A big thank you to all that have donated to our scholarship fund. We appreciate all the support that we are receiving on behalf of the kids from our community. A special thanks to our friends in Northeast for organizing the benefit party and to all that attended. What an amazing group of people we know.
We have exciting to news to report. Mario Rax, one of the older children on our scholarship page, has been awarded a scholarship from the NGO we are working with to attend a three year school in Rio Dulce where he will be studying ecotourism.
For those of you who are still interested in donating, there is still almost a month left before school starts. We'd love to be able to give a few more children a chance.
Donations can be made directly to:
Friends of Guatemala • P.O. Box 33018 • Washington, D.C. 20033
be sure to place Corby and Kari Lewis- Cat. II in the memo section of your check to ensure that it is earmarked for our project.
Happy Holidays!
December 16, 2006
November 6, 2006
Meet our Neighbor
On a daily basis we get to hang and with all kinds of interesting Guatemalans. We thought it would be kind of interesting to introduce some of the people we spend time with. Kind of a "who are the people in your neighborhood" series.
"Grandma" as we affectionately call her, or "Abuela" as all the locals call her, is our next door neighbor. Maria Prado seems to take on the role as the town grandma. She lives in the lot next door and we share a backyard, a well, at times the same path to a latrine, and many fruit trees. Generally if she wants to get bananas out of the tree, she has Corby chop down the entire tree. That's just the way they do it. She's always great about bringing us bananas, oranges and lemons when she has extras.
Most of her day is spent making tortillas that she sells around town. She makes several trips to the molina (corn grinder) starting at 4 am to get a head start on the crowd. Her house is the primary stop for all of the out of town workers that stop in Salacuim to do business. She'll serve them beans, eggs and tortillas at a good price.
One time I asked her how many grandchildren she has and she looked at me sweetly and replied, "bastante". In other words, "enough or lots". She started to count and name them all and got distracted. We made it to about 22 grandkids before we started talking about something else. She recalls that she had 13 children in total, but 6 of them have died. It's hard to ask her about the past and what she recalls because the past is often an undiscussed subject in Guatemala due to the turmoil. We know bits and pieces of the story of her husband being shot near our front yard nearly 25 years ago during the war. But she survived the war and survived Salacuim being burnt to the ground. She still talks about being alone and lonely, although there is rarely a moment in the day when her yard isn't filled with the neighborhood children that seem to adore her.
Although Salacuim is a very safe place to live, she guards our house when we're out of town. I wouldn't mess with her either because at over 70 yrs old, Abuela can still swing a machete with the best of them.
"Grandma" as we affectionately call her, or "Abuela" as all the locals call her, is our next door neighbor. Maria Prado seems to take on the role as the town grandma. She lives in the lot next door and we share a backyard, a well, at times the same path to a latrine, and many fruit trees. Generally if she wants to get bananas out of the tree, she has Corby chop down the entire tree. That's just the way they do it. She's always great about bringing us bananas, oranges and lemons when she has extras.
Most of her day is spent making tortillas that she sells around town. She makes several trips to the molina (corn grinder) starting at 4 am to get a head start on the crowd. Her house is the primary stop for all of the out of town workers that stop in Salacuim to do business. She'll serve them beans, eggs and tortillas at a good price.
One time I asked her how many grandchildren she has and she looked at me sweetly and replied, "bastante". In other words, "enough or lots". She started to count and name them all and got distracted. We made it to about 22 grandkids before we started talking about something else. She recalls that she had 13 children in total, but 6 of them have died. It's hard to ask her about the past and what she recalls because the past is often an undiscussed subject in Guatemala due to the turmoil. We know bits and pieces of the story of her husband being shot near our front yard nearly 25 years ago during the war. But she survived the war and survived Salacuim being burnt to the ground. She still talks about being alone and lonely, although there is rarely a moment in the day when her yard isn't filled with the neighborhood children that seem to adore her.
Although Salacuim is a very safe place to live, she guards our house when we're out of town. I wouldn't mess with her either because at over 70 yrs old, Abuela can still swing a machete with the best of them.
October 15, 2006
Opportunity to Help the Children of Salacuim
Our new scholarship program is now up and running. Visit the website for more information. Please consider supporting the children of Salacuim!
Scholarship Website
Scholarship Website
October 6, 2006
Developing Scholarship Program
While living in Salacuim for the last 6 months we've been developing ideas for a program for you all (various blog readers and others) to help us with some type of community based project. We've decided that the most effective way to help right now is to provide scholarships for local childern to do something that most of us take for granted in the US--go to school. In the case of a 1st - 6th grade education about $100 can send a child to school for a year and give them a chance to explore their dreams.
We're planning on posting more details on how to help within a week here on this website. Check back soon!
We're planning on posting more details on how to help within a week here on this website. Check back soon!
Corps of Engineers Newlsetter Article
The St. Paul District Corps of Engineers had an article about us in the latest newsletter. Here's a link...
our article: http://www.lachua.org/corbyandkari/corpsofengineers_article.pdf
newsletter: http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/docs/crosscurrents/2006August-September.pdf
our article: http://www.lachua.org/corbyandkari/corpsofengineers_article.pdf
newsletter: http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/docs/crosscurrents/2006August-September.pdf
September 15, 2006
Día de Independencia
The 15th of September marked the 185th anniversary of Guatemalan (as well as Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica) independence from Spain in 1821. Our community of Salacuim took the day off to celebrate. The parade reminded me of our own independance day celebrations in Sheyenne, North Dakota...horses, bands, candy, dances, and community togetherness. Also the youth group we work with culminated their 2 month long soccer tournament with a chamionship game that drew what seemed like the whole town to watch. I had a chance to play in the "jovenes vs. ancianos" (translated youth vs. elderly) soccer game, where the ancianos won 2-1.
To get a feel for the celebration, check out our photos @
http://www.flickr.com/photos/corbylewis/sets/72157594295220796/
To get a feel for the celebration, check out our photos @
http://www.flickr.com/photos/corbylewis/sets/72157594295220796/
September 8, 2006
Maps of Our Area
We wanted to share a basic map of where our site is and where we're located in Guatemala. Aquí es.
August 20, 2006
La Cantidad de Agua es Increíble
Our Peace Corps site is within an ecosystem known as Selva Tropical Lluviosa (Tropical Rain Forest). We’re in the middle of the rainy season. Guatemalans actually call the season from June-October “winter” and reserve the term “summer” for the drier months during winter in the US. For us the quantity of water has been incredible. This area receives about 175 inches of rain each year! Incredible when you compare it to the 30 inches of precipitation that Minnesota gets, especially this year from the way it sounds.
Although it has meant a few muddy shoes, clean clothes that never dry, and occasionally being trapped under some type of roof between the office and home the rainy season has been enjoyable. Most of the rain is at night, so its possible to stay dry during daytime activities and the sound of 5 inches of rain overnight on your tin roof without any sound insulation is something magical.
I thought a few people might be interested in this average monthly rainfall chart and rainfall data from June of this year….
Although it has meant a few muddy shoes, clean clothes that never dry, and occasionally being trapped under some type of roof between the office and home the rainy season has been enjoyable. Most of the rain is at night, so its possible to stay dry during daytime activities and the sound of 5 inches of rain overnight on your tin roof without any sound insulation is something magical.
I thought a few people might be interested in this average monthly rainfall chart and rainfall data from June of this year….
July 16, 2006
Few new pictures
We've recently added a group of new pictures to our photo site....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/corbylewis/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/corbylewis/
July 12, 2006
Laguna Lachuá National Park
Laguna Lachuá National Park is one of the most pristine areas in Guatemala and also one of the least visited parks in Central America. Part of our goal is to work with the communities surrounding the park to help protect and conserve its resources. Below are some of our favorite pictures of the park.
July 11, 2006
4th of July week
It's time for a new post. The lack of entries are a good indication that we are settling into a routine here and just living life. It seems like there are few blog worthy reports on a daily basis. The rainy season is in full swing and our new challenge is dealing with molding clothes. We have been putting our heads down and working hard lately. Corby on designing and developing a new building for the police in a near by aldea and Kari on designs for the national park that they will for merchandise, brochures, web sites and any sort of publicity material. Our free time has been filled with working with a local youth group, teaching English classes at one of the schools in Salacuim and helping the neighborhood kids with their homework.
Last week we were able to escape to Guatemala City where we met the other 200 volunteers and had a 4th of July party. It seems strange to celebrate Independence Day in another country, but it seems to be more meaningful than it ever was at home now that we are here. After the party we were able to take a trip to the south coast and visit Monterrico. We spent 3 days on the black sand beaches of the pacific where we virtually had the place to ourselves. After spending a month in our site it was wonderful to relax and enjoy another part of Guatemala we had never seen before.
Last week we were able to escape to Guatemala City where we met the other 200 volunteers and had a 4th of July party. It seems strange to celebrate Independence Day in another country, but it seems to be more meaningful than it ever was at home now that we are here. After the party we were able to take a trip to the south coast and visit Monterrico. We spent 3 days on the black sand beaches of the pacific where we virtually had the place to ourselves. After spending a month in our site it was wonderful to relax and enjoy another part of Guatemala we had never seen before.
July 10, 2006
Alligator Video
alligator video
Here is an interesting nature experience that we had a little ways out of Salacuim one day. We thought these guys were taking us out to see an large iguana...we realized that we needed to improve our spanish when an 8-foot alligator walked out of the pond.
Here is an interesting nature experience that we had a little ways out of Salacuim one day. We thought these guys were taking us out to see an large iguana...we realized that we needed to improve our spanish when an 8-foot alligator walked out of the pond.
May 7, 2006
First Month in Salacuim
We have been in site for about a month now. We're pretty well settled in and basically have everything we need for living. We're hopefully about to end our 3 week search for some shelves to put things on...
Our time is being spent getting to know the communities, people, their needs, and improving our language skills. We've already been able to get involved in some interesting stuff: helping out a youth group to write a request for donated computers & planning computer classes for the community, Kari is working with a group of women that weave traditional fabrics, Corby was asked to help out with a "engineering inspection" as part of the paperwork to start a new school in Salacuim as well as give comments on a preliminary concrete bridge design, we met the prime minister of agriculture when he came to the area for a visit, as well as some other fun stuff.
There are 45 communities surrounding the National Park that our counterpart (Proyecto Lachua) works with. We've been trying to travel to several of them for visits, but transportation is limited & dificult at times. We're becoming excellent hitchhikers and have taken some interesting rides. Perspectives change: somehow riding a few hours over a rough gravel road on the luggage rack of a minivan sounds pretty appealing or even comfortable. We will be getting our Peace Corps issued bikes in a week and that may open up some more opportunities for us to get around a bit easier.
Below are a few pictures of our house and life here. Check out our picture link as well. We're caught up on uploading.
Our time is being spent getting to know the communities, people, their needs, and improving our language skills. We've already been able to get involved in some interesting stuff: helping out a youth group to write a request for donated computers & planning computer classes for the community, Kari is working with a group of women that weave traditional fabrics, Corby was asked to help out with a "engineering inspection" as part of the paperwork to start a new school in Salacuim as well as give comments on a preliminary concrete bridge design, we met the prime minister of agriculture when he came to the area for a visit, as well as some other fun stuff.
There are 45 communities surrounding the National Park that our counterpart (Proyecto Lachua) works with. We've been trying to travel to several of them for visits, but transportation is limited & dificult at times. We're becoming excellent hitchhikers and have taken some interesting rides. Perspectives change: somehow riding a few hours over a rough gravel road on the luggage rack of a minivan sounds pretty appealing or even comfortable. We will be getting our Peace Corps issued bikes in a week and that may open up some more opportunities for us to get around a bit easier.
Below are a few pictures of our house and life here. Check out our picture link as well. We're caught up on uploading.
April 18, 2006
Settling In
Today was finally move in day! It has been a fairly slow week. We arrived in Salacuim last week just in time for our office and all regular activity to stop for the Semana Santa (Easter Week) holiday. We spent about 4 days getting to know the town a bit better and basically knocking on doors looking for a house to rent. We feel pretty lucky that we found a nice little one room place made of concrete block with a light bulb & and nice yard.
After we got things squared away we decided to go to the nearest big market city, Coban, to take care of errands (like buying a new bed, range top stove, and refridgerator) and try to pass the time until the holiday was over and we could get a ride back to Salacuim with our new stuff. We also got a chance to visit friends from our Peace Corps training group in San Cristobal, see a few sites, and watch some Easter processions.
Pues, this was finally our big day & this will be our first night sleeping in our own space since early January. We spent most of the day moving in, finding shelf space, setting up electrical stuff, figuring out what we´re going to eat....just living. We'll be posting some new pictures soon.
After we got things squared away we decided to go to the nearest big market city, Coban, to take care of errands (like buying a new bed, range top stove, and refridgerator) and try to pass the time until the holiday was over and we could get a ride back to Salacuim with our new stuff. We also got a chance to visit friends from our Peace Corps training group in San Cristobal, see a few sites, and watch some Easter processions.
Pues, this was finally our big day & this will be our first night sleeping in our own space since early January. We spent most of the day moving in, finding shelf space, setting up electrical stuff, figuring out what we´re going to eat....just living. We'll be posting some new pictures soon.
April 3, 2006
Visit to Salacuim & Training Wrap Up
We made our first visit to our site! Our counterparts from the "Proyecto Lachua" drove to the training center and picked us up for our all day journey into the jungle on Tuesday (march 21st). It's beautiful place...warm climate, friendly people, tropical rainforest ecosystem (fairly natural and unspoiled within the park boundaries), big rivers, lakes, caves, ect. There are approximately 272 bird species in the area...more than in the entire US. Probably the best part of our assignment is a really well organized agency with good resources to do good work. They have an office set up in Salaquim complete with electricity, running water, and even internet. They work on several development projects focused on conservation on the National Park like: environmental education, tourism development, alternative income generation. We're both excited about getting involved.
There is one drawback in trying to find housing. So far the best option is to move into the departing P.C. volunteer's house. It's pretty rough--without a working kitchen, electricity, running water, complete walls or pest control. We're looking for other options, but we won't know for sure what we'll do until we move to the area for good (April 7th). Wish us luck!
We got back from our visit & now we're near the end of 2 weeks of wrap up training. We both officially "passed" spanish--which really means that we speak well enough to point and grunt to get through the first few months. We've had a bit of basic training in the indigenous language of Q'eqchi', but we may get more into this after we see how much we need it to communicate for our work.
Another highlight was a great religious procession within our pueblo of Santo Tomas last night. This was part of the country-wide build up during the "quarenta dias" before "semana santa". It was something incredible to be a part of, about 100 alfombras made of sawdust, flowers, and other creative materials were made all over the streets of town during the day & then trampled by the procession during the evening.
Not much time to upload pictures lately, but we'll add a big bunch of them in the near future.
There is one drawback in trying to find housing. So far the best option is to move into the departing P.C. volunteer's house. It's pretty rough--without a working kitchen, electricity, running water, complete walls or pest control. We're looking for other options, but we won't know for sure what we'll do until we move to the area for good (April 7th). Wish us luck!
We got back from our visit & now we're near the end of 2 weeks of wrap up training. We both officially "passed" spanish--which really means that we speak well enough to point and grunt to get through the first few months. We've had a bit of basic training in the indigenous language of Q'eqchi', but we may get more into this after we see how much we need it to communicate for our work.
Another highlight was a great religious procession within our pueblo of Santo Tomas last night. This was part of the country-wide build up during the "quarenta dias" before "semana santa". It was something incredible to be a part of, about 100 alfombras made of sawdust, flowers, and other creative materials were made all over the streets of town during the day & then trampled by the procession during the evening.
Not much time to upload pictures lately, but we'll add a big bunch of them in the near future.
March 16, 2006
Site Assignment: Salacuim, Alta Verapaz
After much anticipation, we finally found out our site or "homes" for the next two years today. Ours will be Salacuim Alta Verapaz. We're really excited. We're going to be relatively low in elevation, which means really warm. It's classified as tropical rainforest. Kari will be replacing a Peace Corps volunteer in the environmental Education program & Corby will be the first Peace Corps ecotourism volunteer in the area. The initial report sounds like there are lots of opportunities for productive work there. Compared to the site assignments of the rest of our group, we're probably the most remote (about 4 hours from the city of Coban, including 3 hours on a dirt road) & the warmest. There is the nearby tourist attraction of Laguna Lachua National Park that Corby will be with.
That's a quick summary of what we know so far. We haven't visited this area yet, but next week is a trip there. Below is a map of the general area & a touristy glamour shot of the Laguna from the internet. We'll keep you posted....
That's a quick summary of what we know so far. We haven't visited this area yet, but next week is a trip there. Below is a map of the general area & a touristy glamour shot of the Laguna from the internet. We'll keep you posted....
March 12, 2006
Trip to the Alta Verapaz Area
We just returned from our second and last field based training. We were able to see a part of Guatemala that we had not yet explored. It was well worth the wait, as it is one of the most beautiful areas of the country by far. We started off on Monday toward Coban. The ecotourism group went to Chilasco, which is in the cloud forest. They took a hike to the largest waterfall in Central America, but unfortunately it wasn't a clear day so the view was not as expected. The environmental education group went straight to Coban to tour a candle making facility run buy the indigenous people and talk to some of the volunteers in the area. The two groups met up in the evening and spent the night in Coban, the third largest city in Guatemala.
Chilasco Cloud Forest
The next day we dropped down into a valley in the jungle and visited Lanquin, an absolutely beautiful town in the middle of nowhere. It was very warm and tropical, unlike where we are living now in the mountains. Kari's group visited a few schools in the area and gave a workshop to students that are studying to become teachers. They also did some small art projects with the kids of a small village school. Meanwhile, Corby's group worked on building some trails and making signage for the park in the area. The highlight was meeting up to take a trip to Semuc Champey and hike to some natural turquoise pools and take a swim for the afternoon. With all the work we've been doing, we have certainly found time to have fun as well.
visiting the Lanquin schools
Chilasco Cloud Forest
The next day we dropped down into a valley in the jungle and visited Lanquin, an absolutely beautiful town in the middle of nowhere. It was very warm and tropical, unlike where we are living now in the mountains. Kari's group visited a few schools in the area and gave a workshop to students that are studying to become teachers. They also did some small art projects with the kids of a small village school. Meanwhile, Corby's group worked on building some trails and making signage for the park in the area. The highlight was meeting up to take a trip to Semuc Champey and hike to some natural turquoise pools and take a swim for the afternoon. With all the work we've been doing, we have certainly found time to have fun as well.
visiting the Lanquin schools
We finished off our week with presentations and more school visits in Chisec. We also took in a tubing trip down the river. The final event of the week was an interview to determine our future sites. We feel like it is out of our hands at this point, but are eagerly awaiting Thursday, the 16th when we will know our fate for the next two years. We are excited to get out there on our own and work with the people of Guatemala. We have had some great opportunities to explore these past few months and are ready to employ our skills we have learned. We will post our site news as soon as we find out.
March 4, 2006
More training....and some fun stuff
We've just wrapped up 2 full weeks at the training center. This was mostly along the same themes we've had since we've got here: more spanish classes, technical sessions (ecotourism & environmental ed.), along with some cultural stuff. We have managed to take part in some activities that are "blog-worthy" as well.
---------------------
Hike up Volcan Pacaya:
This was really amazing. Neither of us had ever visited an active volcano before, so we were kind of blown away. It was like walking on the moon with volcanic rocks everywhere. We also got to stare into the belly of the beast and get a good strong whiff of sulfur (it's supposed to be good for the lungs, right?).
--------------------
Eco-Camp:
Our training group followed our trip up the Volcano by running an "eco-camp" for about 20 middle-school aged kids that live nearby. We helped with some of the activities, but mostly tried to make order out of the chaos. For a lot of the kids it was their first time sleeping away from their parents/outside/etc. Overall, they had a really great experience.
----------------
Fiesta for Diana's Cupleanos:
Our roommate/hermana/sobrina Diana turned 4 years old last weekend. This was an occasion for a great party, pinatas included. We got to help out a bit with pre-party preps and eat some of the candy. If you're wondering: yes, that was a "bob esponja" pinata for the boys. Not pictured: "chica fresa" for the girls.
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We're getting ready for a bigger trip next week, destination: Coban. We'll be spending a week training-on-the road. This is our last big event before we find out our location for the next two years. We'll be receiving a "site-assignment" March 16th.
Stay Tuned.
---------------------
Hike up Volcan Pacaya:
This was really amazing. Neither of us had ever visited an active volcano before, so we were kind of blown away. It was like walking on the moon with volcanic rocks everywhere. We also got to stare into the belly of the beast and get a good strong whiff of sulfur (it's supposed to be good for the lungs, right?).
--------------------
Eco-Camp:
Our training group followed our trip up the Volcano by running an "eco-camp" for about 20 middle-school aged kids that live nearby. We helped with some of the activities, but mostly tried to make order out of the chaos. For a lot of the kids it was their first time sleeping away from their parents/outside/etc. Overall, they had a really great experience.
----------------
Fiesta for Diana's Cupleanos:
Our roommate/hermana/sobrina Diana turned 4 years old last weekend. This was an occasion for a great party, pinatas included. We got to help out a bit with pre-party preps and eat some of the candy. If you're wondering: yes, that was a "bob esponja" pinata for the boys. Not pictured: "chica fresa" for the girls.
---------------
We're getting ready for a bigger trip next week, destination: Coban. We'll be spending a week training-on-the road. This is our last big event before we find out our location for the next two years. We'll be receiving a "site-assignment" March 16th.
Stay Tuned.
February 18, 2006
Training Trip to Lake Atitlan
The weeks here seem to be flying by. We are constantly on the go and before we know it we will be sworn in as official volunteers. A week ago we were eagerly getting ready to leave on our first field based training. A few days before taking off, Kari came down with a bacterial infection, but tried to fight through it to make the trip. Antibiotics work wonders here. We started off the weekend with an overnight trip to Antigua with the rest of the training group. It was the first time we were officially allowed to leave our site overnight and everyone decided to take advantage of it. Not to mention, take advantage of a hot shower and some really good food in Antigua. We returned on Sunday afternoon, only to begin packing for our first week out in the field. We left early Monday morning and headed out to San Juan La Laguna on Lake Atitlan. Before arriving, we stopped at the Mayan ruins of Iximche, near Tecpan.
We got to San Juan in the afternoon and were able to witness some of the landslide devastation caused by Hurricane Stan late last year. Unbelivable. We spent the night in San Juan and attended lectures on waste management and developing groups within the community we will be assigned to. Early the next morning, the two groups,ecotourism and environmental education, split up and went their separate ways for the next two days.
Corby's group (ecotourism) stayed in San Juan for another night and took a tour of the town, where they visited the site of Maximon (a Guatemalan Saint worshiped by many people here, but not acknowledged by the Catholic church) and also came upon a Pre-Columbian artifact in the middle of a coffee field. Their group was also able to take a swim in Lake Atitlan, which some consider the most beautiful lake in the world. The following day the group went to a park to help build trails up to a zip-line. The reward afterwards was being able to ride the longest zip-line in Central America. It sounds like the ecotourism group has more fun!??
Meanwhile, Kari's group (environmental education) took a ferry over to the other side of Lake Atitlan to a pueblo called Santiago. They visited a couple schools that other volunteers are working in and held a recycled art workshop with the kids. Much of the next two days were spent in the school system, teaching and observing.
On Thursday afternoon, the two groups met back at Corazon del Bosque and spent time watching the ecotourism group give presentations to workers at the park on solid waste management. During the evening we had a cultural exchange night with the Guatemaltecos and a big bonfire to end the night. The following morning we headed back to Santo Tomas, but not before Corby got some birdwatching in with the rest of the group. For those of you interested in birding- they spotted a Collared Trogon, an endemic species to Guatemala. It's nice to be back "home" again after a week of traveling. The upcoming week is filled with more classes at the training center and an eco-camp that we will be hosting at the end of the week.
We got to San Juan in the afternoon and were able to witness some of the landslide devastation caused by Hurricane Stan late last year. Unbelivable. We spent the night in San Juan and attended lectures on waste management and developing groups within the community we will be assigned to. Early the next morning, the two groups,ecotourism and environmental education, split up and went their separate ways for the next two days.
Corby's group (ecotourism) stayed in San Juan for another night and took a tour of the town, where they visited the site of Maximon (a Guatemalan Saint worshiped by many people here, but not acknowledged by the Catholic church) and also came upon a Pre-Columbian artifact in the middle of a coffee field. Their group was also able to take a swim in Lake Atitlan, which some consider the most beautiful lake in the world. The following day the group went to a park to help build trails up to a zip-line. The reward afterwards was being able to ride the longest zip-line in Central America. It sounds like the ecotourism group has more fun!??
Meanwhile, Kari's group (environmental education) took a ferry over to the other side of Lake Atitlan to a pueblo called Santiago. They visited a couple schools that other volunteers are working in and held a recycled art workshop with the kids. Much of the next two days were spent in the school system, teaching and observing.
On Thursday afternoon, the two groups met back at Corazon del Bosque and spent time watching the ecotourism group give presentations to workers at the park on solid waste management. During the evening we had a cultural exchange night with the Guatemaltecos and a big bonfire to end the night. The following morning we headed back to Santo Tomas, but not before Corby got some birdwatching in with the rest of the group. For those of you interested in birding- they spotted a Collared Trogon, an endemic species to Guatemala. It's nice to be back "home" again after a week of traveling. The upcoming week is filled with more classes at the training center and an eco-camp that we will be hosting at the end of the week.
February 5, 2006
Trip to Quiche
We just returned from a 4-day trip to the Quiche department of Guatemala, where we stayed in the village of Chicaman with two current Peace Corps volunteers (one of the other four married couples currently serving in Guatemala). The idea was for us to spend a bit of time getting to know how current volunteers live day to day.
Also, this was our first solo traveling experience without Peace Corps folks guiding us through the bus system. It was a long trip...3 hours to the capital of Quiche in a crowded "chicken bus" with a bus driver that got a huge grin every time he decided to pass another semi-truck around a blind corner and 100 km/hr. (People say these things are safe....) The next leg was supposed to be a 3 hour trip to the pueblo over a mostly rutted, mountainous dirt road; but it actually ended up being 2½ hours of a bus ride, 3½ hours of waiting for construction crews (part of which was their standard 2 hour lunch break), a half hour walk to speed up our passage through another construction zone, and eventually a ride in a vehicle from our new found friends on the other side.
The scenery and the culture were incredible. The pueblo was a Spanish speaking market town with 5 different Mayan Languages spoken in the surrounding "aldeas" (small communities surrounding the market towns.) We visited one of the incredible river valleys as well as the birthplace of Rigoberta Menchu, a Guatemalan-Nobel Peace Prize winner that has made a life out of fighting for the rights of indigenous people around the world.
Also, this was our first solo traveling experience without Peace Corps folks guiding us through the bus system. It was a long trip...3 hours to the capital of Quiche in a crowded "chicken bus" with a bus driver that got a huge grin every time he decided to pass another semi-truck around a blind corner and 100 km/hr. (People say these things are safe....) The next leg was supposed to be a 3 hour trip to the pueblo over a mostly rutted, mountainous dirt road; but it actually ended up being 2½ hours of a bus ride, 3½ hours of waiting for construction crews (part of which was their standard 2 hour lunch break), a half hour walk to speed up our passage through another construction zone, and eventually a ride in a vehicle from our new found friends on the other side.
The scenery and the culture were incredible. The pueblo was a Spanish speaking market town with 5 different Mayan Languages spoken in the surrounding "aldeas" (small communities surrounding the market towns.) We visited one of the incredible river valleys as well as the birthplace of Rigoberta Menchu, a Guatemalan-Nobel Peace Prize winner that has made a life out of fighting for the rights of indigenous people around the world.
January 29, 2006
Latest Activities
It´s been about 2 weeks since our last update. We´ve kept a pretty busy schedule of training. Spanish is coming along, but it seems slow...
Unfortunately, the highlight of the past two weeks was that we both came down with some sickness. Probably some kind of bug that made for a miserable couple of days. After expelling a large volume of bad stuff from our bodies, we´re both feeling strong and like we´ve paid our dues to live in the 3rd world.
We also made a trip to the capital to visit the Peace Corps Headquarters. It was good to get a handle on how to safely move through the big city, but it´s not really a place that we´re all that excited about spending much time in. Aside from a few recognizable American restaurants (that can be a sight for sore eyes at times) and a transportation hub, it doesn´t seem like there´s much of a reason for too many future visits.
A big trip to an pueblo near Coban is coming up this week. After a 6 hour bus ride, we´ll spend Thursday-Sunday visiting another married couple working for the Peace Corps. This is supposed to be our chance to job shadow and ask all the questions we have about what it´s like to be volunteers in the field. The others in our training group are doing the same thing throughout the country. We´re all very ready to break away from the classroom and see some country.
We´ve also spent a few days (last Sunday & today) in Antigua and have been using it as a break from the 3rd world living. Today we visited an Art Exhibit that was organized by a PC volunteer in the Lake Atitlan area. We also were able to visit with a relative that is spending a few months here to get away from the North Dakota winter.
January 14, 2006
We're here!
Well, we're here. It's been a busy few weeks between getting packed up, moved out, and orientated. Everything went great in our first week. We have a half of a day off today (Saturday) and a free day tomorrow as well, so we're just now getting a chance to relax a bit.
On Monday, we arrived in Washington DC pretty close to on time & had our "staging event" for a day and a half where we met our training group. Aside from packing a little bit too heavy, everything went smooth.
On Wednesday, we woke up at 2 am to get ready for our flight to Guatemala City. The flight was delayed a bit, but we still landed in the early afternoon. Folks from the Peace Corps were there waiting for us all & had a couple mini-buses/vans to drive us to the training site in Santa Lucia. It's pretty warm, probably upper 70s (although it did rain this morning). They have an amazing site here, a little oasis with clean green grass, clean bathrooms, hot showers, and decent internet access. It's where we'll be doing our training session for the next three months with the entire group.
Eventually, we loaded into the vans and got dropped off at out brand new "host family". We have a great family. They don't speak english at all, so our spanish is coming along pretty well-->but we have a long way to go(Corby more than Kari). It's amazing how easy it is to spend time with them and talk/play even though we can't communicate easily.
Since then, we've been sitting in lectures about staying healthy, safety, spanish, and technical skills. It looks like we'll be doing slightly different programs --> Kari: Environmental Education, Corby: Ecotourism.
Sounds like our host family may take us to Antigua tomorrow to have a look around. We'll be traveling together to visit the Volcano Pacaya with a fairly large group on Monday. Probably a short hike & a visit with a current volunteer doing ecotourism work there. It also sounds like quite a bit more traveling is on our way in the next few months during training...
That's basically the latest news. We'll write more later.
Reminder: there is a place to make comments on these posts if anyone has replies that they would like to post.
On Monday, we arrived in Washington DC pretty close to on time & had our "staging event" for a day and a half where we met our training group. Aside from packing a little bit too heavy, everything went smooth.
On Wednesday, we woke up at 2 am to get ready for our flight to Guatemala City. The flight was delayed a bit, but we still landed in the early afternoon. Folks from the Peace Corps were there waiting for us all & had a couple mini-buses/vans to drive us to the training site in Santa Lucia. It's pretty warm, probably upper 70s (although it did rain this morning). They have an amazing site here, a little oasis with clean green grass, clean bathrooms, hot showers, and decent internet access. It's where we'll be doing our training session for the next three months with the entire group.
Eventually, we loaded into the vans and got dropped off at out brand new "host family". We have a great family. They don't speak english at all, so our spanish is coming along pretty well-->but we have a long way to go(Corby more than Kari). It's amazing how easy it is to spend time with them and talk/play even though we can't communicate easily.
Since then, we've been sitting in lectures about staying healthy, safety, spanish, and technical skills. It looks like we'll be doing slightly different programs --> Kari: Environmental Education, Corby: Ecotourism.
Sounds like our host family may take us to Antigua tomorrow to have a look around. We'll be traveling together to visit the Volcano Pacaya with a fairly large group on Monday. Probably a short hike & a visit with a current volunteer doing ecotourism work there. It also sounds like quite a bit more traveling is on our way in the next few months during training...
That's basically the latest news. We'll write more later.
Reminder: there is a place to make comments on these posts if anyone has replies that they would like to post.
January 7, 2006
About to Leave
We've had a busy week moving out of our studio in St Paul. We're thankful for all the help that we had from family & friends to help us get out the door. This trip is within sight.
We've added a lot of pictures from the last few years to our photo site. Check it out at www.flickr.com/photos/corbylewis
FYI: We also have an address where we'll be able to recieve packages in Guatemala.
We've added a lot of pictures from the last few years to our photo site. Check it out at www.flickr.com/photos/corbylewis
FYI: We also have an address where we'll be able to recieve packages in Guatemala.
Peace Corps Director
c/o "Corby & Kari Lewis"
8 Calle 6-55, Zone 9
Guatemala City, 01009
Guatemala, Central America
Office Tel. # 502.2334.8263 (needed for courier packages)
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