Long days, short weeks

Well a lot has happened since my last post but at the same time not much has happened at all. Let me explain. To begin, I have MOVED! This is h u g e news. Remember that flea episode I had during my last post? Well...a week later I went to Antigua and got bed bugs. Then a week after that I borrowed a blanket from my host family (mistake) and got fleas again. Let's just say, I kinda lost it. I was frustrated, upset, SO itchy and broke from spending so much money on sprays and laundry. I was so stressed out even my body felt out of whack. I was miserable and couldn't stand living in that house anymore - it was making me so genuinely unhappy. Well, the Universe works in wonderful ways and and one of the following days I was walking through my town and noticed (for the first time ever in Guatemala) some flyers on the windows of a house that said "House for Rent" and a phone number. You're probably thinking, "I thought you had that other house being constructed for you?" Well, yeah, I did. But Guatemalan construction isn't like US construction and when they say it will be ready in 4 weeks they mean 8. At the point I was at with everything, I couldn't wait anymore for a house that would most likely take another month to be built. So long story short, I went to look at the house, really liked it, got it inspected/approved by Peace Corps, and I moved! It is incredible how much happier and relaxed I feel since moving. Life is better and I feel sane again. Not to mention a whole lot cleaner now that I have total control over my living space. Well, almost. Right now I am sharing a bathroom with the family next door I am renting from because they are going to construct me my own bathroom. But for now everything has been working out really great and once I am done settling in and decorating I will post pictures of my new home!

So aside from the crazy mayhem of moving and all that, I haven't worked in the past two weeks with schools. First week because of planning I had to do and then teachers' meetings causing the teachers to be absent from schools. The second week (last week) was our feria, or fair, in town. This happens every year for one whole week and is a pretty big deal. Obviously, school is not in session during this time. (I say obviously because Guatemalans cancel school for everything.) It worked out well though because it gave me time to move and I also got to attend some different activities. For instance, I went to my very first rodeo on Sunday. Man, cowboys are crazy. Apparently the rodeo that came here is some internationally acclaimed group (or so they said). The cowboys were from a couple of countries, not just Guatemala. It is scary watching them ride those bulls and then get thrown off them with the fury of the bull. You can feel the tension of the crowd as everyone watches to see if the bull will hurt him or if he will just escape to safety. A few of them got tossed and charged at pretty hard but no one was seriously injured, thank God. I really don't know how they ride those bulls without throwing out their backs or just falling off instantly, but I guess that is their job and they do it all the time. Crazy. 

I also had the opportunity to help out a fellow volunteer during that off week, a friend and eco-tourism volunteer named Winfrey. He works with an alliance that does eco-tours at a bunch of different sites in the area. During that week, INGUAT, the national tourism organization in Guat, was visiting 17 sites in total to take videos of the sites as a promotion for community tourism in Guatemala. They are combining all 17 sites into one video and making 2,000 copies, which they are then sending out to countries all over the world. So of those 17 sites, two were close by to where I live and they needed volunteer "tourists" for the videos to go on the tours with them. Pretty much I got to go to two really cool places for free and have them count as "work days" because I was helping a fellow volunteer. First I went to the Salto de Chilascó, which is the highest waterfall in Central America. It was absolutely amazing and beautiful. The hike wasn't even too bad either and we got to swim a little in another waterfall that was smaller. Then we went to Chicoj, where Winfrey lives at a coffee coop, and got to go on a coffee tour of his site. This included getting to zipline, which I love and had so much fun doing. I really got to see some natural beauty and culture of Guatemala and that's what I'm here to do right? Well, part of it at least. 

Now this week schools are finallyyy back in session and I have started working again (yay!) and getting busy with work again. Peace Corps has this motto (in Guatemala at least) that there are long days and short months in Peace Corps. Well, that is certainly true but to be even more specific I think it is more like long days and short weeks. It's crazy how long a day in Guatemala can feel sometimes. You can spend all day doing nothing or all day being really busy but no matter what it always feel like the day is never-ending and like you woke up yesterday as opposed to this morning. But then, before you know it, the week is over! It can be Thursday but it feels like Monday was yesterday. I can't really explain it but that's just the way life is here, or more so, feels here. I can't say I mind it. Time is a strange, strange thing.