Tortugitas en Monterrico

I'm trying to avoid super long blog posts, thus this one is dedicated to my favorite part of my weekend in Monterrico- RELEASING A BABY SEA TURTLE. Before I came to Guatemala, I had read about doing this on a former volunteer's blog and was like, "YES. I'M ALL OVER THAT." When I found out we were going to the same place (Monterrico) and that I would be able to realize this dream I'd been harboring since Mayish, I almost died. It was maybe the coolest thing I've done in my life, second only to graduating from the University of Notre Dame. Okay, so I might be exaggerating just a teensy bit, but I was so stoked and loved every second of the experience.

Monterrico is known for its tortugarios, or sea turtle hatcheries. If sea turtles lay their eggs on the beach, there is a big chance that humans, dogs, or other animals will come along and dig them up. To give the little sea turtles (tortugitas) a chance, the tortugarios raise the eggs themselves. When the eggs are ready to hatch, people like me pay a measly Q10 (about $1.40 USD) to release the baby sea turtles into the ocean. The funds all go back to helping sea turtles. In the wild, the sea turtles only have about a 1 in 1000 chance of surviving, but with the tortugarios it's more like 10 in 100.  HOW COULD ANYONE PASS THIS EXPERIENCE UP?

Saturday evening rolled around and it was finally time to get started doing the turtle thing. We were so lucky- we were the first release night of the season! With way too much enthusiasm, I accepted the little sea turtle that was handed to me. Of course my little dude needed a name, so I dubbed him PCB13. (I was having some serious nostalgia issues that weekend remembering the last time I was on a beach for spring break in Panama City this year.) After a count off, everyone released their tortugitas at the same time to let them "race" to the water. I'm happy to report that PCB13 made it to the water just fine, thank you very much. I'm POSITIVE he is going to be one of the survivors and live to be approximately 107 years old. His little flippers were so strong against my fingers- I could tell he was a fighter! This is corny, but PCB13 gave me a life lesson as I watched him waddle toward the ocean. You don't have to be the first one to the water, all that matters is that you get there. "Getting there" this year has been great (even though I don't quite know where exactly I'm headed yet), and I'm going to keep on waddling just like PCB13!

Monterrico- the place to check out some tortugas.

AHHHHH adlkfjapd HOLDING A SEA TURTLE IN MY HAND, WHAT?!

HEART. IS. BREAKING. TOO. CUTE.

mean mugging.

SECONDS before the release/race. TENSION.

Empty nester Jess. Be free, PCB13. Waddle like the wind.

ACTION SHOT!

Aaaaaaand we've reached water, captain. Swim strong, buddy. I LOVE YOU!

Weekend in Monterrico- ¡Vamos a la Playa!

I'm finally caught up on the past few weeks and blogging in "real time" again. Enjoy some upbeat background music while you read the recap of my weekend!

NPHG gets a new generation of volunteers every 6 months (January and July), and I was obviously part of the July wave. It's tradition that the new and old volunteers take a trip over a weekend to spend time together. Well, we were a little late but we finally got around to our salida de voluntarios this last weekend. We went to the beaches of Monterrico on the coast of Guatemala! Monterrico is a cute little beach town with mangrove forests where lots of Guatemalans go to vacation. It was much more like the Guatemala I had imagined before I got here- it was finally hot and humid! (NPHG is up in the mountains. It's only August and I'm already sleeping in a sweatshirt, long sleeved shirt, pajama pants, and socks. Brrrr!) The humidity got old in about two seconds, but lucky there was a cool ocean breeze since we were at THE BEACH! We stayed at Hotel el Delfin, a cute little backpacker's place right on the beach with lots of hammocks. The beds left something to be desired... There was a small mattress, but I could definitely tell I was actually sleeping on a slap of concrete. But hey, my bed had a mosquito net and considering I was paying about $6.75 USD a night to stay there and had access to a pool and bar, I really can't complain.

Monterrico- such a different Guatemala!

Even the sign looks happy :)

Bar/lounge area- if I wasn't laying on the beach, I was here all weekend.

Did I mention they had hammocks?!

Gotta love cement beds. Budget traveler for life!

I enjoyed the black sand beaches of Monterrico. For me, it was strange to think that I was swimming in the same Pacific Ocean just a few hours away from my home in Nevada. The water was just a lot warmer! In theory, I could get home if I just walked to the right up the coast for forever and a half. It was a comforting thought to know that I was looking towards home. Typical Guatemala- there were still a ton of stray dogs even on the beach, but they were all so pretty! I broke down and petted one for a microsecond at one point. Shhhh, don't tell.

black sand

Home is just a long, long way that direction! I think I see America.

Don't tell me you could resist this because that would be a lie.

On Friday night, we had a little adventure. Early in the evening, it started to storm. Like, really storm. I don't think I've been in a storm that bad in a long, long time, if ever in my life. The thunder was incredibly loud and right over our heads. I don't get scared in storms, but still found myself gasping with surprise from the thunder. It was eery to watch huge bolts of lightning strike the ocean repeatedly on the horizon. Basically, it was not a good time to be walking about. However, the group had dinner reservations and our leader really didn't want to not show up, so the group grudgingly trudged out into the elements. The power started flickering on and off in the streets as we were walking. It was crazy to be repeatedly plunged into utter darkness for a few seconds at a time. When we finally reached the restaurant, it was only to discover that the staff had already closed the place down. I'm not sure if they didn't think we were coming or just didn't want to cook in the rain, but needless to say, we came all that way for nothing and had to turn right back around into the storm. Even with my rain jacket and umbrella, I was still soaked by the end of this journey. Back at the hotel once everyone had changed clothes and ordered food from the bar, we were able to laugh a little bit more at the ridiculousness that just happened.

Here's when the world was ending.

The last few weeks had been extremely busy, so I was super grateful for the opportunity to do... nothing! Normally I'm all about activities on trips, but this weekend I really just laid around, wrote in my journal, and read a book. Oh, and let's not forget all the good food I ate! IT. WAS. FANTASTIC... and also ohhhh so necessary. I really needed some time to slow down a bit, and thankfully, this weekend gave me a lot of that. After my weekend in Monterrico, I was able to head back to the clinic this Monday feeling refreshed. As always, I'm working hard and playing hard this year. I will be looking forward to my next weekend trip wherever that may be, but for now I will be GETTING STUFF DONE at NPHG!

Even when it was raining I was still happy. Ahhh so relaxing.

Clinic ladies work hard play hard!

Guatemala is pretty beautiful- can't wait to see more of it this year!

First Proyecto Familiar

Back post #3- Another part of life as an NPHG volunteer is proyectos familiares, or family projects. When children are accepted into the home, generally all of their siblings who aren't old enough to live on their own come with them to the home as well. The idea is to keep families together. However, once the kids are all here, it can be difficult for siblings to find time to spend together if they're not in the same section. They get pretty busy with their respective lives, so the proyectos familiares are a great way to carve out some family time for them. Proyectos are about two hours long, involve money for food, and are pretty much whatever the family wants to do. I'll have a different group of siblings for every proyecto, and I will be doing two proyectos each month.

I had my first proyecto familiar a few weekends ago. I was pretty nervous mostly because my Spanish still leaves a lot to be desired, but it actually went great! I was assigned a group of three brothers, one of which was in my section. I was thrilled when they told me they wanted to bake a cake and play board games because that sounded fun to me too (especially the cake part). During the proyecto, the boys and I whipped up a white cake and played several intense games of Sorry! while it was baking. The cake was delicious. I was soooo happy to have some sugar, and the boys enjoyed it as much as I did. The boys told me that the proyecto was "muy bonito", or very good. The most important thing to me was that the boys were happy, so my day was made to hear that the mission was accomplished. One thing I think is great about proyectos is that the kids also receive money to print off a family photo. Thus, the boys had a blast at the end of the proyecto taking photos. It was pretty much a mini photo shoot. Check out the brothers who made my first proyecto familiar so great... I'm already looking forward to my next proyecto!

Anniversary of Father Wasson's Death

Back post #2- Father Wasson was the founder of NPH and dedicated his life to helping thousands of children. He was an incredible man, but unfortunately, I'll never get the chance to meet him in person since he passed away in 2006. His memory lives on within the NPH homes though, and his founding principles and ideals are still strongly felt. There are tons of posters of Fr. Wasson around the home, and the kids worship this guy- he's kind of like a saint to them. Now that Father Wasson is no longer with us physically, the tradition is to have a huge celebration on the day of his death, August 16th. This year was no exception, and so all the kids gathered in the comedor (the dining hall) bright and early on the anniversary to start making murals. I was completely BLOWN AWAY when I walked into the comedor a few hours later to see everyone's hardwork. All the murals were truly incredible! I loved how the kids brought the outside in. For me, it was one of the coolest events I've experienced at NPH and in Guatemala so far. I found it extremely interesting to see how a different culture handled death, and it was really touching to see how much the kids still honestly loved Fr. Wasson, even if they had never met him. I sure hope people celebrate my death this way! Enjoy the pictures of all the murals, and I dare you not to let your heartstrings get pulled.

"It’s surprising what you can do in a lifetime if you do it just a little at a time." -Fr. William B. Wasson... What are you doing with your lifetime a little at a time?

Perhaps my favorite...

 

"Although I can no longer hug you, you will always be with me." Awwww <3

Kermes: Mayamania

Back post #1- The volunteers are in charge of organizing a “Kermes” every two months. Kermes is some activity about two hours long for all 300 kids in the home, and it’s different every time. I got to experience my first one two Sundays ago (August 11^th). We called it “Mayamania”, which I thought was a hilarious title. Everyone was divided into a group. I was leading Team Jaguar, rawwwwr- SO FIERCE! 

Claws up, kitties.

There were six activities for all the teams, and each one was related to the Mayan culture in some way. Every team received a certain number of points for each activity. After those six activities, we had relays (estafetas) for semifinals and finals for the teams with the highest scores to determine the overall winner. Here are the activities that we had in store for the NPHG kiddos:

1. Make a human pyramid- more points for creativity and involving all members of the team. We were definitely the first (and maybe only?) team to receive 10 out of 10 points, awww yeaaah.

My thoughts: "Oh God, please no one fall, please don't fall." No one fell :)

2. Mayan ball game. You can only use your elbow, knee, or hip to get the ball through the hoop. Of course all the kids used their knees since they're soccer pros. Whatever. Side note: this is the game featured in the children's animated movie The Road to Eldorado (hilarious, definitely recommend it). Check out this scene for a better idea of how this game is played... and to get the reference I make in my caption (at 0:12 in the clip)!

THE HIP, THE HIP!

3. Mayan numbers. We made them think a bit with one. They had to draw numbers out of a hat and then work as a team to figure out how to write them in the Mayan language with sticks and stones. Isn't that cool that they learn that in school?! I was impressed at least. Hooray for fun and educational things!

Smarty pants.

4. Puzzle (rompecabeza- that's a fun word) with Mayan symbols for some months. Yours truly helped draw some of them!

Work in progress.

FINISHED!

5. Tortillar (make tortillas).

Tortillando, tortillando...

Daaaaang, those are some nice tortillas if I do say so myself. FULL POINTS, BABY!

6. Traditional dance, complete with costumes. Lots of marimba music.

Shake it, Jaguars.

I was totally stoked when Team Jaguar ended up winning Kermes! My team really was great- they had awesome teamwork and enthusiasm. I got lucky, that's for sure! At the end, every child got a snack of corn, complete of course with salt and lime.

Elote for days...

I really did enjoy Kermes. It was a great way to spend time with the kids and have the whole NPHG family together for a morning. All the volunteers definitely tried hard, and people said it was the best one we've had in awhile. It was a great one to start off with, and I'm looking forward to the next one in October... on my 23rd birthday! That's all I've got for now except for a few more pictures.

One of my favorite favorites!

I have no idea what he was trying to do with his hand but it made me laugh. Goof.

Baby! Perhaps part monkey judging by how he climbed all over me... at the cost of one of my earrings. Good thing you're cute, kid ;)