Just when the novelty of living in a small Guatemalan town was starting to wear off… You get this care package from Momma. Guatemala might be currently washing away into the ocean but I at least have candy and bourbon.

This last month I’ve been making the rounds of my twelve schools. Checking in on projects and assignments. Results have been moderately successful. All my schools were assigned to construct Rincones de Salud, Health Corners, about 2 months ago. I assigned this project first because its straight up the most realistic thing most of my schools [...]

In 2005, Jacaltenango’s Mayor Moises Perez signed a sister-city agreement with with Mayor Karen Golonka of Jupiter, Florida. In 2000, when home-sales boomed in Jupiter, the demand for construction jobs sky-rocketed. Jacal men, mostly, answered the call for these low-paying jobs. Relatives living in Florida sent for relatives and friends back in Jacaltenango and illegal [...]

So reconnect was surprisingly (un)fun. I studied Spanish, heard from the Ambassador, active-listened and wasted away my life with the rest of my training group in a tourist trap strategically designed for gringos to enjoy themselves and spend tons of money. I also had the opportunity to meet some interesting people over this last week [...]

“The film opens with a mysterious spacecraft entering Earth’s atmosphere, then focuses on the coast of Guatemala, where a joint task force, led by Major Alan “Dutch” Schaeffer (Arnold Schwarzenegger), is assigned to rescue a presidential cabinet minister kidnapped by guerrilla forces in Val Verde. Dutch’s old military buddy and now CIA officer, George Dillon (Carl Weathers), steps [...]

And I thought the Guatemalan police force was bad. In a country plagued with high levels of violent crime, human rights violations and pervasive corruption, the Guatemalan police force have been anything but a shining beacon of hope. I want to take this opportunity to plug a story that I’ve been following for the last [...]

This is the only decent picture I took during my July 4th weekend in “Antigua”. Or as its known in English “Givemeallyourfuckingmoney-gua”. I had a good time, next time I’ll just add less hot sauce. So I was actually impressed by Peace Corps ability to re-imagine exactly what July 4th for me has always been. Drinking beer [...]

My time here on the Mexican/Guatemalan frontera has brought me back in touch with a lot of music I hadn’t listened to in a while. Namely Brazilian funk/soul. I’m on a mission to convince my neighbors I’m Brazilian by blasting Jorge Ben and Tim Maia every day in my backyard. I look more Brazilian than [...]

Brief updates because I have no pictures and blog updates that are 100% text should always be ignored. 1. I just informed my cable provider to switch their feed from ESPN to ESPN2 for the NBA Finals tonight. They agreed. So illegal. Now everyone in Jacal can watch Kobe smash Boston in Game 7. Biggest [...]

I’ve never really given a sh*t about the styling of my living conditions. The house I lived in at college for 3 years was disgusting, old and only furnished thanks to the generous  people who donated their 70′s era effects to Salvations Army. Nevertheless, I’m starting to think that the turquoise catastrophe that is painted on all the walls in [...]

Funny Central American observation. The other week I was watching the NBA playoffs on Mexico’s ESPN network. I guess the production team over in Mexico City or wherever made the decision to lower the volume of the feed from the States and talk over it in Spanish, translating what the announcers are saying in real time. [...]

I am an impulsive person. I do things without thinking but they have a tendency of working out for me. I wanted a dog when I first got to college but wasn’t entirely sure I’d be staying in one place for more than 4-5 months at a time. Study abroad and the 4 months I [...]

My site for the next two years es un bonito pueblo called Jacaltenango in the departamento de Huehuetenango. A la gran.. Check out comment from random guy #5804. “Jacaltenango es un municipio de belleza y alegría, lo declaro oficialmente como el pueblo más feliz de Guatemala.” Must be true if its on the internet. The wikipedia page [...]

Quick shout out to my boys over at Amnesty International for revealing your true nature.  Good luck keeping up the illusion that you’re as good as you used to be. Last but not least. I thought this was absolutely hilarious considering our jobs will involve the promotion of healthy habits like nutrition. So I guess heres how it plays [...]

Follow the link to a really incredible, concise article on the rebuilding effort in Haiti from Prospect magazine. “Forget aid—people in the poorest countries like Haiti need new cities with different rules. And developed countries should be the ones that build them.” Also- and in honor of Black History Month- some douchebag is trying to turn [...]

Yesterday we visited some Mayan ruins in Tecpan. About an hour and a half from my home in Pastores. I didn’t take any pictures for the simple fact that I was about as uncomfortable as a naked man at a meat processing plant. I felt like some sort of cultural vulture, the famed gringo spectator. I [...]

Some god awful things have been ocurring in the United States since I left. Honestly, I can’t trust you idiots to do anything in my absence. 1. Conan O’Brien doesn’t have a TV show. 2. Pat Robertson opened his mouth and Adam Lambert is directly involved with fundraising for Haiti. 3. Avatar won a Golden Globe despite being [...]

Yeah, I´m in Guatemala. Deal with it. So far I haven´t got sick, I´ve won at least 1 soccer game, redeveloped my badass spanish fluency and got a decent tan. Just yesterday I moved into my new homestay in PASTORES where I will be staying for a solid 3 months. The pueblo numbers around 15 to [...]

Pollo Camperos is a Guatemalan based fast food restaurant with the most ridiculous selection of fried chicken I’ve ever come across. I’m not going to get into the details of how this fried chicken is so spectacular because I have no clue. The name means “Country Chicken” so I’ll just leave it at that. Anyways – [...]

Exactly 1 week left of waiting tables, bartending and interning. 1 week. I got the invitation to serve in Guatemala about one month ago. Maybe 9 months after getting a nomination. I was initially nominated for SSA, Sub Saharan Africa, leaving February 2010. I went on thinking that I would be going to SSA for the entirety of [...]