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.