Betsy's journey

So at the moment I am sitting on my ridiculous king-sized bed, sipping some of the best coffee in the world, listening to one of my favorite Wilco songs, typing this blog entry on my beloved computer (Betsy). Peace Corps? Posh Corps is more like it!

But this morning, I did go for a run where I had to fend off street dogs, then went to market and then bleached my veggies and fruits and hand washed a load of laundry in the pila and made lunch from scratch, so I feel I’ve earned my Posh Corps moment. And today, my Wednesday instituto has their mid-term exams, so I don’t have to walk 40 minutes in the rain each way today. I get to stay right here.

Yes, there are a million more productive ways I could (and should) be using my afternoon, but I’m so flippin excited to have my computer here that I can’t wait to tell you about it. Especially because it was quite the adventure getting it here. But what isn’t an adventure here?

(WARNING: A very long and not really that interesantly tale ensues about FedEx Guatemala´s horrible customer service and my family & I having to pay obscene amounts of money and mountains of stress to get my computer here, so only read it if you´re really bored, and I won´t be sad if you don´t.)

I had been doing my best to get by without a computer here, but I have found it difficult. Computer access is expensive (on a Peace Corps budget) and of course unreliable. Plus almost all of the resources that the Youth Development Program have given me is electronic. And for writing lesson plans, meeting agendas, making calendars and writing up 3 month plans, as well as simply compiling and organizing my ideas, a computer is very very helpful (pretty much every other volunteer had brought one, and for good reason). This past year I had even saved up for months and bought a computer, planning to bring it with me. Then all the official advice from Peace Corps Guatemala said “Don’t bring a computer! It will alienate you from the Guatemalans! It will get stolen!” But since I’ve been here, I’ve found it’s almost a necessity, and I’ve just felt I haven’t been nearly as productive as I could have been (how American of me).

And THEN, my ipod quite working. Yes, I suppose I should have seen all this as an opportunity to distance myself from material possessions and practice resourcefulness. All I know is that during those first few months in training, sitting in my room listening to my ipod and beading bracelets was one of my most calm, content times. Having my music here was like an old assuring friend, something so familiar in an environment where everything else was so very and new different. In those moments, my music seemed to assure me that although my whole world had changed, I could still be me and maintain my identity.

So when I tried turning on the ipod and I got the dead ipod frowney face with the Xes for eyes, it was the last straw. I called the parents and asked them to send me the computer.

Then came the fateful moment when we decided that mailing it FedEx would be the safest way-- one of the biggest mistakes of my life. Red lights should have flashed and horns should have sounded their warning when it cost $500, but my generous parents bit the bullet and sent it anyway (although if they had told me it cost this much, I would have told them to forget it). But that was only the beginning of our worries. First, FedEx contacted us to say that they needed the physical PC Center address rather than the PO Box (where all the regular mail packages go). Then they needed the name of someone to receive because I couldn’t be there. Not a big deal; I took care of it. Then there was the matter of the tax. Yes, for some reason when you ship FedEx rather than the regular mail service, it goes through customs and acquires a tax. The tax for my computer would be roughly $300 (or Q2000, WAY more than I can pay on my PC budget). But no worries, the FedEx Guatemala office assured me, this tax could be waived with a tax identification number, or NIT number. I told them I could probably use Peace Corps’. They said if not, I could go to a government office with my passport and get a temporary NIT number to avoid the tax (all this transaction was in Spanish, by the way, complicating things a bit). Thing was, they needed it by Tuesday or they were shipping the computer back the US ($500 or no). This was Friday (and let‘s keep in mind I have a full schedule teaching in 4 institutes).

So I called Peace Corps in a panic and asked if we could use the NIT number. But the guy that deals with tax stuff wouldn’t be in til Monday. Yikes! So, anxiety mounted all weekend, and on Monday morning I called PC and talked with the right person. Yes, he said that wouldn’t be a problem and he’d go ahead and e-mail the NIT number to FedEx. So I breathed a sigh of relief.

Now it was Tuesday. When I finished teaching at my Tuesday institute, I saw I had a missed called from Peace Corps. Turns out there had been some complication with the Peace Corps’ NIT number, so FedEx went ahead and paid customs without contacting me, and brought my computer to the PC center and asked for the money for the tax. Of course Peace Corps couldn’t pay it and I wasn’t there to receive it. What’s more, they never contacted me to tell me there was a problem, and to ask if I could go to the government office to get a temporary NIT number. They didn’t even ask for my authorization to pay the tax. They just did it.

So of course, all that evening, all the next day (Wednesday), and all Thursday, I tried calling FedEx Guate to figure out what was going on. They never answered the phone. The message box was full. I even tried e-mailing them. No response. My dad kept calling the US FedEx office, which assured him there was no way the Guatemala office had paid the customs because they don’t do that, and that it’s the sender, not the receiver, that pays the tax, and that they promised the computer wouldn’t be returned to the US. But they obviously had no idea what was going on with the Guatemala office. My dad went ahead and set up an account to pay the tax in the US, and at this point I was willing to make the 4 hour trip to the PC office early Friday to get my computer in person, but I still couldn’t get in touch with FedEx to make this arrangement.

FINALLY, at 5 p.m. on Thursday, a miracle happened and they picked up the phone. Yes they could arrange to deliver the package on Friday morning. So I got up at 4 a.m. on Friday, made the 3 hour trip (plus 1 hour waiting for the earlier bus that didn’t come). Everyone at PC was very sympathetic and outraged on my behalf, and the secretary called to complain that they didn’t get my authorization for the tax and I could have tried to get it waived (her Spanish is a lot better than mine) and may have gotten the tax waived for me (we’re still not sure if my dad will get charged for it). I waited around a couple of hours and the FedEx man finally arrived with my computer, which for some unknown reason I had to pay a $30 fee (Q200 people! That’s a lot of money!) to receive. Then I made the 4 hour trip back to my site, nervously clutching the locked suitcase that contained my computer. But at long last, (after paying as much as the cost of the computer for the worst service I have ever dealt with), it survived the long expensive journey here, to my room, where I am very deeply appreciating it. I will add that I have come up with a new name for Fed Ex that begins with the same letter, but I’ll leave it to your imaginations.