All 84 stoves are built. We had a big celebration this past monday, the mayor showed up and paid for a live marimba band. I was a little sad that no one would dance, because in Cunen there is always dancing if there is marimba, but the community where we built the stoves doesn't dance because it's prohibited by their church. Other than that, it was a fun party. I wore traje (the traditional clothes worn by K'iche' people) and gave a little speech and there were lots of presentations and speeches by different leaders. They made a sign for "Iglesia St. James" and I tried to get a picture but it was made with shiny material so it was hard to get a good shot of it. They had me cut the ribbon on the "inagural" stove along with the mayor. It felt a little cheesy, but fun.
Tonight Nicole organized a surpise goodbye dinner for Melissa and me. We were totally surprised, but, as we are still in Guatemala, although we showed up half an hour after Nicole told people to arrive, we were still some of the first people to show up. Oh dear. It was a really lovely evening; my host family was there, as well as a few friends from work and the new volunteers that are taking over our work.
Tomorrow is my last visit to Llano Grande (where the stoves were built). I'll be doing a workshop with the health promoters in that community, introducing the new volunteers, and doing some final house visits and interviews. I am pretty sad about all the goodbyes, but so excited for everything coming up in the next couple of months. I'll be visiting Belize and Mexico with my friends Rachel and Nicole, and then Peru, Ecuador, and Columbia with Melissa. She and I will be parting ways in Bogota. She'll be going on to Panama and eventually making her way back up to Guatemala, and I'll be home in time to see Billy graduate high school.
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