I could handle the crawly furry things thicker than my thumbs. Really, I could. But spiders the size of my hand -- this is where I would like to draw the line.

That is all, for now.

I am writing to you from Nebaj, a town in the middle of nowhere in the Western Highlands. I've been up here for the week working with students from the States who are in Guatemala with us until the end of April.

The trip from Antigua to Nebaj involves seven hours of travel on three different chicken buses. My trip up on Monday began without excitement. The leg from Antigua from Chimaltenango passed quickly, with only one other person in my seat for most of the trip (quite the luxury here). The second bus, from Chimaltenango to Quiche, was driven by one of the craziest drivers I have encountered to date. We spent most of our time in the other lane on hairpin curves that had me wondering which way to best position my backpack to act as an airbag during the crash that was sure to be coming. But, as things generally go here, somehow we arrived in Quiche safely, allowing me to embark on the third, and most interesting, leg of the trip.

At first glance, the bus from Quiche to Nebaj looked like a normal camioneta - old, dingy, some Looney Tunes stickers. But when an hour or so into the ride, the ayudante flipped on the DVD player to SCREEN A MOVIE, I knew I was in for it. And I was. The sometimes bizarre cinematic taste displayed by Guatemalan men resulted in an entire camioneta packed with indigenous Guatemalans watching a dubbed Spanish version of Rest Stop: Don't Look Back.

Go look this up on IMDB. Do it.

As you might expect from the title, Rest Stop: Don't Look Back is about people who, while driving through remote country, stop at rest stops and proceed to get into VERY bad situations, generally involving death (for the lucky, mutilation for those less fortunate). This movie was disgusting. Foul, bloody, awful, disgusting. People were getting nails driven through their legs, eyeballs ripped out, etc, etc, etc, etc. Under normal circumstances you would have to pay me to watch such a thing. But here, in the middle of nowhere in Guatemala, it was like a train wreck. I sort of couldn't look away. Until the bus broke down. In the middle of nowhere. In Guatemala. While watching a movie about people who die in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road.

Luckily for all of us, a few rusty tools later, we were up and running and on our way to Nebaj. And luckily for me, I reached my destination before the part of the movie where there are "tongues shown that have been cut out," as IMDB tells me.

Just another day of travel in Guatemala.

"Women perform 66 percent of the world's work and produce 50 percent of the food, yet earn only 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property," said former President Bill Clinton said. "Whether the issue is improving education in the developing world, or fighting global climate change, or addressing nearly any other challenge we face, empowering women is a critical part of the equation."


(http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=266700002)

I went to the market today. I bought a bag of apples for 10 quetzales (about $1.25). This was a great deal. When I got home and washed them all, I realized that there were 18 apples in the bag. 18. EIGHTEEN. Now, I really like apples. Really. But even I am not sure if I can consume 18 apples before they start to be...unpleasant.

So, if anyone has any brilliant ideas for what else I can do with apples besides snack on them continuously for several days (keep in mind that I do not have an oven), please let me know.

Also, I bought 12 bananas. This was more of a conscious decision than the 18 apples, and I can generally find a way to consume 2 bananas a day, so this is slightly less of a problem. But 12 bananas AND 18 apples? I'm not so sure.

This morning, on the way back from the gym, I saw a man pick up a wooden dresser. The dresser was about six feet tall, about twice the size of the man (as is generally the case in Guatemala, where the men are very small), and had to have weighed over one hundred pounds.

In the States two, or possibly three, men would have been employed for this job. If the task involved moving the dresser more than a couple of feet, a vehicle would have been involved.

This guatemalteco tied a rope around the dresser, removed his hat, strapped said rope to his forehead, placed his hat back on his head, and promptly walked off.

He walked off with a dresser strapped to his forehead.

Apologies for the delayed absence....things have been pretty crazy here, as usual.

A lot has happened since I last wrote - my 22nd birthday, getting more set up in my apartment, diving into individual projects for work, my first "reunion mensual" (monthly meeting for my job), and more.

My birthday was a lot of fun - my friend/coworker Izzy and I had a generally decadent day/evening/night and then got up the next morning for all-you-can-eat pancakes at Cafe No Se, a sort of gringo/local staple in Antigua. We also finally got our hands on an English version of the latest Harry Potter, which I'd been dying to see.

My apartment is coming together...I finally figured out how to get the shower to leak less (on a good day, not at all!) and got an internet connection here, which has been a lifesaver. It doesn't exactly feel like home yet, but it's getting there.

I mentioned this a few posts ago, but my primary project at this point is www.invennovations.com (check it out - I would love feedback!), a giant database of new ideas/products in the international development world. The idea is to start getting development professionals worldwide to start talking to each other - something they don't do nearly enough at this point. I'm in charge of a ton of stuff for the site, so I've been spending pretty much all my time working on it and trying to get it ready for our more-or-less "official" launch at the end of this upcoming week.

This past week at work we had our reunion mensual, which is when all the staff from all over the country come to Antigua for monthly meeting. It's basically hours and hours of discussion in Spanish about how things are going and what we're looking to do in the future. It was pretty interesting and a good insight into the inner workings of the organization, which I'm starting to understand more and more as I continue my work here.

Overall, things are good. I'm busy, which is important for me. I've joined a gym, am planning on exploring a potential rock climbing club next week, taken a salsa class (will NOT be doing that again), and am doing my best to meet people here. The 15th is Guatemalan Independence Day and I think I will be going to Xela (the center of the celebrations) with some coworkers. It should be fun.

My parents are coming to visit in October, which I absolutely cannot wait for. It will be great to see them. If anyone else wants to visit, let me know!

I also broke down and bought the iTunes season pass to Top Chef (streaming tv online really doesn't appear to be an option here). I am loving living in a different culture, but it's definitely nice to have little bits of home now and then.

Anyways, I'm off to go figure out what to have for dinner. It's looking like more vegetables, as usual....


:)

Take a look at this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10099258/

Click on the "launch" button on the righthand side of the screen underneath the picture.

This was shot around 3 years ago, and gives a sense of some of the work that we're doing. I am working for Greg Van Kirk, and the woman identified as Yoly in the short is the woman I stayed with a few weeks ago in a homestay. She is one of the owners of Soluciones Comunitarias and I am supporting her in her work during my time in Antigua.

Enjoy!

Well, the students are all gone, the programs are done, and the summer is over. Now I start my "real" job - what I'll be doing the other nine months of the year.

So far, this means working on www.invennovations.com, an enormous database meant to help the fields of international development and social entrepreneurship start communicating about what is going on in different parts of the world in terms of inventions and innovations (hence invennovations....get it!?). I'm really excited about the site and its potential, and thrilled to be working on it as closely as I am.

It's a little lonely without the students here - I really enjoyed being a leader and I got to know some of the students pretty well. But it's also nice to throw myself into this other work and start getting settled in Antigua.

On that note, remember my door? Well, it rains a lot here in Antigua. And what happens to untreated wood when it rains? It gets bigger. So I tried to leave my apartment yesterday afternoon, after 24 hours straight of rain, only to discover that my door no longer closed. So I ran to the carpenter, who explained to me that yes, of course that is what happens when it rains and no, he couldn't do anything about it even though one of the key points of a door is that it closes. After much fumbling in Spanish and frustration on my side, he finally sent one of his employees over to my place and Victor (the employee, who was actually very nice) shaved away pieces of wood until the door finally fit back into the frame. This morning, when I was about to leave for work, I discovered that the door had gotten even bigger and wouldn't close AGAIN. But I really didn't have it in me to deal with the carpenter once again, so this time I grabbed my Leatherman and hacked at the door myself until I got it to close. It's been raining all day, though, so it remains to be seen whether the process will have to be repeated when I get home.

Oh, the wonders of a Guatemalan life.

I'm supposed to be getting internet installed at my apartment tomorrow morning! Pray, or cross your fingers, or think general kind thoughts in my direction - it would make a world of difference if I had access to the outside world while at home. Plus, then I could stop spending my days stealing the wireless at McDonald's while hoping that none of the employees notice that I've been in the same spot for 8 hours straight and haven't bought a single thing....

A bunch has happened since my last real post. Leading the intern groups really is a 24/7 job, though I'm still loving it.

As I mentioned, there are pictures up of my hike up Volcan Pacaya. It was really difficult, but lots of fun. Seeing the lava up close like that was amazing, and certainly nothing that would ever be allowed in the States....

On Tuesday the 28th my group (6 interns) and Mary Claire and I left for Nebaj. During the week we did publicity and campaigns, did feasibility tests for solar lights and medicinal plants as new SolCom products, talked to restaurants to find out if they would be a new market for water filters, painted a school that is funded by SolCom, and found a new referral clinic for our clients with larger eye problems than we are able to treat. Overall, it was a very productive week.

This past Tuesday we left Nebaj and traveled to Xela (also know as Quetzaltenango), the second biggest city in Guatemala. I really love it here. It feels like a real city (sometimes Antigua doesn't) and has a lot of restaurants and cafes and a gorgeous Parque Central. We've done some similar things in Xela, such as campaigns and publicity, and several Xela-specific projects, including working with a weaving co-op called Nueva Alianza. On Friday we also went to Fuentes Georginas - hot springs about an hour outside of the city. They were gorgeous and it was a really nice way to spend an afternoon. On Tuesday we leave Xela and head to Lake Atitlan for a day (I'm going ziplining!) and then I'll be back in Antigua on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to going bacy, finally getting my apartment in order, and starting to set up a real life (at least for a while).

Today I finally have a day to relax a bit, which is nice and very necessary. I'm almost done with a book I borrowed from one of the interns (The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie), so I'm going to finish that now and then head off in search of a bookstore. I will try to update a little more frequently in the future, and more pictures are coming soon!

Sorry for the absence - life has been absolutely crazy in the past 10 days or so. Two weekends ago we climbed Volcan Pacaya, which was great. I've just posted an album on the photos page, so check that out.

I'm exhausted and have tons of work to catch up on, as I haven't had reliable internet in over a week. But all is great here and I will post a real update as soon as I get some free time!