Pictures of the Day - Xelaju Soccer Game Edition

This is Lisa. She is excited to be saving the kid from falling off the fence. I enjoy this picture.


This is Emelie and me. Me, sporting my new jersey. Emelie, balloning my head. Xelaju won 1-0 for those who care. Pretty spectacular game/adventure.

Sushi Night in Casa Latina

One thing that is amazing to me about living in Guatemala is the food. And not the local food. The local food is good, but it usually consists of some combo of corn, beans, rice, and eggs. But because people (at least travelers and gringos) grow tired of this 'ethnic' food, they make a solid effort to put together meals that remind them of home and the ample choices that their respective cities offer. So, with the help of my friend Mikiko, Wednesday we had one of my favorite foods in the world: sushi.

Due to the fact that there really isn't sushi grade fish down here, we made veggie, canned tuna, and teriyaki chicken rolls.

I've made rolls before but Mikiko wanted me to try to make inside out rolls - where the rice is on the outside. Harder but when its done, its looks so cool.

Here is Mikiko teaching Brenda, who doesn't like sushi, how to make rolls. I think Brenda ended up liking what she made.

The finished product.

The table after all the hardwork. We ate like kings, er... emperors that night!

A Posting Over at Semilla Nueva

Semilla Nueva has posted my write up about my trip last week to the coast and the farms. It includes more of my pictures, so have a look!

El Campo

So hopefully tomorrow a post I wrote will go up on Semilla Nueva's blog. But until then, here's a preview of some pics I took this last week while visiting farmers in the Campo.

Futbol in Central America

Wow. This is has been a crazy week. I’ve slept more in barns and hotels than my own bed. These are stories for the future though. Tonight, I thought I’d give everyone a little taste of what Central American soccer is like.

Last Saturday, Brenda, Emelie, Sam, and I head off to Estadio Mario Camposeco to take in a Xelaju MC soccer game. Xelaju played their rivals from Guatemala City, Comunicaciones. Since beer isn't sold in the stadium, we decide to pregame a little in the surrounding streets. We find what I think was about 32 ounce beers that costs a whole $2.50 American. Insane. Below, Brenda, Sam, and I toast to the good life.

Los Superchivos, as Xelaju is called, tied the game on a magnificent goal in the closing minutes. Final score: 2-2.

However, the game was not the point. The experience around the game is what made this night. Now, of all the soccer I’ve seen around the world, the Seattle Sounders give fans the best experience hands down. But this game was a close second. While the stadium is small (about 8000 “seats”… many people sit in aisles, on walls, etc.) the crowd is energetic, lively, and allowed to do basically whatever they want. The supporters section shoots off fireworks (BIG fireworks, not just smoke bombs) during play and opposing fans are kept in a police guarded cage. When the game’s officials leave the field, they have a swat team protecting them. The home fans sit on top of the barbed fence, swearing and throwing anything they can get their hands on at the away team.

The night was fantastic fun and I look forward to returning to many more games later this season. For now, I will leave you with a video of the opening kickoff fireworks.

Sunset of Parque Central

Parque Central, Xela

Settling In and My First Pictures

A week has come and gone. It’s strange to think that I’ve already settled in enough to start understanding some Guatemalan traditions and slang. It hasn’t been a completely easy transition – I hate not having reliable internet, not flushing toilet paper, and not completely understanding what my host mother says to me. But all in all, I’m pretty happy with the decision to come down here. I move into an apartment this week with some new friends (although I’m still taking Spanish classes) and I get my first taste of “el campo” aka the rural farming area that I will be spending a lot of time working over the next 6 months.

The first weekend didn’t fail to disappoint as far as crazy new experiences. Where to start…? How about a story about Zombies? Everyone loves zombies. Last Thursday, myself and my friends Emelie, Brenda, Darren, and Sam headed out to what was called a Zombie Wedding. The night went smoothly, drinks came and went, and I felt like I was in college again at a weekend house party. Good times. The DJ did fail and never played “Thriller.” Epic fail if you ask me. You knew what wasn’t an epic fail though? Our outfits.

Friday was mostly spent recovering from the night before. I swear headaches are worse down here. I’ll blame it on the altitude. Everyone blames everything on the altitude down here in Quetzaltenango. For Spanish classes we did take a quick field trip to a town about 30 minutes outside of Xela to an amazing church. Covered in brightly colored figures, the church depicts tigers, tourist, farmers, and Jesus. It was quite a sight.

A long night’s sleep help recover fully from being a zombie on Thursday and gave me the energy to head up to Parque de Baul just outside Xela, overlooking the city. Emelie and Brenda put together one of the greatest BBQ’s I’ve ever been a part of. The girls, myself, Sam, and other friends ate tortillas, corn, and tons of meat while putting away a few liters of cheap, yet refreshing beer. The bill for enough food and beer to sufficiently stuff and intoxicate 6 people: about $20. I know my excitement for Guatemala’s cheapness will wear off, but until then I I’m going to be thrilled every time I spend essentially pennies on adventures. Check out our spread!

We returned from the mountain for a quick afternoon siesta before heading out for the night. The night… well, it was pretty fantastic. But you’ll just have to read about it later this week when I return from 'el campo.' Until then, adios!

A Warning

For those of you who know me, you know that spelling is not my forte. I'd consider myself a decent enough writer, able to provide interesting stories for the most part without some humor and insights. But spelling - not so much. So my warning is this: because I'm using a Gautemalan network while I'm down here, the online spell checks are set to check Spanish spelling. AKA no English spell check for me. So if I spell "definitely" wrong a lot, my apologies.

A Drunkard in Xela Who Can't Spell

Ok I will prefix this by stating what my current situation: I'm sitting a cafe and with a liter of beer for myself. I ordered from the waitress who I vaguely know because she's dating a friend of mine and while my spanish isn't completely up to fluent yet, I gathered that she mumbled under her breathe "Wow, what a drunk" or something to that extent. In my defense, the beer here is so light, it makes PBR look as strong as Deschutes' The Abyss. Just sayin'...


So now that I have time to fully articulate and a whole beer to drink, I think I should explain what my current situation is. When I arrived in Xela, I was set up in a host family just outside Xela proper (about a 10 minute walk into the center). Right now, my day goes as follows:

• 7:30 Family breakfast. Mi madre de guatemala talks to me in spanish and forces me to talk back.
• 8:00 - 1:00pm One-on-one spanish classes. My teacher isn't super great but she provides a decent structure for me to have to talk in spanish to her. I've grown as a spanish speaker so much in the last 3 days.
• 1:00 - 2:00 Lunch with my host family. More spanish talking and a rice and beans meal with a tortilla.
• 2:00 - 4:30 Researching for my internship. So many papers to read, so little time.
• 4:30 - 5:00 Semilla Nueva meeting.
• 5:00 - 6:30 Study Spanish.
• 6:30 - 7:30 Dinner with host family. More talking, most of which I don't understand. Sad times.
• 7:30 - 9:30 Study or read for Semilla Nueva.
• 9:30 - 10:30 Study spanish.
• 10:30 Get ready for bed. By 9pm, I've generally felt really tired and out of it.

That's my day. I've never been more busy than I am right now. I think its setting me up well for graduate school, especially the research aspect.

As far as my host family, they have been great. Three square meals and friendly hospitality. Mi madre wears traditional mayan clothing everyday and mi padre is really into soccer so we can bond through the little spanish I have about Xelaju MC and Seattle Sounders FC.

After the 19th, I plan on moving out of my host family's house and into an apartment on my own. An apartment for a month is about $150 including wireless internet. Super cheap. I will be working 8-10 hours a day for Semilla Nueva when my spanish classes are done and then weekends will be free for me to explore Lake Atitlan, Antigua, Tikal, and everything else this beautiful country has to offer.

I plan on taking pictures this weekend and posting a few more things about my initial impressions of Xela and Guatemalans. But until then, I'm going to finish this beer (which has made this post really hard to write) and head home to study more spanish. Buenas noches!

First Signs of Life From Guatemala!!!

My deepest apologizes everyone! I think I promised many a person that I'd update the blog every other day or so. Which didn't happen once I returned form Haiti due to total exhaustion, busy-ness, and a bad case of sickness (I'm no doctor but I'm going to go with a cross-breed of flu, cholera, malaria pills, and food poisoning... maybe just the malaria pills and flu).

So my time at home came and went. And then I went. As I type this I'm sitting in Xela, drinking an amazing licuanda de mora (berry smoothy thing), with my new japanese friend Mikiki, and enjoying the PERFECT weather. Its always sunny but never hotter than 70 degrees F and I can wear jeans and a long sleeve shirt.

Internet down here is limited but there are a few places (like this cafe, which has a very Seattle-like feel) with wifi if you buy food/drinks. So a beer for a few hours of internet is VERY doable. The city has a great vibe... cross between a small spanish town and Haiti (as far as the stray dogs, homeless, and intense open markets) and a touristy hostel city full of white 20 somethings from Europe.

I haven't had time to take pictures too much yet but hopefully this weekend I'll get out and start doing that. I do have 6 months for that after all, so its not on the top of my "To Do" list.

Ok, time is running short before I must go off to a Semilla Nueva meeting (my volunteer organization) but I'll leave you with a few quick observations:

• Its odd to have a Japanese girl from Vancouver BC acting as my tour guide in Central America.
• After two days of 5 hours a day spanish classes, my spanish classes have improved crazily. I've gone from a "2" out of 10 to a "4" in 10 hours. Blows my mind. I'm pretty sure its a confidence thing too.
• "Public Transpertation" here is super cheap and super efficient. I use parenthesis because its just a van that drives around the city with about 20 people in 10 seats. Real safe.
• Everything is super cheap. I'll probably spend as much as I did in Seattle but just get twice as much (ex: beer. A pitcher is $6.25. Needless to say there was a lot of drinking on Super Bowl Sunday)
• I explained the rules of American Football to a Dutch girl on Sunday while listening to ESPN deportes streaming onto a projector from the internet. It was a weird, but glorious day.
• Guatemalan food... hit or miss. A lot of corn and bananas. One thing I don't like that my host mom makes: boiled bananas. Not so great.

I hope to write more tomorrow but for now Just know I'm safe, things are good, and I'm settling into what will probably end up being a quick 6 months.