Travel Day, Fun & Surprises, Etc.

On Saturday we woke up early to get our flight from Delhi to Bhubaneswar, Orissa. It started off just like any other travel day; go to airport, wait, eat processed food, queue up for the plane, and get into the plane. It was interesting that, upon entering the plane, we noticed a fog filling the whole plane. More of a mist, really. We looked at each other worryingly, until a stewardess came over to let us know that it was from the humidity outside affecting the air conditioning. I slept most of the flight, off and on.

We got into Orissa and noticed that it was yes super humid but also very aromatic. Delhi smelled like burned food and rotten organic matter. Orissa was smelling like fresh organic matter, burning wood, and the tropical smells you would normally imagine for anyplace remote to urbanity. Thick, fragrant air was warmly welcomed by us after our travels in Delhi.
The driver was waiting for us with a car that normally government officials in India use. He drove us to where we could each get cellphones (according the NYUWagner policy, we must all have a phone while we are on our Capstone travels). We had previously decided to go for AirTel because of its extended availability in Orissa.
So, first thing to note was that it is very bizarre how the roads are dirty and lined with cesspools yet there were cellphone boutiques on every corner. Granted, most of them were probably bootlegs, but it was still an odd idea to think that people had cells but not running water in their houses. Also, white people in this area seem to gravitate towards each other. While in the middle of our phone negotiation, we spotted 2 white people on the street, and they stood outside our phone hut and waved to us. They were Spanish tourists, and were happy to see some white people, it seemed. We talked briefly about nothing of importance.
Another thing to note was that there seems to be some discrepancy with work hours here. We entered our final cellphone hut and there were about 8 men in there. How many people actually worked in this small one-room store and how many were just there for hanging out, we are not sure. We just know that one of the most helpful guys with this whole ordeal, towards the end, shook Maulin's hand and told him that he "has to go to work now". Then what was he doing there in the hut doing more of the job than the other guys? I wonder.
The cellphone fiasco took roughly 2 hours, where by the end of the transaction we were all tired and hungry and pretty grumpy. First, we haggled with some guy about the price of phones. Then we haggled about which phone service we were going to sign up for. Then we had to argue some about Maulin's phone and coverage with them for some time. Mind you, things were slower due to language barriers, cultural barriers, and the extreme congestion in the room. Anyways, we started getting a bit angrier when they told us we not only needed to give them photocopies of our passports, but they needed passport pictures of us. The helpful guy brought us to a copy center, where they took their time and took our photos and xeroxes. We had to pay for that, along with the phone, and the service, so our tabs were running up rather quickly. When we got back to the hut, they wanted more photocopies of other things, like Gram Vikas's business card, and we put up a fight so they did it themselves free of charge. They didn't believe us that we were not staying in a hotel, and they wanted a hotel bill. "NO, we're going to see a friend in Berhampur." And so on. FINALLY we were able to walk out with charged phones each. With Oriya (the Orissan language) keys.
Our driver drove us to a local restaurant where we ate dosas and some coconut uttapams, which was actually really really good, and about US$1 per person.

Then we drove. And drove. For 4 hours. With our luggage on our laps and under our legs. The cars in India honk constantly, and the back of cars actually ENCOURAGE constant honking with painted signs on the trunks saying "horn please" and "blow horn". I guess it could be considered just a declaration of arrival, since most cars lack mirrors.
We tried napping, but mostly we were just uncomfortable and a bit thirsty. We did stop on the trip at a gas station and picked up bottled water. We were stared at intensely.
The scenery in Orissa is absolutely stunning, though! The landscape is lush and green, with tropical trees all over the place, and irrigated crop fields. Did I mention that there are mountains spotting the backdrop here? Rolling mountains. Not too large, but rolling. It is almost a bit like British mountain/hills, almost. The main road that we took the entire way there was overall a straight shot, and incredibly rural. We drove through little towns that had markets all over the place, and people lined the streets and the huts were all different shapes and colors.
And cows, lots and lots of cows, stood/mewed/walked steadily across all roads. We might have hit as many stops due to cows as we had with cars and trucks.
There are these people that walk up and down the roads for long distances barefoot wearing bright orange/yellow/red outfits. They carry poles with bells and 2 hanging items (and a lot of varying fluorescent bits and bobs) that bob up and down while they walk. We've been told they're pilgrims, and that they walk a lot, but other than that we have no real clue as to who they are. When I have reliable internet, I'll do some research on it. Something about Kanwar? We like them, though, and we try to see where it is that they are going. We haven't found it, yet.

And then we finally reached Berhampur & Gram Vikas. It was a glorious moment that almost brought us all to tears.
Gram Vikas is a closed compound, mostly made of trees & assorted vegetation. It is kind of like living literally in a jungle. We have been told there are scorpions and snakes a plenty on the compound, so we are trying to manage our footing carefully. The frequent ant hills here are more like metropolises. They can be taller than any of us, and kind of look like a larger version of the Grand Canyon.
The driver pulls over in front of a little house. Our house. Gram Vikas gave our team an entire 1-story house while we visit. That's pretty awesome. It is a concrete house, with some dust on the floor (because India is all dust) and a few concrete shelving units. We have screens on all of the windows, and fans to keep us cool. The building has minimal furniture, with a table and beds as the main furnishings, so a few rooms are vacant. We have 2 western toilets, and 1 standing toilet. Maulin has his own room in the front of the house, and us girls share 3 beds in the back of the place. We were given mosquito nets, but we don't know how to install them yet.
We also have a terrace on the top of the house.
But the electricity goes out every hour or so, or many every few hours, but it has been at least 6 or 7 times within the first 21 hours. So sometimes we end up in pitch blackness. We have a lamp, and a few flashlights for these instances. Also, we have a lot of little friends in our house. Ants are the main co-inhabitants, which isn't too surprising. But we also have some beetles and iguanas. And frogs, methinks.

We went to dinner early (so we met no one), and a Sir Jacob came to meet us. He explained to us the rules of the mess hall, which are basically to come on time, clean up before and after yourself, and don't take more than you will eat. Doable. Also, the mess hall will serve us 3 times a day: 8:30am for breakfast, 1pm for lunch, and 8:30pm for dinner; no more, no less. The food was actually very very good, and we ate enough rice to make us all stuffed.
And here I thought I would starve to death. Though, Jacob did promise that we will lose weight while we stay here. He even weighed us, which made us pretty uncomfortable actually, and I did not appreciate his insistence on taking our weights to prove his success at weight loss, and his reaction to our weights. I'm going to try to chalk up this to a cultural difference or insensitivity.

We all called our families on our new phones and went to bed at 10pm, exhausted.
We woke up today at 6am to go for jogs, FINALLY! Sadly, us girls got lost on a "trail" and we all rolled our ankles at the beginning of our jogs. Note to self: use main roads.

So Sunday at Gram Vikas means rest. We ate breakfast, met the 2 French interns staying here (because I am never anywhere without at least one french within a 1-mile radius), and came back to our house and slept. It's been raining all day (monsoon season indeed), and everyone is out it seems, so we have been sans internet or research meetings. We read and nap, rinse repeat. Sometimes we talk. We also play card games on occasion.
It is a little odd to me, however, that we are here to do research, but are unable to do research right now. It feels more like camp, to be honest. Chilling out on the weekend, without much motivation to even leave the house. And with the limited access to electricity (and essentially no internet) our lives have become very slow.

Today is Monday for us already, and we woke up with so much rain outside that there are ponds forming in our yard. I resorted to yoga in our empty room, while the ants from our bathroom sought refuge directly under/next to my bed (because I am next to the toilets). Thank goodness I have a raincoat and rainboots, eh?
I am finding that we are eating a lot less in the mess halls than we were the last few days, which means that our "diets" are under way.
We finally have found access to the Gram Vikas office, and have met up with some workers in the compound to talk about our project and actually start our research! This is exciting indeed! We have scheduled a meeting with some staffers to see what exactly we are doing here, and what we should be expecting in our agenda. Will we be actually doing fieldwork, or will we be stuck in the office for the next few weeks?
Sadly, we also found that internet is only accessible in the office, and one must pay 20 Rs. per hour of use. Translation, expect my updates to be in bulk and infrequent.

Tune in next time to hear about "Our Capstone Project in Question".

Last Day in Delhi (for now)

We had quite a final day in Delhi....

Maulin and I woke up early and I missed another morning of exercise. I do miss working out, but we keep on saying that Orissa will give us a lot of space and time to get our bloods pumping.

We started off getting stuck in traffic and getting lost in the northern area of Delhi for a long time. Lots and lots of traffic + Indian streets = hours of driving and honking. Also, the rains of the season finally poured in while driving looking for our destination. That means quite a lot of heavy rain for about an hour.
We were on our way to the Delhi School of Economics to meet up with economics Professor TCA Anant, thanks to one of our leads from the previous day's meetings. It was our last last-minute meeting in the city before we head out to the field, and we were not really sure as to why we were bothering to meet the guy. But surprisingly, it went really well, and we had some great insights from him on our project and fieldwork in Orissa.
On a side note: The campus is placed in the older, skeezey area of Delhi. Things around the campus are a mess, and it is rather slummy. However, the campus itself is gated in and quite lovely in comparison. And there were a lot of lush trees spotting the campus. Again, another retro building.

Afterwards, we hit another long line of traffic, and I consequently fell asleep in the back of the cab. We then stopped at the State Bank of India and waited for probably over an hour for Maulin and Molly's traveller's checks to get reimbursed. It was a very, VERY silly bureaucratic system where papers were signed, resigned, new papers emerged, photocopying, etc. It reminded me frustratingly of French bureaucracy, actually. We then got stuck in even more traffic on our way to south Delhi.

We thought we were being driven to the Lotus Temple, but instead we found ourselves magically at this place called the Delhi Haat (pronounced "haht"). Deborah had mentioned it to us the night before, but we all had the assumption that it was similarly to the bazar, or at least a mall. Not so at all. It was like a small warehouse full of textiles, shoes, paintings, carpets, sarees, punjabis, bangles....ivory and marble statuettes...you name it. Cottage marketing at its finest, for India at least. You walk in and feel like you are crammed into the backroom of some large department store, attached to their warehouse. Colors saturated my eyes while I struggled to figure out where it began and ended.
This place is government-ran, which means that there is no commission and prices are fixed. This means that it actually was a bit cheaper to buy things here, particularly for foreigners because they are constantly overcharged in the haggling markets. It's a way for the GoI to promote tourism & culture and consumerism in India, I suppose.
So my team and I are ushered into a backroom with some salesman. We are sat down on some couches, he sits down in front of us, and amazingly spends FOUR HOURS (4 hours!) with us, showing us every possible fabric quality and color that they had to offer. He opened up bags of punjabis and pashminas and we all pointed at what we wanted and didn't want. And then we short-listed our piles of options. And then we tried on a size, and the on-hand tailors took our clothing and catered them all to our sizings for free.
Meanwhile the salesman was getting us tea, coffee, and other drinks. He even got my teammembers beer, while I sipped 3 bottles of Fanta. For hours and hours we laughed and looked and touched and laughed more. Our driver finally came in to find us because we were there for so long. Families of Indians came in and out as we sat there. Surprisingly, few foreigners were in the whole place the entire time we were there. The salesman finally coaxed me into singing in the room for everyone. The servers all stopped to listen. A bit awkward for me, but everyone seemed to really like it, including my team.
We all ended up coming back with bags of really amazing sarees and shirts and scarves.
It was probably the best shopping experience I have ever had in my life. And I don't even like shopping!

After the great trip to Delhi Haat, we were rejuvenated and excited and babbling in the car with our driver. He finally drove us to the solemn (and surprisingly not-so-tourist-fully) Lotus Temple, which is a Baha'i temple. It looks like a lotus, go figure. It's 25 years old, and really stunning! We walked the nice esplanade there, and stared at the beauty in front of us. Really great building, kind of looks like the Sydney Opera House, only more spiritually inclined.
Oddly enough, on our way up to the temple, we were stared and pointed at by all of the Indians walking around us. We were stopped by a lot of groups of people to have their pictures taken with us. I'm serious. People were almost standing in line, like we were the attraction instead of the temple.
Taking our shoes off, we entered the silent temple. It was hot! Well, that makes sense, it was marble, after all. Really pure and white and simple, and lovely. I walked in and sat down for a mini meditation in the temple, and what an experience! The heat made me feel like I was in a sweat lodge again, and I began sweating profusely. I was feeling amazing and got really clear while in the temple.
By the way, we hadn't eaten anything since 9am that morning...

So we shuffled our way back to the cab, and hit our long line of traffic for the umpteenth time of the day. An emergency hospital break had to be made, and we pulled over to a nice gas station and grabbed some snacks to take with us on the flight to Orissa in the morning.

We got back to the hotel and had a nice dinner. Our flight got pushed back 2 hours, so now we only have to wake up at 6am instead of 4am.
We are now packed and ready to go to Orissa!!!!

Full-Time Interviewers

Today I woke up very, very early because Maulin (my current roommate) went to the bathroom early and I thought he was awake because it was time to wake up for our appointments. So I got up, found out he was only awake for the bathroom, we both tried to go back to sleep. We tried seeping, to no avail. So I got dressed up and jogged up and down the stairs of the 5-story hotel, taking intervals per flight to run up and down the hallways. It made me sweaty almost immediately (heat + stairs), and I may have injured my ankle again. Maulin joined me on the staircase run after a time. I think we may have been upsetting the servers, though, since they would watch me run up and down the stairs, and when we returned home tonight, we noticed they had put some "obstacles" on the staircase, like flower pots, and a couch in a hallway.

A fast note on the liquids situation: we currently buy all of our water in bottles. If we are offered drinks no from the bottle, they must be boiled. Otherwise, we could get sick from the different, foreign amoebas and bacterias potentially in the local water. That means tea and coffee (and hot milk) are our social drink. And I have had a lot of tea in the last few days. Our massive water bottles are always lying around. I am wasting a lot of plastic.

After a creative breakfast of cereal with hot milk, we started our 9-hour day of interviews. Initially we only had 2 interviews spread out in the day to attend, but by way of Indian "go with the flow" customs, we ended up with about 6 separate interviews with government officials, professors, and World Bank experts. We were like the embodiment of an NYUWagner panel!

The first two interviews we had were at the Government of India's sanitation office. They were extremely informative, we left with complimentary scarves and oodles of readings. The men were really pleasant and knowledgable. I think that really encouraged us in our project and our objectives.
The office, however, was less than impressive. It seems like the funding for the GoI buildings is little to nonexisttant. We walked into the building and found ourselves in a grimy building with falling wall laminate and rickety elevators. We were escorted into the the appropriate office, while walking through a messy hallway that was brimming with old ramshackled office furnitures. Going into the offices, you feel like you might have been transported to the 1970s not only by decor and design, but by the outfits of the men-dominant workforce as well. Chances are, that's about right.

It is also interesting when we walk into any building; they all have security and metal detectors. However, us 3 girls walk right in and they smile at us without a hint of question, but Maulin is always stopped, checked, and his bag opened. Clearly he is with us, and clearly he is speaking perfect english with us, but apparently the brown male needs to be checked because he's suspicious...

We went over to the Habitat Center and ate lunch after making some phonecalls for more meetings with the contacts we were given. I ate a pizza and curly fries at a little shop called "Wild Willy's Western" to see their interpretation of "ethnic foods", which was surprisingly good and fairly American. Good job, India, you are officially the best country at imitation American food.

We had to run back to the old GoI building to have a meeting with the joint-secretary of water. Overall, the meeting was a waste, but we learned a lot about what NOT to expect from certain government officials, as well as what we need to try to do more to drive a conversation on the right path. We redeemed our meeting morale with another World Bank expert, Smita, who quickly enriched us with her great knowledge on rural water issues in India and lavished us with even more publications for us to read.

After a fruitful day full of notetaking and listening, we came back to the hotel to undress, relax, and buy tickets for our flight to Orissa.
We met up with Deborah from NYUWagner for a nice dinner out, Lodi Garden. We found ourselves at a restaurant in something like a garden. Another swanky night, but the food (although not Indian) was really delicious, and the ambiance was super neat. Something similar to a teahouse, with a garden restaurant (for nicer weather). The lime soda (sweet/salty) was pretty good, too!
We talked about our Indian experiences so far, and about school and random stories we all have. A very nice night with Wagner kids.

Our evening cabbie was, unfortunately, a pretty grumpy and aggressive guy. He used the horn almost every other meter, and I was tempted to warn him that he may indeed break his horn if he continued.

Day One - Jet Lag & Naan

My team woke up early in the morning to get a complimentary breakfast. We were jetlagged and hot. The food was pretty decent. We decided to go for a walk outside, and to figure out what was going on in our area. We walked around for not long at all, and ended up hiring a 4-day chauffeur while we stay in Delhi. Cars are a great investment here, considering we have so many different interviews to attend. Otherwise, I feel our whole group would be either lost or kidnapped in no time.

India is very very warm. And very warm, humid. I kind of feel like a constant state of gelatin, which means it's pretty nasty.

A few notes on the Delhi streets. There are cars and motorcycles and bikes and rickshaws going in every possible direction on the narrow streets. Everything, absolutely everything, has dirt on it in some form or another. People sleep on the streets and on the main roads -- kind of like they just decided to sit down and take a nap on the side of the road -- all over. It is noisy. People line the streets and hang out and will not hesitate if you approach to talk to them or ask a question.

We had a meeting at the World Bank with Dr.Connors, and what a great initial interview to have while in India! She was truly captivating, and really well knowledgeable. We had a nice, comfortable conversation with this woman (a real firecracker) about water and sanitation in India, and ended up leaving feeling absolutely great about our project. It was so informative, and we ended up leaving with a packet of papers, 4 emails with attachments, and a few additional contacts. Despite the heat, our groggy and disoriented team really rocked our interview.

We had a late lunch at the hotel. And then we promptly returned to the hotel to nap for a few hours.

After a long nap, we all crammed into our driver's car and went around town. First place we went to was a Hindu temple, which was relatively new (1980s) but beautiful all the same. The building was mostly an outside / open temple, and it was painted red and dripping with swastikas and OM icons all over the walls. It's all marble and you have to enter barefoot. The deities were bright and laced with gold and flowers. The overall temple was very light and flowing. Peaceful, yet to some extent vibrant. There was scripture in Hindi (and some in English) all over the walls inside and out of the whole complex. And I really loved Ganesh, like usual. While we were talking around the temple, I felt at ease and very appreciative of the shrines and quiet, solemn temple. Prayer began sometime while we were in there, and the sound of sober singing and chirpy bells pleasantly wafted through the air. Some guy who worked at the temple site got me to follow him into a temple room and showed me the shrine for Krishna, where he plucked a flower off of the altar and gave it to me, "For good luck." Very sweet.

We then went to the underground Palika Bazar, near Connaught Place. It looks like a mound on the outside, but underground it is like a packed, seething labyrinth of swarmy shop owners and hagglers. Walking around in the marketplace was intense, and the only visual explanation I could related it to was the fishbowl scene from "City of Angels". Thank goodness for Maulin, our token bodyguard in the group. He has been able to keep an eye on us 3 women while the rest of the Indian men oggle at our existence. I consider it a conundrum; we are being stared at for being white or female, or both, but I'm not exactly sure which one.

We ended up going to a restaurant at a super super ritzy, uber swanky hotel, Lalit Hotel. We just thought we were going for a nice meal near the bazar, but we endd up realizing that our restaurant was truly for the luxe-oriented and big spenders. Luckily, for us, the prices were still less than in NYC. They did not like that we ate only appetizers (which were great but incredibly filling), but the food was great, really creative and gourmet.

But I would LOVE to have some fresh fruit and veggies right now. Naan and cooked veggies may be the trip's demise.

Enter Delhi, Stage Left

So a few nights ago I arrived in Delhi, India! Here I am, working on a research project, for our NYUWagner Water Capstone project. We have come here to work on a program evaluation for an NGO in the state of Orissa called Gram Vikas. Four grad students who do not have a clue what their project really entails exploring the most obscure areas of India. And here we are.

I waited at the Newark Airport for a little bit of time. I went into the President's Club to chill out for a little bit, but I quickly realized that I didn't belong. People dressed in nice yacht get-ups, drinking wine in an airport lounge....and here I am, with a backpack still covered in Guatemalan dust and ratty old jeans ready to hop into the wilderness of India. I picked up some free food, sat for a quick second, and went to the line.
A note on the line for the plane: population control, people. They had to create an entire line devoted to the young children on he flight, and it was a long line. Most of the mothers had about 3+ children hugging their thighs. That was my brief first encounter with the Indian family way.
I had a 15-hour nonstop flight. It was a long time in the plane, but luckily dad got me a business class seat for the flight, so it was at least comfortable. I cannot believe how much food they feed you in the long-haul flights, sheesh.
I sat next to a sweet 77 year-old Kashmiri lady on the flight. We talked a bit about India, especially Kashmir. She was very lovely, and liked talking a lot.
I watched "He's Just Not That Into You", which was alright for a chick flick. I also watched "Madame Irma" (a french film about a transvestite fortune teller - only in french film...) and "Paris Je T'aime". And I slept a bit. And ate a lot.

My flight came in early and breezed through security, customs, and health check-in. My baggage was priority. I had to wait for Maulin and Molly at the Delhi Airport for a few hours. It was a quite long wait for me, considering the long flight and the lack of things to do in the airport here. No worries, though, a man from Rajastan came over to have a conversation with me. We talked about our professions, his wife, why I didn't have a husband, my travels in India, his travels in Europe, and of course the conversation ended with an open invitation to his place in Rajastan if I ever happen to be in his state. He also implied to me that if he wasn't (newly) married, then I would be in trouble. And so it begins...

Finally Maulin came and I had company. But Molly took a long time to get through because KLM lost her baggage. She has it now, but it took a few days.
The carrides here are ridiculously scary. You feel like you are always on the verge of getting hit by some other vehicles. But as Maulin said, "Just close your eyes and hope for the best." Wise words.

India is a country of extremes, it seems. Extreme poverty. Extreme luxury. Extreme gender dichotomies. And extreme beauty.

We get into the hotel to find we were given the top floor suites, NOT BAD! And the air conditioning is great. However, we slept only a little.

Antigua, Guatemala (aka On A Public Service Trip)

What a trip. I just came back from a week-long service trip to Antigua, Guatemala with one of my grad school's student clubs, ALAS. About 12 of us went down for spring break to work with a coffee farmer co-op called As Green As It Gets and learn about and interact with the diverse small and successful business models in developing countries. I think it was a really eye-opening trip on many fronts, both professionally and personally.

But those are things that would make this far longer...

Some notes before I dive into the trip's details:
1. I never really drank coffee before this trip.
2. The air in Guatemala smelled a lot different. It actually smelled really lovely to me. I enjoyed waking up to the rather smokey, natural odors. Smoking wood? Smoking incense? What was that smell? Whatever it was, it smelled more natural and earthy than what we've got going on in the city...
3. The farmers and their families provided the majority of our meals while working over there. They would provide for us their celebratory meals, really. It's called Papion. Chicken (mind you I'm a vegetarian), rice, and a picante-tomato sauce. With tortillas, lots and lots of homemade tortillas. And....I don't think I will ever eat corn again. The diet made me feel like my digestive system was being ripped apart, and I think I must have gained about 14 pounds from the food (though I'm afraid to look). I craved vegetables a lot. But the homemade food WAS very good....
4. Almost everybody on the trip got sick. Was it the food? Was it the water contamination? Was it that we were over-exhausted and not able to take full care of our bodies? Who knows, but we hugged porcelain and talked about movements almost daily. I'm still with a tender stomach. I hope I don't have anything serious...
5. We stayed at this really great Minnesotan-based project called Common Hope (La Foundacion Con Familias de Esperanza). Kind of luxe, if you ask me. But the dormitory space was open to the outside and we had a great layout. And we could flush the toilet paper down.
6. I forgot that developing countries have different infrastructures! Something you don't remember unless you experience it, I guess. They don't flush toilet paper down the septic system. I actually thought, though, that it was a better idea. Their systems are actually organic and have an easier at potential purifying the water without paper crap blocking passageways. Who decided to throw the paper in the system, anyways?
7. I love sitting in the back of trucks while driving. It was our means of transportation (as with all of the other Guatemalans), and the weather was nice enough that sitting and bumping in the back while watching the lovely landscape whiz by us was nice and refreshing.
8. The landscape was absolutely breathtaking. Antigua is nestled right in the valley of volcanoes. And what a beautiful chain they make. The pictures don't even hold a flame to what you experience when looking down a mountain at the land. The way the light hits the crevices and how the clouds skim over the volcanoes is something majestic and awesome.
9. I was impressed to see how some of the people living in shacks were still living fairly alright and were pretty contented with life. Poverty does not always mean destitute life. I think this is a key aspect that everyone should know and remember. I like to think of it as the "Be satisfied" rule.
10. My dreams were almost all about my former lovers in my life. Some of them were like reliving the relationships. Other ones were me tying loose ends with a few of them. One specifically I chewed out in my dream and I remember waking up with venom in my mouth still. It was odd to have such a strong theme going on in my dreams that week, but there it was.
11. I picked up on Spanish quite a bit while down there. Some of the people in the group translated constantly for us silly infidels, but by the end of the trip I felt like I could understand them for the most part....and I could almost formulate real sentences (though they were few and far between) to say to them. One guy, Stephen (we called him Esteban appropriately), and I spoke to each other in French because we both shared the language and not Spanish. I think I would have picked it up a lot more if I had stayed there a month. Fluent even, perhaps.
12. Gringos (aka white people) and a large sum of expats really do a disservice to people from developing countries. They build these really fancy and grand houses in gated communities that do little for the community outside except maybe hiring a few of them as servants. No wonder why people in "Southern" countries look at Americans with disgust and this feeling of elitism; a lot of us are. I have decided if/when I move to developing countries, I will live as the locals do as much as I can physically do. What's the point of being there if you are going to do the same thing you'd do in your hometown? Lame, people. Lame.
13. The people I went with were amazing! We didn't have any real drama, no "Real World" re-inactments, no slutty story-lines (though only 3 of the people were men; one was gay and another was taken), no real tension, no gossip. We actually all got along genuinely! We laughed a lot, and were comfortable with each other enough to deal with sicknesses and failures. I'm so glad I met all of them and got time to make real quality connections that will hopefully turn into future somethings.

That said...

Friday: It took me roughly 17 hours to get to Guatemala from NYC. I got to the airport early (4am) to meet up with my group. I didn't realize that I actually knew a few people on the trip until I got to the airport. Ok, maybe just 2, but that was a lot better than 0. One of the guys, Casey, ran into me in the check-in line, and we giggled at the surprise of seeing each other there, not knowing either of us were going on the trip.
I couldn't get on their earlier connecting flight to Miami (where I had a 6 hour layover anyways), so I ended up staying in LGA for hours and hours. When ready to get on my flight, they asked me to give up my seat for a later plane in exchange of a $300 flight voucher. Considering the later flight still gave me ample time in Miami, I lovingly took the voucher and napped on a seat for a few more hours.
Miami is a horrible airport behind security. Absolutely nothing to do there but sit and wait, and eat Southern food. Starving for a salad is unheard of in that airport.
This is where I started to have my existential crisis. Here I was bored and sleep-deprived, sitting in Miami ready to go to a developing country for some volunteer work, while the rest of the passerby's were heading off to Cancun and Cabo to drink themselves into a coma. Who the hell am I?! Who the hell are these people?! Is life really all about partying and looking forward to the next vodka martini? Is it the point to go to other countries for their diverse alcohol? I don't get it.
I got into the airport in Guatemala late a bit disheveled and delirious. My cab driver spoke wonderful English and taught me Spanish while driving an hour out to Common Hope, where I was meeting my group 7 hours late. We joked a lot about Hooters, the Latino chain stores and restaurants, etc. He even took time out to drive me around Antigua (the city) and show me where he lives and what areas are famous and what to avoid.
I landed into bed immediately upon arrival.

Saturday: We woke up early to hike in San Miguel. ...Not exactly what you want to do after a long day in airports. But anyways, we went. I just met this group of people, and we were already joking while hiking up this "mountain" (actually, I believe it was the volcano Agua...) to the area called the Corona where we were picking Don Felix and Alberto's (men in the co-op) coffee fruit. I think it was a 2-hour hike up. We took a lot of breaks, two people were on horses. The view was super.
When we got to the corona, we picked coffee fruit off of young bushes. Never thought it was actually look like little cherries! And taste like cherries, for that matter... it was kind of neat. The farmers were explaining to all of us the history of coffee, the plants, the agriculture, a day in the life....it was a lot of information.
When we crawled back to the town, we gobbled up lunch and headed off to learn about shucking coffee fruit, drying the beans, and then we actually got to grind, sort, and roast the coffee. We got to drink our successful production. So cool! And I actually liked it, for the most part. When there was sugar in it, that is...
We ate dinner with farmer Don Filberto, where for hours he told us about the war and gorillas and a lot of problems with the government and people in Guatemala. And Franklin (the founder of As Green As It Gets, AGAIG) kept donning us with interesting viewpoints on the US government's interactions with most other countries and products/services. We got back wiped out and slept promptly.

Sunday: We split up as a group and half of us worked on construction while the rest of us went to some artisans. I was grouped with Chris (the last guy to be named) and Jen (a leader), and we started off in San Juan del Osbispo with lovely Roberto and his family, where they do carpentry work.
Roberto and his wife Yolanda were fabulous! So much fun! They showed us pictures of their past carpentry work, then taught us how to make an ossefottay (? not a clue to its spelling), a coffee tray. From scraps of wood! And this is where I learned that I am no carpenter. I would look at Roberto and smile as my efforts, and he would smile back with a "...bueno..." and completely fix my work. I got more frustrated with the tools and how I was struggling with the fine features. I seared on the back of the tray "Robert made this. Kim helped."
Yolanda put me in a huipil and traje and I looked like a little Guatemalan woman! Roberto danced with me the marimba, and it was very cute. They took lots of pictures of me, and we all laughed at how well the dress fit me. I looked pretty good in it, if I do say so myself...
They ended up making us lunch (papion again) and dessert! It was this thing that was like a wet honeyed cream doughnut. So good!!!!!! I felt over-stuffed afterwards though.
Chris, Jen, and I walked over to Don Francisco. Also called by us the Buddha of Guatemala. He is a jade hunter; he goes up the volcanoes and gets hundreds of jade pieces. Such a wonderful man, such a calm man, so full of love! His house is covered in beautiful vine flowers and orchids. He has an adorable little puppy with his wife, named Regalo (gift), but they called Gordo (fat). I really enjoyed being with Don Francisco! We got to pick our own pieces of jade and made jewelry out of it. My stone has black spots on them. His wife then served us hot chocolate and cookies.
We met up with the rest of the group after a sad departure from Don Francisco. We ended up heading into another village and ate street food with the locals in front of a lit church. I don't know what exactly it was I was eating, but it was pretty good.

Monday: I went with Esteban, Theresa, and Oriana (the other leader) to work on metal art with Carlos. I made an owl. It's pretty difficult, and it wears out your forearms to cut and chop and hammer away at the metal so that you actually make what you aim for. I swore a bit under my breath. Again, Carlos would come over and fix our projects continuously. I took a lot of dance breaks, and Carlos turned up his music so that I could dance more. Theresa and I then started to try to teach Esteban how to dance. He's actually got moves for a white guy, but the coordination on some of the moves were a little too intense for him at the moment. We filmed him dancing and howled for a good long time. Even Carlos filmed him.
We met up with the other group and ate at La Taverna (which apparently a lot of Gringos eat in, but it was still good). I ate nachos con chorizo, and I won't apologize for it. So so good.
Half of us broke off then and went for a nature hike with Don Vedal, who taught us about plants and trees (especially Nispero) and the history of his area. The guy was so adorable, he made a classroom in his yard for us and talked for hours and hours while we all faded away from food coma. He even passed around photos for us to look at while he talked. The hike itself was really informative and beautiful, as always. And there were a few times during the hike that some of us would stop and say, "Doesn't this kind of look like Switzerland right now?" It did. And then there was one part of the hike where we were in a little mountain chasm that had a narrow passage way, softy hugging a straight drop down, that we had to walk through. Enter vertigo. I hyperventilated a bit. I had to take Chris's hand for a second before we got back to solid ground.
We got back to the project for dinner and had real vegetables! Thank goodness. Some women from a local organization, WINGS, came and talked to us about reproductive problems in Guatemala.
And then I massaged people all night. Everyone seemed to be impressed with my massaging skills and my breadth of knowledge that I keep locked away in the old ticker. Apparently I'm intelligent, or something.

Tuesday: My turn for construction (YES!). A bunch of us got to the site and started building some concrete walls and mixing cement.
You know, as a side note, it took me 4 years in a prestigious college to realize how much I actually like manual labor. I really would have rather building the entire trip, but alas it was not so. Maybe this is what I should be doing for my life....using my hands more often....
Anyways, for about an hour I was designated the "iron curler"; I had to curl roughly 100 rebar cubes to reinforce the wall. And then I helped Timoteo and Kevin (who's actually from Minnesota and pretty cute while totally reminding me of the guy in "Into the Wild") put bricks in a line, with only understanding Timoteo a little bit and him repeating simple phrases like "Otro mas!" We got along very well.
His wife came with lunch for us, and it was really quite good. Chris and Theresa were being hilarious and I nearly had an emergency during lunch because I was laughing so hard. Even though it was all in English, Timoteo laughed a lot, too.
Kevin, Theresa, and I went for a walk to a town next door (long long walk....) to buy a specific birthday cake for Jen's birthday that day. Theresa kept cracking us up about her Vietnamese heritage with her ebonic droll. One of the local kids walked us over there, and I could have sworn he was just taking us for a ride until we actually found ourselves in a pastry shop looking at loads of cookies and cakes. Thank goodness everything in Guatemala is relatively cheap....
We ended the construction early and headed into Antigua (having showered, thank you) for dinner with the rest of the group at this fabulously gourmet, swanky resto called Hector's. We feasted on sangria and creme brulée and the like until I thought that I was going to pass out from gluttony. Esteban and I also shared one of our sick comrade's meal together, so that didn't help us any...the group finished up and we head over to a bar for a drink.
Mind you, I was the youngest person on our trip (most people closer towards 30-something...), so we all seemed to agree that we just wanted a few drinks to relax and then go home. Much to our ignorance, however, the young little undergrads had quickly followed us into a random bar and our quiet night was taken over by kids who apparently missed the flight to Cancun and Cabo and settled for our bar in Antigua. A group of Brazilians came in and started banging drums and dancing. I joined them with Oriana for a song or two, but quickly became bored with it all and our group left to go back to the project for another night of slumber.

Wednesday: I went with a bunch of the women to learn about all-natural and organic cosmetics. We actually learned quite a bit about the process, and we ended up making nice-smelling lotions with avocado oil that we took home to show off (and somehow I managed to get them through customs, too). It was a pleasant, quiet (and much needed) day.
We met up with the rest of the group, who were making bags. Yes, I bought a bag. We ate a nice lunch.
This is around the time where my body started to get grumpy.
But after lunch we went over to a nearby soccer field to play girls' soccer with the little ones from all over the village. The boys in the village tend to kick the girls off of the field so that they're not able to actually play at all. So our group leaders had put together a day where the girls were allowed to take over the field and play soccer. The little girls were so excited to be on the field, though, that a lot of them just stood there excited and didn't actually play. Whenever the ball moved or went in the air, you would hear a large roar of squealing on the field.. Esteban was chosen by the little girls to ref our "game", and we had a fun little time.
Jen was the goalie on the other side. It was hilarious; every time I would look over to her, she would have about 3 more teeny tiny girls standing next to her in the goal. They didn't do much; just stood there cute and covered in dirt, shoeless. (Oh right, and there was a lot of poverty on our trip.) Jen started to look like Mother Goose with a flock of baby geese behind her because they would follow right on her heel whenever she moved. By the end she couldn't even get into the goal.
Dinner was something somewhere. It was the one house that actually smelled not so great. Kind of like urine. But the food was decent. We were all pretty wiped out though, clearly, so our conversation was slow.

Thursday: We woke up and headed off to Valhalla, the magnificent Macadamia Nut Farm. Owned by an expat Larry from San Francisco. Really is a little oasis. His wife is phenomenal! And the nuts are amazing. He served us macadamia pancakes with nut butter and blueberries, all fresh and more organic and natural than anything else I think I have ever eaten. We all shared hours of laughing and listening to Larry's interesting and different perceptions on life and the world and his macadamias. It was almost like a slightly religious experience, being there. He told us also all about the healing aspects of macadamias and offered us to come back whenever. I got to talking to him about coming back as a worker, and he looked at me seriously and said that if I wanted to help run a blueberry farm similar to his nut farm, only in the rain-forest on the other side of Guatemala, then we should talk more. He then said, "If something happens, come back home. Here. I'm seriously thinking about taking him up on that offer someday....
Then we head over to an indigenous women group, where we watched them perform a traditional dance. They then led us through the process of weaving their textiles and designs. And THEN we got to weave our own fans! I could do it again, I think....it was interesting to be there and watch them speak in their original tongue (which I can't spell), but I was starting to feel a bit funky around then, so I don't recall a lot of the conversation there. There fabrics were beautiful, though.
We left the commune to be split up again, and I went to hike up the mountain and dig holes for future trees. Hard work, damnit! My wrist was giving out, and I was ready to throw up, but I kept on working. I must admit, Guatemalans are really hard workers, from what I've seen. We had a little bit of hard labor before we came back down the mountain.
Going back to the project for dinner, we listened to some people come talk to us about their attempts to improve the education system in the country.
Once they left, a few of us stayed up and started video taping ourselves about the trip. Danielle took over the tape and became "Oprah", and we progressed to laugh for hours and hours at her witty banter and the guys' funny comebacks on the tape. I hope something was salvageable for our project...
Oh yeah, and then an earthquake occurred. The girls got nervous, the guys got excited ("That was awesome!"). I've been in those before, didn't bother me, but I wondered if that meant the volcano was erupting soon...

Friday: I woke up feeling not so hot. Last day, and I didn't know if I was going to get through it. I took a nap on the couch while half of us learned how to coffee cup (aka become coffee snobs).
They woke me up to go on our last hike up to Volcano Pacaya. Half of the group was pretty sick and couldn't make it, so only 6 of us took the hour-long drive to the volcano. We packed lunch items to picnic with on the volcano. I had no idea what to expect.
The car-ride wasn't bad at all. We talked, gawked at the still-amazing landscape and peaks. We finally made it to the base of the volcano path. Another Don Felix came and escorted us up the volcano. We had a nice quiet time up the hill. Men with horses followed us. I didn't understand that at first.....
It was really grueling on my body to be hiking again with a shoddy immune system. I had a hard enough time hiking up the day before. I was still a little gross feeling. And about halfway up the volcano I stopped, not understanding if I was going to throw up, run into the trees, or pass out. I got hard of breath, and I felt ashen, couldn't stand still. Jessica, one of the women who led us all week, asked me if I wanted to go back down, and I didn't know if I was going to make it. Great, here I am in Guatemala in the middle of a volcano where no emergency helicopter could ever come and save me. Then someone told me to get on a horse. And then it all made sense.
This was the first time I ever rode a horse, and it was up a volcano. Talk about hitting two birds with one stone...
I felt really bad that i couldn't make it up the trail without assistance, but my group kept telling me that it was OK, there was nothing I could have done about it.
Remember that vertigo? Well, riding a horse on a volcano also with a straight drop down isn't much better....but my horse leader was nice and kept saying in thick Guatemalan "No problem, no problem, lean back." The horse riding was easy actually, but the look down....
When we got to the top of the volcano, it reminded me of the moon. Lots of dark dark rocks all over the place. No plants. Kind of an eerie feeling. We kept climbing up the volcano. And then we finally stopped.
It sounded like light hale behind silence. The rocks were moving, pushing, falling, tumbling. The rocks were smoking. And then I noticed that in the middle of the black were patches of red. As in, molten lava. As yes, there I was by a lava river watching the lava petrify into rocks right before my eyes. Yeah, it was hot. By our area an emaciated dog waited placidly for us to come and give him a treat. The animals seemed calm.
We stayed up there on the top of the volcano for a little bit. Admiring the view, and oggling at the lava petrifying. Chris geeked out when he was able to light his cigarette with the lava rocks.
The hike back down was somber for me, on my horse. My life has so many peaks and extraordinary parts that I sometimes wonder what I would do with a life any different.
We head straight into Antigua, where Danielle, Esteban, Chris, and I took a few drinks and reflected by ourselves about the trip. I walked alone for an hour taking pictures of the city before the sun went down, and stopped at a cafe called Cookies Etc. to buy a dozen cookies for the group. We went for a little walk together afterward to find a pub and stumbled for a second on what seemed like a cafe that showed funny (extremely funny, actually) film clips. We ended up in a little local bar and talked until it was time to get a cab back to the projects for our reflection. I napped a few hours before heading to the airport in our group's vans.

Saturday: I went through customs twice. I slept on the plain rides. The national security check in Miami wanted to take my liquids from Guatemala, and I suaded them to just give me a warning, saying "Are you serious? I just got through Guatemalan and Miami international security with this all, and you want to stop me in the domestic airport?". We all bonded while waiting for the planes. In Miami, we ate at a Chilli's, and I struggled with my salad because it had corn on it.
The group and I got back around 10pm, and I crashed.

A Legendary Carnival

**Note: I have posted this part on both blogs because it is both international and domestic.**

I went on the Carnival Legend in the early morning of Sunday, with a myriad of people. There were: senior citizens avoiding assisted living, groups of college boys ready for some boozing, groups of college girls ready for some boozing, family reunions, young families with crying children and awkward teens, LOTS of romantic couples, 3 wedding parties, girlfriends on a week getaway, and some other stragglers (us included).
A few notes abut the cruise ship before I go on about my adventures:

• I loved it! It was a really great escape.
• The exterior was mammoth.
  
• The interior was rather gawdy. It reminded me a lot of DisneyWorld or something family-oriented with lots of bulky ornaments.
• There was an ungodly amount of food available at ALL TIMES. Deej would have loved it. People ate 24/7, too! There were buffets, ice cream stations, pizzerias, one sushi table, a bakery, and loads of bars and lounges with bar food. Most people probably gained no less than 5 pounds on the trip. Luckily, I couldn't eat very much of the constant food (gluten), so I only gained about 2 pounds, mostly from water retention.
• The dinners were always very good.
  
• Every night my mom and I would walk into our stateroom with a new adorable towel animal. Some of them had my sunglass on them for a cute effect.
• The servers, waitstaff, and other staff were absolutely amazing! They knew our names before we sat down the first night! After the first night and me telling someone my love of Shirley Temples, the drink server (Calvert) brought me one as soon as I got to our table. They danced and sang and joked with us, but it wasn't fake; they were seemingly having a genuine good time and enjoying our company. And the hostess of the ship came to our table every night to help me pick out gluten free meals for the next day, dessert included. It really made the trip a lot more special.
• A lot of the cruise I napped. Every day I had a nap. I was relaxing!
  
• The ship did sway back and forth, but I did not get seasick. It was almost lulling.
• Everytime we docked or tendered at a port, we were with about 3 other cruise ships. It was like looking at the looming monsters in the background, watching its little precious possessions (the islands, that is). Kind of creepy, to me.
• No, I did not party on the ship. I flirted with some waiters, but otherwise, I was alseep by midnight. There were clubs on the ship, but most of them were full of 18 year-olds or drunk freshmen. I didn't mind.
  

Monday was a day at sea. I went to the spa (yes, there was a spa) and had an Ionithermie treatment on my legs. They rub algae all over you and put electrical sensors on you that stimulate your muscles and break up the cellulite! Slightly uncomfortable, but I cut off 5 inches that day! Sadly, within a few hours after the treatment, I accidentally fell asleep outside in the sun and got 2nd degree burns all over my back and legs. I puffed up like a cream puff like you wouldn't believe, and the burns made it hard to walk and sit (and do most things) for the rest of the trip. I also attempted some Pilates on the ship, but the sway of the ship made it virtually impossible to balance.

Tuesday we tendered to Georgetown, Grand Cayman. The water is gorgeous, and the port was very quaint and colorful. I was a bit disappointed in how developed and merchanidized the port was. People were there to strictly shop, I gathered. Meanwhile I hobbled off the beaten path a bit and enjoyed the quiet, simple scenery of residential neighborhoods.

Wednesday was our stop in Cozumel, Mexico. This was one of the highlights, for me; I signed up to take a boatride to the mainland and see the Mayan Ruins of Tulum!!! The half-hour boatride to and fro was so rocky that the stewards ended up handing out vomit bags to most of the tourists. We landed on the Mexican Riviera at Playa del Carmen, where we boarded our "Sun & Fun" bus and took the hour-long ride to the ruins.
We stopped at a Mayan shop on the side of the street to pick up some souvenirs before getting to the ruins, and I bought some black abyssinian stone (which was supposedly mistaken as gold...it shines in the sunlight!). I tasted very nice and smooth tequila, it didn't taste as rank as the stuff from home. The air was extremely arid and hot.
We finally got to Tulum, where we had to walk a kilometer to the groundsite. The cripple I was griped, but the real me was bouncing up and down like a three year old. We got there, and it was huge. The Mayan ruins are absolutely stunning. Behind the walled "temple village" is the amazing beach and port with at least 5 hues of bright blue water and palm trees hugging the ruins. The buildings and foundations were clearly well designed and planned, especially since most positions of ruins coincided with solstices and equinoxes. The massive "human sacrifice" temple was peering over the rest of the city and had a very regal aura to it. Iguanas were everywhere!
After I scurried around the walled city, I walked back before the departure time the indulge in a frozen margarita and arroz con carne. The drink was so strong I barely made a dent in it before feeling mighty punchy, and the arroz were fabulous and super spicy. The ride back to the port (and the ship) were light while I conversed with the older woman next to me.
On the ship, I watched a hypnotist that made a man stuff balloons in his clothing and then pop them (believing they were monkeys).

Thursday was our Belize City day. It was pouring for a lot of the day. Mom was pretty reluctant to the idea of venturing off into the city and away from the port, but after agreeing to shopping for about an hour or so, I finally coaxed her off into "unchartered territories". It was pretty run down (it looked beaten up by storms), and people roamed around on the street shoeless (which I marvel at). But it was still charming. Everyone was super nice and would stop to say hello just because you were there! The city area we were in looked kind of like a slum, but I didn't feel in danger at all ever. I also encouraged my mom to get some fresh fruit and a smoothie before heading back to the ship. All I can say is: they don't make it like that in the US. Simply ambrosial.
While in Belize, I was walking and talking pictures while I heard my name being called. Calvert, one of our servers, comes over to say hello! It was so fun to run into someone else I knew randomly, even if we were both there for the same reason (ahem, the cruise). Mom commented that only I would be able to run into someone randomly and unintentionally in some foreign city, seeing as I have in most cities I've been to recently.
Later that night on the boat was a Robe Party, which was the ship's attempt to have a Toga Party without the college connotations.

Friday was Roatan, Honduras. This one my favorite, and most pleasantly surprising, port. It's this giant, lush jungle-like island full of happy people, pretty landscape, tropical everything, fantastic beaches, and developing ports and bays! I swear, I'm moving there someday. After cruising through some of the little shops on the port, I hazed my mom into a carride with one of the locals to get a better tour of the island. Kicking and screaming, my mom boarded our vehicle and quickly befriended the driver while she showed us around the place.
We saw 2 shipwrecks in the waters on our drive. It was fantastic to see these rusted and gutted skeletons in the reefs. It made me feel a little pirate in me. We bounced and bobbed on the hilly and rocky roads to some of the developing "American" areas, which were, of course, phenomenal. We ended the ride with a visit to the West Bay; where all of the surfers and beach bums have created a great little area of a beach town to congregate.
Of course, there was a big food event on the ship that night: Midnight Artisan Food Gallery. It took 200 manhours to craft these amazing and lifelike sculptures and wonders of architecture in our dining room. It took a little less than 10 hours for the artwork to be completely devoured by the hungry masses of the cruisers. I couldn't eat most of it, luckily. How do people eat that late?

We had our final day at sea. I read, I napped, I ran around the dock, and I went to the gym. While at the gym, I noticed the other gym-goers were gawking at me in disgust. I quickly found out that my sweat had crept under my burnt skin and had blistered the majority of my body to the point that it was squirting out of my skin as I flexed. Disgusting, yes, but also rather funny!
At our final dinner, our table of now closely-knit women shared emails and numbers, and I exchanged emails with two of the waiting staff.
The final show on the cruise was a bunch of the cruisers impersonating singers. It was....interesting.

We had to wake up before the sun rose on Sunday to make our planes. With a huge line of other people disembarking, we trudged off of the port and into the car of the grandparents once more. I think it will be forever a tradition with me to break my luggage as I return to the US from some foreign place. This time the wheel literally fell off. Apparently I picked up the flu on the ship from one of the servers (in a wholly kosher way), so I started getting nauseous as soon as I got into the plane.
When I got back to Newark, Dad Bill and Aimee picked me up to bring me back to the city for Easter Sunday. I got carsick quickly. And NO ONE EVER TOLD ME that you'd feel seasick once getting OFF of the bloody ship! Anyways, I ruined Easter by being unable to eat anything Dad made (and he made it gluten free just for me!). I crashed into bed early, feeling like I was on a rocking ship.

The last two days I have fought off the flu mostly and have things running back to normal. All quiet on the western front, for now.