Half Marathon, IST, winter, Contradictions

I ran the half marathon in Cobán! (All 13.1 miles or 21 km – the second time in my life). It was super fun because there were SO MANY spectators! I've never participated in a race with such great support from the crowd. Cobán is a fairly good-sized city and the whole way all the Guatemalans were shouting at us “Ánimo! Ánimo!” and handing out water and juice and hard candies not from the official water stations, but just cause they wanted to. It makes such a huge difference to have such great support from the spectators in a race like that. Km 11-17 were pretty brutal since before the race I hadn´t trained more than 10 km, but then getting toward the end and hearing all the people, it was just one foot in front of the other, knowing that I was going to make it. The whole city was like a big carnival with a parade, food stands, and everything imaginable for sale as vendors take advantage of the influx of people. The night before they put on a pasta dinner for all the race participants and really anyone in the community who wanted to come in and eat. The pushing and shoving to get in the door to the free food was unreal. Once inside there was a gigantic table piled high with Styrofoam plates piled six high with cold pasta. Pretty impressive. There was a marimba band (like in any social celebration in Guatemala) and it made for a generally festive atmosphere. That night there was a great live band in the central park.

The one weird thing about big public events here, is that no matter how many people are gathered, there are never places to go to the bathroom. Even at the pasta dinner, which was held in a convent, there were no restrooms available. I had been drinking lots of water all day, trying to hydrate myself for the race, so I really had to pee. Sometimes stores or other places will rent out their bathroom for one or two quetzales, so I found a “hotel” right off the park that was renting out theirs. I paid the woman, and she directed me down below. When I entered the hallway, it because apparent this was not an overnight type hotel but rather an hourly hotel with row upon row of tiny little numbered red doors. It was a creepy experience and I was relieved in more ways that one to get out of there.

Recently we had our Peace Corps In-Service Training where all of us from the Municipal Development Program got together with our counterparts for three days in the PC office in Santa Lucia. My counterpart had to go to Honduras for another training that week so I brought another coworker from the office with me. It was funny with the dynamic between all the volunteers and their counterparts. We were all together during the day listening to hours of PowerPoint presentations, but didn’t hang out together in Antigua at night. As always it was great to see all my friends and here about what’s going on in their sites in such various parts of the country.

The workshops in the high school have been going well. It’s nice to feel like I’m accomplishing something tangible and directly related to my program goals. The last time we talked about different ways citizens can get involved in their government. I gave them scenarios of hypothetical problems in the community that they had to make skits of to solve using one of the manners of citizen participation. It went really well, but I told them 5 minutes max for their skits and some groups took 20 minutes because Guatemalans have an amazing ability to talk forever.

The municipal newsletter that I put together has been going really well. We get lots of positive responses from it. Last issue covered what is the COMUDE, the interscholastic games, convocatory of teachers positions, an informe about one of the NGOs, a new systems the treasury’s office is using to increase financial transparency, among other notices.

Every month we gather all the institutions and NGOs that work in El Chol for an interinstitutional meeting. This month my counterpart couldn’t be there, so I had to run the meeting. Now that I've been here long enough, I've figured out the protocols of running a meeting in Guatemala. It went really well and we got a lot accomplished.

Well, “winter” here has started…meaning the rainy season. It will rain many afternoons and the streets turn to rivers for lack of good drainage. The dirt roads turn to mud and traveling around become more difficult. The water pours off my tin roof in great quantities. Talking on the phone in my house is impossible due to the noise it makes. A giant frog the size of a kitten lives behind my pila. You have to strategically wash clothes in the morning so they dry before the afternoon. Everyone at the office was fascinated by my red Marmot rain jacket. I broke down and bought an umbrella.

So I love living here, but of course I have my bad days when I just hate everything about this place too. It’s funny because the aspects that I love about Guatemala are also the things I can’t stand about it. It’s really a big contradiction for me. For instance…

· I love how family oriented they are here, but I can’t stand how they can’t be independent and how mothers will do their sons´ cooking and laundry til they get married, no matter how old that is.

· I love how people are so generous with their money and belongings, but I hate how they are so irresponsible with it too.

· I love how people don’t focus on accomplishments and getting things done and they enjoy their time leisurely, but I hate how nothing ever gets done and takes forever.

· I love how in a small town everyone greets you in the street, but I hate how people are always in your business and gossiping.

· I love that they use lots of natural remedies for their health, but I hate all the untrue superstitions like how pregnant women shouldn´t drink too much water.

· I love that everyone watches out for you, but I hate how you feel like you can’t do anything without everyone knowing about it.

· I love all the rich cultural traditions, but I hate how everyone is afraid of change and taking risks.