It is November 2005 and I am now in Antigua Guatemala. I am enrolled in a Spanish Instruction and Immersion Program. I am also living with a local family in a home stay situation. I like my Spanish family and I like my School. At my school most students are from the various European countries but more Germans than others. I met one couple from the US and they are from Vermont like me. They are missionaries , here to work with indigenous people and they will be at the school for at least six months as their responsibilities require a high degree of language competence. Another American is a NY city resident who has decided to leave an unrewarding job in NYC and just move here to Antigua for at least six months, perhaps permanently.
We spend every morning, with our respective personal teachers and we work hard at vocabulary, pronunciation verbs expressions etc.. .... My teacher, Miriam,
only speaks a little english so it forces us to speaks Spanish... Afer a big lunch with our respective families, we spend most afternoons in local interactive activities... like tours, visits to meuseums, learning with local artisans. Last Monday, was a tour of the village of Antigua... Thursday, we went to see the famous Pacaya volcano-- a real active one--- about 1.5 hours drive from here...I did not climb to the rim like the younger set, I would not have made it. However those who went to the top said it was very cold with 100 km/hr winds. But they were about one meter away from the lava We also visit local ruins here in Antigua on Fridays and today was not exception with a visit to the ruins of Las Capuchinas, the nuns who settled in Antigua in the 17th Century to educate the local population... Some students are here for a few weeks and some for many months,... some people come back every year and find language immersion a great way to vacation and experience the local culture...
The town of Antigua has about 42,000 people--- It has wonderful old Spanish architecture and cobblestone streets. There is a strong Conservation and Preservation organization that enforces a strict code about keeping the old look in Antigua and they have been effective in making this area a special place that draws tourists from around the world. There are tourist groups coming through Antigua regularly, many from the US and Canada. In response, Antigua has many shops catering to free spending foreigners... Many are jewelry shops --and shops featuring the Guatemanlan artisan goods and textiles. There is Jade mining activity here featuring the Mayan mode of extracting and working the jade so Jade jewelry is a specialty of this region. Antigua is surrounded by three volcanoes. One volcano is semi active but no fire...The beautiful cones make this area a very beautiful place... (I have read that Guatamala has some 33 volcanoes!) There have been earthquakes here that have leveled the town but they keep rebuilding and keeping the old look. it is quite a neat place and even Guatamala city people come here on the weekend to shop and enjoy themselves.
In all, it is not hard being here for four weeks... even when the studies are hard and you don't feel like you can conjugate another irregular verb and you continue to grasp for that spanish vocabulary that is on the tip of your tongue. But the Guatemalans people are wonderful with their smiles, their hospitality and friendship.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
The Ark is the name of this "tree hotel" which sits high in Abedare National Park in the Central Highlands of Kenya. It is built like an ark or ship with small berth-like cabins. The meals are first class and the Entertainment is continuous with frequent visits by the many types of animals and which can be viewed from the many decks and glass-enclosed rooms... I only had one day of this "Safari" experience before returning to Endarasha Village and my work with the Farmers Co-operative Society.
Photo Credit: Linda Aines
And during the morning sunrise, i could see the outline of Mount Kenya in the background as an antelope was drinking on the edge of the pond. It was gorgeous! Throughout my short stay at the Abedare National Park and during the many visits by these animals, I kept thinking of Sara, my 4 year old grand niece who so wanted to know if I was going to visit the jungle. Well Sara, this one is for you!
Photo Credit: Linda Aines
As I spent an overnight stay at a "tree hotel" in the Abedare National Park a few hours from Nairobi, Kenya. I got to view elephants and other animals as they came to the watering hole. Elephants, buffalos, antelopes and other game animals come to this watering hole which is an attraction for wildlife as they come to the muddy pool and saltlick near the hotel. Guests can view the animals from viewing terraces--there is even a ground level photographic hide. It is quite an animated scene as the animals jostle, and sometimes break out in fights especially when new-born calves are around. Throughout the night, if the guests are asleep, a buzzer will sound announcing the animals that come to the hole-- there are special sounds for rinos and leopards which are more rare.
Photo Credit: Linda Aines
Thursday, March 03, 2005
The Central Highlands of Kenya
My Wanderings
Enderasha, Kenya: I have now been here 10 days.... I am one of two white persons in a village of 20,000 in the foothills of Mount Kenya. It is a populated rural agricultural area a few hours from Nairobi, which is very hard to describe. It is quite beautiful, like a patchwork quilt with rolling hills and shade trees. The highlands were at one time all forested but much of it until the land starts rising too steeply has been cleared for agricultural land. There is still the original forest cover in Abedares National Park which is a gated preserve where you can see elephants, buffaloes, antilopes, deers, rinos, leopards, and a variety of smaller animals and birds. I did visit the park last weekend---just had to as there are no animals outside the Park’s electrified fences. I went to the Ark, a “tree hotel” located inside the park, where guest can view some of the animals as they come to the watering hole near the hotel. I found myself along with the 20 or so other US and European tourists, fascinated by these animals. Of course the hotel staff sprinkle some salt near the watering hole every afternoon and it attracts the animals. Hotel guests just watch from the balconies and glassed rooms strategically located to provide an unhampered view of whatever wanders nearby. And they came, like a parade--- first it was the elephants, then the buffaloes. Later there were some sixteen elephants out there hogging the pond and as they cleared out, then came the smaller animals: a warthog, some deers, antilopes. I also saw two janet leopards (very small cats) near the hotel and some other small animals I cannot name. It was hard to go to sleep as the animals hung around for most of the evening. Not to worry, if we go to sleep, the hotel rings a buzzer if some interesting animals come in.
My safari was a short outing, less than 24 hours and now I am back at my assignment, writing a business plan for the Endarasha Farmer’s Co-operative Society. The Society has the biggest buildings in town—a grouping of one and two story brick buildings that house farm input supplies, milk cooling tanks , vehicles that enable this coop to collect and distribute milk for the many small dairy farmers in the Endarasha area. Here I work everyday at the Society’s offices along with Mary, a Peace Corp Volunteer assigned to the Cooperative. At the end of the day, I walk some 150 meters to the grounds of the Endarasha Parish Catholic Church where I eat and sleep. This walk is quite fun as I usually meet all kinds of people from the village---adults and children who are anxious to say hello, if I smile at them. The children are beautiful and just beam if I acknowledge them. I have been given a small cabin on the edge of the garden, to sleep in. My meals are taken in the Rectory, with Father James and Anne, the cook and house manager. I am well fed and in good company. There is a guard on the grounds and he stays in the cabin next to me so I am very safe. This is good!
Enderasha, Kenya: I have now been here 10 days.... I am one of two white persons in a village of 20,000 in the foothills of Mount Kenya. It is a populated rural agricultural area a few hours from Nairobi, which is very hard to describe. It is quite beautiful, like a patchwork quilt with rolling hills and shade trees. The highlands were at one time all forested but much of it until the land starts rising too steeply has been cleared for agricultural land. There is still the original forest cover in Abedares National Park which is a gated preserve where you can see elephants, buffaloes, antilopes, deers, rinos, leopards, and a variety of smaller animals and birds. I did visit the park last weekend---just had to as there are no animals outside the Park’s electrified fences. I went to the Ark, a “tree hotel” located inside the park, where guest can view some of the animals as they come to the watering hole near the hotel. I found myself along with the 20 or so other US and European tourists, fascinated by these animals. Of course the hotel staff sprinkle some salt near the watering hole every afternoon and it attracts the animals. Hotel guests just watch from the balconies and glassed rooms strategically located to provide an unhampered view of whatever wanders nearby. And they came, like a parade--- first it was the elephants, then the buffaloes. Later there were some sixteen elephants out there hogging the pond and as they cleared out, then came the smaller animals: a warthog, some deers, antilopes. I also saw two janet leopards (very small cats) near the hotel and some other small animals I cannot name. It was hard to go to sleep as the animals hung around for most of the evening. Not to worry, if we go to sleep, the hotel rings a buzzer if some interesting animals come in.
My safari was a short outing, less than 24 hours and now I am back at my assignment, writing a business plan for the Endarasha Farmer’s Co-operative Society. The Society has the biggest buildings in town—a grouping of one and two story brick buildings that house farm input supplies, milk cooling tanks , vehicles that enable this coop to collect and distribute milk for the many small dairy farmers in the Endarasha area. Here I work everyday at the Society’s offices along with Mary, a Peace Corp Volunteer assigned to the Cooperative. At the end of the day, I walk some 150 meters to the grounds of the Endarasha Parish Catholic Church where I eat and sleep. This walk is quite fun as I usually meet all kinds of people from the village---adults and children who are anxious to say hello, if I smile at them. The children are beautiful and just beam if I acknowledge them. I have been given a small cabin on the edge of the garden, to sleep in. My meals are taken in the Rectory, with Father James and Anne, the cook and house manager. I am well fed and in good company. There is a guard on the grounds and he stays in the cabin next to me so I am very safe. This is good!
Saturday, February 26, 2005
Kenya---An amazing landscape
I have now been in Kenya a week. Except for a day in Nairobi, I have spent most of it in the Central Province about 150 km north. I live and work in a village called Endarasha and i am helping the Endarasha Farmers' Dairy Cooperative Society create a business plan that will help them grow in the future. From Nairobi, there a good road up until Nyeri, the administrative headquarters for the Central Province but from Nyeri, there is another 40 minute ride on a road that is full of ruts and stones and it makes for a super hard ride. When I need to get out of Endarasha or go to Nyeri, I ride a small van call a "Menuta" which seats a dozen riders and the bus will not go until it is full so we may have to wait 30 minutes while it waits for more riders... but it is the typical mode of transportation here and almost no one has a car... Nyeri is the trading center for the area which is mostly agricultural. there is extraordinary density of cultivations here in the tightly space farms that grow maize, beans, potatoes, cassava, bananas, sugar cane, millet, squash and melons, tomatoes, citrus fruit, cabbages, and carrots as well as tea, coffee, and macademia nuts... it makes for an extraordinary and beautiful landscape around Endarasha and Nyeri.
I am back in Nyeri today after having spent the night with Mary and a couple of her Peace Corp colleagues. They have been here for more than a year already. Mary is my partner in my project as she has a business degree and has been working at the Cooperative since coming to Kenya. They know their way around the Central Highlands and know many of the residents here. This morning, we caught a ride into Nyeri on the back of a milk truck from the coop where Mary and I are working. We had dust all over us but this didn't phase Mary and her PCV friends, Scott and Stacy, whose dark clothes are now dusty brown and they are on their way to a wedding reception in a town two hours away... and they also have a live goat with them -- Goats or small live animals are normal wedding present to the bride and groom here. As for me, I am shortly going to take a taxi into the big Aberdares National Park, where I will spend the night at the Ark a "tree-hotel" (see ark@form-nt.com) located inside the park and high above the forest canope. Aberdares National Park is near Mt. Kenya. There, I will have a chance of seeing some local animals, perhaps elephants, rinos, etc... This will be the only activity of this sort I will have a chance to do while here as time is short but here's hoping. It will also be nice to treat myself to a bath and shampoo and a dip in the swimming pool before returning to Nyeri and meeting up with Mary and friends for the 40 minute ride back to Endeshara.
Next time, I write on this blog, I will add pictures of this amazing trip to Kenya and of the fabulous landscapes and people I am getting to know.
So long for now..
I am back in Nyeri today after having spent the night with Mary and a couple of her Peace Corp colleagues. They have been here for more than a year already. Mary is my partner in my project as she has a business degree and has been working at the Cooperative since coming to Kenya. They know their way around the Central Highlands and know many of the residents here. This morning, we caught a ride into Nyeri on the back of a milk truck from the coop where Mary and I are working. We had dust all over us but this didn't phase Mary and her PCV friends, Scott and Stacy, whose dark clothes are now dusty brown and they are on their way to a wedding reception in a town two hours away... and they also have a live goat with them -- Goats or small live animals are normal wedding present to the bride and groom here. As for me, I am shortly going to take a taxi into the big Aberdares National Park, where I will spend the night at the Ark a "tree-hotel" (see ark@form-nt.com) located inside the park and high above the forest canope. Aberdares National Park is near Mt. Kenya. There, I will have a chance of seeing some local animals, perhaps elephants, rinos, etc... This will be the only activity of this sort I will have a chance to do while here as time is short but here's hoping. It will also be nice to treat myself to a bath and shampoo and a dip in the swimming pool before returning to Nyeri and meeting up with Mary and friends for the 40 minute ride back to Endeshara.
Next time, I write on this blog, I will add pictures of this amazing trip to Kenya and of the fabulous landscapes and people I am getting to know.
So long for now..
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