Since Last Time
A lot has happened since my last real blog post. My most recent post was easy to do and necessary for the Trainees who are about to join us in early January. So, what has happened?
July Fourth was celebrated with several other PCVs in Monterico, a town on the black sand beaches of the Pacific. It was a glorious three days of rest!
Halloween came and went with it being celebrated mostly among Americans down here. In Guatemala they celebrate more November 1st which is “Día de Todos los Santos” or All Saint’s Day. The idea much as I understand it shares a common belief with Halloween — that around this time of year (at the end of fall weather and the beginning of winter weather) the realms of the living and the dead coincide the most. However, in celebrating Día de Todos los Santos, Guatemalans gather in their families, head to the cemetery, and spend the day eating and drinking with family and friends. It’s a very beautiful ceremony, even if you spend all day in the hot sun.
Next up was Thanksgiving which I spent among a handful of friends at a Mexican restaurant in the city of Reu. The Mexican food was extremely delicious but it did not hold a candle to spending it with family. All in all though, I had a blast with my friends. Even more so when on the following Saturday we went to a really fantastic water park!
But my Thanksgiving festivities were interrupted from my duties of being “padrino de promoción”, or godfather of promotion. At least, that’s the closest I can come to capturing the honorific title. My duties were to, as far as I can describe it, be an active witness to the graduation of the tercero básico (9th grade) class. I was to accompany them to an excursion (soccer, then swimming) and lead them in the graduation ceremony. It was an honor to have been chosen as the padrino and it allowed me to grow closer to my 30 kids.
So, naturally, the next holiday for me will be Christmas which, although I would love to see a Guatemalan Christmas, I’ll have to delay that wish until next year because this year I’ll be seeing my family for the first time in nearly a year. I’ll also have the fortune of spending New Year’s with them. I’m excited to get home, eat and drink some things that I have had hankerings for (in no particular order: a Qdoba burrito, margaritas, good beer, Dr. Pepper, cottage cheese, pizza, and cheese and ritz crackers).
As for work, I’ve been busy, although not quite as busy as of late. The coffee harvest has started here in Loma Linda which has taken the attention a slight bit away from my work. Since my counterparts are all busy harvesting their coffee, work has slowed down. And I do not begrudge them heading out to tend to their coffee since it represents the largest source of income for them.
When I come back home (Guatemala) from home (the US) things should start picking up again.
I am really enjoying living here in Guatemala. It’s a much simpler life down here.
