Athalia the Explorer: Closing up Shop

It has been so long since my last blog post that I will not even try to excuse my tardiness; this is beyond hora chapin (Guatemalan time) lateness.

There has been a lot going on in my life which I have failed to document, and since I am coming up on the end of my service (and thus the end of my blog? Will anyone want to read about unemployment while living at home?) I feel like this is a good time to go overboard with photos and comments about everything I have been doing, so buckle up and get ready for a long ‘this is athalia’s life’ series.

My COS (Close of Service) date is set for October 29th and in the lead up to that date, I have been doing a lot of ‘last’ or ‘final’ things and trying to make sure I see and do stuff that I have been wanting to do for a while. Instead of being sad about it all, I have actually been pretty excited overall. I feel a sense of accomplishment for having made it to this point and I am looking forward to continuing to rock out until my last day in country. In August I had a lot of fun at my last municipal development council meeting (program is over, so much for the 5 year plan we refined my first year).

At Bagel Barn with Muni Council

A big goal of mine since December 2009 when I went to feria in El Chol has been to go to Rabinal, Baja Verapaz. Rabinal is a municipality famous for many reasons – it has amazing ceramics, a great market with yummy food and atol, and suffered massacres during the 36 year civil war that continue to have repercussions to this day. One weekend I decided it was a now or never moment and got some PCV friends together to go to Rabinal in a car. It was AMAZING. In order to get to Rabinal from my site, we drove through two other municipalities in Baja Verapaz on a dirt road that is the highway. My friend Devon, who we picked up on the way, explained to us as we climbed a mountain that once we reached the border with Rabinal we would see the extreme difference in deforestation that took place during the civil war. In Rabinal there was a lot of guerilla activity, so during the 1980s the military moved in and cut down trees in order to destroy their hiding places.

With Sahisha (sitemate!), Kiernan, and Devon with a Quetzal on the road to Rabinal. Built way back in the day when the highway was built (1940s?)

Rabinal itself is a large town with a HUGE muddy market (rainy season). There was a lot of good atol, lots of cheap food, and beautiful artesania. As any responsible citizen would do, I spent what I could to help the local economy:)

Rabinal Market, they paint gourds and use them as bowls to drink atol in the market

Reppin Muni volunteers...and Sahisha... in Rabinal

From August 17th to 19th, I had my COS Conference. Of all the conferences and meetings I have had at Peace Corps over the past two years, this was by far the most fun and I am a bit bummed that the rest could not have been the same way. Along with discussions about how we felt about our Peace Corps service, we discussed how to translate our service into resumes and getting a job, how to network, etc. It was nice, but I wish that I had gotten some of that info earlier (nobody wants a two page cover letter? They want white space in resumes?) Of the 33 of us who arrived in Guatemala on August 12th, 2009, 24 of us made it to the COS Conference, 11 of the 17 original municipal development volunteers – the few, the brave, the bean-eating.

Following are some group shots we took at the nice hotel they put us up in.

COS Group

Photo 2 of COS Group

Muni COSers with Carlos and Doris

At the final session with our project director, Carlos gave all of us feedback about our service and I was tickled pink with my feedback – Carlos called me a warrior (though when he said it we could not tell if he meant worrier…both apply!)

Instead of going straight back to Pachalum after the COS Conference, I decided to visit my host family from training after over six months of not visiting. Santa Catarina is a LOT nicer than when I was in training. All of the construction that was going on to build a new municipality has been completed and the new building and park in front of it are gorgeous. It was weird to go back and reminisce on how scared I was two years earlier when I arrived (would I make it? Would I be successful? Could I get culturally integrated?). As I have in many times in my life, I wished I could go back in time and tell myself to relax (I know mom and grandma, you telling me does not make it happen) and that everything would turn out better than I could have imagined. I had a great visit with Estela, Mamatina, and family.