Retirement what retirement?

Me looking cool!

I really wasn't as angry as I look!   (click to enlarge any pic)

Marvin just sent me this picture from my trip to Coban, "Michael the Woodsman" ~ not sure why I am looking so preoccupied ~maybe the thought of the work ahead! And yes, I did use the chain saw despite visions of theTexas Chainsaw Massacre in my head! 

 El Plan Infinito

I learned today that Alice – the Founder /Director of CasaSito is happy for me to be the new coordinator of the El Plan Infinito Project with effect from Easter. So itwill be full steam ahead on this for a minimum of two years. I am so excited by the project, especially after having participated in the youngsters day out last Thursday.  I had a great time, I only hope the children also enjoyed themselves  (I know they did!) I felt well pleased with myself for making jokes with these youngsters in Spanish!  We visited the 5* Hotel Santo Domingo which boasts its own ruins, museum, art gallery and chocolate factory!  Then we retired to the CasaSito Volunteers house for refreshments!  It was a great way to meet the children for the first time. They were so well behaved (maybe a bit “too well”  ~ but there is a reason for that ~ things will change on the fun front!)

Jaime, the current coordinator of El Plan Infinito, and I are hatching a plan for a project very different to the kind of stuff the children have done in the past. We have been invited to participate in the 10th anniversary celebrations of another organisation Los Niños as El Plan Infinito receives funding from them.  Normally the children sing a few songs ~ but not this time!  This time we are retelling a Mayan tale of the twin Gods who became the Sun and the Moon, this involves rewriting the story, making some 25 masks, and creating some music/ sound effects. Both Jaime and I hope that this will be a really exciting project and engage the children in new ways and let them have a load of fun whilst at the same time learning about their own Maya heritage.

 

This video was made about 14 months ago, the new centre is built furnished and ready to go, except for the fact that it has no water supply. A saga, but suffice it to say that local politics are playing a part!  But Jaime is on the case and water should be "on tap"  in two to three weeks, then we can startto use the building, unfortunately without water for refreshmentsand the loos having 40 children about the place is not a good idea!  In the mean time we will use a room atth elocal primary school for the Maya project!   The lovely new building will be my "fiefdom"  and I can't wait!  

Prototype Tecolote (Mayan Owl) Mask

Going native- Lessons in being "Chapin"

Jossefet, was staying with me for a long weekend and he was a terrific help as he is very creative, artistic and generally really nice to be with! We spent the weekend gardening, cooking and making a prototype mask.

I am learning about all things “chapin” from Jossefet!  (Chapin is the urban term for a Guatemalteco!)   He is a very proud Guatemalan. So I am learning about cooking authentic chapin food, making coffee the chapin way  ~ by boiling water in an aluminium kettle then adding the coffee powder to the water in the kettle, the coffee is STRONG!  Then pouring the steaming brew into specially shaped mugs (chapin of course!) and drinking with loads of sugar.

Also learned  to make hot chocolate buy dissolving chocolate in boiling water (no milk!) surprisingly delicious and  to eat my fried plantains with refried beans, cream and cheese and a dozen other chapin things!

I am, even as I write this cooking rice the chapin way!

We got the barbeque going in the garden and on Friday had beef (lomito) and on Saturday we had two enormous  Tilapa ~ with guacamole, chirmol ( a grilled tomato, chilli and onion salsa), chapin rice and tortillas negras all washed down with tamarindo.  Lovely.

Typical Street Food Vendors

"Tostada"

In the evening we had just looked at a menu offering the same bbq beef for Q.235 per head (£20) and reckoned that with veg, soup, postre (pudding), coffee and wine the meal would cost around £80 or Q.960. So with good food very much in mind we headed to the Merced Church and eat our fill of incredible street food for a total of Q.40 or £3.40 for both of us.  I had tostadas, atol de elote (a drink mad from corn, hot sweet and thick) and then another drink /pudding of rice cooked with chocolate and pantains stuffed with a sweet bean mixture and the whole lot dunked in batter and deep fried! Heavenly!!   If a little tough on the old calories!  Have to say we felt somewhat smug, as we watched the Gringos trotting off to the expensive places~ even if we did have to eat our food city on the church wall! The place was packed, but I was probably the only European eating this amazing street food. 

General

(Not my passport!)

Today, I went to collect my visa, all went well except for the fact that they had calculated the date wrong and expected me to leave Guatemala on 31 March, not 28 April as I was expecting. Because of “Machismo” eventually the mistake was blamed on the computer and within ten minutes a new visa was issued to me – odd that it took 8 days to produce the incorrect one and so quick to issue the revised one! Anyways I am happy, so on April 28 I have to leave the country for 3 days before  I can re-enter.  But I am hoping that I will be taking part in the Latin American Academy of Eurochambres (if it is still on) it will take place in Brazil so that will take me out of Guatemala for 5 days or so. (Just heard that indeed I will probably be in Brazil the last week of April!)

Tomorrow I start my English teaching at my old Spanish School in earnest, I am expected to teach about 20 hours a week for the next month. So that combined with about 20 hours for CasaSito this month pretty much fills my days!  In March I will drop the English and start with CasaSito full-time.  (My student is Korean and has about 3 words of English non of which I can understand because of his heavy accent!)

My bank "helpfully" decided that somebody (I wonder who?) was using my card in Guatemala and blocked it!  After a call to them via Skype they "helpfully" unblocked it, having forgotten to read the note saying that indeed it was I who was in Guatemala!  Funny that they had not noticed the card being used for the last three months! .......

This weeks gallery is from the El Plan Infinito/ CasaSito outing last Thursday.

The El Plan Infinito gang!

The gang with Jaime, Miriam and Oslan from CasaSito

En Casa de Voluntarios for "Refecciones"

Two Little Angels

"Little Women"

This lad is very shy, but very cute!

Innocence personified!

Note:  The little lad who is shy, has a serious eye disease but sadly his parents simply cannot afford to get it treated, CasaSito is doing what it can to makesure it gets no worse, but he will probably have to wait his chance for when there is a visit from "Medecins Sans Frontieres" or similar ~ such is life for the poor communities of Guatemala!  We are all trying to develop his confidence and to overcome his disability, as inside there is a cheeky little boy trying to get out!

 Hasta  Luego Amigos!

Change ~ Time

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The Jade Palm - unfortunately comes with a £40 price tag!

Trumpet Tree in my garden

Orchids and bromiliads in my Garden

This week I have been thinking about “change” and “time”  - the new president of Guatemala was sworn into office on the 14^th of January and of course was promising great “change” (didn’t another President win on this mantra?) .

“Change” is necessary and “time” is running out!

A fact that cannot be avoided is that Guatemala has deep seated social problems, being a mainly rural country, many poverty, domestic violence and other problems remain hidden and to a large extent ignored. And in the towns and cities drug trafficking is a huge problem or is it industry!  Guatemala has one of the highest murder rates in the world and only 4% of murders are solved.  Last year nearly 600 women were murdered in acts of domestic violence.   This is a statistic that certainly needs to “change”.

 Read this BBC news report:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-16669818

President Perez Molina – is for “change” ~ he is ex-military and has promised a crack down on crime and violence, it will be interesting to see how well he does, nobody ois holding their breath.   

Sitting in privileged Antigua many of the problems of Guatemala are a world away ~ Antigua is after all a country within a country; international, glitzy, fascinating, relatively liberal and definitely expensive. Somebody described it as the New York of Guatemala.  But it only take a short bus ride out of town in any direction to find small pueblos of grinding poverty, with people eeking out a living from the verdant soil.  The “change” brings you up short!

I have to question the role of the Catholic Church in proclaiming every child born a “gift from God” and families with 10 children are sadly very common!  The problem as one friend put it to me was “no television” (or other diverting entertainment) and long dark nights!   The attitude towards contraception needs to “change”.

Students and poarents queuing to sign contracts!

The scholarship students class of 2012!

Volunteers and Foreign Donors!

Last Sunday was the day the scholarship students (Becas) signed their contracts with CasaSito in order to receive support for educational activities. This year over 200 students will receive help and obtain an extra opportunity to “change” the cycle of poverty within their own families. 

Boys of El Plan Infinito

The Girls of El Plan Infinito

Prof. Chris teaching the Choir of El Plan Infinito!

The current co-ordinator Jaime.

After a week of thinking I am no further forward in knowing exactly what work I shall do in CasaSito ~ the project in Santiago Zamora which I have been invited to coordinate, (El Plan Infinito) would be a great challenge but in many ways it should be in the hands of Guatemalan not another “gringo [foreigner]” ~ without some degree of self-determination I think it hard for “change” to take place.  Maybe my role would be better in supporting and mentoring a local coordinator and also in involving myself in specific projects with a few organisations as opposed to full time with one project!  But, this is just speculation, CasaSito will decide and really I feel that as I am a CasaSito volunteer I will do what they ask of me. Mother knows best?  Within a sensible amount of time per week. 

Update: they definitely want me to run the project and would like a two year commitment ~ the small “honorarium” will be most welcome!  So I start next week for 2 days a week and see how it goes and switch to 4 days a week after Easter.


Personal Change

I am also coming to terms with “change” ~ the reality of being “early retired” is only now starting to hit me.  I have time and I have an income, plenty of time and just sufficient income to live. I am overspending on my budget at the moment, but feel sure that I will spend less once I have set the house up and got it to my liking so that I can then just spend time in my newly acquired hammock simply “being!”

I have been asked if I would like to teach English to a Korean guy, 20 hours a week for a month a two, whilst he studies for his TOEFL English exam, which is a necessary part of entrance qualifications to study in the USA or UK.  Nice to earn a little extra, but it also robs me of yet more of my retirement time.  I could be in apposition of not having any time between CasaSito and teaching …… is that what I want?   No idea at the moment.

And I keep coming back to my mantra of not accepting responsibility except for myself ~ do I want the pressure and stress of running a project, or trying to get a person through tough exams ….. or do I simply want to take it easy, do a little good and maintain the house and garden, grow vegetables, orchids and generally chill out?

I also have developed some very good friendships (and a potential relationship is in the air)~ again “change”  and again the need for “time”, I need to be able to devote time and effort to myself in the midst of all this.

There is a limit to how much one can do and maybe at the moment having only been here barely three months as yet I need to have more “time” to think and more “time” to adjust to the “change” ……

Changing (extending) my visa:

Chicken Bus Interior!

Travel in rush hour to know why a "Chicken Bus"

Yesterday (Monday) I went to the city to extend my visa, it is possible as a tourist to extend the 90 visa by a further 90 days without leaving the country and re-entering. After 180 days you must leave for a minimum of 3 days then you can come in again and get another extendable 90 days visa.  I had read horror stories on the inetrnet about the process, so armed with a Guatemalan friend for morale support found the office of “the director for migration”   and wow, so much had changed, nice bright office, ticket system, I was given the correct form I had all the relevant documents and within 20 minutes had been seen and paid my fee, my documents had been checked and a receipt issued. So efficient and then the killer blow, “please return to collect your visa in 8 days” ………..  it is interesting that you are required to have your passport with you at all times  in Guatemala, just as nationals must carry their id card.  Except, apparently, when your passport is tied up in a system for 8 days!  But hey, I was cool, just said thank you and a cheery “Hasta proxima semana”  (see you next week).

Pre-customisation chicken bus!

Chicken Bus

A return taxi to the city would cost around $35 (US) or Q.280.  Return by “chicken bus” and various city buses total Q.22.   Well pleased!  But my loathing of the city has not changed and I was glad to be in and out within 2 hours and my total round trip from home and back was 4.5 hours.  (I have yet of course to see the historical centre of Guatemala, which is supposed to be charming!) The rest is simply appalling and completely confusing with the city divied into zones and each zone into “avenidas” and “calles”  - so an address of Avenida 1 and Calle 1 is useless unless you know which of the 20+ zones you need to be in! 

All food for thought!

This weeks “extra” gallery is a pleasant couple of hours spent in the ruins of San Francisco Church and Franciscan Monastery, I went with my young friend Jossefet.

The church is the resting place of Guatemala's only Saint - Santo Herman Pedro! Sanctified by Pope John Paul II.

 OK Thats it for this week!

Hasta Proxima Semana!

Qua Mek ~ Kak-ik, ~ Chipi-chipi ~ and all things Maya!

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Ok this is going to be a bit of a marathon ….. but I hope it is worth the read! I certainly had a great time and learned a lot and experienced things that simply would not have been possible elsewhere!

Las Conchas - Alta Verapaz

Ooops! Where did the road go?

I have spent the last few days in Alta Verapaz and now realise just how dramatically beautiful Guatemala is! Climbing up through the cloud line, passing through forests, and using roads that are liable to collapse and landslides.  And with Guatemala being so poor, the roads are a sign of the economic situation.  But, I am still in one piece!  I also have to say that some of the roads in Guatemala are some of the best I have ever travelled on!  And when you are passing through jaw dropping scenery it is a comfort.

El Calvario - Coban

“In ancient times, Alta Verapaz was part of the heartland of the Mayan Civilization. When the Spanish invaded and conquered the Mayans, they were repeatedly repulsed by fierce Mayan warriors in this region now called Alta Verapaz. The Catholic Church suggested that a peaceful approach might be more successful than armed invasions. This was tried and was successful, hence the name Verapaz (true peace) for Baja (lower) and Alta (upper) Verapaz commemorates the peaceful way this area was subdued by the Spanish invaders.”   The Dominican Friar Bartolomé de Las Casas (1484-1566) Defender of the Indians was the instigator of this peaceful approach.

Beautiful Colonial Coban

The area around Coban in Alta Verapaz is also where German settlers started the coffee growing business in Guatemala in the late 19th century. Coffee is still a big business and the German influence can be seen in various ways, especially in Coban. Alta Verapaz is home to the famous tourist attraction at Semuc Champey.  In 1941 the USA forced the government of Guatemala to evict all the Germans from Guatemala because of their open support for Hitler.  Many house around Coban are of a distinctly alpine design!

Ugly Modern Coban - The bandstand! Hides the Cathedral nicely!

There is so much I could write but I am going to restrict myself to some key themes.

“Qua Mek”  is Qeq’chi for Don Miguel or, if you like Mr. Michael.  Q’eq’chi is the mayan language spoken as the principle language in this part of Guatemala. Alta Verapaz is the heartland of Mayan culture and it is noticeable in many aspects of life here. Not least in the fact that  there are far fewer lighter skinned and taller people who are the product of the Hispanic invasion!  Also tourists are few and far between!  Coban is a small yet bustling city, with narrow streets and many hills!  I loved it for the sheer mismash of architecture, and general higgle-di-pigglety-ness of it all!

Chipi-chipi is Q’eq’chi for drizzle, and drizzle is what you get in abundance in this high hills and mountains as a result the tropical forests abound in orchids, bromiliades and the climate is perfect for the growing of coffee, cardomon, tea, teak, rubber and of course everywhere there is Maize.  The land is often enveloped in cloud and with all this rain there are rivers, and waterfalls galore!

During my time in Alta Verapaz I was with my, now friend, Marvin and I have the pleasure to meet his family and business associates. And as is typical in more rural parts things tend to happen spontaneously, so a lunch we had turned into a trip to visit a new ECO attraction being built by Juan a business colleague of Marvin’s which in turn became an invitation for Juan to come to Chahal with Marvin and I to visit Marvin’s hotel and his new project at Las Conchas. Which in turn, became a day of sawing up wood for the construction of the ECO restaurant, which led to swinning atlas Conchas, catching fish at a fish farm and eating said fish to a traditional Mayan recipe!  Fortunately for me, I am sufficiently laid-back to not let this spontaneity got to me (too much!)

So, all this is by way of introduction.  

First food!  Kak-ik!

Kak ik!

Senora Felice demonstrating how to open a tamale

Slow cooking - it doesn't come more authentic!

The stove of the caldos!

The quirky "casa de los caldos"

Wow!  Kak-ik is a caldo, and a caldo is a cross between a stew and a soup! Kak-ik is turkey and “bacon” it is incredible,  a little bit spicy (picante) but luscious and is eaten with rice and tamales.  One the way to visit Chahal where Marvin has his hotel, he took me to the restaurant of a friend of his (and the whole weekend changed). Senora Felice has been working in the “Casa de las Caldos” all her life and is using the recipes established by her mother who started the restaurant.   It is the epitomy of all the slow food movement stands for! The caldos are cooked on wood burning “stoves” and take their own time to cook!  There is no menu to speak of as people come to Casa de Las Caldos for one of the three or four dishes constantly on the menu (nothing else is served!)  Senora Felice, salts and smokes her own bacon and slaughters and preares the turkeys, so it is all very authentic!

My Kak-ik arrived and I was transported to food heaven. Senora Felice was amazed at the fact that I quite happily followed tradition and added generous amounts of “picante” [ground up, dried, explosive, “chiles cobano”] to my caldo and enjoyed every minute especially as it was washed down with pure cacao – the drink of the Mayan gods!  Think strong hot chocolate made with cacao, sugar and water mmmmmmm!

The restaurant is completely eccentric, shelves of old pots and pans, radios, pictures, old machinery line the edge of the dining area. Tables are just pulled up as needed, there is an ancient marimba which is played every Sunday and surrounding the restaurant a garden which again is simple organic in its layout!  I loved it!

Enjoy a mug of Cacao- the drink of the Mayan Gods!

Senora Felice invited Marvin and I into the kitchen so I could see the stoves and see how a caldo was cooked ….. 2 hours ~and many cups of cacao and samples of everything on the menu~ later, having met Juan (Felice’s husband) we had somehow agreed to go and see Juan’s new project of an Eco hotel and “caving” experience.

The hills/montanas outside Coban

Well the journey up into the mountains took about 45 minutes, 30 of which was on a “non-road” a 4 x 4 would have been perfect but eventually we arrived at Juan’s place, which is due to open in 1 month!  Well, Juan had bought about 30 – 40 acres of land, consisting of 3 or 4 hills, valleys and forest. He has cleared a lot of the forest and replanted it with native flora, put in paths, and trails and started the construction of the “cabins” which will form the hotel!  The highpoint was the opportunity to “explore” his caves.   

Juan's project

The path to a cave "Cueva"

At the cave entrance with Juan

He has four cave systems on his land, they are all unexplored and un-charted!  He has cleared one sufficiently that people can visit it (however it needs a lot more work)  so, armed with ropes, boots, safety helmets, protective wetsuits, lamps, ladders, walkie-talkies and all the safety paraphernalia required we started off!   Stop, this is Guatemala …….. try again,  so armed with nothing but a torch each we started off. I was soon so amazed by the sights of underground pools rivers, stalactites and stalagmites (the mites go up and the tights come down) that I simply forgot to be afraid of the fact that here I was in a virtually unexplored cave system with nothing but a torch …….  We probably went about 400 yards into the system and it is obvious tat the system of caves is vast, you could see other caves branching of in all directions, and with the river and pools  it would be a speleologists dream!  I decided that when we got to what was a VERY steep set of makeshift steps going down into a black hole I decided that we(I) had probably gone far enough!  Once we got back to he surface I put on my “consultants” hat and gave Juan a few ideas about making the attraction a little more “user friendly”.   

Exploring we will go!  Whose bright idea was this?

Too much for my poor flash - but you get the idea!

Relief - written all over my face - after cave number 2.

I was rewarded by an offer to view another cave system which has not even stared to be developed but which was the source for the water used on the property.   Fortunately I only had to clamber in virtual darkness for about 100 yards to see the underground spring!

So excited was Marvin to see what is possible that he mentioned to Juan that the land he had purchased at Las Conchas also had a mountain and also had a cave or two! That was enough to get Juan very eager to visit, so he was invited to join the trip, he contributed a chain saw, as Marvin thought we would take the opportunity to saw up a tree he had bought!  (Before you even think it, forget safety goggles, gloves and all that Health and Safety stuff) …….    The mountains in this part of Guatemala are like Swiss cheese and simply full of caves, you see entrances to caves just about on every rock face and hillside.  They are interesting for the fact that many have been used by the Maya for thousands of years, in one of Juan’s caves we saw what were obviously cave pictures/etchings in the rocks, amazing!   I now know what David Attenborough must feel like when exploring!

  

Chahal and Las Conchas

In the grounds of Marvin's hotel

Red Cocao

Marvin’s hotel is on a road which is undergoing complete transformation and once complete will provide a route directly across Guatemala from Mexico in the west to the Port of Puerto Barrios in the East.   His hotel in San Fernando, Chahal is ideally placed to pick up a variety of custom from lorry drivers, to business people, to tourists.  But, I want to tell you about the land he and a business partner have bought, literally next to one of the most beautiful natural attractions in Guatemala, Las Conchas.  I had promised Marvin that I would do a report for him on the potential of his hotel and the property at Las Conchas and I am in the process of producing that, and won’t bore you with the details here.

With Marvin

Pensive ~ Hoping the viewing tower doesn't collapse!

Las Conchas waterfalls!

Marvin has started the construction of what will be a restaurant so that tourists to Las Conchas might have some refreshment facilities.  Well anyways, we spent the morning and part of the afternoon, cutting up a tree ~ well to be truthful they did and I was in charge of putting the bits of no use in a pile for use a firewood when the kitchen is up and running!

After, all this work, the reward was swimming at Las Conchas itself.  At three oclock in the afternoon we virtually had the place to ourselves!  The staff, who should have charged admission etc, had long since gone home bored or just apathetic (typically of a government run attraction) so as an “extranjero”  I did not have to pay the Q.35 entrance fee.  All I can say is that the place was amazing as a natural beauty spot, spoiled only by the complete lack of attention given to it by the tourist board! Broken, seats, filthy and almost abandoned bungalows for overnight stays.  Wooden bridges over the water have dilapidated, such a shame!  But nothing can detract form the natural beauty of the place.  Las Conchas (Shells) is so called because as soon as you put your hand in the gravel bottom of the pools and river you realise that what you have in your hand is not sand but fossilised shells and the every pebble contains a fossil!  Incredible!   Or swimming was only spoiled buy the fact that the government is building a hydro electric project on the back water of the waterfall and where we were swimming was where they were constructing a small dam!  Odd swimming in clear water with a huge Caterpiller earth mover working 10 yards in front of you!

I hope that the pictures are worth a thousand words, as I think I have written enough for now, but suspect that future blogs will reflect aspects of my weekend.

Enjoy these extra fotos …...

Achiote- from which a red paste is made for cooking.

A very large bug!

Juan and Marvin enjoying the local flora!

San Agusten Antigua Chahal- from the church bell tower

Local house with alpine infuence!

Yes, this is the main road!

Achiote tree!