A Few Pictures

The garden that we built in our town. In the front are the tire gardens we build, we cut out used tires, flip them inside out and plant inside them. They are great, because there are a ton of free tires and for people who don't have land, it is an easy way to grow their own vegetables.

My host family: Don Francisco, Jesica Paula, Ricardo and Dona Anacleta.

The fountain in the middle of the plaza in Antigua

Me outside of some ruins in Antigua

Good Morning, I am at the Peace Corps office today in Santa Lucia and have a chance to use a computer that actually works, so I am going to attempt to upload some pictures. Everything is goign well right now, we've planted a garden, learned about worm composting and gave a presentation on gardens to junior high (basicos) kids yesterday afternoon. I had a chance to go to Antigua over the weekend and that was a good time. When we left, we took the wrong camioneta and did not realize it until we were about 1 mile outside of Antigua, when the ayudante told us. The bus stopped, and everyone on the bus looked at the 4 gringos who didn't know how to get home as we shuffled off in shame. It was a pretty funny scene. We finally got on the last bus out of town and made it home. Training is really busy with Spanish class, technical training and all kinds of other stuff they have for us. Well, I hope these pictures turn out okay, please let me know if they don't work.

Beans & Bucket Baths

Ola Todos. I made it to Guatemala safe and sound and have had the chance to stay with two different families so far. The first family was with another volunteer in my group near the PC training center and now I am with another family in a different community, where I will be for the next 3 months, and it is only me there. Communication has been hit and miss with my Spanish, but I am feeling like I am gaining more and more every day. They are a great family to live with, we have had a really good time so far. As for the title, my diet has included an extensive amount of beans and I have not taken an actual shower since last Tuesday in DC. I would have taken one Wednesday morning before our departure, but my roommate and I overslept and almost missed the bus to the airport. Not the best way to start the trip, but we made it. A bucket bath is just a 5 gallon bucket with lukewarm water, and you use this water to rinse yourself once you are soaped up. Not nearly as bad as it sounds. Guatemala is a very beautiful country and I will be posting photos soon, once the Peace Corps computers are up. There is a small internet cafe in my town, but uploading photos is a process that could take hours. It costs 3 Quetzales for half an hour, which is about 50 cents. Not too bad really. We have been going through initial training with our training director over the past few days and today started our projects, learning what we will be doing, with whom, etc. Tomorrow, we actually get to work on constructing a garden with one of our host families, which will be good. Sitting and listening to information about security, health, development, etc. has been useful, pero un poco aburrido. Not used to sitting in class 8 hours a day. Anyways, my time on the computer is about up and I should probably get home to see what is for dinner.

Time for Departure

Well, the time has arrived to leave the US and go to Guatemala. DC has been great, thanks to Pat Meuleman, I was able to get a tour of the Capitol and actually sit on the floor of the House of Representatives and listen to the Republicans debate energy policy for awhile. The building itself is amazing, pretty impressive. Thanks again Pat.

I've been in training for the past two days and am flying out with 29 others for Guatemala in about 5 hours. It is a pretty impressive group of people and I am looking forward to getting to know them. So far everything is going smoothly, although I am sure reality will set in once we set foot in Guatemala. I will be out of touch for awhile, but hope to post pictures and updates as training begins. I am still having problems with this site and cannot figure out how to enable comments, so feel free to shoot me an email at nicolasalanmiller@hotmail.com and I'll do my best to respond when I get a chance.