September is a busy month in Guatemala, especially in Toto – Independence Day on the 15th, Feria in Toto, the end of the school year, Feria in Xela.  It’s an exciting time of year, especially for someone new, although I will admit that walking in parades and listening to school band performances gets old pretty quickly.

On Thursday, September 9, the Departamental (Ministerio de Educación) hosted the Investidura de Abanderados in the Teatro Municipal on the central plaza a few blocks from my house.  The abanderados are students who achieve the highest academically for their grade.  Abanderado comes from “bandera” which is flag, and each Instituto de Básico had their three students (one from each grade of Primero, Segundo, and Tercero) carry the Guatemalan flag.  They were called up by school and this was the most elegant and beautiful event I have attended in Toto.  This was the first time I entered the Teatro Municipal which is oval-shaped and has three levels of tiers made of carved wood arches and pillars and gold-plated balconies.  The abanderados, male and female, wore white gloves and pageant sashes striped pale blue, white, pale blue like the Guatemalan flag.  After music performances, I sat on the stage with other teachers, Ministry of Ed officials, and the mayor to hand out diplomas and metals and shake the students’ hands.

Me & Christina Leading the Desfile

Carlos Sagastume, 22 marathons in 22 days

The following Friday morning was the Desfile and Festival de Bandas.  The gringas led the way with Luis Macario, our counterpart and the Coordinador Técnico Administrativo.  We ended in the plaza where we sat on stage and awaited Carlos Sagastume, whose quest was to run 22 marathons in the 22 departments of Guatemala in 22 days (!!).  He has since concluded his 22 marathons and will be in the Guinness Book of World Records.  T-shirts, frisbees, flags, and buttons were thrown to the crowd of hundreds of students to promote the “1000 kms for Guatemala.”  After the runner arrived and was interviewed and awarded, the band performances from more than 16 different institutes began.  Some schools were more talented than others (2 of my 3 schools present actually were some of the best and won awards), but it was quite a lot of loud noise and very repetitive.  We were on stage for nearly 5 hours, 3 hours of which was music.

A few weekends ago I enjoyed a historic trolley tour of Xela.  The only stop and opportunity to disembark of the whole tour was in the cemetery to visit the grave of Xela’s very own Juliet, Vanushka.  She was a Hungarian gypsy who in the early 20^th century fell in love with the governor of Xela’s son.  When the governor found out he sent his son away to Spain to study and Vanushka died of a broken heart.  Her gravesite reminded me of the movie I recently saw, Letters to Juliet.  Her grave is covered in flowers and messages from men and women asking Vanushka to bless them in their marriages, relationships, and loves.  Unfortunately, my camera broke at the beginning of August, so the only pictures I have from the last few months I’ve had to borrow from other people who have cameras.

Last weekend I visited the beaches of Monterrico, two hours south of Antigua on the south, Pacific coast.  It was unbelievably hot and humid and a welcome change from the cold and rain I’ve grown accustomed to.  While I am grateful to not have a hot site – it’s one thing to live in a hot place where you drive and have air-conditioning, but living a lifestyle of walking everywhere and taking crowded buses, I’ll take cold weather any day – it was wonderful to sweat and wear flip flops and tank tops well into the evening and constantly feel warm. (I am currently inside bundled up in flannel, wool, and polar fleece, and I can barely feel my toes.)  The mosquitoes were the only bad part, but made me glad to be on malaria meds. The black sand beach dropped off dramatically at the shore where the enormous waves crashed.  The beach was oddly nearly deserted and the ocean much to dangerous to swim in, which was unfortunate since it felt like bathwater.  Julio (my Guatemalan boyfriend – I’m sure there will be more on him later) and I ate incredible ceviche on the beach under thatched roofs of palm added on to the home of the family who runs the restaurant right out of their house right on the beach.  Throughout the course of the weekend I enjoyed sipping on a piña colada, a home-made strawberry-watermelon popsicle, and coconut water straight from the coconut.

I returned to Antigua on Saturday after a lovely, relaxing beach trip where I fell ill for the first time since arriving in Guatemala.  It may have been my ceviche lunch the second day that I ate on my way out of town.  I think nearly 5 months without being sick might be some kind of record.  I’ve been blessed not to have fallen ill with dengue or giardia or TB like too many of my fellow volunteers, but I too got to finally experience the wonderful combination of vomiting, diarrhea, chills, weakness, and stomach pain.  Looking back, it really wasn’t too bad, but no stomach problems seem rough to me compared to getting sick in India last summer.  I slept a lot Sunday and by the next morning felt like a new person, although Peace Corps sent me to the lab to give a stool sample.  Just another fun and exciting day in the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer!  (Just to let you know, the results are in and I am fine.) Needless to say, I did not run the 15K in Chimaltenango as planned.

The Toto Feria starts this week and goes on for at least a full week.  The town is abuzz with construction for rides, concerts, and games, and deafening bombas going off at all hours of the day and night.  Of course, school will be cancelled for a week (at least).  Currently, all my institutes are fighting over me to walk with them in the parade this Friday.  I walked in ANOTHER parade last week for the Día de Independencia with my school in Nimapá, and much to their disappointment they’re not going to get me twice.  They told me they’ll know who’s my favorite by who I choose Friday.  Hopefully, I can just walk with the Department of Ed and avoid this conflict all together.  I will be sure to report the outcome.