Hiii,
Well second week down and a busy (sort of) one it was! I was really worried that I would have a hard time filling my days because of the lack of office/structure in my association but so far I’ve been finding lots of things to do to keep me busy and also to help meet people in my community. On Monday I went to a meeting with a group of women who are learning to make pan (bread). It was only the second time this group was meeting but it was so much fun (mostly because I got to probar-try the bread after we finished making it and I ate three muffins…this is why I have a tortilla belly). Two representatives from the municipal were there to teach the women how to make the bread as well as inform them of the benefits of potentially getting legalized as an association. This was actually incredibly convenient for me because I just found out that my woman’s group is not legalized either and even though the president of my association is not an actual member of the bread group she went with me and so the seed was planted for legalization of our group. Unfortunately, the presentation to try and get the group to consider legalization was more of just a mentioning of the fact that it’s an option instead of an informative session but at least it got the idea out there. I am really excited to be working with this group also because the need in our town for this service is definitely there (who the heck wants to live in a town in Guatemala that doesn’t have a panaderia-bread store? Not me.) Since we currently don’t have any panaderias closer than Chiquimula, that basically means that each little store (mostly are run out of houses in the neighborhood in my town) has to buy their bread supply from an outside source. This is not the best idea for a couple reasons… not only does it mean that my community is putting money into another community by buying their bread but it also means that the bread is less accessible to people living here. Obviously renting or buying a space and opening a panaderia is a long-term goal (things happen slowly here) but I think that it would be really awesome for our town to have and I will not complain in the mean time if I get to learn how to bake and get free samples of delicious treats.
Tuesday and Wednesday were community visits. Let me start this off by saying that since I've been at site I have been very determined to exercise and try and be healthier so I insisted to Dona Irma (the president and also the woman I live with) that I wanted to walk to the other community where some of the women in my group live...fail. This "neighboring" town took about an hour to get to and was literally directly uphill. Also, did I mention how hot it gets here? Oh I did, good. I should have believed Dona Irma when she told me that it was quite a hike but I thought she was exaggerating... I will not make that mistake again. All in all, it was a great workout and I actually am glad I did it just to get to know the scenery better (this is how I am justifying it in my mind) but I really don't think the families appreciated me showing up soaked in sweat and out of breath. Despite the trek that it took to get there, the views were gorgeous and I had a really good time meeting some of the women and their families. The first family I visited invited me back for lunch so after making my rounds I returned there for some chicken soup (first meat I've eaten since arriving at site) and a lesson on how to tejer-weave. This was really exciting for me because I have been bugging people to teach me how to weave so I can have a hobby in my down time! It's a pretty basic process for the most part but some of the designs that they have are really intricate and complicated. I also got to see some of the new products they are making, which include really pretty purses and sombreros (which obviously didn't fit my head because according to my counterpart "my cabeza-head is gigantic". Thanks Dora.) It was nice to get to see how it's all done though and what the women are making because it really makes me more of a part of it all. The walk home was much easier (literally all I could say the whole way back was "wow, downhill is so much better"). Overall, two successful days and hopefully this week I will make it back out there because I only visited a few families and there are 50 women in the group.
So Thursday was probably the most fun/entertaining day for me this past week. I was chosen (clearly just because I am the new gringa-white girl in town) to be a judge for a hip hop dance competition at the secondary school in my village. How freaking cool am I? My friend Brenda has been telling me about this competition since I came on my site visit so you can imagine her excitement when I was asked to be a judge and she was asked, by association, to be the MC (she killed it). There were 6 dance groups in the main competition and then 2 other groups, one consisted of kids from my village and the others were the "visitors". The kids from other towns were SO much better but obviously my village crew won (I tried voting for the outsiders but was overruled by the other two judges who had to go back and make their scores for the home crew higher when they realized it wouldn't outweigh the scores I had given). I will put the videos up on facebook though because it truly was a site to behold. The girls kicked butt and the boys mostly just stood in place and swayed around (not even necessarily in sync with the music but I won't nitpick). Brenda had a really good time though and I did as well so we can check that day off as a success.
Friday was the first day so far in Guatemala where I was actually really ill. I wallowed in bed all day and I think because of how fast it came on, I got really dehydrated, which clearly only made matters worse. Dona Irma pulled through in the clutch sometime in the afternoon with a bottle of pedialyte to rehydrate me and some pepto (pink minty milk paste never tasted so delicious). I was pretty upset during this episode because I was supposed to go to Emily and Brynna's site for their feria and thought that I might not be able to but I consoled myself the whole time with the thought that if it was physically possible for me to get out of bed in the morning I would go. And so I did. I was actually feeling much better and I took my bottle of pepto with me (just ask Lexi how cute I was chugging it on the micro bus as if it were the last thing I'd ever drink). Their feria was WELL worth the effort though I must say. We got there in time for lunch and then made our way to the rodeo, which was so fun and then on to the baile-dance later in the night. Dancing in the east consists of spinning as fast as possible in circles (it doesn't make any sense how people can do that for hours at a time but it was done). We all got to dance and have a good time though and I must say that I greatly enjoyed myself.
Today so far has been eventful and informative. We had a meeting this morning with some representatives of a national group that promotes the development of artisan women in Guatemala and they basically brought up every single thing I have been thinking about in regards to our group since I got here. They stressed the importance of becoming legalized, told the women how beneficial it would be to keep records and have an inventory (I already had a charla lined up for this topic, which I am still going to do because it's awesome) and also the importance of participation level of the women in the group (only 17 women were there out of 50 and it was about the same at the last meeting). I got a chance to talk to one of the women from the national group and to get her contact info but she just reaffirmed everything that I have been thinking and helped me prioritize which topics I should try and hit on first so it was really helpful. Some of the women in my group were a little defensive about some of the points that were raised but I am hoping I will be able to find successful ways of bringing certain things to their attention and promoting ideas (such as an inventory and cost of production) because I think it will really help to take their association to the next level. The rest of my week is looking pretty open with the exception of a meeting in Chiquimula with other artisan group leaders, which should be fun but hopefully I'll be able to fill my time with something interesting (if you wanna help me out by sending me an email that'd be cool too). I'll try and get another blog up next week but it may have to wait until after Thanksgiving (if that is the case, I really hope everyone enjoys their delicious turkey and all the fixings back home and hopefully mine here will somewhat resemble that as well). Love you and miss you all!
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