The Endangered Forests of Guatemala

This past weekend I had a different, eye-opening sort of adventure here in Guatemala. Two friends of mine, Paul (he was assistant principal when I taught at Mitchell) and Max (met him through Paul) are working to start an organization called RIOS Guatemala. The organization "fosters the enjoyment, preservation and restoration of Guatemala’s wild river ecosystems primarily through sponsoring responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well being of the local people." (Read more here: www.riosguatemala.com) They are also hoping to build a base camp that will provide a location for education as well as adventures. There is a man (Horacio) who owns a piece of land and is looking for someone who wants to buy it, but also preserve it. So, Paul and Max invited me to explore this piece of land and see if it is the right land to start working on their dream.

On Saturday we all got together to explore the land. It is pretty amazing how much area he owns. We started the trip in the upper part of his land on horseback. On a rather unimportant side note, this trip made me realize that I am not really comfortable on a horse. I thought I was, but going up and down steep rocky trails and deepish (would have been chest deep for me) rivers taught me otherwise. Also, if you have a boney butt, and have not been on a horse in over ten years, it is probably best to not be on one for four hours! The things is, despite my nervousness and butt pain (and the bugs), I loved it. It was an amazingly beautiful area. There were places with views where we would be able to see the lake (if it weren't so smoky) as well as areas completely enclosed with trees of different types and sizes. I could just imagine running and hiking the trails or camping out under the structures Horacio had built. I don't think my photos or description does the area justice. But I left there in love with the area, wishing I had the money to buy and preserve it.

Heading out

Deep river crossing (Max was not dry by the end!)

Simpler river crossing

Ceiba tree - my favorite! 

When we finally got back to the car, we were all starving and decided to drive to the town of El Estor for lunch. On the way there, we saw the horror and destruction that could come if that area is not preserved. Areas that had been forest were now fields. Much of the land is being sold or leased out to grow sugar, African Palms (to make palm oil), rubber trees, and bananas. It was unbelievable the stark contrast from the lush forest I had been in less than an hour ago. This past December I did the same drive and don't recall seeing any of it. My mom e-mailed me today saying she remembered it as a "beautiful area." I don't think anyone can describe it that way any more.

Fields that had been cleared and are now being burned

Trees that had been dug out

To add more contrast to our day, we ate lunch at an ecohotel surrounded by lush forest, right on the lake. As we were eating, three monkeys and two iguanas (all wild) decided to make an appearance.

Monkeys in the tree at lunch

Driving through the area of destruction was even harder the second time because I really had a chance to look at it. It was no longer shock I felt, just sadness. I understand that the people who own the land want the money that comes from the products that are being grown, but I really don't get it. It is such a beautiful area, I just want to shake them and then take them to the forest and help them understand what they are doing. Not only are they destroying the trees, but are driving out the animals, not to mention that the smoke from burning the trees has created a constant haze over the country.

Empty fields and dead trees

Fields cleared to plant sugar cane

Fields of African palms with forest in the back

That night we slept on Horacio's land in a house by the lake and woke to a tree full of howler monkeys. I felt as if they showed up to tell us how important it is to preserve their land.

Marshland with crocodiles (we didn't see them) on the property

Paul and Horacio looking at the monkeys in the tree

I have no solution to this problem, nor any idea of really where to start. What Horacio is doing is amazing. He has a great relationship with the people who live near his land and they work together to preserve the forest they have. His love of trees was apparent every time he showed us a seedling that was healthy and made sure a stick was put next to it to prevent people from stepping on it. I also think that RIOS Guatemala is a fantastic idea. They can work from there to preserve rivers in the area and preserve the forest while they are at it. I wish it was all that easy, but as always, there are logistics to work out, money to be raised, etc.

I guess for me, for now, I will share what I saw. I will show my students, they will be the ones running the country someday. I will not forget what I saw. I will not eat sugar. And I will jump at any opportunity to help. Because what is happening is just not okay.  

Zone 3

This weekend I got the opportunity to spend some time in one of the poorer areas of Guatemala City. This is a rare experience, because as a "gringa" it is not usually safe to go. But a friend of mine (Annette) works for Young Life there and invited me along to a mini fundraiser they were having.

A little background information: For those of you who do not know, Guatemala City is divided into 22 zones. You know a lot about an area just by knowing the zone. I live in Zone 15 which is one of the wealthier zones and Zone 10 and 14 are the "downtown" areas, zone 1 is where the market and a lot of the older buildings are, etc.

All I knew about zone 3 was that it is where the dump is and where I don't want to accidentally end up. I had been a few times before with Annette to pick up one of the players on our soccer team, but had not really spent time there and had no real idea what it was like, until Sunday. And I still have almost no idea what it would be like to live there.

So, on Sunday Annette and I went to help out and support a fundraiser put on by some of the volunteers. Annette told me not to bring anything and just put a little money in my pocket. When we got there, however, she pulled out her big purse which contained her wallet, phone and a rather fancy camera. She explained to me that the people know her and they know Young Life and because of that they leave her alone. They know how helpful Young Life is to their community.

For the first hour or so, we just hung out, helped them set up, played soccer with a few of the kids (and got beat). But there were not may people so it was decided that they should walk around the neighborhood and "advertise" the party. Annette asked if I wanted to go.  I would be lying if I said that I was not nervous. Being two tall, blond girls, we got a lot of stares, and it was quite uncomfortable. But Annette assured me I would be okay. We walked up the street a little and then through a small opening in fencing. Behind it was a narrow cement path about the width of a normal sidewalk. On both sides of the path were walls behind which were people's homes. And by home I mean (or at least what I could see) a room or two full of people. I don't even know how to explain it. It was beyond anything I thought to imagine. I wish I could paint a better picture, or put how I felt into words.  It was overwhelming for me even though we were only walking around for about ten minutes.  

After we left the fundraiser, I asked Annette to explain more about the people living there. Here is what I understand. Everyone living there's work is related to the dump. The people who are lowest in the system work in the dump. They spend every day sifting through other people's trash attempting to find something that could be sold or reused. The lowest of these people only get to look through the trash from poor neighborhoods while others get "nicer" trash. Once they find things they either keep it and use it or sell it to middle men. The middle men are one step higher in the system. They buy the bottles, cardboard, plastic, etc. and sell it to people or places who will recycle it. The highest workers are the ones that work on the garbage trucks. They drive around the city and pick up people's trash. Again the highest get to work in nicer neighborhoods. As they are collecting the trash they go through it and find anything they think they can sell or use. So once the trash makes it to the dump, it has already been gone through once. And this is their life, working in and with trash. Nothing is wasted. There are even people who collect the leftover food from restaurants and resell it in the neighborhood. Hard to imagine.

But I think we need to imagine it. I get caught up in my pretty decent life working with wealthy kids and forget that it is not the norm. Yesterday I had trouble sleeping because I was stressed about some of my finances. But what I have to deal with is nothing compared to the people I saw and met in zone 3.

I am so glad that Annette invited me along this weekend and that I took her up on it. It really opened my eyes to what this city is like outside my little bubble. It made me appreciate what I have a lot more and makes me want to do more for those in this city that have so little. The two hours I spent there are going to stick with me for a while. They probably should.  


Here are a few photos (thanks Annette)

Their goalie, he was pretty tough!

Our intense soccer game (we lost)

Bubbles :) 

Some volunteers getting the food ready

Back to Guate - Year Two

So it has been a while since I have written. Many of you (including myself) possibly forgot that I even had a blog. Well, here we go again. So, I returned to Guatemala over a month ago psyched to be returning. I don't know if it is the country, being out on my own, being back to work, or some combination of those and other things that makes me a different person while I am here. Or at least a stronger, more productive person.

It was hard and sad to leave friends and family behind, and hard to think about the friends that would no longer be here when I returned. In fact, none of my closest friends came back. And yet, I was excited to return. And so far it has been pretty good!

Some of the highlights:

• Moving into my new place which is smaller, but vastly better than my old one 
  
  
  
• Taking a week of Spanish classes in Antigua to jump start my confidence (it worked although I need to keep working on it as I have already forgotten things I learned)

• Running a half marathon (21K to the people here) through the city. It was a new PR for me, but I think what I am most proud of is the fact that I was tired and miserable by kilometer 7 and still pushed hard enough to the end to get a PR. (I have another race (maybe 10K, maybe 21) this month as well as a trail half in October)
• 
  

• Reconnecting with the teachers who were here last year and building closer friendships with many.  
• Meeting a lot of new teachers who are fun and ready to go on adventures
• I started teaching a weekly boot camp type class (core, arms, legs) for teachers in which we work out for an hour and kick our butts. This is big for me because I rarely feel comfortable teaching anything to adults. But we have fun and I am sure I will have the buffest arms of my life pretty soon!
• I reconnected with some Guatemalans I met last year and through them found a trail running group that could be amazing. I am pretty sure I will have a lot more on this later as I have only run with them once. But they run 8-10K during the week (not every week unfortunately) and then 18-20K on weekends. And they have connections so they can run on trails in places that I would not be allowed on even if I knew where they were. They also climb volcanoes which I love.
• I read Scott Jurek's book Eat and Run and am revamping my food (more on this will probably also come in a later post).
• And my students are amazing. They are so excited to be in middle school, listen well (at least so far) and are gong-ho about just about anything (including running across a field and saying hello to flowers!). I am super excited about what we can do this year.

Also, for the next month (at least) and I going to post weekly.  I am hoping this will get me in the habit of writing more.  I think about writing a lot, but don't actually do it.  

So that is a super brief version of what I have been up to. No big adventures, but a lot of little good things going on. And I am pretty content with that :)

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

The T.S Eliot quote (one of my favs) felt appropriate as this past month I have been able to watch people do things they once thought was not possible; or at least were highly unlikely. I also saw that I should not doubt myself, but, this time, that was not the best part.

Xela to Lake Trek

Since arriving in Guate, I have heard about a hike you can do from Quetzaltenango (second largest city in Guatemala) to Lake Atitlan. People who had done it talked about it and two friends (Krista and Ashleigh) had talked about wanting to do it. I am always up for a hike, so I was in without knowing anything about it. If you care to know, go here: http://www.quetzaltrekkers.com/guatelagoatitlan.html.

Getting ready to head out, day 1

So we planned it for the last long weekend of the school year. Ten of us were going. As the date neared, nerves started getting the better of some. No doubt it would be a hard hike: three days, full backpacks, 45 km, elevations of 3050m; but never did I think anyone would not make it. Others were not so sure. Lucky for them, others of us don't let people back off :)

The hike was amazing. We went through beautiful cloud and rainforests, numerous small villages, and had a great time. There was a lot of laughing, some beautiful singing; everyone was easily getting along with each other. But there were also doubt. There were many times when I heard "I think I am going to catch the bus at the next road crossing" or "tomorrow I am just going to ___ and then will take the bus the rest of the way." But it did not happen. And it did not even take all that much encouragement! With each point we passed still as a group, I felt more and more excited. It is a trip I would take again (assuming there is not a new adventure out there to grab) and will always remember.

Enjoying the hike!

End of day 1.  Tired, but still going!

Children in one of the villages we passed through on day 2

Having fun at sunrise over Lake Atitlan - and a great new cover photo for this blog :)

Coban Medio Maraton

Another thing I heard about again and again was the 1/2 marathon in Coban. It is the biggest race (numbers, not distance) in Guatemala, but what I heard from people did not make me really want to do it. I heard that it was hilly and hard, it was a miserable run, there were too many people, and any number of other un-encouraging things. But, I had friends (Kelly and Pam) who were going to run it and figured I should do it at least once; it is the biggest after all.

I was initially excited, but as my training started going down the gutter, I was getting less and less so. It is difficult to run in Guate unless you don't mind doing lap after lab or you have a car to take you places more conducive (aka safer) to running. I started thinking I wasn't going to run. But Kelly somehow knew and took me to sign up. I think she has a 6th sense about it, because as I was getting frustrated with the fact that a long run meant 15+ laps around school, she asked if I wanted to join them on their weekend run. I was starting to feel better about the whole thing, until I pulled something in my calf (or at least I think that is what it was, I never actually got it looked at as I put off doctors as long as possible). At one point I actually thought "yes I have an out." But that was not the case as it only took a week to heal. So, I was packed and heading to Coban to run a race that I heard is terrible, feeling quite unprepared for the whole thing.

I don't know if my training was better than I thought or if the people just gave me the energy I needed, but the race was amazing. I have done races that are more beautiful (Desert Rats in Fruita, for one), but never have I been so overwhelmed by people. On the whole course, the biggest space between people cheering was not larger than 20 meters. My favorite moment was coming down a hill to arrive in a town where the streets were lined with girls in traditional clothing singing. If I had a camera, I would have stopped to film it. It was so beautiful; I had tears in my eyes. I have never experienced anything like that. Hopefully I will again some day.

One of the lead runners passing the singing girls.  I love this photo!

Amazing how photogenic I am when running :P

In the end, I ran faster than I thought I would and only had trouble the last 3K. I think part of it was the energy of the people, but I also think that I (as I tend to do) had underestimated what I was capable of.

Kelly and Pam, much more photogenic :)

After finishing, I waited at the finish for my friends. Security asked many times for me to go, get my metal, and relax, but I was not going anywhere (I just pretended I did not understand!). This was the first 1/2 marathon for both Kelly and Pam and I was going to be there at the finish to cheer them on. Being able to watch them finish once again brought tears to my eyes, they were amazing.

Tired and happy finishers!

I think goals are an important part of life. I know I am more motivated in all parts of my life when I have big goals, and not much is better than the feeling of achieving something you once doubted you could do. I love it for myself, and love sharing those times with others. It is something that can never be taken away.

Next goal: Miami marathon, January 2013 :)

Floating and another volcano

I have always been a floater. Through different stages of my life I have had one or two friends from each part of my life and only one or two total that I felt really close to. In high school I had sports friends, IB friends, dance friends, and the friends I was closest to who did not end up fitting into any of these groups. I got along with most people and would bounce from group to group but never felt as though I fully fit into any of them. Here in Guate that floating has not changed. There are people here who have their group. They go to dinner every Friday, if one is going out, they all are, if there is a break, they know who to call. At least this how it appears from my end. And in a place where most people don't stay for more than three years, it makes sense. For me, when I do hang out with these groups, it is great, but I never feel like I fully fit. I'm not being critical, it is just how it is. I don't think I am the only one who feels like a floater here, and I am starting to think that being a floater is not a bad thing.

Last weekend was a three day weekend and a group of us took advantage and hiked up Volcán Tajumulco which is the tallest peak in Central America. The trip was through a group called Quetzaltrekkers (www.quetzaltrekkers.com) and was amazing. It was initiated by a few teachers at CAG and I was happy to receive an invitation. They are all people that I knew and many of them I regularly play ultimate frisbee with; but it is a group of people that I had had very few conversations with prior to the trip. They knew I liked to hike so invited me along. This is were floating is a good thing: I know a lot of people and they know enough about me to know when I would enjoy something and 88% of the time they invite me to come along. Here is my trip report of the hike and then I will come back to the floating topic for my grand conclusion :)

Tajumulco

Sun setting over the clouds

Sunrise

It was a my favorite kind of weekend; one that involved hiking and getting out of the city. There were seventeen of us on the hike, nine teachers, three guides, and five others who are traveling through Central and South America. Of the nine teachers, only one of them had I been hiking with previously and only two that I had had spent much time with. The trip started in a town called Quetzaltenango (Xela for short - not sure why though) and we rode some "chicken busses" (old school buses that get packed way past capacity and take you where you need to go for very little money) to the trailhead and then headed up the peak. It was slow going as we had full packs and Guatemala doesn't really understand the concept of switchbacks, so got pretty steep. But we made it up to our campsite at just over 13,000' in just over 4 hours. And then headed to the top for the sunset. I had been looking forward to watching the sunset and rise from the top. The sunset was nice, but not as spectacular as it had been in my head mostly due to clouds, but the sunrise did not disappoint. It was freezing (literally) at 5am, but I was so excited about taking pictures and absorbing any and all views that I barely cared about my fingers not working as well as they usually do. Once the sun was up, we started our hike down.

Cleaning up trash :) 

All hikes I have been on in Guate have been trashy. Others have been worst than Tajumulco was, but I decided to do my part and bring down some trash. I made the suggestion to the others on our hike that if they picked up just one bottle it could make a difference. I was thrilled to then see a pretty big clean-up effort. Trash bags were pulled out and filled, extra pockets in backpacks were stuffed, and many people hiked the last few miles carrying three and four bottles in their hands. I did not expect it and was very happy.

Once we got back down we took two more chicken busses before arriving back in Xela. My OIG (only in Guatemala) moment of the trip was on the first of those two chicken busses. They truly pack as many people in as they can. I was sitting in the very last seat (luckily I had taken dramamine). Sharing my seat were a Guatemalan couple and their two children (yes all five of us on one seat) and on the seat to my left were three men. But that does not fill a bus, so there was also a man standing between the two seats. Well, toward the end of the ride, the man standing between the two seats started falling asleep and every five or so minutes his head would nod enough to slam into the top of my head (he was pretty short). Had I not been wearing a hat, it may have been a horrible experience, but it was so ridiculous that I find it hilarious.

Campfires - good place for a chat

Despite the crazy chicken busses, I enjoyed the entire trip. What shocked me is that the most enjoyable parts of the weekend were the conversations and getting to know the people I was with. I like people and love hearing stories, but this surprised me; I usually enjoy the hike more.

Lunch - another good chat time

So, I did not find a new best friend on this hike, nor do I feel like I found my "group," but I had an amazing time and got to know some interesting people better. I am making some good friends here and they are, once again, from different pieces of my life here which means no close group of friends. I like the idea of having a group of people I am close to and can count on, but that has never been who I am; probably someone I never will be. I think this weekend helped me understand the benefit of being a "floater," though. If I stuck to the same people all the time, there would be a lot of people out there that I would not get to know and learn from. Hopefully I am starting to grasp that floating might just be an okay way to live.    

Home?

Today I was asked (for about the 10^th time) “are you glad to be home?” Not only does that question have me pondering where I would rather be at this time, but it also make me think a lot about the word “home.” Where is that exactly? Is it where you live? Is it where you grew up? Is it where your family is? Hard to know. If I always refer to Colorado Springs as home, I feel as though I am not investing in my time in Guatemala. It is as if I am just visiting for a while while keeping my heart and all that is important back in Colorado. But at the same time I would never question that Colorado is my home. It is where my family is, it is where I grew up, it is a large part of who I am today. As I was getting ready to head back here for Christmas, I keep saying that I was going home. But when the immigration officer asked if I was going home to stay, I said “No, I live in Guatemala.” So now I wonder: is it possible to have more than one home?

My first day in the US in four months felt strange. I didn't have to think about how to say things when I went to the store, I can read the menus, I can have conversations with strangers. It is great and yet strange. Is it possible to get so comfortable in a place in less than four months, that the place you lived for 31 years feel strange? At the airports, I found myself surprised when I heard people speaking english (even though I speak english every day) and keep catching myself saying “con permiso,” “gracias,” etc.

A few weeks ago I was talking to one of the other teachers from the US and he was complimenting me on a 21K race I ran (I was the third female overall!). He has been in Guate for four years and told me that he thinks it is great that I am finding a way to do things outside of school and meeting other people. In his four years he does not believe he has done that. Although I like the idea of becoming a part of Guate and not just a part of CAG, that was not my intention. My intention was to get involved in the things I was doing back in the US. For my sanity I need to hike, I need to run, I need to dance. As it turns out, doing those things not only makes me feel more at home in Guate, it gives me a chance to be meet and spend time with locals. At the race (Desafio de Lava) I saw a number of people who I had met when climbing Acatenango. It was exciting to be able to say hi, good luck, etc to others at the race as I had always done in Colorado. But, during the race, I did miss chatting with other runners. During races like the Ascent and Barr Trail Mountain Race (steady uphills where non-superhumans are speed hiking rather than running), I tend to talk to others. I know enough Spanish to where I was able to ask to pass and cheer others on, but rarely understood what they told me in return. Despite that it was still a ton of fun, I really felt “at home” during that race.

There have been many instances where I really felt comfortable and completely happy doing what I was doing; I did not want to be back in CO, I did not miss the safety and convenience of the US.  And, I love telling people at the market “no soy un torista, yo vivo aqui en Guatemala.” But there are also times where I miss Colorado and think “I can not wait to get home." And right now, I am thoroughly enjoying being in Colorado and with my family. Does that mean I am not fully invested in my time in Guate? Or does it simply mean that I have more than one home?  

Routine

As expected, I am not very good at keeping this up. I am not sure why, but I will work on it as some of you have asked (that makes me happy because it means people are reading!). So I have been here in Guatemala for almost six weeks! That is crazy. Generally it does not feel like I left Colorado all that long ago. And yet I feel like I have a found a routine that you can only get in after being in a place for a while, and, somehow, it does not feel all that different from what things looked like for me in CO (minus the dance which I miss so desperately). 

My weekdays usually start with a short (20 mins) run with Sidney around my gated area. I usually do five laps which I think is about a mile and a half, but I don't really know (see green circle on map below). I then shower, eat breakfast, etc. I leave for school at 6:30 and walk up the hill with a first grade teacher that lives in the same condo complex (it is called La Hoya). It takes us about 10 mins to walk (the school campus is outlined in white, I hear it is huge for an international school!). I then get all my stuff ready for the students who come at 7:30. After school I always have something. Mondays are volleyball practice, Tuesdays are professional development days, Wednesdays I run, Thursdays I have volleyball games against the other international school in Guate (InerAmericano and Colegio Americano Maya), and Fridays are also running days. Exciting huh?? I would like to fit some sort of fitness into my Mondays or Tuesdays. We have a pool on campus so I could swim when it is not raining, or there are some people that do a Jillian Michael's work-out video on Mondays at 4. I'll figure it out.

Even my weekends have become routine-ish. Saturdays usually involve shopping at the market (they have great fruits, veggies, tortillas, etc for really cheap) and then the grocery store for everything else. Food is generally good here, I am just adjusting to not having all my fake meats :) But that is probably good for me, I just need to watch my protein intake a little more carefully. I will then often meet up with friends for dinner or hanging out on Saturday night. Then Sunday is a lazy morning followed by ultimate frisbee at 11. We play anywhere from 2-3 hours and then I will often stay at school to get some work done.

There you have it; my Guatemala life in a nut shell. It is nice, comfortable, predictable, and pretty good. I guess that is the problem. Things are not supposed to be comfortable here, I am supposed to be challenging myself, I am supposed to be having amazing new experiences, I am supposed to be growing every day, I am supposed to be learning Spanish! When I first arrived I was told that it is easy to get in routine. That really is the truth! And routine is nice! I guess my next goal will be to get past that routine. I like the comfort and predictability of it, and who doesn't? I think it is human nature to like knowing what is coming, what to expect.  But that is not what I came here for, and I don't want to leave wondering where the time went. I don't even want to go home for Christmas wondering that. So that is what I am going to do, and you all are going to be there to hold me accountable. I am going to explore more; I am not going to not take a taxi somewhere because they seem like the only people here who don't understand my Spanish; I am going to find someone to watch Sidney so I can go away for the weekend (should probably be high on the priority list); and I am going to come home with amazing stories, pictures, adventures, and minimal regrets. At least that is the goal :)

Green circle - the large area around my house.  White circle - the even larger area of the school

A little bit of this and that...

I feel like moving to a new country and starting a new job should lead to things so exciting that I have great things to tell people every day. I am not sure if that is not the case or if I am just failing to see the novelty in what I am doing. Maybe it is a little of each. Tomorrow the students come and I should be moving out of the hotel and into my condo; both of those will bring novelty that I don't think I will be able to overlook. I will let you know. In the meantime, here is a little about what has been going on:

Food

In one word – difficult. There are not a lot of vegetarians in Guatemala and the restaurants show that. As I am living in a hotel, I am eating out almost every day. This has made my diet pretty crummy. 

Problems:

 #1 → restaurants rarely have more than two veggie options. 

#2 → These two options usually involve tortillas, beans, and cheese (not bad, just not good every night). #3 → I don't know all the spanish words for different kinds of meat (I have had to ignored my rule of not eating “contaminated” food). 

#4 → for Guatemalans carne = beef so a meal “sin carne” could have chicken, bacon, fish, etc. 

All of these problems could easily be solved if I just decided to eat meat, but after 9 years that is a little hard to do. I am hoping it will all be better once I am cooking my own food and not eating out every day. All that said, I did have an amazing meal this evening at a Mayan restaurant: roasted eggplant with pine nuts.

Fitness

Before I left I was doing something active almost every day. I would run with the Attack Pack twice (sometimes three times) a week, dace three-four days a week, yoga usually once a week, and a number of bike rides and hikes mixed in for good measure. In the 17 days I have been here, three have involved working out. I used the treadmill one (I would rather not run, than run on a treadmill), played soccer (that was humerus), and today I ended up walked around for over four hours (not a planned workout, but I'll take it). Running is quite difficult as there are rarely quality sidewalks and it is not always safe for me as a female to be running alone. I could run at the school (the campus is huge) and may start doing so, it is just hard after being so spoiled in C/S. I am hoping to wrangle some other teachers into running so I don't lose what I have.

School

Front of my classroom (we fixed the Mrs)

The inside when I 1st walked in

The view from my classroom

Amazing. I am so spoiled at this school. Teachers in the US, you may want to stop reading because I guarantee you will be jealous. We have a "day 1/day 2" schedule that rotates from one to the other. On day 1, I teach three 70 minute science classes, have a 10 minute advisory, and 140 mins of plan time (not including the 45 mins for lunch and recess). On day 2, I teach two 70 minute science classes and a 30 minute exploratory (I get to pick the topic), have a 10 min advisory, and 210 mins of plan time (again, not counting the 45 mins for lunch and recess). So, in two days, I teach 380 mins and have 350 mins of plan (plus 90 mins for lunch and recess). In addition to all that plan time,I have helpers to make all my copies and a science lab teacher who sets up and cleans up after all labs. All of this in a place that has no inside hallways and enormous windows in every classroom, an amazing administration, and great, positive, fun teachers from both the US and Guatemala. There will probably be a point where school will be stressful and I will want to complain. I hope you all give me a hard time if I ever do.

Wistfulness

Current events in Colorado have caused me a lot of longing. First was the Pikes Peak Ascent. My favorite race. I missed it and so many of my friends were involved. I know it will be there in the future, but I had a hard time reading of others experiences and successes when I am stuck in a lack of fitness routine. Second is the Pro Cycling Challenge. I really got into the Tour de France this year, and to have the opportunity to see them all riding through my hometown would be amazing. But while they are all there, I am here. I keep trying to remind myself that my experience here will be much more than what I could get from a few days of watching (and probably stalking) professional cyclists. I am not being as successful as I would like but I know I will make it through :)

So, that is all for now. Guess it was not such a positive post, regardless, I am enjoying myself.  Students start tomorrow and I am sure I will have a lot to share in that regard. If nothing else, the fact that I am going from teaching low income students to kids wealthy and powerful enough to own helicopters and have their own body guards could be an interesting adjustment...