Not a mud hut...

Uno, dos, tres, cuat. I know you want me, you know I want you. The song of Guatemala, not sure if it´s made it to your shores...

I know it´s been awhile sorry. I´m still gonna subscribe to the theory that mixing in pictures with my words are more exciting. I really like these shots from a recent visit to a coffee farm near my town.


Oh and I like the colors in this picture, from a recent trip to Antigua...

So to begin -- congrats to my brother Antonio and Greta on getting engaged last month. Very excited for the both of you, the wedding, and the fact that I won´t be there to deal with all the pre-wedding stress. Love it, just thinking of getting everyone together from both coasts for a California wedding sounds awesome.

Some of you have been asking what I miss. Obviously the basics -- friends, family, El Balazo, and Pete´s Brass Rail. But to be honest, and this is true I just completed my 5th dream in 5 months about Tahoe. Even I am amazed at how many times I´ve found myself missing this place. It´s crazy, but for those of you who are close enough - go enjoy that place and make me jealous. This time last year I was graduating and getting ready to head up there. How quickly time flies. Speaking of graduating, congrats to Sam Martino. So some shots of everyday life in my town San Vicente Pacaya, kind of like a mini Tahoe minus the lake. See the resemblance?? Sarcasm...

Alright let´s get to the exciting stuff. As promised in my last post, MY HOUSE. If you can call it that. Hopefully this brings a few laughs, because I´m laughing just thinking how I´ve got to go back there tonight and sleep (or try to).

So I am fully immersed (wedged) into a tiny house made of lamina (tin?) with some of the wildest people I´ve ever met. These people scream at each other, the kids run around wild with butcher knives, the chicken is my sidekick for meals, and I have swatted at least a thousand flies (no joke) off my arm in over a month. My 4 wall bedroom has only 3 that are actually walls. The oh-so important wall blocking the noise from these crazy animals is made of cardboard. Gotten some good sleep these last 2 months as you can imagine. Here´s little Valentina in my room, notice the cardboard wall (yeah the red and white stripes aren´t the US flag bro!)...

And I always make comments about showers. Before they were cold coming out of a normal shower head. Now it´s this...
I´ve gotten a good technique down. I bend down, dump the first bucket of COLD, FREEZING water over my head and yell ¨Oliver¨ (more on this in a bit). Since the bathroom is made of lamina and my naked body is easily seen over this (remember we gringos are like Yao Ming in this country) the family can see/hear every ¨ooh and ahh¨ as I bathe myself every morning. And the rainy season´s coming so it ain´t getting any warmer my friends. So go on, enjoy those hot showers. To be honest, I´ve gotten used to it...it´s more comical that this is really my life right now.

So to the bigger question: Why would I voluntarily choose this? Here´s a little story that stems back to March 27th, my first day in site. On this day I passed up a house where I could cook what I want, have hot water, a room with 4 walls, and a washing machine believe it or not. Instead, I opted for the family which I got a better vibe from (which was correct). And I wanted the personal challenge of ¨roughing it.¨ Oliver would be shaking his head at me (more on this in a second).

I may be overstating the family, the parents are fine. And I enjoy their company. My host grandpa Don Pancho is the jack of all trades, in bed at midnight and up when the sun rises. I´d love to acquire his work ethic...

Here he is cooking up his famous dulces ¨canillas de leche¨...and below is D.P. chopping some coconuts for the afternoon fresco.

So back to the family...it´s not the parents as I´ve clarified. It´s the kids that are wild. Still trying to figure out who makes more noise in the house - little Erwin or his pet.

I was walking down the street a few weeks back (around 10pm...normal time for sleeping) and the whole street was quiet and peaceful. Ah, what a nice Guatemalan night. And then I got to my house, it was chaos. The kids were playing tag, the TV blaring, the chicken eating lettuce on the floor, and the hammock swaying back and forth. It was then I convinced myself that this ain´t a Guatemalan thing, just a Reyes family thing. One more month to go...

So back to why I did this. When we were about to receive our sites (homes for 2 years) back in March I heard about this place and lobbied for it. Here´s the details:

• 96% indigenous (Q éqchi)
  
• 1,000 people (about 5 speak Spanish)
• Living in the pure jungle
• No electricity
• No running water
• River rafting company

I heard about this and said -- This is the Peace Corps. I want that. Here comes in Oliver, one of my best buddies here, and the lucky fella to get that site. And the reason I shout his name every morning...because as much as I joke about my cold showers, homeboy uses the river (if and when he decides to shower).

I got the site with electricity, running water, and a National Park with tons of visitors. Two different worlds. When the electricity goes out in my town I enjoy it (because the CRAZY animals in my house have nothing to do) so it´s peace and quiet. But I always think of Oliver who does this every day. Living by the sun, what an experience. Ollie is learning a new language and dealing with tarantulas and scorpions every night before bed. And that could have been me. Wow.

So that´s why I opted for my housing situation. They didn´t give me the jungle, so I´m gonna bring it to me. And while I wanted to be out in the jungle with no gringos in sight, I pretty much got it - being that the closest volunteer is about 2 hours away. Although, on the contrary, if I wanted to speak English I could head up to the volcano with the other gringos. Something tells me that this isn´t the reason why I´m here. So in my town I stay, and pray for this volcano not to erupt. Oh and try and get some sleep...oh, and wait a month until I feel clean again.

The best perk of my family is the weekend flauta stand. They sell these flautas (wanna-be burritos) and I have gotten to learn how to tortear (make tortillas). I´m getting pretty good...

So if you make it to my town, you can come meet this wonderful group of people I call my family. They really are quite a kick to be around...

Lastly, the name switch to Miguel has backfired as they all call me Mike. Wait til I get on the basketball court next month for the league. They´ll be calling me Michael Jordan. Anything´s better than Jessica...

That´s all for the month, my closing line -- Enjoy your hot showers! Miguelito...