Slacking...

Not sure how to rotate the photo.

Preparing to destroy the pinata.

My host mom battling the pinata, another volunteer controlling it.
My host dad doing his best to hit the pinata.

Not sure how to rotate this one, but this is Lago Atitlan from Solola.

Lago Atitlan from the road between Solola and Panajachel.

View from John's host dad's fields.
View of Santiago from fields.

View of campo.
A view of Santa Maria Cauque from our hike.

Part of the group that visited the ruins.

Ruins from the entrance.

Mas ruinas.

I haven't been as up to date on checking emails or posting blogs lately, it has been awhile since I have been to the PC Center and don't really enjoy paying for internet. With that said, it has been an eventful couple of weeks and I've got the pictures to prove it.











Two weeks ago, a group of 16 of us went to the Mayan ruins of Iximche, which was the Kaqchikel capital many moons ago, they are one of the indigenous populations in Guatemala. My family is Kaqchikel and still speaks the language. Now it is an archaeological park where gringos go to check it out. The entire group met in Tecpan, the closest city of any size, and hired a small Nissan pickup to take us out there. 16 people in the back of a pickup was quite a sight. The ruins were very interesting and the whole site was pretty amazing.











Last weekend we (myself and the three other volunteers in my community) went on a hike with another volunteer's host dad to a spring above our city which feeds the river in our community. We had to go through the forest and it was so humid that even though it was about 70 degrees, you could still see your breath. Needless to say, I sweat profusely and by the end of the day, I was drenched. We also were able to go into a cave where the spring originates and that was a pretty cool experience.











This last week we had field based training, which was in Solola, a city close to Lago Atitlan. Before heading to Solola, we stopped at an organic farm outside of San Martin which was very interesting. They are completely self sustained and produce their own fruit, vegetables, milk, cheese, eggs and meat. The lunch there was well worth the 20 quetzales (about $3 US) we paid. We also visited a collaboration between the Taiwanese government and the Guatemalan government, where they had medicinal plants and compost projects. We spoke with a Taiwanese government employee who is working here. He was a pretty interesting guy and had a lot to share. In Solola, we visited some volunteers, helped vaccinate a couple hundred chickens and gave charlas on nutrition to women's groups. On Friday, we were able to go down to the lake and had dinner in Panajachel, the tourist town right on the lake. We were also able to locate a bar that was carrying the debate. That was interesting, especially because we had a drunken expat in the bar who gave us a running commentary on the debate.











Yesterday was my host sister's birthday and even though it was raining like crazy, we celebrated with two pinatas. I was able to both swing at and control the pinata. It was a good time for everyone and the mad rush for the candy was quite a sight. She had a really good time and seemed to enjoy her gran fiesta.











That is all for now.

Dia de la Independencia and other happenings

Pictures from the parade yesterday.

My host dad, Francisco, scaling the wall next to our house.

The view of our town and another in the distance from my host family's field.

Myself and the host family after picking beans yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday was Independence Day in Guatemala and it was complete with numerous fireworks and parades. This month is patriot month here in Guatemala and last Friday, we (myself and other volunteers in my town) had a chance to go to the next town over and help some volunteers judge a contest at their local high school. Each class constructed a project, taking up the entire classroom, about Guatemala and its history. There were 7 of us and we were the judges who determined the winners of the contest. A pretty heavy duty, but we were up to it. We ended up picking the class that offered us the best food, not a big surprise.





On Saturday, I was able to go to Antigua after a Mayan Ceremony in Santa Lucia at the PC Center. We went to a bar and were able to watch the entire Notre Dame-Michigan game and parts of the South Carolina-Georgia game. That was pretty nice.





Yesterday I helped my host family pick their black beans by hand in the afternoon. We went to their field and filled a couple gunny sacks full of bean pods, then my host mom will shell them and we'll have beans forever. Last night we had fresh black beans and they were pretty damn good. When we came back, my host dad couldn't open the door to the house and had to scale a concrete wall to get inside--I did not expect him to be able to pull it off, but he did it with ease. I was busting up the entire time. That is all for now.

Mailing Address

I have had a few people ask for my mailing address, so I will post it here so if you need it, it is here. It is:

Nicolas Miller - Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 66
Antigua Guatemala, Sacatepequez
03001
Guatemala, Centro America

If you do decide to send me something, it is best to use the regular USPS and label the package with a marker as materiales religiosos. This supposedly decreases the odds of it being tampered with. The UPS and Fedex options are expensive and also can be taxed heavily on this end too.

Week in Summary

The past week has flown by and here are a few tidbits from it:

On Thursday I met my friend Katie at her house at 5:30 am for a jog. She came out and had a look of shock on her face and told me to come in. It turns out that a baby had been delivered in the room next to her's at 4:00 am that morning. Her host mom is a midwife and had delivered a healthy baby boy that morning. Her host mom invited us into the room where the mother and baby were recuperating. The mother was on the floor and seemed to be in absolute shock, not only from the birth but I imagine from seeing two gringos enter the room less than 2 hours later. The baby was doing well, he was covered in black hair and very cute. They said he was born like Superman, one arm coming out first, but he and the mother were doing fine. It was pretty amazing and definitely not I was expecting for my Thursday morning.

On Sunday, a group of 15 of us climbed Volcan Pacaya. It was a good hike and at the top we roasted marshmallows in the lava. Believe it or not, the lava was extremely warm. Who would have thought? I only got a few pictures, as I had planned to snap photos on the way down, but that was not possible as some clouds had moved in. Above are some pictures of the hike up and me standing by the lava. Pretty wild.

Yesterday I had a surprise while in Guatemala City. We were taking a taxi to the Embassy to see where it is located (closed for Labor Day) and I saw a car with a license plate bracket that said Bishop Kelly Knights. I didn't have my camera, but I was pretty surprised to see that down here.

That is all for now.