winner takes the turkey

Last night was the health commission’s fundraiser for reducing maternal and infant mortality. Have you ever been to an event where the raffle prizes were: first prize- a prepaid cell phone, second prize- a live turkey, third prize- a tea set? Only in Guatemala. Melissa and I bought some tickets for the raffle. We were really hoping for the turkey. And we decided that if we won the cell phone, we’d convince the turkey-winner that they wanted to swap it for the phone. Unfortunately, we didn’t win anything, and I ended up giving a very hurried thank-you and goodnight to all the people that attended since they started running out en-mass after the raffle winners were announced. It was good that they started leaving, I don’t think I was in any condition to give a proper speech since I’d been there for about five hours, the windows don’t have glass yet so I was chilled to the bone, and I was so tired I was starting to panic that it was never going to end. But, disregarding the prolonged nature of the event, it was an enjoyable evening. There was a comedy routine that involved 13-15 year old kids dressed up as street people spitting water in each others’ faces. It was hilarious, if not completely on-message with the health and hygiene focus of the event. The other events were the usual dances, some lip-synched reggaetone, and some funny contests for prizes in between acts.
This week is the last week of building for the stoves project. On Friday I went to the mayor’s office to ask for a marimba band for the inauguration event. I think he’s going to give us one. He spent more time talking about whether I would stay and teach him English and eventually become first-lady of Cunen. I said I wasn’t really thinking marriage at this point. Plus I know he hits on Melissa when she goes in on business. He speaks pretty decent English, but I guess he didn’t pick up on the no-sexual harassment in the workplace thing while he was in the states. Oh well. I only have three weeks left in Cunen and I’m spending half of next week at the Peace Corps office to do my close of service medical evaluations and a few other errands.

building and winding down

It has been a pretty incredible two weeks. Two weeks ago the materials hadn't been delived yet and the SPA funding hadn't been deposited. Now, all the SPA money (and all other funds) has been spent, all the matierals delivered, and almost all the stoves are built. All 84 should be done by the end of the day next Tuesday.
Tonight I went to dinner with my host family and we were talking about when I'll be back. My host mom, Maru, said I should come back for Maria Isabel's quincinera, which I would like to do, but it made me sad and a little freaked-out just thinking about it. Time moves too quickly. I only have four weeks left in Cunen. It's sad, but I'm also extremely excited about seeing Tikal, relaxing on the beach, exploring Mexico City and all the other great places I'll be headed in about a month!

Four days in!

Its been as crazy as could be expected, perhaps even more so. On Monday the whole community gathered, and we waited together for the trucks to start rolling in. Of course they were a little late, but that was a shock to no one. There are some great pictures of everyone getting involved, from grandmothers to small children. Things went relatively smoothly, with lots of phone calls back and forth with the hardware store. Monday afternoon I left the health promotors in charge while I traveled to El Quiche to fix things at the bank. I took every possible form of identification and all of my bank documents, but, unbeknownst to me, you must have an electricity bill or they will not make any changes to the account. I nearly wept; it was less than an hour until closing time and there was no way I could make it back to Quiche anytime this week. I called all the people who might have been able to fax it to me and no one was picking up. Finally I got through to my landlord's neice who lives next door and, crazily enough, she was in Quiche a short tuk-tuk ride away with a copy of the electric bill. Dispite the setbacks and times where I felt pending disaster, things always have a way of working out, usually by getting the right person on the phone. It doesn't come very naturally to call people up and ask for help, but when I do I am always surprised at how willing people are to go out of their way to help. It's a good reminder that "sticking it out" isn't always the most effective way to get things done, even though it feels like the stronger thing to do.
Since then we've all been working hard and getting stoves built. I've kept my health promotors extremely busy visiting houses and making sure the families are working side by side with the professional builders to get maximum learing and also keep up their end of the deal with the community contribution. With the majority of families we don't even need to remind them because they're so excited the stoves are here that they want to pitch in and get the stoves built.
The top left picture is the first stove nearing completion, top right is what we're replacing-- for this woman it was an open fire on an adobe platform, for many families it's an open fire on the floor. Then there are the community members moving materials and laying down the stove's foundation.

Nebaj and Cunen

Last night I spent the night for the first, and most likely only time in an aldea. In Guatemala the country is divided up into departments, which are similar to states. The next subdivision is municipalities (like counties) and then after that are aldeas. I am pretty sure that although I've done a decent amount of traveling here in Guatemala and have visited other volunteers, I have always stayed in the main town where the municipal building is located. It was a very cool experience and I was a little bit jealous to see what a strong connection the volunteer I visited has with her community.
I have good friendships here in Cunen but it is a totally different for volunteers that live by themselves in a very small town. They are more isolated and naturally turn to the people living near them for support and friendship. It must be a harder adjustment but it was really cool to see how much everyone in the aldea connected to her and are so sad to see her preparing to leave.
I was not jealous of the micro ride, which was on a bumpy, muddy dirt road for about forty minutes. I also came to appreciate living in the Muni for the consistent running water we get here. An hour or two after arriving in Xix, where this volunteer lives, the water went out and didn't come back at all the rest of the visit. However, this morning we traveled back to the Muni, Nebaj, which is a tourist attraction for its rich history and unique language, and because it attracts tourists it has certain luxuries that Cunen doesn't offer. We stopped in El Descanso, a restaurant started by a former Peace Corps Volunteer that has pretty amazing chicken barbeque quesadillas. There is also a restaurant run by an American that has grilled cheese, french toast and other U.S. comfort food. It's nice to have those things in Nebaj, since it's only an hour away but I've only been there a handful of times throughout service.
Tomorrow is the big day! I'll be up and out early to meet with the community members, work out last minute details and oversee the distribution of materials. Send positive vibes my way, because things have a way of not going as planned here!

The first couple pictures are of Xix, and then the girls are my host sisters and there is a picture of the sunrise view from my porch.

Town fair and preparing for stove building

I'm going to start off with a plug for my sitemate's stove project. We work on different sides of town and she is still looking for funding for her projects. She was also put in a bad situation because of Peace Corps' decision to have our training class take early close of service, so she is staying a month after finishing service to monitor the construction of the stoves in her communities. Here is the link to her blog http://30stovesin90days.blogspot.com/. She's doing a paypal or FOG check option, for FOG its the same, but with Melissa Amyx- Cat II in the memo line.

Good news on the SPA project proposal! I got the call Friday afternoon to let me know it was approved and I will be beginning construction at the beginning of next week!! The project is now fully funded and will be completed by March 5th, with a few weeks of evaluation and monitoring before I finish service and turn over my responsibilities to my replacement.

Town fair was just as fun as I hoped it would be! We were invited to a first communion lunch, went over to another friend's house to watch Convite (kind of like a parade, but it's all day dancing to marimba in heavy costumes) and had friends come to visit Cunen. The Conejos (the most famous marimba band in Guatemala) did come to Cunen, but because the Municipality was left in heavy debt, we had to pay an entrance fee. Last year it was in the park and free. The nice part about charging an entrance fee, is that all the drunks that wandered through last year's free performance stayed out to save their quetzales for alcohol.
On the main day of the fair there was a parade and Melissa and I walked with the other health center workers right behind the new mayor and his administration. The fair is in celebration of the Virgin of Candelaria so there were just as many religious processions as there were parades and dances. It was cool to have so much going on in town when its usually pretty quiet and low key. Most people are usually home for the night by six or seven p.m. but the night of the Conejos we left the dance around 1:30 in the morning and there were still lots of people dancing or watching and enjoying the music. All in all it has been a successful and enjoyable week. Things are turning out better than I expected with the new close of service date, and it has allowed me to make fun travel plans before returning to Pennsylvania. I will be traveling to a few sites in Guatemala that I haven't seen yet, then head on to Belize and Mexico, get in some beach time and hopefully see some Digo Rivera and Frida Khalo art in Mexico City. Then I'll be on to South America to visit family in Ecuador, perhaps see either Chile or Bolivia and definitely to Peru to see Machu Picchu, which has always been on my travels wish list.

I will be adding pictures as the stove project progresses!