construction, soccer, playboy grotto: Guatemala edition...

Getting into the groove of Xela, working our way into week 2! This week was full of a lot of really cool stuff. Habitat is going really well, by Friday of this week we should hopefully have something up that resembles a house (or at least walls and a roof). The weather makes construction difficult though...every day starting at around 1pm it pours like clockwork. Friday was so wet that we had to hide in our storage shed for half an hour, which ended up being awesome because we got some good bonding time with our construction guys. It is a slow process especially with no mechanical tools but we are moving steadily!

This weekend was awesome and jam packed with cool stuff, we have been busy busy beavers over here. Xela is a really funny city...in the last few days I have eaten really good Italian, Middle Eastern and vegetarian food in the middle of Guatemala. We found an awesome hangout restaurant on Friday night after trekking in the pouring rain to find a Thai restaraunt that had closed down a year ago (screw you, Lonely Planet)...and found this place that looks like a house on the inside. I had the best shwarma of my life for the equivalent of about $5 Cdn, got to play with puppies and hung out in a private dining room with six of us (and then migrated to a different lounge with couches after, in the same place. Amazing).

Saturday night was a little wild, our group went on a trip to a party at the Hot Springs which are about an hour outside of Xela. I am, however, convinced that we were actually teleported to the Playboy Mansion and were hanging out in Hugh Hefner´s playboy grotto. The experience was a little surreal...a group of gringos at the hotsprings, which came complete with a bar and a wild dance floor, with people drinking literally in the hot springs (there are no laws in this country). It was a ton of fun and everyone made it back alive, more or less.

Hangover remedy today consisted of our first authentic Guatemalan soccer experience! We lucked out and the game today was against Xela´s biggest rivals, Guatemala City. The game was at noon so we headed down to the stadium at around 10 30 to get jerseys and tickets; we were lucky enough to be there with a local friend of ours who runs the internet cafe right by our hostel, Marcos. He gave us all the insider information (a.k.a. exactly which rude words to yell at the other team and which time, best place to sit, helped us haggle for jerseys etc) which was fantastic. The game was possibly the most fun I´ve had since I have been here. Guatemalans are seriously into their ´futbol´ and it´s definitely contagious! We won, 2-0 and to celebrate, went to a bar which was owned by Marcos´close friend, who opened it up just for us to hang out! It was amazing to finally make some connections with a few local people and I think we are going to make some good friends.

The internet cafe is about to close and it´s another early building morning tomorrow so adios for now! More to come eventually!

xo Caroline

Habitat and more..

Hey everyone,

The last couple of days have been really exciting; we began our Habitat build yesterday and will continue it for the next two weeks. On Sunday we had a ceremony where we met all the families who we are building houses for- it was very powerful to see who we are going to be helping rather than just building without a face. My team is building for a family that has a 16 year old daughter, Grecia, who I got a chance to hang out with and attempt to converse with at the worksite yesterday which was awesome. She was laughing at me and said that `talking to me is like talking to a baby´ because I don´t understand anything and can barely speak! She was joking though...I hope...but it´s definitely a work in progress!

The Habitat project itself is awesome. We are building a four-room house, spent most of yesterday mixing/pouring concrete into the foundation which was definitely a new experience for me! Unfortunately I have been pretty sick so I ended up falling asleep at the worksite between a pile of rocks and sand used for the concrete mix...pretty funny. I stayed home today to recover and then it´s back to the grind tomorrow! It´s really interesting to see an entire house being built without a single machine. Our team has seven people including one prof...five girls and two guys. We have three Guatemalans working on the site as well, the head mason (Jorge) and two apprentices who are really funny guys, and thankfully know what they are doing (although it´s definitely a challenge for them to give us instructions in Spanish...). The Habitat site has a beautiful view of most of Xela as we are a little bit outside of the city on the side of a mountain, and there are a few other Habitat homes in the area. One of the Habitat residents in the area came over to talk to us for a while yesterday and brought her 3 year old twins, Gabriel and Gabriela (SOOO CUTE).

Today I had my first Guatemalan fast-food experience...we went to Pollo Campero which is the Guat. equivalent of KFC. It is hilarious...they actually bring you a menu and take your order at the table...I had a `hamburguesa de pollo´which was very tasty...and greasy...nomnomnom. Tomorrow, back to beans and tortillas! The hostel has been cooking breakfast for us every morning so we have gotten to try some cool Guatemalan stuff- yesterday morning was`mosh´, which is a porridge type creation with oats and milk and cinnamon...realllly good, along with tortillas and beans, ha ha. The amount and variety of street food here is awesome...tooo tempting to grab a cheesy tortilla with corn and veggies on the side of the road...but the prospect of bonding with the toilet for the next few days has held me back. No stomach problems so far though, thank you Dukoral!

The rest of this week holds Habitat, Habitat and more Habitat, and then as a little reward for ourselves we are planning to hit the hot springs on Saturday which sounds fantastic. Hope all is well in North America!

Will update soon!

xo Caroline

Getting settled!

We are settling into our second day in the city of Xela after a gorgeous bus ride yesterday from Guatemala City. The roads here are actually brand new, better than a lot of roads at home surprisingly! No 8 hour Kenya road trip repeat here. We stopped at some Mayan ruins along the way which was pretty cool and got us all excited to be here. The city of Xela is an absolutely wonderful place so far; it´s kind of the Goldilocks city of Guatemala or so I have found...not too big, not too small, juuuust right. The city revolves around the `Parque Central´ (pictures to come soon), and our hostel is only four blocks away from it. The city is very interesting to look at as it´s kind of a mishmash of architecture; it is separated into ´Zonas´ which vary substantially both aesthetically and functionally. Our hostel and the Parque Central are both located within Zona 1, which is the colonial part of town, full of nicer restaurants, the main central banks, courthouse etc and nicer cafes. The town was destroyed by an earthquake in 1902, and was rebuilt shorty thereafterwith Gothic style buildings, there are lots of very grandiose buildings surrounding the Parque and throughout Zona 1. The other main area of our concern is Zona 3, which we found yesterday during our explorations; it is the commercial centre of town and holds a massive market where you can buy anything from mangoes to TV´s that are straight from the 70s.

The hostel itself where we are staying is a very cute little place- I lucked out and got a single bedroom on the second floor and I am in love with it. The walls are sunny yellow, the ceiling is sloping paneled wood, the walls have exposed brick and I have beautiful little carved wooden shelves to store stuff. AND, two electrical outlets (bonus!) The hostel is pretty basic- we have two showers for 26 people which could be a bit of a challenge...and one and a half fridges...so it´s going to take some adjusting but I´m sure it will work itself out. There is a ´courtyard´in the middle of the hostel, which in reality is a 20 by 20 foot hole in the roof which is fantastic when it´s sunny, but is just a big hole in the roof when it rains (the drainage system in the hostel is pretty good though and the potted plants love it!)

I successfully got a cell phone yesterday (20 bucks US for a phone and 50 international minutes...ridiculous) and have ordered at 3 restaurants in Spanish and gotten what I ordered every time. Great success! The lanaguage is definitely going to be a challenge, but mostly an issue of confidence- the locals are very willing to help and appreciate my valiant efforts to communicate (phew).

Will update soon after we start the Habitat project this Monday!

Hasta luego,

Caroline xox

Landed!

Hola chicos!

I have officially become a gringa...landed safely in Guatemala city, made it to the hostel with the rest of our group and am now taking a break from hanging out on the rooftop patio drinking cervezas (with our professors. This is going to be a good semester).

Flights were smooth- we had a short layover in Dallas and it´s true, everything is bigger in Texas. I had a salad the size of my head (complete with BBQ sauce IN the salad and deep fried tortilla bits...bye bye arterial blood flow...) that was served by a waitress with hair the size of Texas, on a giant indoor `patio´ inside the airport. We also discovered a shop that sold lollipops with real scorpions in the middle...needless to say I did not partake...but overall Texas was hilarious.

We are taking a bus to Xela tomorrow and I am excited to get a sense of the country- right now all I have seen is customs and the inside of the shuttle to the hostel. My Spanish is clearly lacking- we were waiting for our luggage and trying to converse in Spanish and a local was chuckling in the corner at our attempts...ohhhh dear....alll in due time I suppose....

Anyways, that´s all for now folks...will update when I get to Xela!

Much love xoxo

Hola from Vancouver!

"You're going to what-the-heck country? Where?"

- direct quote from my mom upon telling her I was going to be spending three months in Guatemala.

I didn't know much more about the country than she did at that point, only that it was a fairly poor, small country with a wealth of Mayan ruins (ooooh, Indiana Jones...). I initially was convinced that Guatemala bordered Panama and Costa Rica (wrong) and that I was going to be hanging out on a beach for three months (also wrong). For this reason, I decided to blog my experience under 'what-a-mala' as I discover and learn more about the country, its people and myself during my term abroad. 

Here is a basic rundown of my trip for those of you who I have left in the dark:

I have been in Vancouver doing a crash-course of Spanish 101 from September 1st until this Wednesday- hablo mucho espanol! yo quiero taco bell....dos cervezas por favor....aye carumba! I think I am in good shape...at least, we will see when I get my final grade....

We depart Vancouver this Thursday September 17, layover in Dallas (I am so excited as I have always secretly wanted to go to the American South...) and finally arrive in Guatemala City around 7 in the evening. We will be overnighting in Guatemala city (don't worry Dad they are escorting us to a safe hotel and we are not allowed to go out in the city), followed by a 4 or 5 hour bus ride to our home base, Quetzaltenango, for the next two months. 

Quetzaltenango, known by the locals as Xela (thank goodness because I go cross eyed looking at the first name let alone trying to pronounce it) is a town of about 140 000 people located in the Western Highlands of the country. It is heavily influenced by Maya culture and is reportedly a wonderful spot to base yourself as it is quite safe, beautiful and foreigner-friendly. Xela is one of the foremost towns for Spanish-language schools in Central America and has built up quite a reputation for capturing tourists for much longer than they intended to be there, as a place to build firm local, intercultural friendships, and as a place to establish a sense of community. 

We will be living in a hostel which we have block-booked as a group (26 UBC students and three professors) for at least the first month (http://hostaldondiegoxela.com/ if you are curious...it is cute, clean but very basic). The first few days upon our arrival into Xela will be devoted to orientation and general settling-in, getting to know the rest of the group and exploring our new surroundings. On September 21st the work begins; we will be doing a two-and-a-half week Habitat for Humanity project, building sustainable housing alongside local workers. I am excited for this new experience as it will really give us a chance to practice our Spanish, and who knows, I could discover my future as a construction worker (doubtful but it will be an interesting experience nonetheless). Just to give you a sense of the practicality of our Spanish course- I can't tell you how to say anything in the past tense, but I can tell you how to say 'power drill' and 'wheelbarrow' and 'cement mixer'...ahh academia. 

Upon completion of the Habitat project, we will begin classes for the remainder of the term. While in Guatemala, we will be taking three courses, each in a three-week chunk; this will be quite an interesting change from the five-course-at-once model I am used to. I have finally met all three of the professors and they are all extremely gung-ho about the program and the learning models we will be using are unique and creative. We have been told not to bring laptops; most of the work we will be producing will be largely a reflection of what we have learned from our experiences and our surroundings- they call it 'experiental learning'. Definitely a big change from 3AM nights in the library cranking out research papers, but I am looking forward to it. The program is officially called the 'Arts Term Abroad in Global Citizenship', and so our courses have been themed accordingly. We begin with a Philosophy course called 'Contemporary Moral Issues: Global Citizenship', followed by a Sociology course- 'Perspectives on Global Citizenship' (see a theme yet?) and finishing up with Politics and Government of Latin America (much more my speed). I am very curious to see how the 'global citizenship' business evolves; right now I am inclined to perceive it as a vague blanket term of no concrete significance. Hopefully my understanding (or lack thereof) will continually grow and change over the next three months, and I think that is a big part of the program's aim.

I will leave it there for now, but will strive to update this blog as often as possible to keep you informed of my whereabouts and goings-on! Thank you all for your support and understanding as I venture into the unknown.

Hasta luego!

Love Caroline