This. Is. Guatemala. T.I.G.

As you all know, I'm in Guatemala. So, the title of this post may seem a little silly. But, T.I.G. is a saying that we have. . . Things work a little differently here. For example, here you can hike right up to a flowing river of lava, toast marshmallows over hot lava, swim in whatever pool you want in a semi-protected area, ride in the back of a pick -up truck, etc. When people seem surprised by these things, the automatic mental response is, "Well, T.I.G." But, it can also be slightly negative. We take everything with 10,000 grains of salt. For example, a lady on the bus is throwing up in a bag next to us .. . That kind of thing doesn't even disturb me anymore. . . I just go back to staring into space. . . Maybe something will flash through my head like: "I hope she doesn't get any on me." Or, when we get street food in the park and a lady sneezes directly into her hand and then continues to prepare the food. . I said something like, "Well, at least the food is hot." All of those things make life more adventurous. . But this week we have experienced some T.I.G.s that have been less than pleasant. First, we had this huge important meeting/ training set for yesterday. . It was going to be the first presentation to the CTAs about the new project that we'll be working with them on. We were so excited and nervous. . . Not to mention anxious to begin working on the new project. . . Can you guess what happened? It's rescheduled for next Friday. . Which is actually a blessing because our APCD can participate as well as a counterpart of ours. But we worked pretty hard last week to be ready for Friday and the change happened. T.I.G. . . Everything worked out ok, and actually better. . . Well yesterday we were informed that there was a change of CTAs in our department again. . . So we're wondering now if our meeting will change again. . . Time will tell. The thing is that the CTAs just changed last month, which is why we have had such a delayed start. Oh well, This. Is. Guatemala. Here you learn to take everything in stride. When I get back to the States, whenever that may be, I will be a lot more flexible and patient, that is FOR SURE.

I had an AMAZING weekend last weekend. SueEllen, Dana, Katie, and I went to Semuc Champey in Alta Verapaz. It was a 9.5-10 hour ride to get there but it was so worth it. It was gorgeous. Semuc Champey is a natural set of small waterfalls and pools that you can play around in/swim in that is in the jungle. . . It was formed in some way that I'm not sure of that involves a rushing river going underground and has resulted in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. We went to Semuc in the morning and had the area to ourselves! We were the only people there for about an hour until people started rolling in. We splashed around in the pools all morning. .. In one of them there were these tickly fish that had us rolling with laughter. We took a break late morning and went to get some fresh mangoes and delicious homemade chocolate with cardamom. . . After than we went to see where the river goes underground. . . That part is extremely impressive. I'm going to try and post pictures of it. Then we did about a 30 minute hike STRAIGHT UPHILL.There are staircases that feel like ladders to get up to see the view of all of the pools.It was totally worth the walk. The view of the site is striking. We had Guatemalan kids use my camara to take pictures and meanwhile the other people standing by took pictures of us with their phones. I think we're all used to that by now, although it's always at least a little annoying. After the mirador we walked down and found an empty lagoon to play around in. We found a vine to swing on haha. Anyways, our deserted lagoon involved two Guatemalan kids watching us from behind some grass and a walkway above us where everyone entering Semuc passes. People would stop on the walkway and take pictures as well. Sometimes we feel like celebrities. . Not. After a while swimming around we decided to pack up and leave. Then, the sky opened up and started raining really hard. We had no umbrellas or anything so we just walked in the rain back to where we were staying. It was actually really fun. We bought a cacao fruit from a woman on the way and ate it in the rain. . . If you have the opportunity to try it you should. It was dilicious, so tart and sweet at the same time. The rest of that day we just hung out.

On Day 2 we did this incredible cave tour of the Kanba Caves. You wear a bathing suit and shorts and are given a candle. Then you enter the caves. It's a combination of wading in ankle to waist deep water, swimming with one hand holding the candle in the other, climbing ropes, climbing ladders, jumping off of a rock inside, and shooting down a chute. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. Our guide was the 16 year old son of the man who discovered the caves. After the cave trip we went to jump off of a really high swing into the river, then tubed for a little bit, jumped off of a bridge into the river again, then finally landed back at the hostal. It was fantastic. The rest of the day we relaxed by the river. .

Everything is going really well here. Despite the delays in the new job I'm confident we'll be able to give these people some valuable knowledge and really help the Healthy Schools Project be more sustainable and succeed. We are actually more or less helping out Ministry of Education with pre-implementing a public policy that our boss has been working on with the Guatemalan government. So, hopefully we'll give our department the boost they need to really succeed with the implementation of HS in every school. There is a large need for this project in this country and I feel like we will have an integral part in meeting this need. Also, I really want to pursue a MPP (Masters in Public Policy), so this is really interesting to me and right up my alley.

Aside from work and travel, my personal life is also great. I'm so content in my new house. I'm enjoying oatmeal with banana and walnuts (walnuts were this week's splurge) and a green tea. . The rainy season is just beginning so it's a little foggy out. I feel like I have a good niche here. I have good friends, a good job, a great house, and a great network within Peace Corps. . .

I really miss all of you in the States :) I appreciate emails for responses! I want to know what everyone's up to!

Ok I tried to add pictures and it didn't work so email me if you want to see them and I can send some out!