Guate, accessible? Porque no! Guate, accesible? Why not!

Before writing my last post tomorrow, I wanted to take a moment to write down some travel highlights from the last few months.

Kayaking Lake Atitilan
Lake Atitlan is Guatemala's famous volcanically-formed lake. Surrounded by 3-4 inactive volcanoes, Atitlan just might be the most beautiful spot in Guatemala (when the lake isn't going through an algae bloom, that is). Mickey and I went to explore, and did so in kayaks. It's been confirmed: kayaking is our new favorite non-basketball activity.

Tikal: the New York of the ancient Maya
We weren't too excited about the prospect of a 10 hour bus ride to the seemingly inaccessible Guatemalan national park, Tikal, but we finally got off our butts and planed the trip. Tikal is one of the worlds biggest and tallest Mayan ruin sites. So I knew that Tikal's pyramids were big, but I had no idea they were sky scraper big - puchica! holy cow!

We spent a day and a half in the park and fully enjoyed lounging around these Mayan giants, in addition to climbing them. Props to Mickey who pulled himself up each pyramid, including the jaw dropping ladder on Pyramid IV.
Sailing Belize
Since my arrival here I haven't stopped noticing fliers for "Let's Go Sailing Guatemala." Mickey and I kept telling each other we'd do it, but found ourselves putting off the planning for work's sake. With only a month more to go in Guatemala, we finally sat down to pick the sail-off date, and asked our boss, Alex, if we could disappear for a week.
We spent 5 days and nights on a sailing through Guatemala's Rio Dulce (translated: Sweet River, because it's fresh water), and Belize's southern islands. Each and everyday we swam, snorkeled, explored beaches/islands, napped, read, and enjoyed eating the day's catch. And...we got so swim with reif sharks (well...Mick swam, I hid a bit more), and saw manta rays and a 4-7 foot (ft. depends on who you ask) sting ray. Most amazing water life I've ever seen!

The trip's tiny hiccup: about 4 hours into the bus ride to our boat's sail off point, we realized we had forgotten our passports (which were a tad necessary, as we were sailing to Belize islands). Ah! Fortunately we were able to board the boat the next morning, after our passports arrived on a night bus.

¡Míranos voz! Check us out!

The new Transitions website was unveiled a few weeks ago. Take a moment to check out our website. Take a look at the recent news...we are never short of amazing stories!

If you like what you see, consider sponsoring a wheelchair in honor of your father for this upcoming Dad's day.

And away we go!

Semana Santa. Holy Week.

I can't say I'm the biggest Jesus fan, but I can say I got to remember Jesus the best way possible on this planet: Semana Santa in Antigua, Guatemala.

Semana Santa (Holy Week) starts on Palm Sunday and ends on Easter Sunday. Many countries and cultures partake in Holy Week celebrations, but the Semana Santa in Antigua happens to the be the most beautiful, fanatic, and famous of them all.

Here is the gist: everyday there are 1-3 processions that make their way in and around the city. What makes up a procession? There's lots of incense smoke and a funeral banks, and then 70-300 people in purple robes taking turns in carrying an absolutely humongous platform of solid wood on their sholders. The platform has a life-size Jesus figure on top.

Before the procession reaches a street/neighborhood, friends and family get together to decorate the street in front of their homes - they literary carpet the streets with colored saw dust and flowers (and are thus called alfombras = carpets).

Before the procession walks over these beautiful carpets, people come from all over town to admire the work of the neighborhood, and enjoys the mangos, churros, and pina coladas sold on the sidewalks.

It was a really cool week for Mickey and I. One morning we got up at 4am to make sure we caught a glimpse of Antigua's best-known carpets before the procession walked over them at 5am. Here is Mickey, me, and the Transitions dog Yogi at 4:30 that morning (please notice large crowd, and so early!):
The processions that came through our own neighborhood were the most enjoyable. It was during these processions that I realized how many friends we have in Guatemala. The whole week felt so warm, so familiar, even amongst the parking chaos and bloody Jesus figurines. But I must admit...it was pretty powerful to see a life-sized Jesus carried through our streets, and we also witnessed a crucifixion re-enactment. It was the closest I'll get to to 1st century Jerusalem, and I was left impacted and reflective on the significance of my holy week.

Todo bien, para nosotros. All is well, for us.

Dear friends and family,

I'm guessing from the recent emails and facebook posts I've received that many of you have heard about tropical storm Agatha that hit Guatemala this past weekend, in addition to the Pacaya Volcano eruption this past Thursday night.

All is well here in Antigua. We are on slightly higher ground, so instead of Antigua flooding, the Antigua streets just turned into rivers. Some of our friends from work had to evacuate their houses on Saturday. We had solid rain for about 48 hours. Early Sunday morning the rain stopped. The storm headed north of Antigua and quickly died out from there. But damage has continued to occur in Guatemala: mud slides have taken over towns and streets, bridges are no longer, and a 200 ft. deep sinkhole has appeared in the middle Guatemala city! Here's a link to one article, of many.


As for the volcano eruption on Thursday night, apparently the volcano shot up 250 meters in the air. Note that this volcano is a frequently visited tourist attraction! I visited last fall with Mickey's brother Jake, and my friend Adam just hiked it a couple weeks ago.

It started raining on Thursday, so the volcanic ash combined with rain. A friend of ours said it was literally raining mud in Guatemala city on Thursday night. Clean up has been ongoing...but I'm sure the recent mudslides have not helped.

The airport has been closed, which wasn't too convenient for Mickey's flight out of Guatemala this morning, but he got on a flight on Thursday. School has been canceled for the week, but Transitions scholarship recipient, Nacho, has enjoyed his extra time helping Mickey on the computer.

Well, this is a lot to marinate on, no? Although Mickey and I, and all our friends at Transitions are safe and sound, this isn't true of everyone in Guatemala and Central America (the death toll is over 170). And like we saw with Hurricane Katrina, among other natural disasters, those hardest hit are often those with the littlest capital.

One thing I've been thinking is if this same destruction would have happened if the Agatha storm hit the States. Although some deaths would have been inevitable, we are lucky to be from a country where the infrastructure is extraordinarily sound...although we do need to work on our oil pipelines, don't we?

Thinking of you in Guatemala,
Brittany

The big decision. La decisión grande.

On September 14th, 2009, I boarded a plane for Guatemala, expecting to return to the US the first week of April - just in time for the US National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament.

Well...here we are in the first week of April, and I am coming back tho the US for the National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament in Denver, Colorado; but, after the tournament I'm coming back to Antigua, not back to Berkeley.

I extended my official flight back till June 14th (accidentally making my time in Guate exactly 9 months).

Extending my time here was an easy decision. I really like my job - I'm learning a ton, as the responsibilities I've been given usually go to someone with a master's degree in non-profit management - and since I'm living here with Mickey, home feels like here.

Don't get me wrong, I miss plenty of things about los estados. While I'm in Denver next week I will be drinking water out of every tap possible, and will probably giggle every time I get to throw my t.p. in the toilet.

The hard part of this decision process was deciding if I would return to Transitions in the fall (after a summer at home with the moms). Transitions and I have grown quite fond of each other, and they need someone doing my work now, more than ever. Deciding where I'd be come August was an up-down, 2-3 month process. Ultimately, I decided I needed some more time exploring who I am and what I want to do. Transitions deserves a Development Director who can stay here for the next 1-2 years.

So what will my "exploration of self and work" look like?
Celebrating, my friend, Minh's wedding in June. Helping little kids learn the basics of computers programming in July. Random, and hopefully fun, temporary work in Aug. A around-the-US road trip with Mickey from Sep-Nov. And Nov-Dec traveling with my Mom to visit my brother, who will be studying abroad in Argentina. And that brings us to the end of 2010! I won't bore you with the 2-year plan that follows ;)

Projects! ¡Proyectos!

'Tis the season for spring cleaning! Take a look at some of the projects we got going on this spring:

Project Corn Walls
We have a room! As mentioned in my previous post, Mick and I have got ourselves a room now. The make over process involved: extreme window and floor cleaning, new paint called “yellow corn,” and better lighting.





Top Guate Chef
Also mentioned in my previous post, Mickey and I have been cooking for ourselves each night. Because I’ve either lived in (1) the dorms or (2) my mama’s house, I actually don’t have too much experience with the whole “making food for myself” idea. But we’ve been having a good time with it. Below is evidence from pizza night. Because we don’t have an oven in our house, we built a double-boiler make-shift pizza cooker.

Construya casa
Say what?! We built a house! No, no, not Mickey and I, we’ve got a room. Transitions
built a house with the help of a few Rotary members and church supporters. In October we got some property donated to us, and we’ve been slowly preparing this property so we can one day house all of our programs in one grand facility. Just yesterday, we completed the finishing touches – doors and windows in, electricity finished, and floors polished! For the rest of the year, this house will be used by two of our clients in need accessible housing. The plan for next year is to move some of our offices to this space. We are so proud of this house!

Operation Color Power
Thanks to a motivated volunteer, and some money from a visiting church group, we just finished painting a mural in our Special Education classroom. The end result turned out B-E-E-U-T-I-F-U-L! This was my first mural project, and I’ve been sold on the power of a little color.

What you doin’ every day? ¿Qué haces cada día?

So it’s been a while. What have I been up to? Work, and lots of it! But no worries, I do love my job here. This is what a typical day looks like:

6:30am – Alarm goes off, I’m supposed to get up.

6:45am – I actually get up and go for a quick run to central park and back, check the movie schedule at Bagel Barn (oh yes, it’s a bagel cafe plus free movies!) on the way.

7:15am – Shower, breakfast.

8:15am – Walk to work, takes 5 seconds as Transitions is a whole 50 feet away. Grab a mug of Guatemalan coffee and joke with the guys in the kitchen.

9:00am – My emails “should” be answered by this time. Also by this time, my boss, Alex, has probably come into my office with news of an important friend/visitor who we are giving a tour in an hour. In Guatemala, one never knows where the day will take them.

10:30am – I hungrily search for a snack in the kitchen, Edgar the Transitions cook/friend stops me and makes me eggs, beans and toast.

1:00pm – Lunch. Fried chicken day is my favorite. More joking with people in the kitchen.

2:00pm – Emails or Skype meetings or visiting visitors. Why don’t I take this opportunity to explain what my actually job is. My title is technically “Development Director” but sometimes I call myself “Manager of Donations and Outreach” because it intimidates me less. Right now I’m working on setting up a database of our 1,300 donors (one didn’t really exist previously!), and I help my jefe, Alex, with (English) communication to Board members, big donors, volunteers, Rotary clubs, and Church groups that support us. I also research potential funding opportunities and write grants. A couple weeks ago we submitted a grant to the Christopher Reeve Foundation, and this Friday another grant is do to an international relief organization in the UK. To say the least, I’m learning a TON!

3:00pm – On Tuesday and Thursday I have Spanish class for 2 hours in the afternoon.

5:00pm – Day ends. Mickey and I drag ourselves out of work and back home. So where is home? Actually, Mick and I now live in the Transitions Print Shop – the social enterprise side of our work. Just a month ago, our room was home to a few old computers and two big desks. But now, thanks to our newly painted yellow walls, a few pieces of furniture, and a pretty lamp shade, this room is home to us.

6:00pm – On Thursday we host English Night. We invite students at nearby Spanish Schools to volunteer with us an hour on Thursday, helping our clients with one-on-one English conversation. We always provide cookies.

7:00pm – Discussion between Mickey and I about what we are supposed to do for dinner. Here are some of the usual options: delivery from Pollo Campero (very excellent and cheap fried chicken, delivery is free), taco night, Brit struggles to make French toast, dinner a few blocks away in the Merced Church area, or bagel and movie at Bagel Barn.

9:00pm – Mickey and I have been watching episodes Arrested Development and True Blood on his computer. Some nights we read or study Spanish, every night Mickey pretends to be a True Blood vampire and scare me.

10:00pm – Mickey and I have a tendency to laugh too much in the evening. Sometimes I get a little wheezy (leftover asthma from bad pneumonia when I was 2) and need to you my inhaler before bed.

The beginnings of 2010

December 31st was a bit of a challenge because the Murlas trio had to split up, and it didn’t help that Mom and Ky’s cab to the airport was an hour late…which made for one of my weekly “I’m really frustrated, and I want to blame Guatemala,” moments. But the rest of New Year’s Eve restored my faith in everything beautiful about Guatemala.

After dinner myself, Mickey, Mick’s brother Jake, and my friend Vic played King’s cup with cheap vodka and/or sprite. Shout out to Jake Kay for bringing the art of drinking games to Guatemala. Then we made our way to Central Park to take part in the festivities: bands, men running with firecrackers on their back, packed bars, and 2 simultaneous fireworks displays. It doesn’t get much prettier than fireworks over the Antigua arch; I felt like I was in a real-world version of Disneyland.

We spent the first day of the year relaxing in (chronological order) bed, the sofas in our house, and famous gringo-bar Monoloco to watch some football.

We decided to start 2010 off right with a scuba-diving adventure in Honduras (the cheapest place in the world to get SCUBA certified). Mickey, Jake, and I left our house at 4am on Sunday the 3rd, and after 20+ hours of travel arrived on the island of Utila on Monday morning, just in time for our beginning SCUBA lessons. Our rooms, dive school, breakfast nook, and hostel bar were interspersed on a few connected docks. Teal Caribbean waters lapped below, a baby sea turtle and several barracudas came to visit, the dive center’s 2 resident dogs chased pelicans in the water, and our dive instructor couldn’t be more knowledgeable. But while we were there, the weather was oh-so-shitty.

For 5 days I was forever wet, cold, or in a wetsuit. The weather made the water pretty choppy, so on our 1st dive Mickey found himself feeling pretty sea sick. When we came out of the water from our first successful underwater experience, Mickey threw up. I felt so bad for him, although puking in the ocean makes for a pretty easy clean up. Then after our 2nd dive that same day, when we came back up to the chopping surface, I threw up. Then Mickey saw me throw up, which made him queasy enough to throw up again! We both felt better by the time we got back to our dock, but vowed never to eat tomato soup together again.

By our last dive, the sun peaked out, and I had finally gotten over my hesitancy of being 60 feet under water. I left the dive school appreciating SCUBA for the freakin’ awesome sport that it is. It really is a whole other world down there. Plus being completely weightless really makes you feel like you’re on the moon! While on the topic of weightlessness…I was pretty darn bad at staying neutrally buoyant. Between 2-4 times on every dive, I found myself floating up to the surface, waving for advice from Mick, Jake, and our teachers below. I blamed my possibly large-ish lungs (good excuse?) when we got back to the surface, but then our dive instructor actually found a problem with my BCD (Buoyancy Control Device—basically a little life jacked that you can pump air in to). Yes! Better excuse!

By the end, I got the hang of controlling my breaths and my BCD – just in time to see a sea turtle, eel, porcupine fish, and a couple of bioluminescent shrimp. SCUBA-ing was just too fun for Jake to pass up the advanced SCUBA course the following day.

Mickey and I had to leave Jake, and after another 20+ hours on bus and boat, we found ourselves back Antigua getting ready for Transitions 2010.

Aqui estoy! Here I am!

Hola friends and family,
First and foremost, my apologies for being MIA. December was a crazy month…as is January. Give me a chance to explain, and share some pics.

The first week of December, I took off work to travel to the highlands and help my friend, Thea, with a girls camp she organized as part of her position with the Peace Corps position. I really enjoyed getting to be a part of Thea’s community – both where she lives and works, and the community she has found through Peace Corps. I ended up teaching basketball to the 30 girls at Thea’s camp. Running ice breakers, energizers, drills and games for 3 days reminded me how much I love coaching, and how I’ve actually acquired enough Spanish to do so.

Just 1 day after I got back from Thea’s camp, my brother, Kyler, arrived at the Guatemala City airport. Because Ky came a few days before my mom and Mickey, we decided to go on an little brother-sister adventure, although both of us prayed it wouldn’t end in one of us strangling the other. We traveled to backpacker’s paradise, Semuc Champey, and found ourselves inter-tubing down rivers, getting up close in personal with thousands of bats, swimming through caves by candle light, jumping off waterfalls, and discovering the turquoise waters of Guatemala’s famous limestone bridge. We came back to Antigua with some friends we had made, one of which included a parasite in my intestine (quickly eradicated thanks to host dad, Dr. Gustavo).

Then Mom and Mickey arrived. Then Mickey’s brother Jake arrived. Then Mickey’s sister Susannah arrived. Then our Chinese home stay fellow, Vic arrived. Together we navigated Antiuga’s cobblestone streets, enjoyed 2 for 1 Cuba Libres and humongous nachos at Monoloco, hiked one of the area’s inactive volcanoes, watched Christmas eve fireworks from our roof, sampled Guatemalan coffee and Christmas tamales, and we studied Spanish together too. One of the more memorable holiday moments was learning how to make hot fruit “ponche” (punch) at my Spanish teacher Brenda’s home for a Guatemala Posada—a reenactment of Joseph and Mary looking for shelter…imagine 40+ people holding candle lanterns and singing until they reach to their host’s home and are invited in for “ponche” and tamales.

After Christmas, Mom, Ky, Mickey and I joined my boss Alex and his wife for 3 days on the beach. We slept in a littler cabana together, played monopoly together, but spent the majority of days in the hotel’s pool drinking piña coladas, and/or walking off our big meals on the black-sand beach.

We got back to Antigua just in time to celebrate Mom’s birthday on the 30th. We ate at nice Guatemalan-French restaurant, had a drink after at gringo-famous Monoloco, and then pool enough money together to buy her an oh-so-special Guatemalan jade necklace.