Trip from my parents and updates

At Tikal

It has been a while since I have written to you all but a lot has been happening since I last wrote.  My parents came to visit me for a few days and it was GREAT to see them both.  It had been a little over 7 months since I had seen anyone from back home.  It was a pleasure for me to be in their company while they were here.  They took care of me and gave me a little break from my day to day life here in Guatemala. 

I took them up to my site which was an adventure of itself because both my parents said to me ‘we want to see how you live and what your daily life is like.”  So on the trek of camionetas we came up to my site and 5 hours later we arrived.  I have to say that I am very impressed with how both my parents faired on the twist and turns, vendor packed smelly speeding ride.  Kudos to them.  We spent a few nights here my site where I showed them my town, talked about work that I do and gave them a feel of daily things that I go through.  Cooking, getting food, bucket baths, no water at times, what to do with free time things like that.  The only thing that they didn’t get a full dose of was the solidarity and long time on your hands after work and when you are just in your home alone.  Since the time I have been here now, I look forward to the time I have by myself to where I can read, study, or just look outside and just enjoy the clouds going by. 

The highlight of our trip was Tikal.  This was an extremely fun part of my parent’s trip and something that one must not pass up on a trip to Guatemala.  Tikal is an ancient Mayan city that was once rumored to be as big as 200,000 people.  I cannot even begin to try to describe what I saw except that it was an incredible site and something that is breathtaking to be walking around.  There are still many many temples and areas that have still yet to be excavated discovered.  We would pass flat areas with enormous mounds dozens of meters high that must be something that were still covered by the thick jungle vegetation.  I enjoyed walking around and exploring and trying to imagine what it must have been like during its pinnacle.  Simply incredible.

Dad in Antigua

We spent a little time in Antigua and one of my favorite moments was when we invited my host family from training to come to dinner with us.  That was a moment that I really enjoyed where I introduced both Ingrid and Armando to my parents so that they could see how special they are to me and the amount of fun we have together.  We ate dinner and had a drink and Camilla was great as well.  It was great to stay in some nice establishments around Antigua and eat some really good food too. 

Mom and a temple at Tikal

All in all it was just good to be around my parents and glad for me to show them my place, what I am doing and what I deal with on a daily basis.  For most volunteers, I think that it is very easy to form quick strong long lasting friendships because we all know what we are going through.  To give me parents this glimpse of the ups and downs, twists and turns give me an ability to relate to the experiences that I am having.  As a volunteer we can whine and complain with what we are going through but now that I have people that have seen a glimpse of what I go through it just allows me to relate to them.  No I wont have to explain everything when I am having a bad day, I will just be able to say it stinks.

Me and President Colom on a visit to a project

On another note (sorry this blog is all over the place (just trying to recap everything is tough)) we had the 50^th anniversary of the Peace Corps.  This was held at the ambassador’s house and was attended by over 350 volunteers, staff, host families, administration, and guests.  It was cool to see majority of Peace Corps Guatemala in one gathering. 

Other than that my next blog entry will be all about work and some of the things I have done here.  I have just created a plan for the next few months as I will give you an insight into some of the professional struggles and benefits of working as a PCV here in Guatemala.

I hope all is well with everyone!!

Take Care!