Final Days in Guatemala

I haven't really updated my blog followers, but a few weeks ago my training group found out that PC Washington had decided that we were going to have to leave a month early due to security reasons. We had to travel to a meeting several hours away to find this out, but long story short, I'll be back in the United States February 25! I'm pretty excited but these final days are very bittersweet.

So what have I been up to lately? Well, the improved stove construction project we started has been winding down. One of my fellow PC volunteers and friends, Tara, came up the first week of January to help give workshops to the women about how to properly use and maintain the stoves, as it will be a significant change in their daily lives and how they cook. She also taught them how to make artisan ovens using chicken wire, aluminum foil, and tape. The women particularly loved this because we actually cooked banana bread that day using the oven they made on the stove top. I think it motivated them to get the construction done in their kitchens so they could start using their stoves in many different ways. You can see photos from this and all the other progress with the stoves in my Picasa album to the left.

Over the last couple of weeks, we met with all the project participants to present the final budget and see how they wanted to use the little remaining funds. The consensus was that we would have an inauguration party on the 15th of February. In Guatemala, anything new requires its 'inauguration', or basically just a party to say thanks and its time to start using the new thing. They also said they wanted to do this celebration to thank me as well for my service here. As it turns out, a representative from Peace Corps will be coming up for this event and will then take me back down to the office on the 16th with all of my luggage, so it really will be my goodbye party. I am excited for this opportunity to see everyone one last time, but it has really snuck up on me that the final days are actually here. It is so hard to believe that I have been here for two years. WOW!

This past week I had a visit by my PC boss to kind of wind things down here, see what I had accomplished, revist problems I had encountered over the last few years, and listen to the suggestions I had for the cooperative/Coffee Tour for the future. This meeting was with all the governing board of the cooperative and the personnel of Coffee Tour. It was interesting to think through everything thoroughly and process all of things that I have learned from and experienced here over the past two years. After any meeting like this, it is Guatemalan tradition to thank the guest for coming and allow everyone their time to say whatever they want to the person who presented and the guest. I was humbled by the words shared by my PC boss, the governing members of the cooperative, as well as my counterpart. I think we all learned a lot from this experience and especially since I was the first volunteer to ever live here, there were plenty of things we could have done differently over the years, but HEY I survived and had an incredible experience that will definitely have a lasting impact on my life (which I hope will also impact them positively as well).

So what am I doing these last few days? I'm getting rid of furniture, completing mandatory PC paperwork about my service, drinking lots of coffee, and passing the time in my little site with my hammock and little log cabin esque house. Last night I went to dinner at one of the stove project participant's house and got to see the first stove being used in the community. It was awesome! Everything really is coming full circle. The kitchen had absolutely no smoke in it and we all could sit and eat at the table in the kitchen with no smoke inhalation problems. It really was fulfilling to know that these stoves will change lives in my community. Having something tangible to leave behind is great, but all the intangible things that I'll be leaving behind and carrying with me are incredible.

Once I leave on the 15th, I'm going to go to Lake Atitlan one last time and then spend the last few days in Guatemala participating in a close of service conference with fellow volunteers and wrapping things up at the PC office. It is so hard to believe that I made it two years and the final days are among us.