Last Days in Pacha

It has been three weeks since I have gotten home, so I will admit these blogs are a little late, but I have needed this time to process the fact that I am back home and no longer the only white chick around. That, and realizing that the job search is as unpleasant as everyone said it was motivated me to go back and relive my last few weeks in Guatemala in excruciating detail.

Early on I realized that as much as I loved Pichacha, I was not ready to take her back to the USA with me. I have never had a pet in the States, I do not know how to control or train an animal, and I have no idea where I will be living next month, let alone whether they allow pets…so Pichacha needed to get her business in check. A small NGO called Animal AWARE near Antigua that serves as a shelter for street dogs (not to be a pessimist, but anyone who visits Guatemala can tell you that is a losing battle) has medical missions once a month where some vets show up and give animals vaccinations and neuter them. Since I do not want Pichacha to end up pregnant too young and abandoned to the streets with too many babies to feed, I decided to leave her fixed as a parting gift. Unfortunately for me, the whole month of October was essentially an extended standfast for all of us at Peace Corps due to extreme weather and horrible roads. This year, unlike last year, the rainy season came really late, but nevertheless the government was not prepared (on the other hand, how prepared can you be for massive mudslides and road deterioration because of poor construction?) and the roads were a nightmare. Since Animal AWARE is in Sahisha’s (my sitemate) the training town, she went along with me to help me find the way (still got lost) and the road from Pachalum to Guatemala City was probably the worst I have ever seen it. There were humongous potholes with the mud (again, poor construction, putting asphalt on dirt does not a good road make) and on one curve, we saw what looked like a dinosaur bite taken out of the road.

Road to Pachalum

Another angle

Getting Pichacha fixed was a very traumatic experience for both of us. When she woke up from the anesthesia I was called into a room where a variety of other dogs were being operated, a sight I had never seen before and which I never need to see again. After the operation we were told not to let her do anything rigorous or exert energy so that the stiches would not rip. The rest of the day I kept Pichacha in my lap as she kind of dozed and woke up and then we tied her up for three days so she would not run around with her other dog-friends. Pichacha did not take the restricted movement lying down and started to rip at the stiches by herself. My friend found some baby onesies in his house and put those on her to prevent her from reaching the stitches and they did the trick.

With Cristian and operated Pichacha

With Cristian and his little chicken he named after me – Cristian says that when I got back to visit we will eat Athalia for lunch

Pichacha learning to mind her manners

All by her lonesome

After finishing up the pila project, there was not much work left for me to do in Pachalum except write final reports and say goodbye. Surprisingly for me, I was not as sad as I thought I would be until the very end. I went around to all of my women’s groups up until my last week and we had fun making food and chatting. I think that I felt better about leaving since I had made a commitment to return next year (if we are all around and anyone wants to travel, I am planning on going between November and December 2012). The hardest women’s group to say goodbye to was my group of ladies in Las Minas de Ciprés. They are the community that I have spent the most amount of time with and in order to say goodbye we had a big party. I brought a humongous cake (strawberries and cream, yum!) and the women killed a chicken in front of me and made a stew that I had taught them how to make (Tomato Paste Chicken…which I call Pollo a la Kati) and chicken soup, which was amazing. I have never seen a chicken being killed and de-feathered and everything else before and I was surprised that it was not actually that gruesome. There were parts of the chicken that I did not even know existed (I think it is called the gullet, that is where all the corn kernels Mr. Chicken was eating right before his neck got snapped were). The women were super pilas (quick/on point) about taking off feathers, preparing the feet, cutting off the beak and roasting the head and I was duly impressed.

Ana Delia roasting that chicken head

I wanted to impress them too, so I washed my hands and got busy with the masa to make some tortillas. Sadly, over two years after I first tried to tortillar, my tortillas still came out like pieces of abstract art. I wish I had focused less on being in the office and more on making my tortillas even and round, but it is too late for laments. The novelty was still entertaining for everyone else, and Monica even gave me a helping hand so one of my tortillas looked alright.

Still suck at making tortillas

Monica in the background basically made the tortilla and I mushed it a bit in my hand to claim ownership

With Doña María and a recuerdo

With all the ladies one last time

After another bad rainy season, the end of October brought strong winds from the north, which pushed all the clouds away and made for perfect kite-flying weather. Just like I came to Pachalum at the end of October, just in time for feria and kite-flying season, so I left it.

Flying homemade kites in the backyard

Take Two with Pichacha watching

With Rosa and Cristian and Sahisha eating some feria fries

Inauguration Part Deux

Here are some more photos from the inauguraton complements of my APCD Carlos.

Watching speakers
Ribbon Cutting

Giving out recuerdos

Eating Turkey Tamales Heading back up to the car
Bodega Bay style

10/11/2011 - Pila Project Inauguration

I woke up at 5:18am on Tuesday October 11 to the sound of rain. It was pouring. At 6:30am I called my APCD Carlos who was coming to represent Peace Corps at the inauguration. It had been raining nonstop since the night before, was he still planning on coming? He told me to wait and see, I should get back in touch after I got in touch with people in the community…All morning long it rained, and it never rains in the mornings.

At 8am I went to the municipality and reminded people of the inauguration in the afternoon. Most people just smiled, they were not going up the mountain on the muddy roads to then hike into the community, not with the weather the way it was. I started calling Don Isidro, maybe we should reschedule? No phone reception. I called Carlos to tell him he should come, I had not talked to anyone in Tunales and they were probably preparing food.

At 10:30am finally got through to Don Isidro and the rain let up – in Tunales they had been at the school since the morning making tamales and preparing for the event in the afternoon. At 1:00pm Carlos, my friend Don Edgar from the capital, my sitemate Sahisha and three more friends from Pachalum headed up the mountain in one car while Don Rafael (member of the Municipal Council and in charge of the Public Services Office, Juanita, and a secretary from the municipality headed up with the transit police. The road to Tunales was indeed pretty terrible, full of deep ruts and mud, but we made it up and hiked to the community.

With Sahisha, Rosa, and Cristian’s feet

We arrived at 2pm and all the community was at the school ready for the celebrations to begin. The women were heating up the tamales, the men were prepping the pila in a nearby house for a ceremonial ribbon-cutting ceremony, and the school’s principal was setting up the sound system and everyone else was hanging out.

Cristian looking as the pila is prepped for the ceremonial ribbon cutting

The few, the brave, the proud who hiked in to the inauguration

Doña Petrona, Doña Isabel and Venancia with the turkey tamales

In short order we got down to the official inauguration ceremony. Don Juan and Don Isidro, the treasurer and president of the COCODE spoke about their happiness at the project and thanked those of us present for arriving. I gave a short speech thanking the community for collaborating and encouraging them to continue working as a united group since that was what got them the project in the first place. Don Rafael and Carlos spoke on behalf of the municipality and Peace Corps respectively, and then the women in the community gave out small gifts as thank-yous.

Sahisha, Cristian and Rosa listening to the speakers

Daring palabras (lit. giving words, speech-giving)

People from Los Tunales listening

Don Rafa receiving the thank you gift for the mayor

Getting my gift from Doña Petrona

At the end of the ceremony we all headed over to the pila of Don Juan next to the school and with Don Rafael we ceremoniously cut the crepe paper ribbon and handed out pieces for people to keep as recuerdos (I still have my piece!)

Getting ready to cut the ribbon

After a quick meal of turkey tamales, we took some final photos and left at 4pm, before the real party got started (marimba!) since everyone was worried about rain.

With Juanita and Don Isidro in his traje típico

Doña Isabel with her grandchildren eating tamales

Overall the inauguration was short and sweet, and I am really glad that a few of us were able to make it up to Tunales to celebrate.

Walking back to the car in the fog

Pilas Part Deux

A random unrelated photo to the rest of the blog that I like – Mari with tortillas her sister had just made in Las Minas de Ciprés

After being out of site for around two weeks due to the elections and my final medical exams (coming out healthier than I came in!), I returned to Pachalum anxious to see the progress on the pilas. With Don Jeremías, the project supervisor, I went up to Tunales a few times at the end of September to visit the houses and see the progress made. As I had been told, the pila project was not too difficult, so essentially all of the grease trap boxes and wells were done and the pilas were placed on cement bases. It was awesome, here are some photos.

Pila on its cement base. The base was built with cement that we were able to use thanks to Don Jeremías and his donation of bricks to the project.

The grease trap box and the water re-absorption well.

Don Isidro with a pila

Well with Huipil at Don Isidro’s house (has the date of construction written on the well cover)

One of Don Isidro’s daughter and granddaughters with the family pila. In around half the households that got pilas the families do not have running water, so they will need to bring water from another source to fill their pilas.

Don Jere and Don Isidro with a newly installed pila behind the old washing area the family used to use.

Don Jere in one of the households that has running water from a natural spring on the land.

In order to finalize the pila project, we held one last meeting to discuss the changes the project has brought to the community (evaluations for Peace Corps) and how to properly care for the pilas and the grease trap boxes (no hot water or pots in the pila, grease trap boxes must be cleaned every so often or the residue will back up and block the tubing). The ladies were very pleased with their pilas and the care for the pilas seemed logical, unfortunately one of the benefits we hoped for with the project – no more washing clothing in the creeks – was not achieved 100%. The families that do not have running water (six of the twelve) in the home use the pilas to wash dishes, but since laundry uses a lot more water, they still go down to the river to wash…a reduction, but not a total win.