I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala from 2009-2011, and I last visited in January 2013 when one of my friends was finishing up her service. In the past four years, Guatemala has imprisoned of a corrupt vice president and president (excellent podcast about it, or if you prefer to read, here is a a summary of the #RenunicaYa movement - gives some hope that we can do something similar in the USA), seen a surge of young people traveling solo to the USA to escape violence, and elected a clown/comedian to the Presidency.
Our first stop in Guatemala: breakfast with my former office-mate and friend Edgar (with his wife Mary and son Jesus Alberto). Edgar was a university student finishing up his practicum to get his degree in architecture when he was assigned to work in the municipality for six months. We ended up becoming running buddies and climbed a volcano together, and I went to his graduation before finishing up my service in Peace Corps.
Four buses and four hours of travel to get to my Peace Corps site: Pachalum, Quiche! First stop upon arrival: home with my host family. For two years, I lived upstairs in this two home family compound and my host family welcomed all of my family members who visited me, now including Aaron. This first stop was a sign that things have changed since I've been gone: I did not recognize two of the three children since they have doubled in size since I last saw them.
Post-lunch, Aaron and I walked around Pachalum and I took him to see places and people that I remembered. In the center of town on the side of the elementary school, we saw the very damaged remains of the world map that I painted in 2010 or 2011 with water-based paint (didn't realize that until we had painted half the map, long story).
Reunited with one of my old colleagues and her two children. Emilio (the 8 year old) was the cutest baby with curly hair when I arrived in Guatemala and I visited him at least once a week for my first year in Pachalum. He is now a very polite young man with no more curls and an adorable four and a half year old younger sister who shares her name with my grandma: Valentina.
With Don Joselino - the town electrician and formerly my site-mate Tiara's counterpart in the education office.
On our one full day in Pachalum, Aaron and I went up the mountain to visit two of the communities where I spent a lot of my time working with women's groups. Up on the top of a mountain outside of the city of Pachalum is a large indigenous town called Cipres (Cypress). Cipres is a large town (probably a few hundred people live there) and as its population has grown, additional satellite communities have sprung up around it. When those communities have enough people living there, they get named and eventually if the population gets large enough they get their own one-room elementary school. I spent a significant part of my Peace Corps service going up to two satellite communities of Cipres - Cipres por el Campo (the community around the Cipres football field) and Las Minas de Cipres (the mines of Cipres) - where most of the women were related by blood or marriage (or both), and where there were virtually no men - almost all of the men and older sons have left to work in the USA.
I met the women of Cipres por el Campo when I first visited Pachalum with the volunteer I replaced, and they were the women I bonded with the most. For at least a year, I would go up to these communities weekly and talk about civic engagement and do cooking or craft classes with the women. The classes would involve a lot of laughter, yelling, small children running all around, and sometimes home brew to celebrate some occasion.
Our guide for
walking all over the mountain was Merli, one of the young ladies I was
closest to over my two years in Pachalum. She is the first female of her
generation of cousins to go to middle and high school, setting the example for her younger cousins (many of whom now go to high school in Pachalum). At 25 years old, she
is an older first time mom and her son Christopher joined us for a day
of travel.
We got a ride partway up the mountain and then walked for a little over an hour to get to Cipres por el Campo
First stop: Doña Genara's house. Doña Genara married the oldest of 15 siblings who live in and around Cipres por el Campo and does not leave the house much anymore due to health issues. Despite health problems, she and her daughter maintain a beautiful family vegetable plot that was planted while I was a volunteer.
With Doña Genara's oldest daughter, Lety, and her younger daughter Amy, at the campo (field) that gives Cipres por el Campo its name. Lety has raised her two daughters on her own since her husband went to the USA many years ago, and since her older daughter had a baby two years ago, she is now also raising her grandchild. In the background you can see two volcanoes that are right outside of Antigua, Guatemala.
Lety made a delicious lunch for us, and we provided Nicaraguan rum to properly toast the occasion. Doña Rosa (between me and Aaron) and Doña Esperanza (Merli's mom, on the right) are Lety's aunts and neighbors and were also members of the women's group that I worked with in Cipres por el Campo. As is customary in all celebrations with these ladies, there was also some home brew to mark the occasion (I let Aaron drink for both of us), and some warnings that he better take care of me.
With Merli and two of her younger siblings and cousin Amy. Checha (Cesar, on the right) and Nayeli (holding Merli's baby) were two of the small children that used to run in and out of the house when we held women's meetings. They, with Merli, are the only siblings who stayed in Guatemala - two of their brothers and their dad left for the United States to work.
After half a day in Cipres por el Campo, we headed off halfway down the mountain to the community of Las Minas de Cipres to see the family of one of Merli's uncles and the women I worked with there.
Doña Maria with one of her grandchildren. Her oldest daughter married one of Merli's uncles, and a few of her sons had children with some of Merli's cousins and then went up to the USA to work. She was the host for many of the women's meetings we had in Las Minas de Cipres.
With cousins and friends from Las Minas de Cipres and Cipres por el Campo.
A day and a half in Pachalum did not feel like enough time to see everything and everyone I wanted to, but with only one day left in Guatemala before our trip to Mexico, Aaron and I had to hit the road early so he could see a bit of Antigua.
Bus jam in Pachalum on our way out.
Antigua was the capital of the Spanish colonies in Central America, so it is full of ruins of churches, convents, and monasteries. Its location near Guatemala City and surrounded by picturesque volcanoes has helped make it into the Disneyland of Guatemala - full of tourists year round and people selling crafts from all over the country. Aaron and I did a relatively quick tour of some highlights - visiting a few stores with crafts and two of my favorite ruins.
Aaron modeling some male traje típico (traditional clothing) from Todos Santos in the highlands of Guatemala. Most men do not wear traditional clothing in Guatemala, with the exception of Todos Santos and Solola
In the ruins of the monastery of San Francisco
Next to the pilas (washing area) at the ruins of the Capuchinas convent
In the evening, Aaron and I met up with my former counterpart in the Women's Office in Pachalum, Luz Maria, and her two children to catch up on life post-Pachalum. After ten years of studying part-time, Luz Maria got a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Science and is about to start her part time job as a professor of science at an extension campus for the University of San Carlos (the national university) in Pachalum and as an environmental consultant.
With Luz and her children Rodridgo Jose and Maria Jose
The quick trip to Guatemala felt like an episode of 'this is your life' on fast forward. Unlike the trip in January 2013, where it felt weird to go back so soon after finishing my service and where people were halfway convinced I had come back to volunteer some more, this trip was full of nostalgia. It was wonderful to see so many old friends and new babies, and it made me excited about planning another trip in the future to spend a bit more time with folks in Pachalum.
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