Community Visits!

SO since my last little brain dump, things have been going quite well - all of the community visits are still fairly exhausting and challenging, but since exercising my demons from last week, I've been having a much easier time seeing the good in each community rather than looking for and focusing on the aspects that bother me. Generally, there have been a few themes this past week that have significantly lightened my mood, making work and home life much happier:

• Cooking/Eating/Sharing food
• THIS is a big deal for me. Any of you who know me well know that food is a very critical element when it comes to my happiness, and fortunately, Lauren and Margaret share my passion for creative cooking/eating in general. 
• This paired with some wonderful cheeses, quinoa, oils, vinegar, and spices from my lovely mother has led to some very memorable kitchen experiences including (but not limited to):
• My first attempt at making chutney - black berries, apples, jalapenos, ginger, and clove - was fairly successful and tastes delicious both baked over hunks of brie with pretzal crisps as well as spread on toasted sweet bread with brie slices melted on top (both have been big hits with Dona Humbe)
• Quinoa and veggie breakfast skillets
• Various tortilla pizzas including veggie, chicken, goat cheese, and sun dried tomato pesto as well as goat cheese, tomato sauce, chorizo, jalapeno, and cheddar 
• Jalapenos stuffed with chorizo and melted baby bell and cheddar cheese 
• The night of the jalapenos was quite the homestay bonding time - Lauren ended up with jalapeno oil on her face (which turned beet red), we initially didn't seed the jalapeno slices which led to some scorched esophagi (at least mine), running noses and eyes, and ultimately resulted in Lauren and I rubbing our faces with hunks of cucumber from the fridge and Humbe refusing all jalapenos but loving the combo of goat cheese and chorizo - very good times
• ALSO every community insists on feeding me in some way, so I stay pretty well fed and watered throughout the day - a full stomach certainly takes the edge off tough communities and long, bumpy rides through the mountains
• Friends and Family
• I've been able to spend more time chatting with and getting to know Margaret, Lauren, and Waleska. I also feel like my Spanish has reached a point that I can finally build my relationships with some of my non-English speaking friends: to name a few, there's my Muni driver, Abel, who is quiet but an absolute delight to be around, the Vis Alcaldes showing me around the communities, Pedro and Damacio, and Mincho's daughter, July, who works in the planning office at the Muni and has been SUPER helpful with everything
• This past week has also been a time of connecting with friends back home, especially a wonderful catch-up with Mary Rose and mama G - my face hurt from smiling when I was done talking with those wonderful ladies
• I've also been super fortunate to have spent some time chatting with my mom, dad, brother Michael, aunt Janet, and Tim to hear about their lives and swap some stories. I was also able to THOROUGHLY enjoy some good-natured sports banter with my grandpa (or should I say, some wonderful opportunities to rub his face in the current state of Brewer's baseball in relation to the Reds, though now I'm hoping the Crew can get out of their slump...)
• All this to say having a chance to chat with all of the different, wonderful people in my life right now (near and far) have been HUGELY helpful in boosting my mood
• Exercise
• I've been spending more time attending the aerobics classes put on by my PCV friends and have been dragging myself out of bed for 5am runs with Lauren and some of the ladies in the community - while I certainly can't say I've hit a routine, I'm in the process
• Self-confidence
• I think I was more nervous than I realized at the start of my work, and I'm sure some of that insecurity and self-doubt in relation to my Spanish and just the depth and breadth of the data acquisition process had me fairly off-kilter. I'm certainly still not 100% awesome at Spanish and fully comfortable in my role, but I've now completed 30/140 community visits and I'm hitting a groove 
• Por ejemplo, the other day I met with a few leaders of a community who have apparently recently had some discussions with Mike/Doug (my professional mentors/bosses) about the possibility of a pedestrian or vehicle bridge (long story short, there's some debate as to which type is best for the location, the the project is on hold). Because they were used to visits from stately, professional ingenieros, and perhaps a few young, wide-eyed students in tow, when I showed up in the pick up, one of the leaders came right out and asked "Solo usted? Pero donde estan los ingenieros?" 
• Last week this probably would have thrown me way off, possibly ruined my day, and definitely would have led to some serious feminist tude... However, this week, I was able to quickly respond "Soy la ingeniera - vamos a hablar" and move on with the meeting
• I think the community leaders (all men) were a bit taken aback, but it turned out to be one of my favorite groups of guys so far. Once we all moved past the fact that I was a (relatively) young woman, we had a great discussion, and the leader who was initially so taken aback by me ended up coming with us for the rest of the day's visits and was an awesome advocate for me, which in turn helped break the whole female-engineer awkwardness inherent at the start of most of my meetings, and led to great, fruitful afternoon conversations.

Not quite on the same level as everything above, BUT I have to say I've been listening to a LOT of Beyonce since her performance at the VMAs - her new album is an amazing insight into her personal life and the marital struggles she and Jay Z have faced (and overcome) after having a baby in the public eye - I know that's a total side note, but she's awesome; I mean, seriously, who get's 16 minutes of performance time at the VMAs? Beyonce, that's who.

In other, sad news, I dropped my camera in a spring on Friday :( - I was shocked at the time how little it phased me (granted, I ended up with some pretty serious insomnia last night just laying awaking thinking about how I could have prevented the drop from happening...). Ultimately, I had a little teaching moment when I went bought some rice at a tienda (so convenient) and put my camera in it for the rest of the day - Abel had never heard of this method and seemed very impressed by the concept. Currently old blue (my camera...) is hanging out in one of the goofy doggy-face-tupperware things my mom sent me from Ikea - I gave one to Waleska's son and he was pretty happy with it, but I'm still pretty perplexed by their presence in my care package...

Based on my calculations, I should be done with my community visits by the end of October - if I can stay on top of my paperwork and map-making, I should be in very good shape to be headed home for Christmas with my projects wrapped up (pun intended) and with my full attention directed toward the Sechum vehicle bridge construction in January! 

All in all, life is going quite well! So here are some pictures!

Food first, obviously...

The oven doesn't work, so to make the pizzas nice and crispy and melty, we just put a pot over the comal - it's a partial Peace Corps oven

Yummy yummy pizzas

Quinoa skillet with some Aero Press coffee on the side after a 5am run - notice the bag of spices (SO MANY SPICES) from my mom and my little frijolito in the bottom corner... re-learning how to text on that bad boy has been tough and a major flashback to high school...

THE jalapeno night - the first few pizzas with seeds in (bad idea)

Dona Humbe showing off her "pastel" of toasted sweet bread, chutney, and brie because she thought it looked pretty - also, it's Sunday, so she has on some awesome, Quiche traje. I'm a big fan of the handmade huipils of Joyabaj, but I think Humbe's latest blouse is awesome

In other news, Lauren and I found Eeyore hanging out to dry on the clothes line the other night... Mind you this was the same night I found Lauren eating her dinner directly out of a frying pan...

Abel getting some shots of the scenery

Pedro's beautiful house and garden in Chorraxaj

A community meeting - this is a very young community with no school or meeting area, so we met at a break pressure tank for their water system

  

The school directora of  Chiritza'q - SUPER PILAS - just strolling through a lovely garden behind her school

This was the community from the story above with the leader perplexed about me being the only engineer... also a young community with no meeting space, though this hilltop meeting around the plaque commemorating the connection of the community to the Muni electrical grid has been one of my favorite meeting settings so far

The school director of Barrio Democracia showing us how they've had to set up a room in a hallway - turns out this is the school right next to where my aunt Janet lived when she was here in 2000-2002 in the Peace Corps!

A few pictures from the road...

...all of the communities to the north are high in the mountains, so we see some pretty spectacular views...

The Toyota is Abel's pick up - we spend a lot of time in that car...

A view of the city of Joyabaj 

Finally, my sad camera hanging out in a rice bath in the silly dog tupperware on my dresser (which is complete with some knickknacks from Tim/games/the 88Nine Studio MKE CD...)

Contemplatives in action who forget to contemplate may struggle to act...

... at least that's what I've found recently...

Hi gang - I apologize for a distinct lack of pictures and change of tone/rambling, but recent events have left me in need of laying out some thoughts/emotions rather than just providing a list of activities. I included "musings" in my blog description to allow for this inevitable post of thoughts rather than actions, so you can't say I didn't warn you...

Generally speaking, I was really excited for this week's start to finally visiting communities to collect data for a map of the muni as well as an analysis of the existing/necessary infrastructure. Given this excitement, I was blindsided and overwhelmed by the feelings of frustrated anger/indignation/sadness that RAPIDLY replaced my energy. It's felt quite debilitating (generally, when I get frustrated it leads to me getting frustrated at my frustration, which rapidly degenerates and leaves me a useless pile of mush).

Before freaking out, mom, please read on...

My work-related frustration has taken 3 forms (based on different interactions with community members) and has taught me 3 pointed lessons (or, I should say, reminded me of 3 lessons I seem to keep learning over and over...):

1. Anger: When a group of community leaders was clearly drunk when they show up to our meeting
• This drove me absolutely up a wall when it happened the other day, but looking back, I have to remind myself that first, we were really late:
• Our first day out, my muni counterpart, Pedro, who was arranging all of the meetings, underestimated how much time each community would take, so our later meetings were delayed up to 3hrs. When people show up 3hrs late for a meeting time (because that has happened to me here...), I know that frustrates the heck out of me - can't blame them for just peacing out after an hour or two of waiting...
• I had already been warned by my friend at the muni, July, who told me to keep all meetings before mid-day, b/c men tend to visit with one another/drink in the afternoons after kids get home from school at 12 - by the time we got to the community, it was past midday
• The drunk community also happened to be one of the poorest with the bleakest outlooks
• This of course is NOT to say that poor=drunk (in fact, Evangelical Christian communities have grown rapidly in this region partially in reaction to rampant alcoholism that they are trying to combat)
• This particular community has been around for a while, has no prospects of finding or having the money to purchase land to expand (water sources, schools, community centers, etc.) as they need, they live on pretty poor farm land, and their corn crop (basically their life-blood) is almost completely lost with this year's draught
• In my past service, I've worked with and gotten to know plenty of people experiencing poverty and homelessness that live with (or have beaten) alcoholism and other addictions
• At this point, I like to believe I have empathy for the fact that the sheer helplessness of crippling poverty can simply be too much for people to handle, and drinking comes as a release from the cruel reality
• My take-away: Judgement and anger are NOT the answer - if I'm here to serve them, I need to meet them where they are to walk with them instead of expecting them to come to me
• Also, the moonshine they brew around here is crazy cheap, 90%+ alcohol content, and despite all that, doesn't taste half bad - at this altitude, it's hard NOT to get wildly intoxicated even with a few sips really
2. Indignation: When a group of community members does not respect me (generally involves extra-meeting chatting in Quiche and chuckling about who-knows-what when I'm trying to hold a meeting)
• This generally happens in communities that are pretty remote and who only speak Quiche
• Usually it's a group of men whose Spanish may, in fact, be worse than mine (which, combined with how not-great my Spanish currently is, can be quite problematic for communication)
• The men both don't feel comfortable speaking to me in (or understanding my) Spanish, and they probably don't feel comfortable with the fact that I'm a woman
• While my gut reaction is to feel righteous indignation about gender stereotypes at work and suspected talking behind my back in a language I don't understand, the fact is, I'm doing lots of speculating 
• Also, it's more important for them to connect with the male muni workers speaking to them in Quiche b/c it's more comfortable for them (language and gender) as well as important not to get in the way of an opportunity for a local relationship to be strengthened
• My take-away: I need to get over my pride so I don't undermine my work - I am NOT the focus of this project
• side note: when it comes to promoting gender equality, I will instead try to be conscious about greeting any women who might be present at a meeting (as they are usually sitting at the back/out of the way if they are there at all) and ask their opinions if/when the opportunity presents itself
• Also, I don't want to sell the communities short - while I don't see eye-to-eye with many of the men here on machismo and the role of a woman, I respect them and the tremendous work and hardships both men and women face daily with outstanding grace and faith
3. Sadness: When a group of community members starts getting really exciting about all of the projects they need/want
• This has been the hardest one for me to deal with, because upon further reflection, this isn't a frustration of judgement or pride on my part, it simply part of the job - I need to get them to think and explore all possible concerns they might have for their community in the form of a wish list, but I can't even come close to promising that all will be completed
• Despite my best efforts to explain the difference between an analysis and a promised project, the meetings usually end with a lot of excitement and hope for what projects they'll see addressed soon
• My wild inadequacy and inability to see even a fraction of these projects through is enforced by the numbers: out of 11/140 communities I've visited thus far, I have a list of requested projects 100+ long ranging from simple and straight-forward to extensive and decidedly bleak in prospects of ever happening (within this generation at least)
• My take-away: I need to keep reminding myself that I can't hold myself responsible for completing all of these projects 
• A false sense of messiah-ism just leads to more pride and a tendency to be paralyzed by how overwhelming the situation is which ultimately leads me to wallow in guilt and frustration and be totally useless
• Instead, I need to use their excitement and hope as energy to do the best possible job I can prioritizing, planning, and identifying where to seek further external assistance and where to recommend internal solutions

All of these lessons have been reinforced (#3 in particular) by my current chapter with sections about poverty and poverty of spirit (Chapter 8 The Simple Life) in my current book "The Jesuit Guide to (almost) Everything" which, go figure, was given as a graduation present since Rev. James Martin was our commencement speaker (worth a listen - he's absolutely hilarious)

The final, "sadness" point has definitely been emphasized/drawn out more with the recent, very public, deaths of Michael Brown and James Foley. I don't have much to say about Ferguson other than I'm sorry to see anyone die in that manner and I hope justice, truth, and comfort for families affected by violence can be found in the midst of all of this. 

More, I'd like to say a few words about Jim, because I had the great fortune to see him and shake his hand when he came to campus a few years ago to speak about his captivity in Libya in 2011. I saw many speakers during my time at MU, but I found few as captivating and charismatic as Jim - he was open, earnest, witty, funny, and extremely humble all at the same time. 

He also stuck out because some of the stories and footage he shared touched me deeply, both shattering any romanticized ideas of a war zone and impressing me with his astounding faith, not only from his life spent in the Catholic faith, but also what he gleaned from Islam during his time and work in the Middle East. I distinctly remember the grace and poise with which he responded to what felt like a semi-leading question along the lines of "What was your experience with Islam during captivity" by stating clearly his respect for the devout Muslims who shared their faith with him both during his travels and while in captivity - as much as he talked about his experiences praying the rosary and reading from the Bible, (both of which are wonderful to hear him give witness to), he also had some outstanding stories of brotherhood and peace that came from time spent praying with and learning from the Muslim men who shared his cell for a portion of his captivity. 

These stories spoke to me about his deep faith as well as his openness to loving and being loved by people who didn't share his same faith background. All of this to say it's filled me with great sadness to learn about the manner of Jim's death and the simple, heart-wrenching fact that his incredible spirit of faith and love has been taken from all of us. My prayers and condolences go out to his friends and family - I can only imagine how incredible it must have been to know him on a personal level and how much harder that must make it to lose him. I'm also very happy to see the focus that has been placed on his life and his memory. 

Yikes, that ended up way longer than anticipated, but lots has been swirling around in my head apparently... I'll get around to an "action" post soon(ish) with pictures and happy notes, but as mentioned, all of these forms of frustration and overarching sadness have left me a bit backlogged on paperwork, so bear with me!

End of Feria and visitors

So this one is coming to you a bit earlier than usual in an attempt to provide a short update between the end of this past few week's craziness of groups coming and going, Feria, and short trips out to various project sites. The following month (or so) should consist of fairly consistent work here in Xoy (hopefully...), but a few recent developments:

• Doug, the girls, and Waleska left about half way through last week
• I spent a little more time with them, including a meeting with me, the PCV girls, and Doug to talk about his ideas for guided discussions during an upcoming Rotarian trip he's planning for next March
• Steve Crowe (Waleska's husband and the mechanical engineering contractor finishing out the hydro portion of the electrical project in NP) came out to see a potential hydro project here in Xoy and to give Waleska a ride home
• Finally got to meet their son, Gabe, who is 6 and awesome
• Got to chat briefly with Steve about recent goings on at NP - CANNOT WAIT for that project to be completed SO SOON
• I wasn't feeling awesome during a lot of their time here, so that just about sums up the rest of my time with them here
• As a result of feeling icky, I spent a lot of time laying in my room reading
• This meant I finished the book from Tim's mom that came in the care package from my mom... because it's AWESOME
• The name is "The Boys in the Boat"
• basically, if you like novels about true stories about sports/the Olympics, Nazis, propaganda, the Great Depression, and a beautiful little love story, you should make an effort to find and read this book. A wonderful collection of major historical events woven into an exceptionally well-written account of the life of a man raised during the Great Depression. Can't say enough good things about this, other than I finished all 350+ pages in 3 days...
• Got a visit from my friend, Enrique D., from Guatemala City as well as his old HS teacher (from Minnesota originally), Steve, who happens to be in the country for the month
• Enrique designed a bridge about 2hrs from here and figured the two would swing by to see some of Feria and pick me up on their way out to site
• This visit coincided with a visit from some other PCV friends of Lauren and Margaret 
• we all hung out at mine and Lauren's house for 2 for 1 pizza from Mario Bros pizza place and played "Zoo" (aka thumper, but only with animal signs and sounds) - tried to teach our host mom, Dona Umbe, how to play 
• Despite the fact that her goat symbol and sound were quite entertaining, she didn't catch on to the game and eventually went to bed
• Some favorite signs/sounds included Margaret's bunny/"nom nom nom" and Tina's butterfly/"rolled rrrrr"
• SUB-BULLET POINTS!
• Headed out to the El Rodeo bridge site with Enrique and Steve
• Spent the afternoon chatting with the Cocode about another potential bridge site, then hanging out at a family's house where they gave us some soup and one of the sons (maybe 16 years old?) complimented Enrique on his Spanish
• definitely thought Enrique was a gringo like the rest of us - a misconception we didn't correct
• Spent our Saturday taking as-built measurements and helping around site for the laying out of the cables, finishing touches on the towers, and one anchor pour
• We came back Saturday afternoon b/c Steve needed to get back to Guate for a flight home in the next few days (other plans fell through) 
• Had a lovely dinner with Steve, Enrique, Lauren, and Margaret as well as a nice breakfast/chat with Enrique and Steve before they left 
• All are great company and we were collectively able to work out some kinks with my GPS before I start data collection
• After dinner last night, Lauren and I came home to find a very distraught Dona Humbe
• She had locked the keys into her medicine room (where she keeps her dialysis supplies) and, despite eliciting the help of the contractor who build the home additions, was not able to break in
• With the couple of hand tools I keep in my room, Lauren and I tag-teamed a break in 
• Lauren beat the crap out of the door handle and janked it out with the hammer, then I was able to pull the lock open with my pliers and unscrew/knock out the lock
• Humbe was thrilled and visibly relieved, and Lauren and I celebrated by finishing off the apple tart the Kristina (other PCV) had made earlier in the week

That sums up the general events of the past week(ish)

One other item that really stuck out to me occurred on the ride to the El Rodeo bridge site - as we were winding through some mountain back roads passing beautiful valleys covered in a wide variety of trees and sliced by winding rivers full of small waterfalls in the soft rock and swaths of tumbled and varied stones settled in the mica-rich sandy banks, I was overwhelmed by a sense of joy. 

I suddenly came to the realization that my work here bears a startling resemblance to my favorite childhood pastimes. Every year growing up, our summer camping trips throughout the campgrounds of Wisconsin (either with the full family and groups of other families with young kids, or on camping trips with my dad) were something I always looked forward to (and still remember vividly), because they meant a long weekend of wandering through the woods with other kids, building forts, throwing rocks, and just using our imaginations. During my family's time living in Germany (when we didn't camp), some of my favorite memories come from playing with the kids on the US military base (though we didn't live there, we went for church and other activities) in the woods behind their apartments. In 5th grade, my best friend, Maggie, and I built forts inside and outside her house in Tosa with whatever her mom would let us use, from bed sheets and cushions to mud and sticks. In high school, trail runs and bike rides with friends and geocaching with my family through the parkways and wooded rivers of Wauwatosa brought me tremendous happiness and peace, often reminding me of times I would head down the same paths with my dad as a kid to whittle sticks and build "duck traps" (aka throw sticks in a pile(ish) on the bank of the river) with my dad.

No matter where I was, playing outside and building things have always been some of my favorite activities.

This love of the outdoors and building things has never really left me, but I guess it just struck a chord seemingly at random this week (the way these things often do) and I just had to take note of how fortunate and blessed I am to have this opportunity to serve a population that I love and respect tremendously in a way that so perfectly aligns with the core of what brings (and seemingly has always brought) me joy and fulfillment.

With that, here are some photos...

A continual dance/parade for the Virign while the micos ascend the palo

The floats coming around the circle

the micos flying

Examples of Mayan ladies wearing traje here in Joyabaj

Out at the El Rodeo ped bridge site - Mincho and his son, Eddy (who is training under Mincho to be a mason), on the left

Another ped bridge completed by Mike/Enrique in October 2013 through Bridges to Prosperity

I made friends with this guy (Ferari, who does, in fact, have a master) with a nice, behind-the-ear scratch, and he proceeded to sit in front of me like this and occasionally paw at my leg...

I just want to love and pet and feed all of them! 

Cables being pulled across the river

Ladies from the community walking across the river at another potential bridge site

Wrestling the cables into place under the direction of Mincho and Eddy

One of the anchors being poured - we noticed that the lower tubes were too short midway through the pour and used my ever-present roll of duct tape to add some length

The guys at the end of the day

Madison, MU, and MSOE - Lots of gringo ingenieros in Xoy! Not to mention FERIA

Still nice and busy with the past week (or so) full of lots of events - here are a few, and (again) sorry for the length, but as you'll see, I've been a bit preoccupied recently...

• Abel (the AWESOME muni driver) was giving Waleska a ride part of the way home after the Madison crew left, so I hopped in the car to get to Chichi for the Sunday market to grab some things for the MU EWB silent auction coming up this fall
• This meant another lovely night at Hotel el Mashito and some food, beverages, and wifi at the Mayan Inn
• I got a huipil blanket and backpack
• Right when I hopped off the chicken bus in Joyabaj I headed into the big alcalde auxiliares meeting at the muni building
• This is a meeting that happens once a month and consists of auxiliary mayors for each of the 120+ communities in the municipality as well as Cocode members (essentially committees for larger groupings of communities that focus on and help coordinate development initiatives and projects), and depending on the size of a community, there will be 1-10 auxiliares and 5-10 Cocode members, so the meeting hall was full of about 500 people (at least that's what it felt like...)
• Being the giant gringa that I am, as soon as I came into the back of the room to listen in, I was waved up onto stage by one of the main muni guys I work with, Hector, from the planificación office
• Once I made it up and onto the stage, I was informed that I would be "presenting myself" to the group so they would know who I was and what I was working on
• I ended up being the last person to speak, but despite how antsy everyone was to leave the 3hr+ meeting, watching a gringa talk on stage was well worth the wait, so with Florencio (the Alcalde's) help, I was able to keep everyone's attention and get my message out - a little frightening, but it went well!
• The rest of the week was spent in various meetings prepping for the start of my mapping work and tracking data on the filter/water system from Alejandro's info - the data shows some interesting and concerning social trends (looks like there's a lot of leaks/perpetually open taps throughout the system), but he's super happy and excited about the quality of the water these days, so I'm excited to keep working with him to figure out how to make this system sustainable and consistent! (yikes)
• The Guatemala City Rotarians came for a visit
• they plan on helping with health and hygiene trainings to support the education component of the EWB filter as well as generally to help with the ongoing hygiene education that Lauren and the Hospital/Margaret and the schools do on a regular basis
• they've also contributed to projects in the area, so Mincho and I took them on a little tour of projects - this tour included a stop at a roadside vendor of cusha (Guatemalan cane sugar moonshine)...
• Spent an extensive amount of time chatting with Mincho's daughter, July (who works for Hector in the planificación office), mainly working to update documents of data/info collected by my Aunt Janet when she was doing work like this 14 years ago (her maps are still the only maps of the muni). We also discussed a plan of attack for the map-making process such as developing a one-page survey for each community (again based on my aunt's previous work)
• Made a day trip with Mincho out to Nueva Providencia to adjust/tighten up some cables along the pipeline - while it was a long day (4am - 8pm), it was nice to get those items taken care of and to chat with the community some more 
• They were mostly interested in when we would be returning after the completion of the project so they could throw a party for us
• Enjoyed some solid bonding time with the PCVs here in Xoy, Lauren and Margaret, over some vino, cooking of chepes (made out of masa, fresh black beans, onions, and cheese and cooked in dried corn husks), Modern Family episodes, and Enneagrams (Margaret has actually taken the test, but Lauren and I tried to self-identify, which is quite difficult...)
• MU arrived for their pedestrian bridge site assessment!
• had a lovely time in a beautiful place helping them assess and take data for their senior design project
• Mark carted down a TON of stuff from my mom - yummy yummy food stuffs that the PCVs and I are quite excited to get into as well as gifts for just about anyone and everyone I've encountered since being here - needless to say, it was a lovely package to open!
• Had my first community meeting as the solo interpreter for the group, so that was exhilarating and went quite well if I do say so!
• We had a few nice dinners including the big one last night with the MU group, PCVs, Waleska, and Doug Stahl (MSOE faculty mentor) who has been in Xela for the past week taking Spanish classes with his HS-age daughter and her friends
• OH and FERIA has been happening
• this is the 10 day festival here in Joyabaj that is a pretty standard festival (almost every muni has one), but differentiates itself because it is one of the few that still has the Micos performing around the palo (guys who dress up like monkeys, climb to the top of a ~70ft pole, and swing down it (pictures below - hard to describe...)
• I missed most of the big events making site visits with the MU group, but definitely got to see the parvulos (kindergartner/preschool) parade on Saturday morning - SO CUTE

Waleska, Doug, and the girls will be here a few more days for some other site visits and meetings, then I will probably head out to another bridge site for the weekend with Mincho and some engineers from Guatemala City, then next week should be "normal" with Feria over, the groups out of Xoy, and me roaming around the campo making the map!

PICTURES

 Visit from the Rotarians in the hospital cafeteria to talk about health and hygiene classes and how they can help - I'm on the left, Lauren in the pink, and Dorian (Lauren's counterpart) on the far right

Carlos, the Rotarian who planned the event, explaining to all of us how much 1/4 of a liter of cusha is in terms of drinks (given that it is almost pure alcohol...)

Explaining the filter system to the Rotarians - picture courtesy of Mincho

Visiting the Chiquiate ped bridge

Early morning on our way around the lake to NP

The lovely little comedor "Volver Volver" where we stopped for breakfast and lunch

Fresh concrete patches made by the community - only a few little spots needed some extra concrete and I'm happy to report they are now fixed!

Nice and tight hangers!

MU surveying! 

Digging test pits for the geotech analysis at the bridge site - a little puppy came to help

Community meeting - Mincho leading the way on explaining the preliminary Memorandum of Understanding to the community

Group photo with the Alcalde Auxiliare (right)

FERIA

There is a parvulos beauty contest wherein each school votes its prettiest girl to ride in the parade and be judged against other 3-5 year old girls - this makes me a bit uncomfortable, but it's their tradition (and honestly appeared more tame than what is portrayed on "Toddlers in Tiaras")

Each school has a theme - here's the Spanish theme...

The Tikal theme...

Smurfs!

Aladdin... (RIP Robin Williams :(    )

Not clear on this theme, but they were so darn cute!

Hawaiians? The tops were made of soda bottle caps

Jungle!

Another beauty contestant

Traditional Traje!

Swash buckling Pirates of the Caribbean!

Finally, the Micos

Quite impressive to watch