Endings and Beginnings

Today marks my 9 month anniversary in Pachalum, and also my last day in Guatemala before going on my first vacation since I arrived in country almost a year ago – a visit to my grandma in Israel for the next two weeks! My last few weeks have seen a little more activity since I’ve been attempting to initiate more projects so that they can hopefully get started while I am gone and then when I get back I can hit the ground running. Whether this is a realistic approach to things is doubtful, but hope springs eternal.

One of my inspirations for getting started on new projects was the latest training that I attended at Peace Corps on July 14^th/15^th. This training, Project Design and Management, is one of the few that includes counterparts and I took along the two técnicas for the OMM – Juanita (who has been working with me since February) and Telma (who just started that week). In the training, we learned how to work with the a community to collaboratively come up with a project. The process begins with community mapping and we went through the paces of mapping Pachalum, identifying problems and potential projects, and then prioritizing a project, writing a plan of action, figuring out a preliminary budget, etc. It was really exciting to have Juanita and Telma participating and meeting all the other counterparts who came along with my fellow volunteers. Juanita and Telma are 19 and 21 respectively and both graduated from high school last year after having studied accounting. Taking them to meet other técnicas and learn about how to better meet the requirements of their job will hopefully have positive reprecussions in the future, and they were both very excited to go to Antigua and declared that they would like to be Peace Corps volunteers as wellJ

Working on our community map

Completed Map

With Juanita and Telma

While we waited for lunch on our second day we decided to do a photo shoot. Along with Telma and Juanita, Cara, Devon and Devon's counterparts participated

A Sta Catarina/San Antonio Training group reunion in the lunch line

Our completed proposal for a garbage classification and community compost project in Pachalum - we worked with Devon and her counterparts from El Chol, Baja Verapaz

Since Juanita and Telma did not know Antigua too well, before heading back to Pachalum I took them around to visit a few ruins, including my favorite – Iglesia San Francisco. Estela and her kids came by to visit as well, and we took advantage of the extra hands to take tons of photos throughout the ruins of the monastery by the church.

With Estela, Daniel, and Samuel

When I returned to Pachalum newly inspired from the training and all the ideas I got from other PCVs who are doing awesome things in their sites, I asked for an office meeting on Monday morning and the four of us (Luz María, Telma, and Juanita) sat together most of the morning discussing ideas for our work plan these next few months. One idea that I have wanted to do for a while now is initiating monthly meetings where we invite women leaders from all the communities to Pachalum to discuss different topics. The benefit of this would be that the OMM would have more regular contact with women in communities that we are not necessarily working in and the women leaders will get better trained and meet each other to share experiences and inspire each other to take on a more active role in local politics. Devon and her counterparts have had a very successful series of Encuentros de Liderezas, so I presented that idea and got positive feedback. In this last meeting we also determined what new communities we would like to work in and decided that we would teach the women in each community business basics along with a a different type of craft to then sell during the fair in late October.

The past two weeks most of my time has been busy attempting to put together a complete list of leaders for the Encuentro, calling possible speakers to come to the first meeting, tentatively planned for 9 September, and writing and presenting a proposal with a budget to the mayor. On my weekend I also got started on a personal project that I have been interested in since training – making tire gardens. A friend helped me find, cut, and flip two tires – one will be for compost and the other for a garden (any recommendations for what I should plant? Everyone here tells me it is ideal for cilantro…but I hate cilantro, I was thinking maybe oregano or some other herbs, hardy plants would be best since I have a black thumb).

I was more of a consultant on the flipping process. After cutting the tire and leaving handles, it has to be turned inside out, which is really hard to do, it took over half an hour to get this tire flipped.

In regards to my women’s groups, I decided that even though I am going to start working three new communities with Juanita and Telma when I come back to Pachalum in mid-August, I would continue for a little while longer with the two communities that I just recently added (a little over two months ago) since the women are still motivated to come to reunions every week and I enjoy being in the field a lot more than staying in the office. This means that when I come back to Pachalum in August, I will have a community visit every afternoon from Monday through Friday, and in the mornings I will need to work on putting together the first Women’s Encuentro.

In La Joya de Moritas we started community mapping.

While I will continue to work in two of the communities that I have been working in the past few months, this week marked my final trip to Cipres por el Campo, where I have been going since February. Cipres por el Campo is the one community where I have been able to successfully help the women got organized into a legalized group (in the other communities I was told thanks but no thanks), and I feel really attached to the women, who are so warm and friendly and definitely have more confianza with me than in any other commmunity (they call me to ask random questions, invite me to birthday parties, and have met both my parents). After a good five months and diminishing participation, I decided the time was right to finish up, so yesterday we had our clausura. Only a few women showed up, but we had a good time making Pepian and S’mores (a cultural sharing moment).

Doña Esperanza wanted me to try on her clothes, so we switched up our outfits. While Esperanza is ladino, she likes the clothing that the Xoyitas wear (that is what they call indigenous people in Pachalum since our neighboring municipality of Joyabaj is mostly indigenous).

My ladies with their certificates and children

3rd of July and Aniversario

After not getting out of site much thanks to the garrucha and general laziness, I started out July being out of site for a week of Peace Corps related activities. I left site on Monday in order to go visit Mamatina and Estela and was completely unprepared for the rainy weather. Here in Pachalum it rains pretty much every night, but during the day it is clear for the most part and it is still hot. In Antigua and its environs, it feels like winter – it is overcast and it rains during the day almost every day. On Monday it rained all day and on the way back to Antigua from San Antonio, we had to pass through Ciudad Vieja. Ciudad Vieja was the capital of Guatemala before Antigua, but when the city was flooded and the local sovereign was killed, the capital was moved to Antigua (which it turns out was not that much better of a capital in terms of protection from natural disasters). Ciudad Vieja was flooded and had serious mudslides due to Agatha and this was due in part to the many rivers that run around the city. The rivers are more like little streams when not in rainy season, but with enough rain, they swell up and on Monday when we were returning to Antigua the roadway was actually flooded (the water went up to the first step on the bus) and closed down later in the afternoon to more traffic. With my one thin sweatshirt and tank tops, I realized that I was totally unprepared for the week ahead.

Tuesday morning I woke up to sun and decided to go on a power walk up to Cerro de la Cruz. This hill overlooks all of Guatemala and on a good day the Volcan de Agua is fully visible in the background. There are warnings about going to Cerro de la Cruz by foot since people from the nearby communities have been known to rob unwary travelers, but I stuck to the roadway (rather than going up some steps up the side of the mountain) and only carried my camera hidden and nothing else of value. It was a beautiful morning with great clarity.

Jumping at Cerro de la Cruz

The first of my compromisos in Peace Corps during the week was In Service Training. Every program has a training at some point during the first year that is meant to serve as a kind of reinforcement with topics that are of interest to volunteers as expressed during Reconnect. The Muni Development group chose to have our training right before the All Volunteer Conference/3^rd of July party to save everyone an extra trip to Antigua. As a member of the Muni Council, I went to Peace Corps a day early for a meeting about the training and plans for the next training group that will come to Guatemala on August 11^th! I was put in charge of putting together the muni cd, which is basically asking all volunteers to send me documents of work that they have done in their sites (outlines of talks that have been successful, information on laws, contacts, ideas for secondary projects, etc). There is a cd from last year that I am working off of, so the job is not too arduous. After being in training for almost three months with 31 other volunteers, it was kind of sad to be back in Peace Corps with so few volunteers. The muni group started out with 17, we lost one early in training, then another volunteer left shortly after swear-in, and another chose to leave. Another three volunteers were unable to come due to medical issues, leaving us with 11. Despite the diminished size of the group, we had a good time together both in training and later on at night in Antigua.

Municipal Development 2009-2011 representando

Antigua at Night

On Friday July 2^nd, the annual All Volunteer Conference took place. In this conference, a variety of speakers are invited to discuss different topics related to Guatemala and a few workshops are held. A lot of volunteers missed the conference since the World Cup quarter-finals were being held at the same time, but I held out until the end of the day for the workshop on recycled art/jewlery-making. There is a volunteer who lives in the East and helps a women’s group there market their jewelry and purses that they make out of trash. One of the women from this group came to teach a workshop on how to make the purses and I learned a little bit, though 1.5 hours was definitely not enough time to grasp the process. Doña Ana told me that if we paid viaticos (room/board/travel) she would come to Pachalum to teach women here how to make recycled art in a two day workshop. I am really hoping to get approval for that since it could help deal with some of our trash problem and also become a source of income since the purses and earrings are super cool.

Recycled Purses

On Saturday July 3^rd, Peace Corps held the 3^rd of July party in a venue close to the Center. Thanks to the Paraguay/Spain(?) football game, half the party was people just watching a screen, but once that was over, there was dancing, a highly entertaining talent show, and really good food. I really enjoyed meeting so many other volunteers (there are over 200 of us in country now since the post is being expanded – the new training groups are coming in larger numbers) and dancing to rap music (a hard find in the local ferias).

With Uncle Sam

I arrived back in Pachalum just in time for the 24^th anniversary of the municipio. Wednesday July 7^th was Pachalum’s 24^th birthday and it was celebrated in style. At 4am I woke up and joined my coworkers and high school bands in a march around town setting off fireworks and playing obnoxiously loud music to wake everyone up (this is called an alborada). At 530am we ended up at the plaza and after handing out food we watched actos (basically like a talent show or amatour night, everyone who wants to can go and do a choreography or lip sync or sing). At 615 or so the activity ended and everyone went home to wash up (I went to the gym) and prepare for the big parade at 8am. At 730am I went to help organize the parade of municipal leaders (my women’s group was there!) and ALL the schools in the municipality (that is the four middle/high schools, the private school, and some 30 odd elementary schools from all the communities). The parade was lots of fun, all the preschoolers were dressed like plants/fruit/vegetables, and it ended at the urban elementary school for an Acta. The mayor talked, hymns were sung, all the beauty queens were in their finest gear, and then there was more food to hand out (people here love their refacción – snacks!)

Some of the Señoritas for the elementary schools during the activity

This year Pachalum is hosting the departmental games, so after the morning parade, everyone went home again to rest up, and then at 2pm there was another parade with all the municipalities’ elementary schools coming to participate in the basketball/volleyball/soccer/handball competitions (next week the middle/high schools compete and the week after teachers compete). The afternoon parade was short and ended in the coliseum where the Señorita Deportes competition was held (so many beauty pageants, so little time).

On Thursday, there was a morning activity to conmemorate all the Paisanos Ausentes, that is all the Pachalunecos who are abroad (most are in New Jersey or Tennessee). As part of the activity both Catholic and Evangelical representatives led us in prayer and then 1000 white balloons were symbolically released to represent the immigrants who died in their journey. While I appreciated the symbolism, I was definitely concerned about the environmental damage that releasing so much plastic in the atmosphere would do (I guess since we are nowhere near the ocean I do not need to worry about sea turtles eating them…).

Girls from Ciprés ready to let their balloons fly

On Friday, there was a small cow fair and I spent the morning selling tostadas for a friend’s mom. I really enjoy selling food, I might need to look at that as a future career venture since I am pretty good at it and I have a track record at this point (I did it in the Hillcrest Farmers Market with Juanita the tamale lady, now in Pachalum with Doña Berta the tamale lady…and tostadas for Doña Olivia…). It seems that for small free samples of food I can both sell effectively, and feel like I am making a steal. As they say here – full tummy, content heart (panza llena, corazon contenta).

Cow Fair