The view from behind my boss' house, where I stayed. 
The view from the house where I will be living.
The house where I will be living.
One interesting aspect of life here in Guatemala that I have somehow failed to mention yet is chuchos. Chuchos are dogs, however not your average dog. They come in all shapes and sizes, but are typically emaciated, filthy and covered in fleas and who knows what else. Usually they will bark at you and sometimes advance menacingly, but most of the time by kneeling down like you are going to pick up a rock will deter them from attacking. Most of the time. Awhile back I had an adventure with some chuchos. I was running one morning on a path by some fields that I had run before without problems. I was returning down a hill, when two chuchos began barking and running towards me. Being the experienced and wise person that I am, I was already armed with two rocks in my pockets and figured that would be enough to scare them off. They were bearing down pretty fast and I unleashed one of the rocks and nailed one chucho square in the head. These chuchos were bravos however and this didn’t slow them down. Having already attempted to follow through with my fight instinct and having it fail, I figured it was time for flight. I took off running down the hill, and proceeded to enter a field that had a trellis system that was about 2.5 feet high. After a few successful hurdles, I ate dirt, literally, falling and coming up with a mouthful of dirt. The chuchos were right on my tail and as I got up, they were nipping at my heels. Finally, I made it to the bottom of the hill and the chuchos gave up on me. Returning to my house, covered in dirt and mud from head to toe, I received more than one strange look from the local citizens out at 6:30 that morning. When I came home and explained to my host dad what had happened, he recommended that I take a machete with me when I run, which could be useful or potentially fatal. That is my best chucho story, but the encounters with them never stop here. When I visited my site this week, one of the first things I saw was a chucho fight, there were about 5 dogs tearing each other apart right in the middle of the aldea. My only hope is that they will eventually wipe each other out. My counterparts at the agency that I will be working with also recommended that I carry a stick at all times to ward off the chuchos. I was never much of a dog person prior to coming to Guatemala, and that feeling has been strongly affirmed during my short time here.
Outside of the abundant chuchos, my site visit went great. The community I am assigned to is located in the mountains and the scenery there is awesome. There are numerous other communities around which I will also be working with. To get to my community, I rode 45 minutes in the back of a pick up on a dirt road. This is typically the quickest and only available option to get there. Early in the mornings and in the evenings, there are camionetas, but the pick up seems to be the most readily available form of transportation. In my town, there are a few tiendas, basically convenience stores, a school and numerous evangelical churches along with one Catholic Church. I was able to find a home to live in, where a previous volunteer had lived, and therefore it is equipped with a calentador, which is an electrically powered showerhead to provide hot showers. It sounds dangerous, but really isn’t. Maybe the occasional shock, but that just gets you going in the morning. The previous volunteer also left a stove, propane tank, pots and pans, and two cots behind for me to purchase. This made my life much easier, as I will not have to pay much for these, nor for the transportation to get them out to my site. Overall, I was very pleased with my site and am looking forward to starting work there. We are sworn in as official Volunteers at the American Ambassador’s home in Guatemala City on October 31st, Halloween. After that, we (the 29 volunteers) will spend the weekend in Antigua before leaving for our sites on Sunday November 2nd. After that date, I am not sure how regularly I will be able to update the blog, as my computer access will be fairly limited. I’ll try to update it from time to time, but with having to pay for internet in cafes and the speed at which the pictures upload, it will not be as regular as it has been. I’ll make sure to put up one more update before I head out though. That is all for now.
