Elections, Relocation, Independence

The controversial presidential elections of Guatemala finally took place last weekend. YES! That means no more of: pick-ups with speakers so big that they can spread noise throughout Madison Square Garden blasting political propaganda, large and obnoxious political posters everywhere, and political party marches at 7 am past my house. So, if you couldn't tell, I am quite excited and happy that the main elections are over. Unfortunately, they are not completely over yet since the presidential elections have two parts. Since no one single candidate received 50 plus one percent of the vote, there is a second election in about a month and a half between the top two candidates to decide who will be president. 


So, as we all know, Guatemala isn't the safest country in Latin America. It has corrupt politics and plenty of drug-related violence. According to news sources, this past election has been the most controversial in the past 25 years. One candidate couldn't run because she divorced current Guatemalan president a couple of months ago and was accused of doing so just so she could run for presidency. Another candidate, one that is in the top two for running, was a military general during the horrific and very deadly civil war in the 80s and, therefore, some believe he may have played a part in the deaths of the many indigenous people that were killed by the military during that time. There was speculation that some communities across the country would have protests and violence due to unhappiness and disapproval of the elections' results, not just presidential but mayoral as well. As a result, Peace Corps decided to take precaution and relocate volunteers that were in communities that posed such a threat. Unfortunately, my community was one of those. And so my site mate, Lohmo, and I had to leave on Friday the 9th and weren't allowed to come back until the 13th (yesterday). We stayed with another volunteer about an hour away. All of the volunteers in Guatemala were in Standfast mode, which meant we weren't allowed to leave the community we were in for anything. So we spent Friday to Tuesday locked up in my friend Evan's house passing the time by playing copious amounts of Uno, some other card games, watching Glee Project, eating, and sleeping. It was definitely a long weekend. Turns out nothing happened in my town (thankfully) but instead there were protests in the town we were staying in (one that was supposed to be "safe") and on Monday night they blocked off all the road entrances into/out of town. Luckily, they cleared by Tuesday and no emergency evacuation was needed. So, there it is, I made it safely through the elections and my first standfast! 


Now, tomorrow is September 15th and that is Guatemalan Independence Day. Since last week, schools have been doing various activities surrounding the Independence. I had the pleasure of being invited to observe and partake in some activities at my favorite school, Monjas Panimaquito. Lohmo and Midas (the dog) also came along. The day we went, the school had a big volleyball tournament. Each grade played, girls then boys, followed by the secondary school playing the teachers, including us. It was fun and I haven't played volleyball in awhile so I enjoyed it. It was nice to hangout with the kids and watch them play and have fun too. Afterwards, they had a bicycle race, and a pretty long one at that. Of course, Midas had a great time as well running around all day playing with the kids who loved him.

1st and 2nd grade girls' volleyball game

Lohmo and I at the start of the bike race

Other activities that have been going down around the town's center for the Independence include a torch race that has been going on all day and night today. The secondary schools all over the country do these runs where they have a "torch", which is pretty much a stick with a big can on top filled with something that they throw gas on and set on fire. Safe? Not so sure. Anyways, it's cool cause they run all over the country. As I was cooking dinner tonight, I would hear the blows of whistles and car horns signaling a group was about to run by. It was fun to watch from my window. At about 8 pm a group ran by from a school in Tactic, which is about 15 minutes away by car. Pretty far running. A lady in town today told me that one of our schools ran to Petén today. That is REALLY far. I don't know if I believe her because that literally means they'd be running allllll day, if not more. Tomorrow for the actual Independence day there is big parade in town with all the schools participating and also some other activities going on that I will soon find out about. All in all, it seems to be a pretty fun and happy time in Guatemala right now and it's rubbing off on me :)