Fiesta: Day 1

Guatemalans know how to party. This afternoon I had the best time of my whole two weeks. Today is my two week anniversary here at my training site and I celebrated it with: children dressed up like “abuelitos” (grandparents) or old people, men dressed up as women, children dressed up as cartoon characters with incredibly large heads, and drunk guys riding horses while re-enacting a Christian history. Yes, this all occurred in my small, conservative, and rather poor town.

The day started with Spanish class in Antigua, the touristy city a half hour camioneta ride away from home. We walked around the town, got a tour of a small Jade factory, and then went to the market to try different fruits. We didn’t find much that was interesting so we went to the paca instead. The paca is basically a really really large market of second-hand clothes shipped over from the US. Most of the stuff you have to sift through to find something nice, of your size, and that you would actually wear. The same with shoes. But I found one vendor who is really organized with their shoes, and respectively more expensive, but it was worth it to find two pairs of new shoes in my size. This was my first real experience in haggling. My pair of Asics started at Q350; I told her I could pay Q250. She upped it to Q275 and I said I needed to think about it and that I may buy another pair. I found a pair of Keens and she said they cost the same, Q350 but would give them both to me for Q500 total. I told her I only brought Q450 (which was the truth) so I could either buy one pair, or both for Q450. It worked and I walked away with both pairs of new shoes for less than US $50 total. I’m pretty proud, especially because anything having to do with talking about money makes me incredibly uncomfortable. And now I actually have a pair of tennies to play basketball in.

Next comes my favorite part of the day. I returned home around 1pm to a really good lunch, and as soon as I finished this oddball of a parade began right outside my front door.

First came the “baile de los abuelitos”, dance of the grandparents. Kids of the young teenage years dress up with old-people masks, canes, and dress and then dance a well-choreographed dance up and down the street. A pickup truck, complete with streamers and banners and the works, precedes them blasting music from speakers housed on the truck bed. People crowded the sides of the street and alleyways to watch.

Second came the cross-dressers. The men go all out for this. Think of those guys in high school or college that you know put weeks of effort into their Halloween costume, makeup, and the whole act. Then narrow down that thought to the guy who did all that but would only dress up as a women. Then imagine at least 50-75 of them from teenagers to at least mid-centurions all dancing in the street, also following another tricked out pickup truck blasting music. I could not stop laughing. It was so weird, but also really interesting to see this from a conservative small town that really should not be blowing its money on stuff like this. Oh yes, and they also had a fake Michael Jackson casket complete with cross-dressing pallbearers.

Next came the Looney Toon parade. Kids dressed up like your regular cartoon characters, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Yogi Bear, etc… with really really large heads. They also had a choreographed dance which they performed in the street, again to music toted by a pickup. Some of these kids really had rhythm, and all of them got really, really in to it. It didn’t hurt that all the costume heads were stuck in the grinning position, which just made it look even more like they were really enjoying themselves. Though I imagine wearing that head for the entire day would get a little hot and humid.

Oh yeah, these dancers, all three groups of them, danced these same dances which lasted at least 10-15 minutes, at least five or more times during the day.

Next came the float parade. All Christian themed. Actually the whole day was ultra-Christian themed (not a surprise as basically all town events are centered around the church). They had kids dressed up as angels, temptations, wise men, the Virgin Mary, Jesus at various ages in his life, and way more. Boy I hope I’ll eventually be able to upload pictures.

Then came the faux sword fights on horseback. Two teams: blue and red. Blue are the good guys, the people that are declaring that there is only one god. Red are the bad guys, who are declaring, as I understand it, that there are more than just one god. Obviously in this town the blue guys win. But it is portrayed by these different people, I think ten in total, dressed up in costumes and masks galloping horses up and down the street shouting proclamations, sword fighting each other, and just putting on a show. I have heard that in some towns there is a horseback sword fight that occurs after both the riders and the horses get drunk. Now that I would like to see, though I think it may be rather difficult to get a horse drunk. And I don’t think I would really approve of that anyway.

Later in the night all the first three dances occurred again, all the while bombas (firecrackers) and fireworks were going off in the central park of the town, people selling street food and fair food, and finally some sort of procession went through the street and into the Catholic church. That was more or less the end of day-one. Tomorrow there will be more, as well as more dancing during the night. We all waited up late tonight for the dancing because us gringos are used to Friday and Saturday nights being the nights to party. But apparently Guatemaltecos party on Sundays. So great, I have one more day of weird and interesting happenings to look forward to.

My Avocado Man

Jokes that happen here in Guatemala tend to linger. There is no idea of telling a joke, having a laugh, and then being over it; no, it’s your joke for life. Today at lunch I was helping to make tortillas (which I am really not very good at yet), though I can make smaller ones that are circular, don’t have holes in the middle, and have round edges. As I was making them one of the customers, who also happens to be the host-mother of one of my group members, told me that here in our town, it is said that once a woman can make tortillas she is ready to be married. So now all the women around me are ready to marry me off! I know it’s a joke and it was really funny because I played along with it for a little for laughs, but now they bring it up every chance they get.

I also told them that avocados are my favorite food, which is quite true, and I figured if I mentioned it a few times that they would provide for me a plethora of avocados which grow here and are fairly cheap and delicious. Sometimes I get avocados. But now the joke is that I need to find a man to marry, but he has to have an avocado tree in his yard. Every chance these women get they bring it up that I’m looking for my avocado man. It’s funny. And at least they’re not joking anymore about throwing seeds at me whenever I speak poor Spanish. This too will pass I’m sure for some other odd and only slightly embarrassing joke on the gringa.

Before lunch, and on a more professional note, I met the mayor of our town, the “Alcalde”. He seems like a really intelligent man and I was quite surprised that throughout our whole one hour meeting I could actually understand most of the things he was saying, at least enough to give a little input. Basically his idea about what the town needs boils down to education. Educating the children to think for themselves and to understand why it’s important to think about the future rather than just the present. Educating the women to give them more self-esteem which will allow them to interact better with customers, as the major source of income for many women in this town is selling their hand-woven goods to tourists. Increasing self-esteem in the female population will also decrease domestic violence, increase awareness about family planning, and will basically allow them to live happier lives. The Alcalde’s ideas were that increasing education leads to increased health which leads to a better quality of life. He had a very terse and convincing way of explaining all this; he really impressed me.

In the afternoon we toured the town’s compost pit which is quite unique; only three towns in all of Guatemala separate their organic and inorganic garbage and mine is one of them. We learned about “lombricompost” in which they compost all of their organic waste using earthworms. They burn all of their inorganic waste, including plastics, and are hoping that we can help them think of a better way to get rid of it to better the air quality in the area. All we could really think of on the spot is what we do in the US: landfill. But landfills here are just trash thrown into a natural valley and eventually covered over with dirt. That doesn’t seem like a good idea to me. So now, in addition to our project with the Artisan women, we will be working on some trash management plans as well as educating the local schools about this and other environmental education topics in general.

It’s shaping up to be a busy following nine weeks, especially seeing how the past two just flew by. But I’m really glad that this training project is going to include something that I’m actually interested in rather than just learning about business and marketing.

Red de Mujeres

Today my group had our first meeting with the group of ladies we will be working with for the fair; the “Reina de Mujeres” or the “Red” (net). We came prepared with a bunch of questions, all nicely translated into perfect Spanish so we wouldn’t stumble upon our words so much, and we got a lot of blank faces in return. They are just all so shy, timid, unsure, and very soft-spoken. I’m sure it takes a lot of time to build a business relationship with someone, especially a foreigner that doesn’t really speak your language very well, but I was not expecting this. I don’t even have the energy to write about how the meeting went I’m so overwhelmed. Part, actually most, of my job here is to assist and teach and train more than actually do. It’s good to know that all I really have to do is facilitate the organizing process, and it’s going to have to be up to the Red to put in some effort if they want their Artisan Fair to succeed. But I want it to succeed also, for them and for me, to know that I can actually be of use in a field other than a science.

In other news I’m playing more basketball than I have since my first year of high school. Everybody in my group likes to play, most of the Peace Corps people in our neighboring town like to play, and many have host-family members that come along also. Most of us are pretty good or can at least hold our own, which makes for some fairly competitive games most of the time. The only thing is that the natives here they like to play half-court (while a full court game of fútbol is going on at the same time on the same court by the way) but you don’t have to clear the ball past the 3-point line with each change of possession. This basically makes it a rebounding game and because I’m 5’6” with my shoes on, I don’t put up that many points. It’s still a lot of fun and a pretty good workout if I play hard. Though I have gotten pegged by a rogue fútbol which was only a little painful but a lot more surprising.

Individualism vs. Collectivism, or, Why they are both the same.

Today my group and another group visited a real live Peace Corps Volunteer (we’re all considered “trainees” right now) to see where she lives, what she does, what she eats, who she knows, and how she interacts with the townspeople. In all honesty, she seems like a person that I would just not get along with. We learned a lot of great stuff and she did give us some really helpful tidbits of information, but there were so many things about here that I thought, if I had to be around her five days a week, I wouldn’t be able to stand it. No big deal. I’m usually that way with females. It was a little hard to be the only person in the group a little disappointed at the whole “visit a Volunteer” experience, as everybody else seemed to be having a great time. I missed having my family cook lunch for me. Today we ate at this restaurant that was the favorite of this girl, however, all of the food was either fried, American white-washed, or tasteless. Our technical trainer David asked me how I liked the food, as he was sitting next to me at lunch. I replied that it honestly didn’t do much for me. I couldn’t tell how he took my reaction. But it was the truth so there’s not much else I could have said.

I also learned today that I’m going to have more say on my two year site and assignment than I previously thought. We have at least three personal one-on-one meetings with various Peace Corps staff between now and that assignment, and I have already submitted a two-page resume and another two page aspiration statement. Those things along with the meetings and the talk time I’m getting in during training I believe will help them match my personality and skills well with a town and a project. I just have to keep thinking that it’s in their best interests to put me somewhere where I’ll be happy and give me a job that I’m interested in and qualified to do. They have invested so much time and money in me as a worker so far that it really behooves them to do their best to keep me (and everyone else) from dropping out early, and they’ll do that by making sure I’m a good fit with my site and project.

Tomorrow I’m going to the market in Antigua, tourist metropolitan center of the area, to look for a guitar. There are two trainees in my neighboring town with guitars who jam all the time and I want to be included. I also want something besides reading and writing these journal entries to occupy my free time. During the night time my family members just sit around watching telenovelas on TV, which I can do for about 10 minutes, but since I can’t really understand them anyway and the acting is just so wretched, I usually excuse myself around 9/9:30 to go to my room and read or do homework.

Today’s homework consisted of a quiz to see where on the spectrum of “individualism” and “collectivism” one falls. Basically they wanted to know if you are the type of person who does things for the good of yourself or for the good of the group or community. I’m an expert on this subject. I think about it all the time and have an incredibly logical, and incredibly wordy, reason for answering exactly as I did. Out of ten questions, 9 answers were individualistic and 1 was collectivist, and that one question I was on the fence about. I was then asked to write about why I fell where I did on the spectrum. It’s the whole altruism vs. selfishness debacle all over again.

In short, I believe that everyone does what they do for themselves. It’s evolution; it’s Darwinism. But often, either consciously or subconsciously, what’s good for the self is often good for others too, and this is nearly always true when we think of others people’s ability to remember. Doing something nice for someone in your community is bound to come back to you. I believe people do good things for each other because they expect it to be reciprocated, and often this is not a conscious decision. I was actually unable to answer the question because, as they define collectivist in the book, I am 100% collectivist. But as I scored on the test, I’m 90%-100% individualist. I don’t really care to be categorized and I’m okay with being a little confused and annoyed by the dumb quiz because I know exactly what I believe, I’m open minded to changing that based on new input, and I am nice to and help out the people around me.

One Week Aniversary and Reflection

Yesterday marked my one week anniversary with my host family. I have to say that everything is going a lot smoother, easier, and more comfortable than I had really imagined. I have only two things that I would change if I had the choice. One, I would like my guitar. Two, I would like a hot shower. But that’s about it.

The weather is a lot warmer after my first three nights so I’m not freezing anymore, and the days are all really warm, sunny, and very pleasurable. There is so much to do during the day that I’m never just sitting around being bored and that really makes the time fly by quickly. A typical day for me now

7:00 - Wake up, have breakfast, and tidy my room
8:00 - Spanish class
12:00 - Lunch
1:00 - Spanish class
3:00/4:00 - Work on project with my team or do some other activity with them
6:00/7:00 - Come home and talk with my family and usually help them cook dinner
7:00/8:00 - Eat dinner
9:30 - Head to my room to read, write, do homework, and eventually sleep.

That’s basically my Monday-Saturday, though on Saturdays we don’t have any Spanish class in the afternoon so there’s a little more free time.

Today, Sunday, I got to sleep in a little more, had breakfast with my family, then headed to the market with them. I worked with my group for an hour and a half or so and then had lunch with my family. After lunch, my group members and I went to the neighboring town (a 15 minute walk away from my house) and went swimming in their pool. The pools really neat, they are man-made but naturally fed by mountain spring water and there are three or four different pools all on different levels, because they were built on an incredibly steep slope. Also they had one waterslide. A straight shot down. This isn’t your average boring, slow, waterslide that you go down in an inner-tube. This is a straight shot down a rather steep grade, which forces water up your nose as you land in the water below. It is also rather shallow where you get spat out so I always ended up hitting my feet and back on the ground. I’m glad I did not go head first.

As we were walking to the pools, we also got invited to play a little basketball later with the host-brothers of one our group members. That was really fun. There were five of us gringos and only three Guatelmaltecos, so I played on the other side to even out the females. We won. Even though the gringos had an average of 6-8 inches on us. They play best two of three games to 21, but they have one strange rule: you cannot win a game on a two point shot. You have to win the game on a free-throw. When one team reaches 21+ points, they shoot a free throw. If they miss, we play it out. If one team misses four free-throws they are demoted back down to 11 points. The game is called “21”.

Another thing I’ve noticed about the life here is it takes forever to get anything done. If I tell a friend I’ll meet them at 3:00, chances are that we’ll both be at least a half an hour late because we’ll find somebody to talk to on the way who monopolizes our time. And the people walk really slowly here. I’m so used to walking being a mode of transportation - how can I get myself most efficiently from point A to point B? Walk fast! Of course. But here, no. Walking is just as social as anything else. There are people to walk with and chat with, people to say hello to on the way, and things to admire en route to destination. And everything in this town is so close that walking slowly isn’t really a waste of time. I like it, but it’s definitely going to take a lot of time to get used to the slower pace of life.

My family members have the best sense of humor. Even with the language barrier, we are able to have jokes and sarcasm and just enjoy laughing with each other. Today, after buying fruit from the market (two new types for me to try), I sat down with the Mother, Father, and their only daughter at the table peeling and snacking on the fruit. Both types had very large seeds that came out clean after you sucked on them and spat them out. Each of us had collected a sizeable pile of our own seeds on the table in front of us and someone, I don’t know exactly who, started throwing seeds at each other. We’re talking about two 50 year olds and a 30 year old and me. Somebody suggested that, as a punishment, every time I say something that is not in perfect Spanish, somebody should throw a seed at me. It was hilarious how much fun they (and I) were having laughing with each other and at me. Miriam, the daughter, brought it up again tonight while we were selling food outside their house, but because we didn’t have any fruit seeds, she threatened to throw a doblada at me (a tortilla with potato inside, folded over, then deep fried). It was hilarious.

I’m so glad I got this lucky to have a family that is patient with me, is willing to have a little fun with each other and me, and especially a family that cooks food that I actually like. I did try a type of food today that I really didn’t like: atol with banana. Atol is a very popular drink here that is basically hot rice-milk that actually has a substantial amount of rice granules in it. I don’t like Atol much, but I can take a little bit of it, especially if it’s cold outside. This banana atol was gross. I’m soooooooooo not into bananas in liquid form. I told her that but that I was also willing to try it. “Voy a probarlo” is my “dicho” or saying, here in Guatemala. “I will try it.” I was very upfront with here about not liking it. I gave it a few sips and said I couldn’t finish it. She didn’t seem offended and I honestly don’t think she was. If anything, it probably reinforces the fact that when I say I do like something she makes, I really mean it because she knows I’m willing to be honest. And I really have liked everything else she’s made, save the fried chicken. Too greasy and a little undercooked on the inside.

As a recap of the week, I’m a lot happier and more comfortable than I really expected and that is making the transitioning process incredibly easy. It’s great now showering everyday and having that be acceptable. It’s great wearing the same clothes a few days in a row, or a least a few times before washing them, and having that be acceptable. I’m not the cleanest of persons so I really don’t mind how dirty things are here, and I like being around other people who aren’t bothered by that sort of thing. I like small towns, and I like having all my friends live just a few minutes away. I just hope that when I get to my two year location it will be just as great as here.