Cooking Class

Tuesdays and Wednesdays I have cooking classes in my room. For this first week eight women showed up each day and we had a great time together. The women love to make fun of my mannerisms; the way I shake my head or the way I still say "uh huh" when someone is talking to me. This week we made patties from a soy substitute called Protemas that is common here. The women loved them and I did not burn them, so we're off to a good start. 

Doña Ana, my 'grandma' here. She is so sweet and so small. Although my table is particularly tall, this shows just how little she is. 

Semuc Champey

This last weekend I took 12 hours and 4 buses to arrive in the jungle-covered department of Alta Verapaz in the small colorful town of Lanquín. Lanquín is an hour down a single dirt road that winds through a verdant valley to the Cahabón River. There, we spent our first day floating down the warm blue-green river and lounging in hammocks, talking with other travelers. The next day we traveled another half hour to Semuc Champey National Park. See photos below. 

The Cahabón River rages through this section, carving it's path and entering a cave right below where I was standing when I took this photo. It exits about a mile down river. In the space between springs feed beautiful and warm pools damned by limestone deposits. 

What tropical swim spot is compete without a cliff jump or two? 

The hostel we stayed at had a cat. Her name was Mish, which means "cat" in the local language of Quek'chi.

Manuela's Garden

Today I planted with a family; cucumber, radish and onion. Nothing particularly special happened (actually, we did see a dust storm kick up right next to her garden, about 6 feet wide that threw off the tin roof of her neighbor's house...) but I had a fun time with this family and they allowed me to take some great shots of them. So, here they are. 

The giggling welcome party; Manuela's kids Wendy and Tono.

I make these waterers by poking holes in the bottoms of cans and give them to the families. The kids particularly like them.

Juana, Manuela's mother-in-law.

Tono was timid of the camera, so I had to trick him by asking him to come into the room; I had the camera ready when he came. When I looked up from the viewfinder he was gone.

Wendy and Tono help out mom with the garden. 

Manuela's weavings. Here she is weaving the traditional top; a guipil, not to sell but for herself to wear. 

Celebrating Women

As mentioned, this last Monday March 9th was International Women's Day. I hosted a small event today with the women of the committee I work with; Women for a New Dawn. 

I began by talking about the history of Int'l Women's Day and a bit about women's rights here in Guate. Next we did an activity where I asked "Who is a woman?". I had a list to help jump-start the activity; wife, daughter, sister, mother, etc. Once the women got talking, some wonderful words came out of their mouths: "we are collaborators", "we have the opportunity to be leaders in our community, an opportunity our mothers did not have", "facilitators", "we are growing intellectually", "we are hard workers". 

After this, we played a game of Papa Caliente, but when the music stops whoever has the papa has to tell us something they are proud of in their lives. One woman said she was proud of the man she married (and how handsome he is), another said she was proud of her two boys. A few women said they were proud to be part of this committee and one said she was proud that she is working to give more opportunity to her kids. 

From left: Catarina, Manuela, Catarina, Ela, Catarina and in front Doña Ana. 

School Starts

We gathered outside of Ela's house in the shade of an alder tree; about 12 women and half as many kids. It is the first day of class. These women have completed one year of literacy classes and with basic skills will continue their elementary education. Along with literacy classes I will have some time to host cooking classes with the women. I had made a list of recipes I thought the women might like to try; white bean and sweet potato soup, corn bread, chard torte, pizza. As soon I end the list the women erupt in conversation, in K'iche, with enthusiasm and giggles. The word 'pizza' was interspersed throughout the laughter, one women laughing so hard she almost falls off her chair. Ela informs me that they like the word 'pizza', that it is really funny to them. Ela asks me what recipe we should start with, because the women want to try them all. I say, "well, how about pizza?" and the laughter erupts all over again. 

Even though the rains are about two months away, we have begun to plant family gardens with the women. Catarina, who is on my committee plants brocoli, onion, radish, carrots, cilantro and cucumber on a beautifully prepared piece of land.  

Antonia, who is one of the 70 women in our group plants beets, carrots, radish and cucumber in her small garden while her daughter Ingrid is strapped to her back. 

At Catarina's house, an older women is back-strap weaving. This is the traditional manner of weaving in Guatemala. A yard of fabric can take a month to produce, but it is extremely fine quality weaving. This is why the women's clothing can cost up to 1,500 quetzales ($200) per item. 

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Monday March 9th was International Women's Day. Since I am working solely with women, I wanted to join in the festivities. Tomorrow the seven women of the Committee of Women for a New Dawn will join me in my home for a celebration. We will have tea and lemon cupcakes and talk about what it means to be a woman, all the roles women play and a history of women's rights in Guatemala. I hope to use this time to encouragement the women of this group and remind them that they are leaders in this community and that they have the power to produce change here. 

Finishing February

Some of my readers may have noticed something about my blog. Yes, you probably have noticed how great it is, but you may have also noticed how I haven't talked much about work. The thing is, I haven't had much work. Due to varying factors, my first few months in site have been less of a 'hit the ground running' situation, and more of a 'take your time and adapt' situation. However in recent weeks things have begun to pick up. This coming week, March 2nd, I will have my first full week of scheduled work and it shouldn't slow down from there. I will be planting gardens with about seven women this week. Next week we will continue to plant and also I will host a cooking class and my counterpart Ela and I will start up a literacy class with about twenty women. This will be the second year for all but one of the women, for who it is her first year. These women know a bit of how to read and write and in the second year we will continue to hone those skills and integrate basic level education. These last few months have been a mixture of enjoyment and frustration; enjoying my time to adjust but also frustrated at the seemingly lack of interest to actually work from my committee. As such, I am ready to begin to be productive with the women here. My hope as I begin to know these women as I plant with them, is to next encourage the construction and use of a compost pile. From there, I want to push vermicompost; but, one step at a time. And now, some pictures. 

I encountered this Mayan man on my way home one day last week. He was amicable enough to let me take his portrait. However afterward he asked for me Q5. I gave him Q2. He's in the traditional traje, suit, of my town. Underneath his sweater is the bright red shirt that is also typical. The sneakers are not so typical, but the man's got to wear shoes. 

This weekend was hot. 70 degrees in the shade, according to Nic's trusty porch thermometer. Due to a bought of sickness on my part, we had to cancel plans to visit a volunteer in the next town. As such, we had a day in tiny, remote Chuyuhub to fill. After soaking some morning rays, I got a little warmed up. Nic suggest I take a dip in the pool; his pila (the pila is the sink you see me sitting in). It was quite refreshing. 

After swim time, we decided to pack a picnic and find a shady spot. As we're walking down the road these Mayan kids have a blast running from the gringos. They stop, look back at us, I wave them near, and they take off running, giggling. And the cycle continues... 

...until we catch them at their home. These girls are beautiful. 

Here's the shady spot we found. There is so little pristine nature here in Guate, and nothing grand like we are so blessed to have in the NW. This little, relatively clean creek with trees provided some of the little pieces of nature I need to keep myself sane here. 

 A cow. There are lots of them at Nic's site. This one was particularly good looking, I thought.