My Sis is Engaged!

Imran and Bridget, after years of being friends, and then, well, more than friends obviously got engaged last week! Congrats guys!

Espuma, #2

Classic Meg. Really. Ok. Sometimes I think I am really not ok in life. So on Saturday I had decided that I was going to put my bike on a bus for a few hours (on top), then get off and ride back to Panachel, since biking through the countryside is what I do in life. (I got the idea of the route from this guy that was biking from Colorado, down to where I met him in Antigua. His original plan was to go all the way to Costa Rica, but was on his way to the Internet cafe to a) book a ticket home and b) tell his friends he wasn´t going all the way to Costa Rica). He also pretty much convinced that I should start racing Cat 5 this year, which I have been seriously considering. Anyway, back to the story at hand.

I get back to Pana (it was a beautiful ride, though a lot shorter than I had anticipated), and run into this guy (Costa Rican, incidently), that I had met the night before, and we had plans to meet up Saturday evening for a beer or whatever. So I, of course, am sweaty, and on my bike, but there is no way out of saying hello, and figure, hell, I probably don´t look that different than I do half the time down here (my lack of femininity down here even I feel has escalated...there will be a manicure, blowdrying of hair, application of makeup, and something other than the one pair of pants I have on my return to SF...but do people really wear heels to Zeitgeist?? Hmmm).

So we (the guy I am supposed to meet up with that night) are talking for awhile (10 minutes in Spanish can feel like approximately 867 years in English sometimes, especially when being attacked by hunger), and then I realize, because he actually points out, that I happen to have dried spit, espuma, if you will, all across my cheek. Sweet. Hot.

That would be my second blog entry on spit.

At least this time its my spit? I scrubbed my face profusely Saturday evening, for the record (though I had some mishaps with the shower, causing minor explosions of both water and jolts of electricity and doused the entire bathroom in freezing cold water), and then put on that same pair of pants and same long sleeved shirt and headed out. Saturday night was really fun, though. And since in my village of San Antonio, there are no bars, cafes or restaurants (or women on the streets past 8), I was pretty excited for the big night out, if you will.

Melongeon -Trivia Quiz

So I had never heard of this group of people living in the Appalachian mountains (read in a Bill Bryson novel). He described it as a group of people (quite marginalized) that nobody knows where they come from, but blacks with blue eyes, essentially. I, of course, googled it, only to learn that it is not quite so mysterious. Here are my findings:

http://www.geocities.com/mikenassau/what.htm

Just thought I would share my newfound knowledge. In addition, in the year 1986 Ronald Reagan was prescribed 1,862 suppositories. (Though you may want to google that as well since it comes from the same source).

Venus

I don't know how Venus looks up in the States, or from a city, for that matter, but holy cow its CRAZY how bright it is! Have you guys noticed? The last two months I swear it has lit up the entire sky.

http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/venus_growing_so_bright_its_casting_shadows_9389

Wade in the Water

I would like you all to picture me down among the rocks at the lake, scrubbing my laundry on the boulders. I am the only one not in traditional Mayan ´traje,´or attire. I, also, incidently, am the only one showing anything other than my ankles. Tradional attire (pattern varies by village) is a dark blue embrodered sarong, a loose fitting, embroidered squarish-blouse, a belt, and hair wrapped up in a ribbon. I speak with a few of the women in Spanish, but many of them only speak Quetchekal (NO idea how to spell that), so there is a bit of translation going on as well! I think it takes me about 87 times as long to clean anything as any of the other women, and am sure it doesnt get nearly as clean. Alas. Thank god I don't have many clothes here!

My project

My volunteer project is coming along -- lots of limitations, which I expected. It is an organization that essentially helps artisan cooperatives with small business skills and then sells their stuff to clients in the States at a 'Fair Trade' price. In addition, a portion of the money goes to grade school/high school scholarships in the communties. This was pretty big for me since I think that education is the only long term soluntion. Anyway, it essentially is trying to follow the model of Transfair (Fair Trade coffee).

The organization has a TON of potential, but the director/founder is so disorganized that it is frustating. There are two other volunteers down here currently. Heather just got her MBA from the London School of Economics in Gender and Economics, or something like that. She had trouble finding a job in development (of course), and so is doing this for about 6-8 months to get a bit of experience. She has been really great, especially when I first got here. Ben was a Peace Corps volunteer, but got kicked out, but has been working anyway. He is only here until Monday, which is too bad becuase he actually lives next door to me in San Antonio, and it is nice to have someone out there. -- I am usually asleep by 9 or 10, up by 6 am, if that gives you an idea of the quietness of my life here!! Acutally, Ben has only been here for the last week or so with me becuase he had gone to Honduras for about 10 days right when I arrived pretty much. Anyway, he has been helping to oversee the cooperative in San Antonio, which gets all the huge orders (like 2500 peices), among some other stuff.

I am supposed to be doing a whole cost-price analysis, setting the prices for all the stuff and creating a catalog. Some MBA students from Wharton were down here this spring and started some spreadsheets, which I have been looking over. Some of it is really great, and some of it not so much (I can hear my manager from LECG, Stephen, in my head going on an extended tirade about how some of it is arranged!). Was getting annoyed with the syntax of one of my formulas the other day, and was thinking a) some things never change and b) it is nice to have a second pair of eyes in the cube next door sometimes! --especially since Internet was out and so I couldnt just look it up online as I prefer to do!

A lot of the problem is that I feel like work gets done and then repeated, or that Frieda (the director) has zero understanding of computers or excel, so things just get lost.

The fun part of what I am doing is when I go out to visit each of the cooperatives, which is the other half of my time! There is no way it will all be finished before I leave, however.

Anyway... that is my volunteer work in a nutshell!!

Mudslides, etc

As most of you probably know, I am in the region where the mudslides hit the hardest. San Antonio (the village where I live) was definately among the villages least affected. I imagine this is due to the fact that it is at the bottom of one of the few slopes that I have not been totally or greatly deforested. This is just my theory, however. I haven't actually read enough or talked to enough people to stand by it unequivically. Roots are good. And it makes sense...wasnt (and isnt) deforestation a major factor in the all the natural disaster destruction around bangladesh/nepal? I think so. Hmm. I will endevour to do a little googling.

I bike through Santa Catarina every day (well, the days I go into Panachel, anyway). You can still see the water/mud marks on all of the buildings along the road indicating where the level of the water (about five feet high or so). When I got here, they were clearing the last of the major mudpiles from the main street.

They had just completed a tuk-tuk bridge into Pana as well, which saves me having to bike 8 - 10 miles or so out of way on my bike! --;ore like you go down into the river bed (used to be really small before the storm and is now a few hudred meters?) and then the bridge is only maybe 20 feet long (was a stream before the storm, and is again). My bike ride in, by the way, is really, really tough! I am hoping it will improve my climbing! I think the problem is mainly that well, it is all hills, but that the road is covered in dirt and stones in most places (I think attributable to the dry season as much as Stan), and every climb is directly following a sharp curve covered in, as aforementioend, dirt and stone, so cant use any of the inertia from the downhill to get up the hill. And then, of course, there are a lot of pickups, and for those of you that have expererienced drivers in developing countries, well, i like to hug the side as much as I can!! There is another cleared area in the river bed as well for cars they had just gotten when I had gotten here that everyone is really excited about. You still definately need a 4*4 or pickup to get through that though. Saw a car attempt it the other day, which got completely stuck.

The first responders such as red cross, etc are all gone for the most part, but a lot of foreingers that are living here and other smaller organizations are working to raise money to get people clothed, seedlings to plant (starvation and hunger is usually a problem that comes later, since nobody has there farms anymore, but the major food shipments are done), houses built, etc. (Let me know if you want to donate money to any cause. )

Tourism is obviously down a lot, which is a lot of what people are talking about, since it is so depended on here for money.

Things are coming along though, from what I can see. The roads are pretty good, they are working on rebuilding septic systems etc, and well, recovering in general, I suppose.

I could write a ton more about all the destruction, but I figure if you were interesetd in that you would have read it in all the papers, etc"

Two in a row!

I have had running water for two days in a row now....that means two showers! In the morning! Whoohoo!! When I first got to San Antonio (my village) we generally had water in the afternoons/evenings, but never in the mornings. This was problematic if only because I had been running in the mornings. But then the schedule changed, and wasn't really a schedule any longer. Now if only it was hot....

I had been bathing in the lake, which is undeniably gorgeous. My view is of the entire lake, more or less, looking directly at Volcano Atitilan, Volcano Toliman and San Pedro. So it hasn't been too bad for a bathtub. They are still saying that the lake hasn't been tested adequately enough to ensure its safety after the storm, but people generally tend to think it is. It also is the windy/dry season, which churns the water, apparently, which is good. I figure it is not like I am drinking the stuff, ya know?

Phantoms

Alright, so just to let you kids know. Upon the suggestion of a friendly reader, I changed my settings so that anyone can make comments (not registered blog users). It had been my attempt to block out spam. Alas.