's a freak, he's the fastest kid in the world" and "they said it would be like that in health class" and "I'm in!" among many others...

having mozz sticks, potato skins, and burgers at the Hard Rock Cafe
instantly regretting our awful, overly-processed, constipating (yes, I said it...) meal selection and spending the time post-dinner laying immobile in our beds until Mary started snoring at 8pm and it was time for sleep...

Sunday 7/27

Early morning breakfast with one of my favorite former professors, Laura Matthew

She introduced me to this WONDERFUL Swiss bakery in Zone 10 called Los Alpes and other than a very fulfilling breakfast, I left with copious amounts of pastries for Mary and I as well as my evening hosts

Some pool-side relaxation with Mary, a trip to the Oakland Mall (crazy nice mall, but nothing we really needed), and a lovely lunch at a Catalan tapas restaurant
Enrique D. picked me up from the hotel in the afternoon to head to his parents house for the night

He is a Guatemalan-American (as in dual citizenship) civil engineer who graduated a few years ago from Notre Dame (though I tried not to hold that against him) and is living and working in Guatemala on a variety of projects including his own programming firm, some ped bridge design/construction, eco-friendly soap making, and who knows what else
He and his family were very welcoming and generous hosts who I look forward to spending more time with/swapping civil engineering insights here in Guate!

Monday 7/28

Enrique drove me to Antigua

I dropped my things at Los Bucaros (a hotel I've stayed at on almost every EWB trip) and we grabbed breakfast/I hung around and worked on wifi at Luna de Miel, another excellent and delicious eating establishment in Antigua

Met Laura and Lisa (!!!) at Bucaros after they arrived from El Salvador, and promptly returned to Luna so they could have some yummy crepes for lunch b/c Lisa was getting hangry (and as someone who fully appreciates the struggles of hangriness, I got them there ASAP)

Bopped around Antigua a bit, including some time in the market and at the wine tasting establishment directly under the arch to sample and purchase some wine for the impending visit from Mark Federle and the MU team
Ended our day with a simple dinner near Bucaros and a REAL beer at the Bavarian Beer Garden (yes, there are actually quite a few in the cities)

Tuesday 7/29

Left for the Lake with a shuttle from Erick (another common hire for EWB trips) and an obligatory stop at Bagel Barn for breakfast on the road
Arrived in Nueva Providencia around 11:30am to visit the old project and chat with the community

Fun fact: NP now has flush toilets at the school, courtesy of an NGO Pueblo a Pueblo and their WASH program which I am looking to learn more about after seeing their impressive work in NP
Hiked out to the spring box and walked portions of the pipeline - there is some work to do... but generally things look good!
Chatted with current and past comite members

After Laura said some good byes and I briefed them that Steve Crowe, the hitecha muchachos, and I would be returning with LA TURBINA the next day, we continued around the lake to hop a lancha in Panajachel
Hopped a heavily over-loaded lancha for a very slow ride out to our hostel, La Iguana Perdida, which was just as wonderful as we expected and even signed us up late for family-style dinner!

Wednesday 7/30

Went on an early morning kayak excursion with Laura, fueled by left-over cake from family-style dinner the night before and coffee from a lovely couple who invited us to their lodge porch while we waited for the kayak rentals to open

It was a lovely way to start the day! Highly recommend it!

After a quick breakfast of toast while waiting for a lancha, I headed over to Tzununa for a tour of the projects happening there

This was really intriguing and I ended up introducing them to EWB because they need help with the town's water system - in exchange, they had lots of good info (lessons learned, lists of NGOs, and their infrastructure diagnostic) to share. Definitely a cool group of folks that I hope to work with more!

Met Steve in Pana for the drive to NP

It was a blast to be present for the FINAL DELIVERY of the turbine after all of this time, though everyone was baffled by how small the little pelton wheel actually is
We were supposed to meet at noon, but thanks to protests earlier in the week and issues with his truck's power train, he didn't make it to Pana until 2:15pm, meaning we didn't get to NP until 3:45pm, meaning we barely made it out by 5:45pm to get me back to a lancha. HOWEVER, by then, lanchas had already stopped running from San Lucas, so Steve (being the awesome person he is) drove me back around the lake to Pana where I narrowly made "SEGURO, la ultima lancha" of the night at 7:30pm...
I was greeted back at the hostel with a plate saved from family-style dinner and a Brooklyn Brewing East India Pale Ale, so I really can't complain - add it to the list of "es Guatemala, no?" stories

There was a lovely "open mic night" after dinner which consisted of everyone at the hostel crowding around a fire, telling jokes, and singing songs - I was pretty wiped out and not feeling great, so I only stayed for a short while, but it was a very nice gathering and certainly one of the reasons La Iguana has a reputation as the best hotel ambiance on the lake

Thursday 7/31

Tried to make a 6am kayak ride, but at 5:40 when I woke up, I still needed to pack and make a 7:20am lancha to my shuttle in Pana, so I opted for some relaxation around the hostel after some leisurely packing
Said goodbye to Laura and Lisa and made my way to Pana for a quick breakfast and a very prompt shuttle
I finally had a nasty illness in Guatemala! WARNING: if you have never spent time in a developing country, the following content may be considered graphic and excessive. If you have, you'll be familiar with the use of bowel-movement details to express general well-being/travel struggles (I'm vividly reminded of my father's experience when we came to visit my Aunt here in 2002 - as he put it "the day when monkeys fly out of my ass has arrived" though if I remember his struggles correctly, I was better off...)

Having felt progressively icky since I had some street meat for lunch with Steve, my shuttle ride became an exercise in mind over the gravitational flow of fluids (I won)
Once we reached the shuttle bus parking area in Chichi (most travelers come for the market during the day and return/head to a new destination in the afternoon, meaning the shuttle buses all park and hang out) I narrowly made it to the bathroom and fortunately had some emergency napkins in my purse because despite paying 3Q for clean bathrooms, they did not contain toilet paper...
My plan was to hop the earliest chicken bus around the corner into Xoy, HOWEVER I had no interest in leaving the relative comfort of the parking structure and bathroom access, so after trying to talk a nice shuttle driver into taking me to Xoy (his boss would only let him do it for 500Q YIKES and he ultimately didn't have enough time to make it there and back), the driver took pity on me and let me sleep in his shuttle bus
When I woke up a few hours later, he had bought me some diarrhea meds (aka imodium) and gatorade and the nice lady let me make an extended trip to the bathroom for free (this time I brought my roll of toilet paper that travels EVERYWHERE with me)
After conferring and commiserating with Waleska, I decided to spend the night in Chichi, at which point, my shuttle driver friend flagged down a tuk tuk for me and directed him to a cheap but clean hotel he knew of - El Mashito, which I added to Google Maps (previously didn't know this was possible, but as usual, a brilliant use of crowd-sourcing on google's part) because this place was lovely!
Settled into my hotel room with a tiny tv that plays one channel of telanovelas, took a wonderfully hot shower, took my temperature (96.7 chickayeah!), bought and drank some more gatorade, then got antsy and went up the street to the SUPER SWANKY Mayan Inn to drink some soda and use some wifi to re-connect to the world
After a relaxing evening and lots of hydration, I am happy to report that I regained control of my bowels and made it back to Xoy!

After this week of adventures, I have LOTS of documentation to catch up on, and got to spend a night with the Madison EWB group in their new project community, Asuzenas. Nice group of folks who I arrived just in time to have some meals with them, chat with the community, and hang out with Lupita (and Bruno Brazilia with the apalledo change due to Lupita's concern that Alemania is not masculine enough), Angelica, Mincho, Waleska, and Kevin H. (Madison mentor). All excellent company, and it was good to catch up with Waleska and Kevin on recent happenings and ideas/plans for work moving forward! Stay tuned!

And now for (many) photos!

Early morning stop in the market before leaving on Saturday for my road breakfast/lunch - sourdough rolls, chiquita bananas (for real), and an avocado

In the Holiday Inn with Mary and the haul of pastries from Los Alpes - YUM

Return to Providencia!

The bridge looks good...

And the new addition to the school is finished and painted, along with a new paint job for the old school building

ALSO the FLUSH TOILETS (crazy!) and the teacher, Jimmy, proudly showing them and explaining the WASH program - I need to get in touch with these people, b/c I'm very impressed with their work here and the level of empowerment Jimmy was demonstrating

The old handwashing station, new bathrooms, and old pit toilets (looking left to right)

This Avett Brothers song was playing as we arrived in the Iguana Perdida office/bar area to check in and I was discovering that, in addition to the typical, icky Central American beer selection, they also had this one, glorious, Brooklyn Brewing Co. East India Pale Ale - the song is far more dramatic than the situation warranted, but I have been struggling to say "I love beer" here when the beer is just so not good...

Anyway, this was the view from our hammock on our porch, so I had to take a picture to capture the moment of "Brooklyn taking me in" on Lake Atitlan

Kayaking!

Woohoo!

Scooted by La Casa del Mundo - a place I have vivid memories of from my trip here with my dad and aunt 12 years ago and HIGHLY recommend if you visit - though this place is more couple's getaway/family friendly whereas La Iguana Perdida is a fun spot for a younger crowd/making new friends

Not too shabby for some early-morning exercise...

This was my attempt at a panorama of our morning kayak excursion - it was a little choppy (and only got choppier from here), but despite the wavy horizon, I think it captures the setting pretty well

Just hanging out near the dock, waiting for a lancha to take me to Pana so I could get to NP for the afternoon - ALSO I had a revelation in this very spot after trying "the famous" Iguana Perdida pineapple and avocado smoothie - AMAZING

Now for some work pictures...

The nutrition clinic in Tzununa with my tour guide/head of nutrition, Ana Maria, standing in the white shirt

The outside of the nutrition center

The health center under construction - huge facility that will partially function to recuperate malnourished babies and pregnant mothers, as well as have the capability to handle complicated child birth

New, stamped concrete roadway (funded by the Muni, not the foundation, but still pretty nice)

THE TURBINE HAS ARRIVED IN PROVIDENCIA!!!

Everyone slightly confused by how small la turbina is - they were expecting something similar to the massive water wheel at the old finca (which would explain some concerns about the size of the power house...)

Steve layin out the turbine for his hitecha staff

4 new homes have been wired by the community - very happy to see they followed the example of the other homes and properly used conduit and GFCI outlets!

New roadway in the community funded by Bill Peterson and his group in Minnesota (he helped build the roof of the powerhouse back in the day, and has since been returning with his church group for other projects within the community, including the school addition)