Pictures, Finally!

This post will mainly just be pictures. I figured you have been missing out since I have not been able to post them for some time. Enjoy.

This picture and the following 3 below are of the Independence Day parade in my town.

These girls are in typical indigenous dress that was once worn where I live but is no longer used. Unlike other parts of Guatemala where large populations speak an indigenous language, I have been told that there are only a handful of people that speak the indigenous language that was once spoken here.


I am not sure why it said pain, but I am sure it is not supposed to mean pain. I dont know how those little girls could impose any pain anyway.

This dancing gymnastics competition, as it was called here, is related to the independence day celebration because this was the qualifying competition in my town. The winner got to go to Jalapa for the Independence Day celebrations. The two photos are actually of the students where I work (my aldea) and I have been teaching English to these students. (On a side note, they will be finishing the school year next week and I will be administering a final exam... how weird is that). The students actually won and got to go to Jalapa where they placed second in the whole department.

Here is a pictue of corn. Wow. Actually it is a success of the work that I am and my NGO have done. If you look at the picture, you can see corn that is bigger to the right and corn to the left which is smaller, yet they were both planted at the same time. The corn to the right only uses organic fertilizers including animal poop and the corn on the right uses chemical fertilizers. Obviously it took more time to plant and fertilize the corn on the left, but the farmer saved some money and has healthier corn. Here is an example of a person who is starting to incorporate this organic method. In the past, he bought 5 bags of chemical fertilizer for his land. This year, he only bought 2 bags and bought 10 bags of chicken poop. Chemical fertilizer is costing about Q300. The chicken poop cost only 20-25Q. (1500-600-250) He saved Q650 this year which is about $85. To me, that is amazing. Now the next goal will get them to produce all of their own ogarnic materials so that they wont have to buy the chicken poop.

These 2 pictures are of the women in the group who have been going around to member's houses making vegetable and medicinal gardens. As you can see, the women are tough and get dirty. In the picture above, they are using pick-axes to loosen the soil.

Just Another Day on the Throne

The 15th of September here in Guatemala, as well as in other countries in Central America, marks the independence that the Guatemalans gained from Spain in 1821. Some of you may remember this from my reporting last year. In my town this year, as well as last year there were parades and dances and presentations and marimba music. I even got to see the running of the torches, which I had only heard about last year. Basically this is where people from a town or school travel to some distant place in Guatemala or even to other countries in Central America the 14th. They then spend the whole day and sometimes the entire night returning to their towns but with torches lit and running part of the way. Now just imagine the fact that every town and school does this on this day – I think just maybe, it might have been a little more hectic on the highways than is normal. I got to see students arrive with their dozen torches lit as they entered town at 9:30pm. The whole town was waiting in the park listening to music and ready to cheer them on and douse them with water. Whenever and wherever people see groups running with their torches on the road, they throw water, and not just when they arrive to their home towns. Supposedly this is to cool them off, but I think it is more like an excuse to have a water fight.

An aspect about being a foreigner here is that some of us are put on thrones, especially in times of celebration and holidays. Some are invited to special dinners or fiestas, others might even be asked to be in a parade or be a judge for a beauty competition. And I am no exception. Christmas, Easter, and now this Independence Day I have had the opportunity, whether I liked it or not really, to sit on a throne – of course, should I tell you that my throne was made of porcelain. Yes, unfortunately my streak continues. The night of the 14th and the 15th amoebas decided to attack me in full force leaving me without sleep or anything in my GI tract and only with sulfurous burps. I always thought those amoebas looked cool under the microscope… I still think so, but they belong under the microscope, not in my small intestine. Thankfully for me, Peace Corps always has a nurse on call and by 3pm after seemingly constant diarrhea, I was told some medicine I could look for. I needed 2000mg of something called Tinidazole but in my town, being so small, there was only something that looked similar, Metronidazole. The pharmacist told me that it was the same as what I need. Seeing that the later killed amoebas as well and figuring it could be just a brand name for the same medicine, I believed her and took the medicine. Well, the nurse called up the next day to see how I was doing, and I found out that it was not exactly the same. It did kill amoebas, but required a different doses and regimen. Instead of the 2000mg I took all at once, I should have taken 8x less (250mg). Thankfully nothing serious happened; I only woke up with a stomach ache and a little burning from the harshness of the medicine. I guess I’ll have to question a little bit more about my medicine the next time.

As you can guess, work my work has been the same for the most part, but unfortunately, for my part, it was recently converted into a scene from a novela (a Spanish soap opera). So if you want to read something that is completely trivial outside of the bubble here, read on… Information care out that money was missing (over $300) and the president of the women’s group stole it. On top of this, there were people, mainly the president, who were upset with me. The women had been (and still are) bringing one plant each to willing houses to plant medicinal gardens and to work on vegetable gardens. Unfortunately some regularly came well after the work was done, including the president. I said that those who did not show up on time to do at least some work, would drop down 2 spots in the list of homes that we would visit. This put some in a fit. Amidst this tension, the NGO here which helps run the governing body of a lot of the groups here, was secretly training another president and were plotting how to secretly overthrow her. I worked out the problems early on with me by talking with the president many times. The disappearance of money, I don’t think, will probably never be dealt with (It is almost like corruption at all levels here is taken as a given). Elections were held legally and without question, though, after it was realized that according to the group’s bylaws that elections needed to be held every 2 years. The president lost her position and thankfully at the last minute decided to give up her position gracefully.

Finally, two doctors from the US came to Jalapa the other week to plan for their medical trip their group will make in February and I had the privilege of helping them out translating. I think that I am the one that got the real bargain though. I got excellent meals which they graciously paid for and I got to pick their brains for hours asking them about their jobs, medical school and the path to become a doctor, and what kinds of lives they lead outside of their job. These encounters definitely excite me and push me more to consider going to medical school after Peace Corps; but only time will tell for this. Through the doctors, I also got to meet some doctors in Jalapa, including the director of all the health posts in Jalapa as well as the director of the state hospital here. One of them invited me to pass by whenever I had time to see some births, which I think would be quite the experience, as long as I don’t faint or anything. I am excited too for February, when the doctors come because they’ll give me an opportunity to scrub in and see surgeries being performed (as well as give me an opportunity to pick their brains some more). So who would have thought that “running away” from medicine, I would be found by it here in Guatemala?

Independcia y La Gallinera

As usual, we had one day at the training center, but on Wednesday, September 12, we began constructing our gallinera for our 80 pollitos (baby chicks) and this would be quite the task not only because we are all independent and have different ideas but because we cannot spend any money of our own, the gallinera was to be 80 square feet (8 by 10 feet), we have to try to use any materials that the family has, and if necessary, the family can purchase something if they want. Well, needless to say, we reused/recycled countless things:
-we pounded out tacks and nails from skids and machine boxes to use them
-we used machine boxes and skids for wood
-we used giant thick plastic bags used at a factory as insulation
-we took apart an old rabbit cage to get only half of the 80 square feet of caging that we needed for the floor
Another hard part, now that I think about it, was the lack of tools… How did we cut all the wood to size?...using saws or machetes. How did we put in the majority of the tacks … well a hammer. Really though, it was not bad and we were more fortunate than others. We had hammers and a screw driver and even an electric drill.
The four of us volunteers plus Freddy when he returned from his job worked all evening, and then all evening Friday. Saturday, September 15 was Independence Day and unfortunately it was not quite a holiday… we spent the majority of the morning, waking up early, working on the gallinera. Thankfully, we took some time to watch the town parade… For a town of 7000, it was quite the surprise to see such a big parade. The mayor, minister of education for the department of Sacatepequez, and other figures including the towns Reina (Queen) led the parade. Following them were students from every school in the town, and probably schools from the outskirts too. Each school had their Reina too, and most schools had a few students in indigenous dress with the rest being in uniform, had a band, and had dancers. The parade ended in the center where the municipal building and band shell and stage were. There, there were be presentation and dances and other activities throughout the day.
Luckily too, in the evening I got to go to Antigua to see a little bit of the parade there, which is the capital of the department of Sacatepequez (thus meaning the parade is bigger and better) and then got to celebrate a birthday of Doña Victoria´s sister.
On Sunday, the priest again was a half hour late for the mass I came 20 minutes early too. After mass finished though, it was perfect timing because the town was finishing their Independence day festivities from where they left off Saturday. Laura and I entered in the potato sack races which were divided into 3 groups: older men, older women, and children. Both of us got 2nd place and my prize, surprisingly was 6 shot glasses and a candle. I found it funny to get that since there was not legal bar in the town and the fact that my family is Evangelical (they do not believe in many worldly things including drinking and dancing). After the race, instead of working, Abi and I convinced Freddy to play in the basketball tournament for men. We joined about 5 or 6 more random men from the town to face another team who had a uniform and played and practiced together for years. Since we did not have numbers, I was labeled el canche (the blond). Those guys played a bit rough and we got a bit hurt, but we were in the game the whole time and the ref called the game quite well… To tell you the truth, I thought we were winning the whole game but apparently not since we did not get the trophy. Still it was fun and definitely wore me out since we are up in altitude. The only other strange thing was the teams did not line up at the end of the game to congratulate each other. This confused me so much that I thought it was half time when the game was done. Apparently, congratulating the opposite team is not done here. Abi and I though, still went over to congratulate the team.
On Thursday after working each night on the gallinera, we finally finished and we received the 80 pollitos. I just hope that they last the first nights since we are not that sure how warm it will be inside. (As I am posting this since it is Friday ... I now know that all the chicks survived the first night and today we gave all 80 chicks vacines against New Castle by putting a drop of live virus in their eye -- dont worry, people cannot get this virus supposedly)

I think now I´ll explain the 10 people of the family I live with
Doña Victoria – is the head of the house and who is technically taking care of me
Mimi - daughter of Doña Victoria
Toque – husband of Mimi
Eric – son of Mimi and Toque
Doña Gloria – sister of Doña Victoria
Don Freddy – husband of Gloria
Freddy – son of Gloria and Freddy
Don Rosalio – brother of Doña Victoria
Doña Anita – wife of Rosalio
Madeline – daughter of Rosalio and Anita

Finally on a more important note, Rosalio is quite sick. He went into the hospital as scheduled on Monday to remove a substantial mass (I believe he has cystic fibroma) from his leg. However, cancer was discovered in his lungs as well as in the mass. His right leg with mass was removed today, but it is unknown what can be done after that. I am sure your prayers will be appreaciated.

My shower which has slightly electrocuted me.

Constructing the gallinera frame... Freddy, Laura, Pablo from R to L

Even earlier on when we had no frame for the gallinera ... Pablo, Eric, Laura, Freddy Jr, Abi, me, and Freddy from R to L

Cathedral in Antigua... I did not get to go inside which I´ll save for another day.... The front part of the property is where all the presentations were held for the parade in Antigua on Independence Day.

This is the parade in Antigua.... The crowds were huge

The parade in my city with a young girl dressed in one type of typical indigenous dress.

The gallinera with the pollitos.

Another view of the complete gallinera inside the small outdoor building along side the house.