Guatemala - Take 2!

Hi everyone -

So I'm finally getting around to updating my blog after almost 9 months - and what a 9 months it has been! For those of you that don't know (I think most of you do), my sitemate, Brittany and I were involved in a pretty serious bus accident back in September while traveling with our health center. After being medically evacuated to DC on a private jet (thank you tax payers!), an 8 hour surgery, almost 2 weeks in the hospital and 4 months of physical therapy, I finally arrived back in Guatemala about 2 weeks ago, on March 15th.

And it sure has been a busy 2 weeks! After being picked up at the airport by my sitemate and a Peace Corps driver and spending the afternoon in the PC office getting re-sworn in by the Country Director, I was taken back up to my same site, San Juan Atitan on Wednesday along with all my furniture that the PC was storing for me. For the time being I'm staying with my sitemate, Brittany until my new house is ready (hopefully within a month). After spending a few days getting reacquainted with the health center and NGO that I work with and reassuring the locals that, contrary to the rumors, I hadn't died, I was back on a bus headed to Antigua for the welcome back party that my friends threw for me and the Peace Corps' 50th Anniversary Party at the Ambassador's house in Guatemala City. It was great to see so many friendly faces at the welcome back party and I really appreciated so many people coming out - I definitely felt welcomed! Although getting up the next morning to make it to the Ambassador's house was not as much fun - but most of us made it!

The Peace Corps 50th Anniversary party was a really cool celebration. It was neat to get to see the Ambassador's house with so many people there supporting the Peace Corps - there were over 400, including a group of new volunteers that were sworn in. The key note speaker was the PC Chief of Staff in DC, Stacy Rhodes, who also happened to visit me with PC Director Aaron Williams while I was in the hospital in DC, so I got to schmooze with him a bit. It was a great event all around and we even made the front page of the national newspaper! (see below - but it's in Spanish!) http://www.prensalibre.com/noticias/Cuerpo-Paz-celebra-anos_0_451154918.html

After a fun-filled weekend, Brittany and I headed back up to site for out town's Cuarto Viernes Feria (4th Friday of Lent Fair). It was the first time I've been in site for a feria and it was very...interesting. The parades and cultural dances were fun to watch, but after about 800pm the only people still out were the town drunks (whose numbers quadrupled during feria!) and blaring music, ringing church bells and fireworks continued throughout the night all week. And since we live right above the main square, that part got old pretty quick. Just gotta chalk it up as another interesting cultural experience...and then be glad when it's over!

To end the feria, we had a surprise visit from the President of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom. Brittany and I woke up Friday morning to find a truckload of armed soldiers spreading throughout the main square (normally not a good sign in Guatemala). Luckily we were told they were there because the President was coming to inagurate a water and road project funded by the European Union. It was an interesting event to witness, although funny to note that A LOT more people showed up for the parade earlier in the week than for the President's visit.

So after a few busy weeks of traveling and partying, I'm looking forward to actually start working with my NGO next week. The communities that I'll be working in to create and train groups of health promotors has changed, so I'll be working on presenting myself and my project to the communities' town councils (known as COCODE's) and get their approval before organizing my groups. I'll be sure to keep you all updated on my progress!

I also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support over the past few months - both in the US and here in Guatemala! Without all of your encouragement and kind words I know there's no way I'd be back here so quickly and so excited about continuing with my Peace Corps service!

Here's a link with some pictures of the past few weeks! Enjoy! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=297220&id=513464862&l=dbf7c41f6f