Think Green Live Clean

Photo Credit: Trent Hodges

After three months of intensive Spanish classes and technical training, I have finally settled down in the community I will be living for the next two years serving in Peace Corps.  When I originally came to Guatemala, I was informed that there were no sites on the coast. This at first was hard to swallow.  After spending four years in San Diego recreating in and studying the ocean, it took time to prepare myself for two years without salt in my veins.

However, the day we received our site locations, we were blindfolded and situated on a fake map of Guatemala.  Taking off the bandana, I looked down to see my feet resting on broken sticks meant to represent the border of the country.  I then looked at the packet in my hands, ALDEA HAWAII, SANTA ROSA.  Ironic and shocking, I was going to the southern coast of Guatemala to live a community called Hawaii…

So here I am writing while sweating profusely and listening to the long period ocean swells smash into the volcanic sand.  The area is beautiful with a long steep black sand beach and a large canal behind which constitutes a highly productive mangrove forest.  The people mainly subsist on fishing, running restaurants or hotels, and small scale agriculture.

My work here will involve many different tasks but mainly, I will be focusing on environmental education and trash management.  I will also be working with a nonprofit group that runs a sea turtle hatchery here and develop ecotourism and bird watching opportunities in the mangrove forest.  After spending Semana Santa (Holy Week) here at the beach and seeing the insane amounts of trash that either get burned or tossed in the ocean, it is obvious that the trash problem here is serious and needs to be addressed.

It’s my first week in site and I have a lot to learn.  However, I’m extremely excited and fortunate to be working near something I’m passionate about and participating in grassroots activities to help change perceptions and habits related to the marine environment.  I’ll check back in soon when things start moving down here and I find my place.  Until then, que les vaya bien and think green live clean.

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