Guatemalan Matt: My Peace Corps Experience: 2012

I have now been in Guatemala for over a year. It is crazy what you can adapt to. Things that at first seem insane or jaw dropping are taken in stride without a second thought quicker than you would imagine. Living as a volunteer abroad presents you with challenges that you never expected to face, mostly because such challenges would never present themselves to you in the states. Lots of things that used to worry me back home seem to be trivial now that I have seen the way people struggle just to survive. We worry about showing up to appointments on time; here people worry about whether they will be able to feed their families on a day to day basis.

Even after you realize how much in life we take for granted, including life itself, working abroad can still be frustrating. There are always challenges when it comes to finding a time when 20 women can all meet at the same hour on the same day to finally plan out that garden project you having been dying to get under way. Sometimes it can even take months, and to people who are used to living their whole lives according to an hour by hour schedule; wake up at 6:30, work at 9, home at 5 etc.. it can be extremely frustrating. Because of our strictly scheduled lives it is easy to forget that the women are living under a different hour glass; wake up at 3am climb down the mountain, cut down a tree, cut the tree into pieces, tie the wood to your back, carry it back up the mountain so that you can use it to cook breakfast for your family before they need to go out to the fields, after breakfast do all the dishes by hand, then wash all the laundry by hand and begin to cook lunch so that you can carry it out to your husband and sons in the field. Get home, clean up, by now it’s 3pm and it’s almost time to start preparing dinner.. This is not to mention taking care of all your children, all the other housework, taking care of the animals if you have any, going to market to by all the food.. and this is the life they live from the time they are children until the time they die, I have literally seen women well into their 70s carrying tree trunks that I wouldn’t attempt to pick up.

Besides the obstacles to complete your work, you are also presented with challenges making everyday life difficult. Mom isn’t there to help you through your week long diarrhea and vomiting from giardia. Come to think of it, no one is there, just you, in your bed all week, and you really notice mom’s absence. Some things you adapt to quickly and don’t think about until you reflect on them, like the fact that you have lived without a refrigerator, microwave, hot shower, sink, heat, air conditioning, tv, pretty much all the comforts of life at home, for the past year and you have gotten on just fine. Then there’s also the isolation of living in a small town, high in the mountains, where you not only have one language barrier but two. Where, when you walk around in the street, 90% of the time you only hear K’iche because Spanish is pretty much only used to communicate with you and in the school systems. You do have a good group of friends but your friends dropped out of school when they were 10, got married at 16 (or maybe 13 if she’s a girl) and had 3 kids by the time they were 20, meaning you have two very different lives, and yes you can connect on some things and have a good time together but most of these friendships don’t go as deep as those friendships from back home. You don’t really hang out outside of work and soccer games, but at least it’s something.

Up to this point, it sounds like I am complaining, but that is not the point of this blog. The point is to show that during our time abroad we learn many new skills and because of the hardships and differences during our time in Guatemala, we learn a lot about ourselves, about what is most important to us and each day is a first-hand lesson on the overwhelming importance of patience. Peace Corps life is not bad; it is just different than the 23 years of my life prior to Guatemala. During my first year as a volunteer I have learned many new things; a new language, how to make my own soap out of chicken oil, how to use some medicinal plants, how to make the perfect boiled egg, I can kill, skin and gut a rabbit like a champ, I’ve given my share of vaccines to chickens and turkeys, I have two of my very own worm farms…used for composting, I’m not AS afraid of cockroaches as I once was (although I don’t think I will ever get over my fear of the tarantulas), working with kids beats working with adults, raising a puppy is a lot harder than you’d like it to be, I’ve decided I will never ground my children when I have them, I now know that the best punishment will be making them wash all their own laundry by hand when they misbehave, I can plant a garden with the best of them. I have climbed volcanoes, swam through caves, hiked through mountains, jumped off waterfalls, participated in Mayan ceremonies, watched lava erupt from volcanoes, slept in hammocks, bathed in volcanic hot-springs, been woken by numerous earthquakes, eaten bugs, fallen in love with mangos, seen birds that exist nowhere else in the world, I have read 25 books since arriving, I can cook…well, does oatmeal count? I have even had to jump off the back of a pickup truck to save my legs from being shattered by the truck that rear-ended us. I have done a lot in Guatemala and I have learned more in the past year than I ever thought was possible, but the most significant thing that I have learned is the unparalleled importance of my family and friends.

To that end, I want to thank all of the Guatemalans who have made my time here so amazing; you have all been so welcoming and open with me, particularly; my host family during training (Florencia, Martín, Amparo, Maria Jose, Gabriela, Monica y Marvín), my counterparts (David, Mari y Karina) and all of the women, men and children that I have worked with directly during the past year. They have always been ready to feed me and ask me why I have freckles… and sometimes even try to erase them from my skin with pencil erasers, thanks for trying.

I also want to thank all of my friends and relatives from home who have kept in touch with me. Your calls, letters, packages, skype dates and visits have kept me from going insane. Only a Peace Corps volunteer can truly understand the power of opening up a package to find a jar of peanut butter, nutella, homemade cookies, peanut M&Ms and pictures… Big thanks to Tim, Sean and Chris who all made it down to Guate for some quality palin’ around time and a few cheap shoe shines.

Next, I have to thank all of my fellow PC Volunteers, particularly my fellow Food Security pals; Adrianna, Dawn, Sasha, Christine, Kelly, James, Josh, Eric and George, and also my site mate, Casey. Definitely wouldn’t still be here without all of your support, advice and terrible jokes.

Lastly, and most importantly I want to thank these beautiful people right here.

The Daly family (missing a couple of the new kids)

I have been blessed with the most amazing family in the world. All of them have sent packages, letters, pictures and some awesome drawings. They are always there on the other end of the phone or the computer screen and are always willing to listen to me bitch and have always helped me with anything I have ever asked. So, thank you; Mom, Dad, Ira, Carrie, ira, Claire, Noah, Erin, Ray, rayray, Christopher, Biz, Marie, Brian, Tim, Tina, Kierra, Sean, Beth, John and Patrick. You are all greatly appreciated and greatly loved. Your support means the world to me. Thank you, I love you.

The following are some of my favorite pictures taken during the past 15 months: