Rockin' and rollin' again in good old San Rafael Pie de la Cuesta. After a relaxing couple of weeks and a successful site visit to two other Peace Corps sites with my mayor and team, we had a great week of work in the park.
Having been inspired by Brittany's site at Corazon del Bosque (about 3 hours from San Rafael) Marcelino and I started building a fence on our main trail that heads down to some of the best quetzal-viewing parts of the park. It serves both as a protective boundary at some points and a visitor corraller at others. But given that Marcelino and I are a team of two, sometimes three with Saul, the work went slow and steady. All the materials we're using for the fence (wood and bamboo) have been recycled back in to use after having been leftover from various projects at nearby coffee farms.
We're probably about halfway on the fencing with our main trail and have at least another two weeks to finish up the other half. After that, I'm looking to start building some signs using a router and a little paint. Updates to come.
Jamie Staples' Peace Corps Blog
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Back in Action Pics
Marcelino and Lisandro after a long day of work
Working with Marcelino to tie-off a piece of fencing
Section of finished fence
Don Carlos (mayor) helping out with fence construction. Campaign 2012 anyone?Friday, July 17, 2009
On the Road (Pics below)
After a couple weeks out of site due to meetings and a little vacation, I'm back at it in ol' San Rafael Pie de la Cuesta.
The last couple weeks in a nut shell:
I took my first couple days of vacation at the end of June to check out the rest of this incredible country. Stop one, Pacaya Volcano to visit another volunteer and good buddy, Jesse Festa. Pacaya is one of the more advanced Peace Corps sites and ranks as the second largest tourist attraction in Guatemala behind Tikal due to its proximity to Antigua and volcanic activity (see pic below). Taking advantage of the natural fire pit, we carried up a bag of marshmallows and roast them over the open lava to make schmores. Really tasty, but it came at the expense of almost roastring our faces off because the heat from the lava was so intense. Also, with the constantly changing and shifting lava fields one has to be wary of tumbling lava rocks as pieces break loose.
From Pacaya I headed up to Coban, about 5 hours northeast of Antigua. About three months ago I signed up for the Coban half marathon, which is a huge event in Guatemala and one of the premier races in the world. The problem with signing up for a race that early in a Third World country is that you never know how your health will be three months from the sign-up date. Sure enough, I was bed-ridden for about 6 days before I started my travels and ran all of 0 times in teh 10 days before the half marathon. That said, the nerves were pumping the morning of the race. But all went well and I wound up finishing with an average of about 8 minute miles and finished second of all the Peace Corps volunteers who ran.
Since I was in Coban, I wanted to check out my buddy Oliver's site who's working with a rafting association on the Cahabon River...did I mention he has no running water or electricity? He took us down a 22km stretch of river that took about 4 hours and did not dissappoint. We hit this one part of the river called the Devil's Throat that almost bucked us out of the raft, but managed to hold on. After visiting Oliver, I shot over to Semuc Champey (pics below) to see one of Guatemala's best natural wonders. Semuc is basically a limestone table above the Cahabon River and is fed by surrounding springs, making its waters crystal clear and the perfect temperature to swim in. We hopped from pool to pool, jumping off of little cliffs or trying to turn smoother ledges into slides. Definitely one of the highlights of Guatemala thus far.
From Coban I hopped on a bus back down to Guatemala City to pick-up Mac from the airport, one of my best buddies from the States. After a fun-filled weekend in Antigua, including the annual and infamous Peace Corps 4th of July party, we headed up to Lake Atitlan for a couple days of R & R.; much needed after a stressful and tough couple first months in-site. We stayed at Casa del Mundo, an unreal hotel built into the cliffs surrounding the lake with views of San Pedro and Santiago volcanoes. Those couple days really helped recharge my batteries and get me excited to go back to my site and get some good work done.
The last couple weeks in a nut shell:
I took my first couple days of vacation at the end of June to check out the rest of this incredible country. Stop one, Pacaya Volcano to visit another volunteer and good buddy, Jesse Festa. Pacaya is one of the more advanced Peace Corps sites and ranks as the second largest tourist attraction in Guatemala behind Tikal due to its proximity to Antigua and volcanic activity (see pic below). Taking advantage of the natural fire pit, we carried up a bag of marshmallows and roast them over the open lava to make schmores. Really tasty, but it came at the expense of almost roastring our faces off because the heat from the lava was so intense. Also, with the constantly changing and shifting lava fields one has to be wary of tumbling lava rocks as pieces break loose.
From Pacaya I headed up to Coban, about 5 hours northeast of Antigua. About three months ago I signed up for the Coban half marathon, which is a huge event in Guatemala and one of the premier races in the world. The problem with signing up for a race that early in a Third World country is that you never know how your health will be three months from the sign-up date. Sure enough, I was bed-ridden for about 6 days before I started my travels and ran all of 0 times in teh 10 days before the half marathon. That said, the nerves were pumping the morning of the race. But all went well and I wound up finishing with an average of about 8 minute miles and finished second of all the Peace Corps volunteers who ran.
Since I was in Coban, I wanted to check out my buddy Oliver's site who's working with a rafting association on the Cahabon River...did I mention he has no running water or electricity? He took us down a 22km stretch of river that took about 4 hours and did not dissappoint. We hit this one part of the river called the Devil's Throat that almost bucked us out of the raft, but managed to hold on. After visiting Oliver, I shot over to Semuc Champey (pics below) to see one of Guatemala's best natural wonders. Semuc is basically a limestone table above the Cahabon River and is fed by surrounding springs, making its waters crystal clear and the perfect temperature to swim in. We hopped from pool to pool, jumping off of little cliffs or trying to turn smoother ledges into slides. Definitely one of the highlights of Guatemala thus far.
From Coban I hopped on a bus back down to Guatemala City to pick-up Mac from the airport, one of my best buddies from the States. After a fun-filled weekend in Antigua, including the annual and infamous Peace Corps 4th of July party, we headed up to Lake Atitlan for a couple days of R & R.; much needed after a stressful and tough couple first months in-site. We stayed at Casa del Mundo, an unreal hotel built into the cliffs surrounding the lake with views of San Pedro and Santiago volcanoes. Those couple days really helped recharge my batteries and get me excited to go back to my site and get some good work done.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
On the Road Pics
Pacaya volcano (Jesse's site). Very active and very hot....schmores anyone?
Another day at the office for Jesse
Semuc Champey from above
Travis, me, and Tony at Semuc
Mac and I on our hotel's private dock on Lake Atitlan at the end of his trip.
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