Dispatch # 5

Greetings and Feliz Ano Prospero Companeros!!

I hope this dispatch finds you settled, sorted, and
marching towards what your hearts desire in this new
year of ours. Here are some writings, thoughts, and
adventures Ive been experiencing:

SURF TRIP(Encounter with the "cuatro ojos")

One thing I love about Guatemala is that nothing is
easy. The struggle to accomplish simple things make me
appreciate everything so much more. I find this
reflected in the simplest tasks that sometimes turn
into epic quests; from searching for a vegetarian
pupusa to taking a transport(22 people in a small van)
to the bus station. Nothing is easy, especially
planning and executing a surf trip.

Large swaths of Guatemala´s coastline is seperated
from the mainland by incredible mangrove swamps and
slow moving rivers that are pushed and pulled by the
ocean´s tides.

A few weeks ago, some friends and I took off on a
journey to one of these beaches-el paredon. We took
three buses, a Tuc-Tuc, and a boat to get to the el
paredon surf camp(situated in the middle of a national
park). The camp is just a couple of thatched huts that
rent for $4.00 a night about 100 ft. from the beach,
and its truly a stunning place.

One day after surf, we rented some canoes and paddled
through the mangroves. We saw dozens of different
species of birds as we drifted our way deeper into the
mangroves.

The high tide pushed us along, and gave us an
opportunity to meet al kinds of "river-folk" who were
living off the bounty of the river- eating birds,
fish, lizards, and shrimp. We kept seeing what
appeared to be water snakes crossing our wake,
slithering ominously across the surface of the water.

I thought about all the poisonous (one bite and you
die) species of snakes that inhabit these tropics, and
started to feel the fur on the back of my neck get
prickly. Always the curious one, I asked a local about
all these snakes we kept seeing.

He looked at me with a funny sideways glance and said,
"there are no swimming snakes in these waters." Just
as he said that, I saw another "snake" slithering
acorss the water and said "Mira, que es esto?" He
laughed and said, that´s a "cuatro ojos"(4 eyes), a
fish that as two sets of eyes(one for seeing about
water, and one for below). They travel in small groups
and have an uncanny resemblance to snakes. "DO you eat
those?" I asked. "Claro que si" he said, and threw his
nets in to to try and catch them.

NOCHE BUENA (Christmas eve)

At 9:34pm on December 24th, I found myself on the
porch of a family I had known and been friends with
for years. I was surrounded by a group of children,
ages 2-6. The oldest one was Tio Evin(Uncle), who at
his wise age of six, was in charge of supervising his
neices and nephews while their parents caught up with
eachother´s lives insed. Each of the kids(including
the two year old) had piles of fireworks in their
hands and were celebrating noche buena early.

My teacher/responsible adult instincts kicked in, so I
decided to hang with these litte people to make sure
no one blew their hands off. Within minutes, I was
caught up in the middle of the explosive
madness-lighting, distributing, and "supervising" the
play with fireworks and firecrackers. We lit off a
variety of different sized explosives that were just
the beginning of the celebration of "Jesus´s
birthday". At midnight(Dec 25th) every house in
Guatemala launches an arsenal of fireworks into the
air to celebrate this important day. It really is like
a giant birthday party!!

I was in a municipality of 27,000 people, and I
believe each one of them(including the two year olds)
all lit some kind of explosive device when the clock
struck midnight. The night sky lit up with an
incredible display of colors and mad explosings.
Drifts of sulfuric smoke danced all about, and the
cackle of explosions and dogs barking split the night
and my head into small pieces. I made several runs to
the local store to buy more "bombas" before the night
was over.

The celebration was capped by the eating of a
turkey(we killed earlier) and a pile of tamales.
Dinner ended at 1:30am.

AM I A VOLCANO

The earth is shaking here,
Volcanoes are erupting in the distance
Lava flows, hardens, cracks, and flows again
Everything feels so unsettled

I sit in a lava field
Smell distant incense buring
In Mayan and evangelical ceremonies
And hear the boom of a volcano erupting

I have a sense of calm, peace, and belonging that
feels so amazing
I wonder about the lands below me, and how much it
reflects my insides-

So unsettled, in constant motion, occasionaly
exploding,
Pushing-pulling
Forming beautiful landscapes and catastrophic moments
of destruction

Is finding land that reflects who you are a part of
the journey, the quest that has led so many people to
take such epic adventures to arrive to these places, I
wonder to myself.

I think of Oregon, the northwest, and all its
similarities with Guatemala...it feels so much like
home, as do these lava fields I know sit in.

Shifting lands, unsettled times, change, movement,
drifting plates, collisions, creations....Im caught up
in this movement, wondering where it will take me...

PROJECT UPDATE

When Im not getting lost in lava fields or bouncing
around to the coast, I continue to work on the
project. Here are some highlights and updates:

1. We got a grant of $10,000 from the Daniele Agostino
Foundation to pay for the project next year

2. The director and several members of the board of
directors of Next Step Recycling(our parent
organization) are coming to Guatemala to visit, tour,
and get to know the project. They have refurbished
over 500 computers in recent years that have been set
up in a total of 30 different computer labs.

3. We are researching and creating an internet pilot
program that will be placed in one of the schools this
year. A school computer lab with internet will provide
schools with a virtual library of info in Spanish.

4. We are hosting computer repair classes and have set
up a spare parts storage site that schools can access.

I plan to be here through February, then head to
Nicaragua to do some volunteering and surfing. I am
going to learn and volunteer on some "appropriate
technology projects" which include building safe
stoves, biodigesters(capturing methane gas from
manure) and simple water treatment systems.

Please drop me a line and tell me how life goes up
there.

Un abrazo!

Mateo

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