Why I Won't Be Watching "The Eagle," "The Town," or Any Other Popular Violent Movie

I forgot one important detail when choosing a movie: after Guatemala, it's hard to see anything violent. I saw enough dead bodies there, and heard enough gunshots in the night. I had to worry about violent holdups on public transportation, and being mugged. You never went out after dark unless you planned on having multiple people walk you home. I lived across from a "bar" (AKA a house of prostitution), where even the Guatemalans didn't want to walk at night. Let's just say that violent movies make me very tense---they bring back all of the old memories. So if I choose not to watch a violent film, now you know why.

Would You Eat This?

Food in Guatemala was always an adventure. Not only are you dealing with new kinds of tropical fruits and vegetables, but often you may be unable to identify the food on your plate. That was the case with this dish.

Think green potatoes with little cords in them, mixed with a gooey reddish paste. Not your typical dinner.

What was your most adventurous meal?

Wear Flipflops, Avoid Electrocution!

This is how you get hot water in Guatemala. Never mind the circuitry just inches from the rushing water. This baby gets you a good eight minutes of scalding hot water, then showers you with icy cold refreshment.

Personal safety tip? Wear flipflops, and avoid electrocution.

Finca Paraiso, or Heaven on Earth

This may not look like much, but it is a hot spring waterfall. Imagine the gentle caress of hot water pouring down off the rocks, as you bask in a cool pool of water. After a sweaty week of camping, with only one opportunity for a proper shower, this was truly Paradise.

We indulged in tamales that small children were selling on the lengthy trail to the waterfall. Hot food, and a hot shower all in one day? It was a magical place.

When You're Too Poor for a Map...

Take a picture! This was our guide to Tikal, to be consulted when hopelessly lost.

You'll also be happy to know that the flash on a camera acts as a rudimentary flashlight for when you're stranded in the dark on an overgrown trail, or exploring deep into the tunnels of pyramids. The video function can be used to record the howl of jaguars as you venture in the dark to the pyramids to see the sunrise, and to videotape your terror at drawing closer to the jaguars, rather than further away.

Don't you love technology?

The Joys of Camping

This, my friends, is a tarantula being devoured by an even bigger bug. Not what you want to see on your way back to your campsite, especially when it is almost dark. Yes, I know that most tarantulas are totally harmless for humans, but that does not reduce the horror of encountering one after a glorious bath in a hot spring waterfall. It's totally incongruous and jarring, and definitely not conducive to good sleep. I think this was the one night that all three of us crammed into the two person tent. No one was sleeping outside with tarantulas.

Camping in Tikal

This would have been the smart way to go. Hammocks and mosquito nets. Our way? A two-person tent (carried on our backs for a week), a sleeping bag, one sheet, and a liter of water. Since we were three people with a two-person tent, one of us always slept outside---on the beach, in the rainforest, in a hammock on a nature preserve, or in the dirt. You just curled up real tight and tried to forget about the tarantulas. One night we had an armed guard watching the beach house behind us, and he apparently watched me sleep all night. I was out like a light, so I'm not sure if that was a reassuring thought or not. By the end of the week, one of us had mono, the other had a raging sinus infection, and the last one suffered debilitating blisters. However, the views at Tikal, the hot spring waterfall at Finca Paraiso, and the countless chicken buses made it all worth it. I wouldn't trade that trip for anything.

Only in Central America

Only in Central America would a bus be stopped by hooded men on your way to renew your visas on the way to San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico. All motorists had to pay a bribe, or they would not be allowed to pass (a board with nails in it blocked the way). However, if you are an American you were lucky---they don't want the bad publicity, and they'll let you go.

Only in Guatemala could 20 policemen be held captive by one armed gunman. It sure is reassuring to realize that you're protectors are that defenseless.

Only in Central America are prisoners transported in the back of pick-up trucks. Just handcuff them and go!

Life is interesting in Central America.

Gifts that Give More: June Edition

I love Gifts that Give More from the Hunger Site. It offers inexpensive ways to make a real difference in an individual's life. This month, I funded half the donor cost of a High-Efficiency Stove for a Mayan Family in Guatemala, one tenth of the cost of a wheelchair for a Guatemalan, and a prothesis for an individual in a developing country. All for just $77.70.


Just $28 funds half of the donor cost of a High-Efficiency Stove for a Mayan Family. These stoves reduce the need for Mayan women in the highland of Guatemala to search for hours each day for firewood. These stoves necessitate 70% less wood, which helps the "denuded environment of the highlands recover from severe wood overharvesting." With their extra free time, women can spend more time growing food for their family and caring for their children.


Additionally, these stoves also reduce the "number and gravity of pulmonary illnesses, and also burns among women and children" caused by cooking over open fires. These high-efficiency stoves burn wood more efficiently, reducing the amount of smoke released into the houses and the atmosphere. Best of all, these stoves are built in Guatemala, by Guatemalans.


I also provided 1/10 of the cost of a wheelchair for a Guatemalan ($29.70). These wheelchairs are also built in Guatemala from bicycle parts, which are easily replaced. They are durable, low-cost, and rugged, making them perfect for Guatemala. They are customized to fit the recipient, and are made locally.

A mere twenty dollars funded a prosthesis for an individual in a Third World country. This can literally transform a life---allowing a mother to care for her children with greater ease, or a father to go back to work. So little money can do such great things.

Where do you donate?

Six Alternatives to the Kindle

I'm an avid reader, and travel abroad regularly. During my time in Guatemala, one of the things I missed the most was my public library. Each week, I checked out an average of fourteen books. Not all of these were read in their entirety, but I loved having the option of doing so.

In Guatemala, there was a used bookstore, but books were costly (around $4 for a book I'd read within a day or two). This may not seem like a lot, but I was only earning $2.75 an hour. I did frequent book exchanges, which are often found in youth hostels and language schools. I spread the word that I was looking for English books, and sometimes had used copies passed on to me after their recipient had finished. I traded books with other foreigners, but it still was not enough.

Which is why I am seriously looking into ebook readers, such as the Amazon Kindle and the Sony PRS 505. I am also considering investing in a mini laptop to convert into an ebook reader (amid other things---a webcam optimized phone call server and a web surfer). This article teaches you how to convert a cheap Acer Aspire One.

The only downside of a converted laptop is eye strain and a low battery life. This might be ameliorated by purchasing a nine cell battery (to replace a six cell), which would increase the battery life greatly. The eye strain? I guess it would just be something I would have to put up with.

There are other options, if you have an iPhone or an iPod touch. An article at PC Magazine will tell you how to use these devices as free eReaders. Since I lack either device, I'm out of luck on this front. Besides, the print would have to be tiny (or involve a lot of page downs)!

I'm going to shop around. Maybe I can find a good deal on an eReader!

No More Avocados

It will be a long, long time before I am ready to face another avocado.

Honestly, I love guacamole. There is no greater complement to Spicy Black Bean chips than a well prepared guacamole. However, after my latest case of food poisoning, I can't imagine eating anything containing avocados for at least a year.

This was my third case of food poisoning in two years. The other two cases took place in Central America, so they're really a whole different ball game. However, even one case of food poisoning in two years is really one case too many.

Just a Little Too Tough

I've always been a little too tough on my body. I expect it to do so much---to function seamlessly from day to day, to put up with endless beatings from a tough lifestyle.

Is it any wonder that I can be sick for months at a time? I never let myself rest up. When most of the world would take a few days off of work to recover, I never do. At least not until I'm really sick (bronchitis, sinus infection mixed with an ear infection, or worse).

I need to be a little easier on my body. No more rollerblading when I have a sprained knee. No more cartwheeling while in a walking cast. No more mountain climbing with broken fingers or toes.

Some day I'll learn, I'm sure.

Earthquake Drills

Today we had our first earthquake drill. Imagine corraling four hundred K-6th graders outside in straight lines for half an hour, after having them hide under their desks. They were so wound up! I spent the whole time patrolling and ordering little kids sternly to "Stop kicking!"

After all of those earthquakes in Guatemala, I think this was my first earthquake drill. We never ducked and covered there---I think people were much more blase and resigned. The building has never collapsed before, so why would it now? is the thought. With monthly earthquakes, it was just a part of everyday life.

Volcano drills, however, they did have. Unfortunately, I was in El Salvador when the school practiced that one. What can you do, though, I wonder? Run? Cover your face with a cloth so you don't breathe in the ash?

Life is never dull.

Gifts That Give More

I recently discovered the joy of donating money to causes. I love giving through The Hunger Site. I'm able to pick a specific cause, and know exactly how my money makes a difference. Twenty dollars can fund a fuel efficient stove for refugees in Darfur. In addition to being better for the environment, women have to go on dangerous fuel-gathering missions less often. Seventeen dollars allows a schoolchild in Guatemala to attend school for one year, paying her school fees and tuition.

Eleven dollars provides one month of care for a patient in Africa with HIV. Alternatively, you can pay a nurse midwife's salary for one week for $25, or cover the cose of a prosthesis for a land mine victim in the developing world for $20.

It's a terrific concept---you can see exactly how your donation helps others, rather than just giving $20 to an organization, to be used for an unnamed purpose.

So check out The Hunger Site's Gifts That Give More!

I Love Facebook

My friend got married. And I didn't even know.

I need to work on staying in touch with people. Things got so crazy when I was in Guatemala that I didn't stay in close contact with others. I really wish I had. Now I'm going through all of my friends' Facebook pages and getting caught back up on their lives. I'm finding out where they work now that we've all graduated from college, and where they live. I'm e-mailing one friend a week to find out how their lives are. I found out one great thing: a friend who studies abroad in Guatemala with me is now with AmeriCorps VISTA and living in Oregon. Is there a roadtrip in the future? Possibly.

I love Facebook.

Guatemala

Guatemala impacted me in more ways than I imagined. Many of the ways were good---I now love to listen to Spanish music, and eagerly translate parent-teacher conferences at my new school. Other ways were not so good---I have trouble falling asleep at night.

Guatemala taught me to fear the night. Night was when evil happened---gunshots in the street, broken windows, and men wandering the street toward the local house of prostitution. Needless to say, you didn't go out at night.

I'm still glad I went to Guatemala. I may have come back with a few scars, but I also returned with a new knowledge of our world. My worldview was unalterably changed. I no longer view the US as a place of all things good---learning how your country sponsored a faction that wiped out entire indigenous villages will do that to you. I met many kind people, and learned more than I ever thought possible about the Mayan religion.

19 Jobs

Children today will have an average of 19 jobs before they are 38. I've had nine, and I'm only twenty-two.

I've had good jobs---reading tutor with AmeriCorps, and English teacher to refugees and immigrants in Minnesota. I've also had some crazy jobs: English teacher with a European Academy in Guatemala, where my boss paid off the gangs to keep the teachers from being kidnapped, and selling plasma. Nothing too entirely special jobs were working in the college dining service, and acting as a custodial trainer.

Somehow ordinary jobs just can't be normal for me, though. Even working as a custodial trainer, I managed to discover that my coworker was a drug dealer and get hit on by a retired monk. Average? Hardly.

Nothing beats my job in a little, out of the way Spanish academy in Xela, Guatemala, where I fended off the advances of my three bosses while trying to get my full paycheck. It was always a negotiation. "Will you take half your wages? We're a non-profit!" Me: "No. I need to make rent this month." Them: "I don't have change." Me: "I do." Erg!

That job had a rather interesting ending: I was forced to quit after my student proposed to me, and my bosses refused to do anything about it.

At least life is never dull!

Never Google Greyhound

A small bit of advice for Greyhound travelers: Don't google Greyhound bus experiences before you go.

Out of the many search results, ninety percent of them were negative. They detailed drunk passengers, crazy people creating chaos on the bus (including a guy with a pistol in a paper bag), uncomfortable riding conditions, and overcrowded buses. Not exactly the type of stories to reassure you when you're contemplating a 35 hour bus ride.

I figure it will all be all right, though. After all, can it really beat traveling by bus in Central America? Probably not. The odds of getting proposed to or felt up are much, much smaller (much more so on the former than on the latter).

Wish me luck!

It Can Be Really Hard to Be Gay

It can be really hard to be gay, and not always for the reasons that you might suspect. Sure, you have to deal with your mother's fear that you won't be with her in Heaven some day, and your dad's fear that you'll be the victim of discrimination or a hate crime. However, sometimes it's the day to day difficulties that wear on you the most.

It's all of the flirtation and suggestive comments aimed your way by unsuspecting strangers. It just goes completely against the grain for me. It grates on me, and is intensely uncomfortable. To help my family understand, I liken it to a gay person hitting on them, and the intense reaction they would feel. Suddenly they seem to get it.

I wonder what would happen if I told these unknowing strangers the truth---that I can't be interested in them because I'm gay. I would never be so naive to do so, but I hate having to bury who I am all the time. It's like a strangling of the soul.

Is it bad that I only do laundry every two weeks (and it's only one load)? I know, as a female I'm supposed to have tons of clothes and a very low tolerance for grime, but maybe those genes just skipped me.

I know that the shopping genes bypassed me. I hate to shop. I only believe in buying things that I'll feel good about wearing (and wearing often), so it takes forever. Add to this the fact that I'm pretty modest (no low-rise jeans or low cut tops for me, thanks), and it adds up to a whole lot of time in the stores.

So is it any wonder that I put shopping off for as long as possible?

This really made the theft of one of my suitcases off the bus in Costa Rica a debilitating blow. There went almost my entire supply of comfortable, worn-in jeans (that were actually tall enough!). I was devastated. I literally only had two shirts, a headband, and a set of underclothes to my name. It was a sad, sad day.