Marshmallow roasting on a volcano

With just a few days left in Guatemala, I was almost able to do all the things I wanted here. The one thing I did not get to do was go see the pyramids at Tikal, but I can easily do those on another trip I would eventually like to take to Belize. But two really cool things I got to do were climb a volcano that still spews smoke everyday and last erupted in 2010, Volcan Pacaya, and go to Guatemala's famous volcano surrounded lake, Lago de Atitlan.

The climb up to the top of the volcano took about two hours, and the hike down was another hour. Pacaya is 8,373 feet above sea level. Some other volunteers and I got to ride up a lot of the mountain in a van, but most of it was on foot. It was difficult to climb at points because it was so steep, and the rock was so loose that it felt like you were walking uphill on a sandy beach.

About three quarters of the way into the hike, we finally reached the part of the mountain where most vegetation stops because it is kind of difficult for things to grow in volcanic ash and former lava. The views were awesome because you could see the crater of this volcano and the view a bunch of other nearby volcanoes. But the hike was still not over... We kept walking on these hills on the side of the mountain to reach our final destination. The ground was so loose that it felt like you were skiing in really heavy snow. But it was totally worth it because we got to this one part where the rocks were hot enough to roast marshmallows. I must say, volcanoes are the best for marshmallow roasts because they melt the marshmallow perfectly without sending it up in flames.

Lago de Atitlan, or Lake Atitlan, is probably one of the most famous attractions in Guatemala for tourists. At one point in history, the government wanted tourists to flock to their country, so they turned this into an attraction. The communities around the lake are pretty much still supported by tourists. The lake is surrounded by all these tiny towns and three volcanoes, some of which are still active. The only way to get from one town to the next is to drive around the mountains or go across the lake in a boat. 

I visited the small town of San Marcos per a recommendation, and it felt like something out of the 60s... Lots of modern hippies flock here. The lunch choices were pretty interesting, but the view of the lake was awesome, and supposedly the best for pictures. Plus, it was an awesome boat ride over the deepest lake in Central America. The ride to get there was pretty crazy too... If you think you have seen curvaceous roads with really high drop-offs, think again. I am very glad to be back on somewhat flat ground in Antigua.

"It's the end of the world as we know it...."

Antigua at Night from Cerra de la Cruz

Contrary to popular believe, it was obviously not the end of the world the other night, but was just the new cycle of the Mayan calendar. But I must say, it was pretty cool being in Guatemala for the supposed end of the world, especially since several Mayan dialects are spoken in the country and many people still live in the modern Mayan tradition. There were some celebrations around Antigua, so we went to the park to watch a bunch of Chinese latterns get sent into the sky. And then a little bit later, we walked up to the postcard viewpoint for an awesome view of Antigua. Other than that, none of the volcanoes erupted and no tidal waves hit, no meteors crashed into the city, etc, etc, etc.

An intense game of Uno

The other day was my last day volunteering with the kids. Earlier in the week, I taught them how to play the card game Uno, since I could incorporate numbers and colors in English and Spanish into the game. Plus, the directions were in English AND Spanish, so how difficult could that be? Fast forward to when I was trying to explain the "skip" card. Since the word for "skip" was in the directions, I kept saying it when I was explaining how to use the card. I repeated it a few times too many, and then a few of them got up and started jumping! I realized that the word for "skip" in Spanish must be the same as jump. Oops. But then they eventually picked up the meaning of the skip card and managed to learn how to play the rest of the game. They absolutely loved it and asked to play again later in the week. I'm glad I was able to explain this game to them and be able to leave them with something they'll all get to play with for a long time.

Spending time with these kids was awesome. When you are outside of these poorer communities, you don't really realize how little they actually have. At one point, I went to use the bathroom and there was no toilet paper; they use newspaper and there is no soap. They eat the basic rice, beans, some veggies and fruits. The redeeming factor is that they all seem like super happy kids who like to play and have fun. And I'm learning that English is actually really important for them to learn, even moreso than I originally thought... If they can one day speak English fluently, they may be able to take on jobs that can help make money for them and their families someday. Guatemala has unfortunately been known for its gangs, especially in the City of Guatemala, and it would be great if these kids have some reason and way to stay out of them.

As a special last-day treat, we took the kids out to the ball field and presented them with a brand new soccer ball to replace the one that rolled down the hill and was lost. They were all really excited, but a few in particular were super pumped. I brought my camcorder this day, planning on recording them playing soccer or doing relays. But instead, each one of them wanted to take turns using my camcorder. Some of them thought the zoom feature was funny, so they would zoom super close on someone's face and laugh. Others would follow the soccer game, doing commentary (I think I caught a lot of it, but I would love to get it translated).

I've got just a few more days left in Guatemala and a few more blog posts before I return to the States... I can't believe how these fifteen days have just flown by!

¡Feliz Navidad!

Over the holiday weekend, I took a mini holiday (as the Australians would call it) to El Salvador to a small surf town called El Zonte. I went with a bunch of other volunteers through a group tour, so we had our own guide, driver, and transportation. The place we stayed at has its own kitchen, pool, and awesome view of the beach. And as I wrote this blog entry, I was sitting in a hammock.

For our first full day here, we learned how to surf (don't worry, Mom, we each had our own surf instructor watching out for us). They took us out to the waves where we learned to stand up and ride the wave in. I actually did pretty well, standing up fully most of the time. At one point (when I was thinking about all the crazy sea life out there), I felt something like a snap bracelet hit my wrist, and then it started stinging... It was most definitely a jellyfish! But it was pretty small, so there was no first-aid needed (and for those of you who have watched that episode of FRIENDS where Monica gets stung, it definitely wasn't THAT extreme). I just kept surfing after that.

Christmas Eve started with a hike up down to a waterfall. The guide who led us to the waterfalls said that there were stairs and that we would be fine in flip-flops... wrong. The "stairs" were big patches of dirt being held up by sticks and rocks. And flip flops? I would have much rather worn my hiking boots, but once again, Old Navy's $2.50 flip flops prevailed. After a 30 minute hike, we finally reached the waterfalls which are in the middle of nowhere. The guide then said, "Okay, this is where we jump in," and he just jumped off of this cliff that had to be about 20 feet high. I was a little nervous to jump at first, but the water was so deep that there was nothing to worry about. It was at least a two to three second freefall... A nice precursor to eventually going skydiving. The pictures don't do the jump justice, and it was actually way more daunting than it looks.

...And after.

Before jumping...

Since Christmas Eve is the bigger day in Central America, we prepared for a huge potluck feast. We went to the grocery store to do some shopping and also stopped on the pier to get some fresh fish and shrimp. And no holiday or celebration is complete in Central America without fireworks. (You can hear them go off at all hours of the day in the streets... kids in the States get excited about those snakes you light on fire while people here will actually hold an ignited bottle rocket in their hand).

It took about two and a half hours for all the food to be prepared... there was so much delicious food (even some French quiche!). Then after dinner, we cleaned up, hung out, and then went to the beach to set off fireworks around midnight.

It was pretty awesome going swimming at the beach and walking around in shorts on Christmas. But the Christmas tree seemed so out of place, since I'm used to it being freezing cold outside. I won't complain though.

Stairmaster 3000, Guatemalan Style

Today is the end of the 12th Mayan baktun, aka the end of the world! Tonight, there will be a lot of celebrations in Antigua, as this country is full of Mayan descendants. If we're all still here, I'll tell you how that goes! (And we should be, seeing as it was just a misinterpretation).

Yesterday was another great day with los ninos. We spent most of the day outside playing tag and then played soccer until someone kicked a goal and the ball got lost. Two of the kids had such a look of defeat on their face when they couldn't find it, but we're going to try to get them another one. Instead of playing any organized games, the kids started doing relay races up and down the stadium stairs and got us volunteers to join in. We'd run down the stairs from the top, tag up with someone waiting at the bottom, and then they'd run up the stairs.

The cycle kept repeating. I loved when it was my turn because as I ran, they would chant "Kayla, Kayla, Kayla" while I flew down the stairs hoping not to fall flat on my face. There's just something about 14 Guatemalan kids screaming your name in a Spanish accent. We all probably got a few hours worth of exercise with the ultimate stair master workout.

Back at la casa, we also did alphabets, name tags, and ended up folding paper things like hearts, little snakes, airplanes, and boats. One kid, Alejandro, is great at making the boats... He'd go set them in the sink full of water, and we'd laugh when they sank to the bottom.

The kids taught me how to say a ton of things in Spanish today like snake, boat, play, etc etc. But thanks to these Spanish classes I'm doing, I can pick it up even better. I'm doing them for two hours a day, and I actually am kind of proud of myself for retaining so much. Knowing French is a huge help a lot of the time. All the grammar rules are very similar, and when in doubt, if I throw an o on the end of the word, it is actually a word in Spanish, but there are a few differences here and there.  My French accent hasn't come out too much either, but it still happens. The biggest problem I have is not speaking French but Spanish like I did in class the other day (whoops). So for those of you worried about my "skills," no need to fear anymore! I must say, between running around like a ten year old and functioning in three different languages in one day is rather exhausting.

A nice way to top of the night was with a parade we accidentally found on the street to celebrate the days leading up until Christmas. I hope they don't run out of things here for me to buy because this is where I plan on doing all my shopping!

Como se dice reindeer?

And I'm back with a blog post two days in a row... With all the stuff going on in the day, I must say that I am (and you should be too) very impressed with the consistency. Today started with another commute via the chicken bus and up the gigantic hill to the school house. When the other volunteer, Andrew, and I walked in, we were greeting by a million kids saying "Buenos dias!" and then greeted by a bunch of hugs and holas. We started the day by making some Christmas cards. Since the kids are still very young and probably what we would consider behind for their grade and age levels in the States, it's kind of a challenge to think of new ways to teach them English. We started drawing things and writing the translation in English... I became very popular because of my reindeer drawing skills. One girl asked me to draw one and then another girl asked and then another and before I knew it, I probably drew twenty reindeer. Here is my original drawing:

And here is one of the girls that wanted me to draw three reindeer:

After the drawing session, we went outside to play some really unorganized game of soccer and then some tag after they got bored of that. To get to el campo de futbol (the soccer field), we walked up yet another dirt hill that stirred up tons of dirt in the air. But the field is awesome because it's just this dirt soccer field that is surrounded by mountains and trees. Here, I definitely got my exercise in, as the kids kept trying to tag me and succeeded (and I even let them get me a few times).

After the energy surge, we went back and did some reading. These kids love to be read to and books are really expensive here, so as rambunctious as they are, they sat in silence for the reading of Peter Pan in English. Of course, as soon as I read in English and they took turns reading in Spanish, they wanted to go back to another activity.

Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye for the day. I surely learned a lot of Spanish from these kids today just by listening to them and watching what they did. And it is kind of easy to talk to them in Spanish because their level of English is just as good (if not a little better) than my Spanish. But lunch was definitely needed after that workout and before my first Spanish class. I will mention a little more tomorrow, but spoiler, I accidentally spoke French.

The first day...

Hola mes amigos! I made it to Antigua! I had a long day of traveling from NYC via Miami to get here by 8:45pm on Sunday (so technically 9:45pm for those of you on the East Coast). Even though it's pretty far south, it's actually kind of chilly here, so the one thing I wish I brought more of is long pants. Oh well.

I'm staying in shared housing with a whole bunch of volunteers doing other programs, such as construction, orphanage childcare, medical clinics, coffee farms, as well as wildlife conservation. Most are from the States and Canada, but there are also a few Australians here; some are staying for just a short time like me, others are here for a few months or an undetermined amount of time.

Monday marked the first day of the program, starting with an orientation bright and early (after some home-made French toast). They gave us the rundown of the program and the basics of day-to-day life here. Shortly after, we took a walking tour of the town and then went to our placement site. I am working in a town called Pastores at a program that helps kids reinforce what they learned in school since many of them don't get homework or their parents don't have the ability to help them. The journey to the work sites consists of hopping on one of these:

And then walking up the steepest hill you could image until you reach the schoolhouse. The school is very basic: cement walls with shelves full of paper and baskets full of crayons... No lockers, no computers, just the basics. There are also family pets that run around in the school area so when the kids get excited, the dogs will bark... Which happens a lot. The kids range anywhere from 5 to 13 years old and come from the same few families.

When we got to the site, one of the volunteers introduced me and the other new volunteers. All the kids laughed when I said my name... For the second time in my life, I met another Kayla, but she spells it Keyla. For some reason, they all found it hilarious that someone shares my name. This is Keyla:

These kids know even less English than I thought they would, so it was a little bit of a challenge to get comfortable at first. But with some basic Spanish vocabulary like colors and numbers, I was able to make some new little friends and teach them a few things.   One of my favorite teaching moments was this: I was trying to think of how to say something in Spanish, so while I thought, I said the Spanish word for "and" which sounds like "eeeeee.". As I held that word, one of the kids, Henri, starts repeating the alphabet in order. He almost got the whole thing, he just skipped over the K.

I've already learned a lot of Spanish from these kids, so now that I've signed up for two hours of Spanish lessons a day that I will start today, I should be in pretty good shape! Hasta luego!

Last-Minute Preparations

In under 24 hours, I am off to LaGuardia Airport to board my flight to Guatemala City with a layover in Miami! My bags are pretty close to being packed, but there’s only so much I can do until right before I leave. As much as I like being on time for things, I always find that I am rushing around last minute almost forgetting my toothbrush.

I've checked the weather a bunch, and it's not supposed to be as warm as I thought… Antigua itself is in a part of the country that is at a high elevation (cooler weather, but fewer mosquitos). To give you a weather reference (and to make you a little jealous), here's a little glimpse and my 10 day forecast, compliments of Weather.com: 

And if I make it to Tikal or at any of the lower elevations, I'll be pushing high 80s, low 90s, and I couldn't be any happier about that after all these bone-chilling temperatures in the City. 

The last (but not least important) part of preparation I’ve been doing is my Spanish, although I can probably never practice enough. I plan on taking some classes while I’m there, so I will at least get a better grip on grammar and the accent. But for now, I’ve got my numbers, colors, and the rest of the basics down pretty well. Me llamo Kayla. Vivo en Nuevo York. At least I'll be able to start a conversation.

Since Sunday is a full travel day, the real fun will begin bright and early Monday morning with an orientation, a walking tour around the city, and my placement. The next time you hear from me, I will be sitting at a computer in Antigua… stay tuned!

Why Guatemala?

I want to start off this post by thanking everyone who has donated towards my trip (if you would like to contribute, please check out the GoFundMe personal link I have listed on the right side of this blog post). No matter how little or much you donated, every little bit helps!

Now, if you’ve known me for awhile (and have had to put up with my obsession with the bleu, blanc, et rouge), you might be thinking, “Why Guatemala? They don’t speak French there!” Honestly, Guatemala wasn’t where I was thinking of going at first…

I first learned about the concept of volunteering abroad back in college just after I had gotten back from France and was looking of ways to travel again. I always thought it would be cool to volunteer in Morocco (yes, they do speak a little French there). When I was looking for organizations this past summer, I stumbled on IVHQ, or International Volunteer Headquarters, which offered programs with reasonable prices. After playing with my work schedule, I committed to a program with IVHQ… originally teaching kids how to play sports in Ghana. Before this point, I decided that I wanted to go to some place unlike I had ever been before and somewhere that I wouldn’t really think I would ever make a vacation destination out of. I was able to take off work for two weeks, which didn’t seem like it would do a trans-Atlantic flight to Africa justice. I started looking at IVHQ’s other programs and was drawn to the teaching English program in Guatemala, looking in to logistics of it, and then booked my flights to Guatemala City. As I started doing more and more research about the country, I started getting more and more excited.

Guatemala, a nation of 14 million people, shares its borders with four countries: Mexico, Belize, El Salvador, and Honduras. The country is sandwiched between the Gulf of Honduras and the Pacific Ocean, and its territorial claims are just about the size of Tennessee’s (this is one tiny country). It is filled with tropical jungles, mountains, and volcanoes. As far as tourism goes, there are a lot of cool places to see in the region, but Guatemala’s tourism industry is as developed as it could be. Some of the must-sees include Tikal, one of the most famous Mayan ruins sites, Lake Atitlan, the deepest lake in Central America, as well as Antigua, the city I will be staying in. Antigua is considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it has many buildings inspired by Spanish architecture and has many churches in the European style. So yeah… reading more and more about Guatemala definitely hooked me on the idea of it. Plus, how many people do you know who have been to Guatemala?

Look for one more pre-departure post!

Drumroll, please...

Just ten days until departure marks my inaugural blog entry…as December 16 approaches, I’m getting more anxious and excited about my teaching English program in Guatemala. As much preparing as I’ve done for this trip, at the same time, I feel very under-prepared... it reminds me very much of preparing to go to Strasbourg, France when I studied abroad.

When I got on my flight to Paris, I had eight years of formal French language classes under my belt and I had been to Europe before, so I kind of knew what to expect in terms of the “lay of the land” and the general feeling of being there. When I think of Guatemala, I have no idea what to expect. The most similar place to Guatemala that I’ve been is to the capital city of Costa Rica, San Jose (or so I imagine). Even finding information on Guatemala is tough… the history is so complex that it could take years and years to learn everything. My knowledge of the Mayans is pretty solid, but other than that, I’ve been giving myself a self-taught crash course in Latin American & Guatemalan history.

Speaking of crash courses, I’ve also been giving myself one in Spanish. A few people have asked me how I am going to teach English in a Spanish-speaking country if I can’t speak Spanish fluently… that is the beauty of teaching English.  
It helps to know the local language, but it’s not necessary to be 100% fluent in it. When students are learning a language, they are encouraged to speak only in that language… if you were learning Russian in Moscow and there was a student from Egypt learning Russian and a student from Argentina learning Russian, you would need to use one common language to communicate, and it would be Russian. Same thing in this case. The Spanish will come in handy in everyday life though… fortunately, I have an aptitude for picking up languages quickly and am not afraid to use them with the locals. The one thing I have working against me is that I still (more times than not) cannot break the habit of using a French accent in any other language I attempt to speak (when I learn how to speak basic phrases in Greek, German, etc, just for the fun of it, I sound like I'm a French speaker attempting to pronounce things). 

This about wraps it up for now… stay tuned for the next installment!