I just got back from a nice stroll in the mountains. It’s a beautiful day, and it seemed like a good opportunity for Emily and I to have some apart time. We don’t get much of that, as conditions here cause us to spend about 99% of our time together. So, I took advantage of being a guy and hiked up the mountain (it’s not considered wise for females -Emily- to wander the countryside alone). While I was out, I saw a lot of pretty scenery.

I also bumped into a crew of 20 guys excavating a place for a house, using only hoes. They also had a big collection of adobe blocks drying in the sun. Pretty old-school. I chatted with them for a bit, and explained who I was and my job and such, as we were far enough away from our aldea that they weren’t previously aware of my existence. They seemed amused. In these conversations, i usually mention that I live with Nas Palas; everyone in the region knows and respects him, and it makes us seem more trustworthy. In this case, it caused them to ask me if the rumors were true, and his son was injured. I spent the next 20 minutes relaying the saga of Galindo, and they were all ears at that point; they even turned off their radio.

On the way back from my hike, I passed the house of Don Simon, one of our favorite town elders. He had just returned from some land he has in Barillas, where it is warm enough to grow oranges. He had a huge basket of them, and gave me four when I left. The oranges from Barillas are AWESOME, although they look questionable on the outside because they are green. Huh.

I was chatting with my internet-savvy dad online this morning, and realized that due to the commotion with Galindo, I have not explained what happened to us in the training last week in the south. So, let me regale you with some tales. That is the point of this post.

So, we went south to Peace Corps Headquarters for a week of reconnect training. It is a fun time, we get to learn some stuff about grant proposals and work on our Spanish with the Spanish trainers, as well as hang out with the other volunteers from our group (whom we haven’t seen in 3 months). Also, we get to see the results of the Facial Hair Competition that started the day after we swore in 3 months ago. I won! Unfortunately, every one else turkeyed out so I was the only competitor.

When we got to PC Headquarters, we were also able to pick up mail that had collected from before we had an address in Temux. This included a big birthday box for Emily from her padres, which she was pretty excited to open. It contained yummy stuff I can steal from her, like popcorn and peanut butter and almonds.

Though the training was at PC Headquarters, we spent the evenings staying in Antigua, the tourist capitol ofGautemala. It was a homecoming for us, as we spent a lot of time in the coffeeshops and bars of Antigua during training. The CW is that it’s not “real Guatemala”, as they have plumbing, restaurants, bars, and cool ancient architecture. But I like it; it’s still small enough to retain a pleasant, pedestrian atmosphere. And makes one hell of a vacation from poverty-stricken Huehuetenango.

Our first night in Antigua was pretty exciting, not just to see all our old friends again, but because it was Halloween! As we got nearer to Antigua throughout the morning, more and more gringos we knew got onto the bus as we passed their sites (we are the farthest away). We got into town at about noon, and by that time, i am sure locals were wondering why there were so many white people on one bus! Our first stop was the paca, a sort of “Guatemalan Goodwill store”, where all sorts of slightly-out-of-fashion clothes can be had for next to nothing. With a budget of 100q ($15-ish), Emily and I put together some pretty hilarious cosutmes. Other volunteers did even better for cheaper. Thus, the evening was spent in merry fashion with good friends in a happy setting.

The day after halloween is All Saints Day, and in a few places they celebrate it with a giant kite festival. One of those places is Santa Maria Caucais, where some of our friends lived during training. So, we went with them to the festival. It’s pretty cool: the locals build giant, elaborately decorated kites as a sort of competition. The teams of dozens of people are kept secret for months in advance, as are the kite designs, and when they are unveiled it’s a bragging rights competition to see who had the coolest kites.

Now, when I’m talking big, i’m talking BIG. Like, 50 or 60 feet across. Here we see a team of workers assembling the bamboo framework on the ground, with some upright kites in the background (click to enlarge). Sometimes, the kites are TOO big, and explode when they are hosted upright by the teams of handlers. Below are two photos showing a kite on the ground, the rigging ropes,and the hoist team getting ready to pull it upright. I got some GREAT videos of one of the really big kites exploding as they hoisted it, and people running screaming everywhere as it collapses. Exciting stuff! I hope to get them online when I have a better connection.

This star kite was the biggest one that survived the day at Santa Maria, but there is another, older festival in a nearby town where the kites get much larger (the villagers are more expert, i am told). And in this other town they FLY these kites, I wish I could have seen that. I heard on the radio that the biggest that flew this year was 18 meters across, in the shape of a Mayan eagle. Wow, that’s about 60 feet! A fellow volunteer who was there told me that when they crash, it’s pretty exciting, and people are running around screaming like their hair is on fire. We had to settle for more low-key disasters, like this one at the right, that was poorly constructed with undersized bamboo.

After that, we spent three days with my old host family in San Luis Las Carretas. It was great to see them again. Everyone was so happy we visited- the kids, Jovita, Froilan, everyone. We talked so much. In the three evenings we spent with them, we played cards with the kids, talked about what’s new in the last three months, read stories with the kids, and had some of Jovita’s Guatemalan cooking (her beans are really tasty!). Jovita even made me a lunch to take to my classes, just like in the old days. They cleared out a room for us, and told me we were welcome to come back any time. It was very moving. Peace Corps gives us a 60q/ day stipend for housing during the training, so the last morning I gave Jovita 200q for the tthree days she took care of us. As I expected, she had NO intention of taking it. “You are friends now; we don’t want your money” she said. So I told her that a figured she woudln’t want it, and that’s why she needs to take it and put it in a box and save it in case the kids need school supplies or medicine or something like that. I knew that would work. Plus, as Emily told her, the money isn’t really ours anyways, it’s Uncle Sam’s. That is not EXACTLY true, but close enough. It will definitely do them more good than us.

After all was done, we headed home. It’s a two day trip, but this time, another volunteer (Cat Plumlee) offered to let us stay in her apartment just outside of Huehue. That saved us hotel fare. We ate well, as she has a real supermarket in her town, and the next morning was market day. I took a picture of the market from the roof of her house. It looks like every other market in Guatemala, but I’ve never before had a chance to take a picture of one from such a good vantage point.

Later that day, we did the second half of the trip home. And the rest is history.