On the road, one year later...

Happy new year folks! I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season with friends and family, if possible. For me, it was a little tough but still great nonetheless, this being my first holiday season (Christmas/NYE) away from my family. Spending big holidays in another country really gives you a deeper perspective into the culture and values of that country. I spent my Christmas with my host family I lived with during training in Pastores. It was great to see all of them, and there are good amount of people in that family! They were so happy I came to spend Christmas with them and really made me feel a part of their family. I hadn't seen any of them since July and it was crazy how much the little kids had grown already! During the few days I spent with them, we went to a couple posadas, which is a traditional custom they do for the 12 nights (I think it's 12, I forget) before Christmas. Every night, people march through town singing and go to a person's house where they pray and then drink this delicious punch and eat sweet bread. On Christmas Eve, the tradition is to eat tamales, which is a corn based food with a yummy sauce they put in it. I ate plenty of those that weekend. The night of Christmas Eve, the family got together and had a big dinner. At midnight, every single person in Guatemala shoots off fireworks. I've seen my share of fireworks here in Guatemala, but this felt different. It was really cool to see and everyone was so happy, hugging and kissing each other. On Christmas day, I went back to Antigua and went to a nice, fancy dinner with my friend Allison so as to treat ourselves with our own Christmas presents: good food! It was delicious. 


Shortly after, I hit the road with four other volunteers to go to El Salvador for a week. El Salvador is a beautiful country and much smaller than Guatemala. It has amazing pupusas and delectable seafood. I was pleasantly surprised as to how easy it was to get around the country as well. We first visited a town called Tacuba that borders the Parque Nacional El Imposible. We went on a 4 hour hike that consisted of jumping off of seven waterfalls. I jumped about half of them. Some of them were really high. Others you had to jump out really far or else you'd land on a rock and die. Let's just say those are the ones I chose to avoid. It was incredible though. I have never seen anything like it. It was so pristine and the waterfalls were just beautiful. The last one was the highest and scariest, 60 meters (that's almost 200 feet). Obviously you can't jump off that high so we literally had to climb our way down (which was pretty frightening when you looked down) and make our way to a lower point to jump from. A day filled of adrenaline and awe, and a couple of days following full of sore muscles and bug bites. Well worth it. 

60 m waterfall

Following the waterfalls, we spent a night at Lago Coatepeque, a volcanic crater lake. It was also gorgeous and very tranquil. A good place to lounge after an intense day of hiking. I got to do some swimming and drive a jet ski, which was quite fun. We then spent some time in San Salvador, or San Sal as I like to call it. We explored the city, checked out some cool museums, and rung in the new year here. It is traditional for Central American countries, or at least Guatemala and El Salvador, for people to celebrate the new year with their families at home. As a result, all the clubs/bars didn't open until 12:30 am, after everyone had spent important family time together. We ended up at the fancy bar of the Sheraton, where we got to watch the ball drop and NY ring in the new year. We ended up making it out to a club after midnight to spend the rest of night (or morning?) dancing. It was insane how packed all the clubs were with people at that time and they had no intention of closing until the last person left. 

Lago Coatepeque

Our last stopping point in El Salvador was the beach; the part I had been anxiously awaiting the most! We headed to Playa El Tunco, a popular surfing beach for locals and international tourists alike. It was heavenly. The vibe of the place itself was just so chill and laid back, and the ocean was just beautiful. I missed it madly! I got to swim in the ocean, play in the waves, get a tan, watch beautiful surfers ride waves, and eat really good food. Let's just say I really enjoyed myself and when it was time to leave a deep depression began to sprout. It made me miss summers at home at the beach and I wasn't ready to leave. But, unfortunately, I had to. Although, I will be visiting again as soon as I can...

Playa El Tunco

It was interesting comparing El Salvador to Guatemala after traveling there and getting a sense of what Peace Corps can be like there. I honestly felt safer traveling through El Salvador then I do through Guatemala. The buses there don't drive so crazily and fast, which I must say we were annoyed with at first. But there were also little things that El Salvador implemented that Guatemala could use to make it better. For instance, all of the buses had route numbers and each bus was marked with its route number which I felt made it easier to travel. Also, the buses often printed the price of the trip at the front of the bus and then gave you a ticket after you paid that had the bus fare printed on it. This made it so much nicer because you knew you weren't getting ripped off or over charged at all. From my experiences there, the bus drivers and ayudantes were just so much more helpful and honest than in Guatemala. They actually weren't trying to make an extra buck off of you. The buses also weren't as jam packed as they are in Guatemala. I think the biggest thing though that we noticed was just how good the roads were. All the main roads were paved and weren't falling apart. Granted, though, Guatemala does seem much more mountainous than El Salvador so I think that obviously affects its roads a lot. We actually ran into some El Salvador PCVs on our trip and one girl mentioned how she lived far, close to the Honduras border, a whole four hours away. That just seemed crazy to think four hours of traveling is far. I live about 10 hours away from the majority of volunteers and four hours from the PC office. So different. Yet there are countries where PCVs have to fly to get to the PC office so it's all relative. In the end, we might have felt safe but El Salvador does still have high crime rates with PCVs so it could just be we traveled in safer regions of the country. All I do know is that it did feel good to be able to visit the capital city and walk around since we are technically not allowed to do that in Guatemala. 


I am now back in site after my nice little vacation and in a bit of a slump since it's much cooler here and, well, not the beach. But it is the beginning of not only a new year but a new school year. Today marks a year that I have been in country. Unbelievable really. A year ago today I was excited, nervous, uncertain of my future, but ready to go. It has been a long yet short year with so many ups and downs, so many lessons learned, so many frustrations encountered and, yet, I just finally feel like I know Guatemala. I finally feel a sense of belonging and a sense of where I am going with this year. Starting off the first month in site was scary and a feeling of uncertainty loomed about the future and how I would encounter it. I now know what I want to accomplish this upcoming year and it feels so much more tangible. Looking back, so much has happened in the past year that it makes me wonder what this year is going to bring. Right now the future of Peace Corps Guatemala is on the fence and it's peculiar how a feeling of uncertainty looms a year later. PC Honduras has temporarily evacuated all volunteers for a month while they decide to either close the post or enforce stricter rules to improve volunteer safety. PC Guatemala and El Salvador are under evaluation due to crime statistics and security incidents with volunteers as well. Our incoming training group for January (one of two for the year) was cancelled unexpectedly due to security concerns. A new president comes in this month and things can either stay the same, get better, or get worse. I would like to think things would get better but I don't think that will realistically happen over night. With the cancellation of this training group, all of us volunteers down here feel very much in limbo as to what is going to happen. Will we be able to stay and finish our service? Are they going to phase out with us meaning no one will replace us? Or will they all of a sudden spring an evacuation on us as Honduras has recently experienced? No one knows and we just have to hope for the best and keep doing our work. It does, however, make me start thinking about a backup plan, that way if things do go the other way I have something else to fall back on. It's kinda shitty that this is the climate right now for PCVs in Guatemala, especially while celebrating our 1 year anniversary in country, but it just makes for a more interesting experience, right? In this one year I've had in country, I have had moments of almost hating Guatemala but I now can say that I do love Guatemala for what it is. After all, it is my home and a part of it will always be with me no matter what.