Raising Florencia: Dominican Puppies 101

So, I will admit from the get-go that I know nothing about puppies, or dogs for that matter. Growing up, I had pets like fish and mice and lizards. Knowing all this, it is probably no surprise that Florencia has been a tough cookie the past few days. Officially, Florencia moved into my casita on Sunday. I made a nice box-bed for her in the corner, bathed her twice with special shampoo to remove her fleas (that her mom conveniently carries) and bought her expensive “Purina Puppy Chow”. Whelp, she doesn’t sleep in the bed, still has fleas, and wont eat the dog food. She won’t eat at all. I woke up to her poop 1 foot from my bed… which Rafalito stepped in. To top it off, my very small shack reeks of dog.

Interestingly, just as I am writing this, my host mother unearthed a rotting turkey foot from under my bed (where the bad smell is coming from!). It is most likely that Florencia’s mom, while visiting today, brought this treat. I have now learned from experience to never look under the bed (see: dead rat blog post).

But, things can definitely get better. My host family, conveniently, had a spare wood dog house sitting outside my shack, so we are officially moving Florencia to the shack OUTSIDE my house. I also plan on getting her a baby bottle with which to feed her milk. So, I’ll update soon with her progress (hoping there is some..!).

antigua ruins, marketplace colors, me overlooking lake atitlan

guatemala city architecture


laurel and I enjoying mixed beers

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volcano smoking from lake atitlan

I’m back! After 11 days of Guatemalan site-seeing, market-going and relaxing in the sun, I’m officially back in El Guayabo.

Guatemala details: Absolutely fabulous! We (my friend and her family) spent a week at a private house on Lake Atitlan, followed by an afternoon in Antigua and 2 nights in Guatemala City. Our rented house on Atitlan was beautiful, and we spent our days swimming, sunning, kayaking, learning how to make traditional Guatemalan food from our housekeeper Maria and visiting various lake-side communities. We spent lots of time in markets buying touristy gifts (Guatemalans specialize in hand-woven goods) and even went to a local music festival that was attended by American hippies… authentic, eh? Fortunately, we had a view of the various volcanoes bordering the lake from our windows—incredible!

On the other hand, I was shocked by how touristy Antigua was… the streets lined with American/European upscale stores. I’m glad we only spent an afternoon there instead of more time – Antigua did not seem like a true Guatemalan city (and was too expensive for me).

However, Guatemala City, in my opinion, is a necessary stop in touring Guatemala. While it may have the reputation as being dirty and dangerous (of course some parts are), there are some wonderful museums and restaurants and gives you the real picture of Guatemala. We did a walking tour of the city one day and ate lunch at a small, dark, bar that Che Guevara used to frequent. Excellent mixed beers!

I was a bit unenthused about coming back to my community. Who wants to give up the hot showers, fruit smoothies, English-speaking, flush toilets and traveling to new places, and instead come back to lots of work? However, upon arriving in my community to fresh flowers in my shack (thanks host mom!), a home-make piece of cake (thanks neighbor!) and the whole community coming to my home to see me (because they missed me!), I immediately had a change of heart and realized how lucky I am to have such a wonderful community. I am happy to be back.

Work Update: So, while I was on vacation, I have planned to have 3 nutrition classes. Guess what? Only 1 actually worked out (but apparently my friend made it really fun!). All that planning for classes that didn’t happen…but that’s life.

lizards in my room!


lizards all over!


at the casabe factory inauguration. me, another peace corps volunteer, and the director of the factory.


my puppy, florencia! growing so big!!


isnt she adorable?

So the last few weeks have been defined through getting ready for my vacation to Guatemala (who ever thought going on vacation was going to be so stressful?). I will be in Guatemala for 11 days, which is quite a long time to be away from site. As luck would have it (I’m being sarcastic here), March is really when my classes are getting off to a start--so it was essential that I plan well so my classes don’t fall apart! March is also a time when many grants are due, so last week I ran to the capital for 15 hours (12 hour journey roundtrip) to turn in grants, pick up papers to sign, etc. I will be missing two weeks of nutrition classes, but I have coordinated with a nearby volunteer to come teach one week, and the local doctor the next week. However, this all means that I was writing lesson plans/drawing presentations/creating games for 3 weeks all at once (I’m not going to leave the substitute teachers without lesson plans!).

To further my stress, the rain here is non-stop, halting my trips to the nearby town to fax my taxes, print necessary lesson plans and have class (with rain, no one leaves there house). This means that my lesson plans are now thrown off because one nutrition class is very ahead of the next. Oh, bother..

But, you learn quickly to roll with the punches. I do have some fun updates though, that include my English class graduation (22 students graduated!). We celebrated with a pineapple cake I made (see photo), music, soda and certificates. While the cake took about 1.5 hours to bake (we were using a huge wood oven with no controls), it turned out to be delicious and fed about 30 people!

Also, this past week was the inauguration of a yucca production plant that my next-door-neighbor/good friend was heading up. This plant was about 3 years in the making and heavily funded by about 6 dominican/international organizations, principally USAID. What was once a little thatched hut that produced casabe (yucca bread) by hand, is now a beautiful open-air building with high-tech machines and sanitary facilities. This plant was first dreamed of by the local cooperative in hopes to help regulate local yucca prices (that is the principal crop of the region). All the yucca that will be used, and all the employees employed, will be associates of the co-op (and thus, will be local farmers). This new plant is an income-generation project to diversify work in the area and benefit the local people. It was so exciting to go to the inauguration and see the plant at work (they demonstrated all the steps of the casabe process). Among the invited were the co-op associates, Peace Corps, the Sub-Director of USAID, a catholic bishop, government representatives, etc. Lots of important people! I guess the most exciting thing about the inauguration was to see how a project, that was once a dream for the local people, became a reality with the help and collaboration of many different development agencies. I’ve learned that while rural development is slow, the final products are worth the wait! Finally, it was great to see the success of my neighbor who had headed up the construction of the plant (after more than 6 months of running around like a madwoman).

Also, my new puppy came and spent the afternoon with me for the first time yesterday, playing in my little house (which will shortly be her home) and she met all the neighbors. Everyone loves her, and its easy to see why (see photo)! While she definitely no longer looks like a chihuahua, she is still adorable with soft, fluffy fur and chubby little legs. In about another month, I will take her to move in permanently.

A last thought: My mind is boggled by the fact that tomorrow, after a flight of only 1.5 hours, I will be in Miami (layover to Guatemala)! Back to the richest, most powerful country so quickly and easily…lets see how I react to “civilization”.

Post note: I will not have my computer with me on vacation (a true vacation!), so look for an update in about 2 weeks!