Don't forget "if you are reading this as an email" to view this posting from within my blog then you can view the Video and read the extra news! Also in the blog site you also get to see the pictures in a bigger format simply by clicking on them!
(For email readers) - To go to the blog site click here www.knowmadicmike.blogspot.com
I am nursing a cold. February weather is locally known as “loco” (mad) every day is different, hot, cold (8 degrees C), rainy, cloudy ….. there is no pattern until things settle down to a hot March and April. On Friday I got caught out by only the second bought of rain since I arrived here and then yesterday it was hot and then cold and today it is cloudy and damp! So I am sipping the Guatemalan equivalent to “Lem-Sip” and aching.
Its been an interesting week, with three afternoons spent in Santiago Zamora, I felt a bit like the “Pied Piper of Hamelin” as I walked through the pueblo on Wednesday children appeared from everywhere to greet me, take my bags and we made a kind of procession as we marched to the Junior School for our art sessions. As I think I have mentioned before we are having to use the local school as we have no water at El Plan Infinito ~ I think the end is in sight and we will have water ere long! It is pretty shameful that a few self-interested people can deny 40 children the basic right of water ….. But the local Mayor is now on the case!
Anyways, on Tuesday we had 18 children, 21 on Wednesday and 24 on Thursday, this is particularly gratifying as the new children are also new to “El Plan Infinito” and had heard about the fun the others were having and wanted a slice of the action!
We are all working on a project to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Niños Foundation (who fund some of El Plan Infinito's activities along with CasaSito) – the children are making mascaras (masks) and are going to tell the Mayan story of the Hero Twins “Hanahpú and Ixbalanqué” – basically these two heros fight with the underworld God’s, after disturbing them by boisterous football playing, bring Maize to the people, ask the animals to behave and eventually get transformed into the Moon and the Sun. A great theme for mask making, we have owls, tigers, rabbits, bats, jaguars, the Hero’s, and a whole array of subterranean Gods. However, I feel a bit like the awful “Mr. Thomas Bowdler” (cast your mind back to bastardised versions of the classics) as having read the story in more detail have decided that it is simply too violent for the youngsters, so we are stickling to the general idea and leaving out the decapitations and the mysterious insemination of the Twin’s mother by a skull hanging from a tree and vomiting into her hand! All very metaphorical no doubt but probably not for 5 – 10 year olds!
To add to the merriment, I had the bright idea of including sound effects and so this week we will go scavaging for “basura” which we will turn into drums, shakers, trumpets and other instruments in order to develop the children’s creativity further.
They can’t get over the fact that rule one for the activity is that there should be no silence when working and we should all have a jolly time, and that Jossefet and I should be referred to by our names and not as Prof! They need so much care and attention and we are trying to let them have responsibility over their behaviour. Although when Jossefet gets going on the closing activity the noise and energy levels go through the roof! All good fun!
 |
| The rather depressing Santiago Zamora! |
To get to Santiago Zamora you need to take a bus to San Antonio Aguas Calientes – the home of the finest weaving in Guatemala (more on this later) nad then take a microbus (minibus) to Santiago! One good thing is that in San Antonio the local small comedor (restaurant) does a fantastic lunch of main dish, salad, tortillas and cold drink for a stunning Q13. £1.15! For what you get, even by Guatemalan standards this is cheap! And the women who run it are delightful and enjoy a laugh and a joke which all adds to the fun!
“Du yu spekIn glish?”
I have decided that I cannot continue with my English teaching beyond this week, my Korean student lovely and keen as he is, has tested my patience beyond measure. As every grammatical rule, or spelling correction is met with the question “Why?” How do you answer the question that the plural of book is books when confronted by the question “Why?”. It is also very difficult to explain anything when you do not have a common language in which to do it! So I am bombarded with “very difficult”, “No understand” and “Why?” I am sure he will do better with somebody with more experience. And my reason is also that I need more time to prepare for taking over the coordination of the project in Santiago Zamora from Easter. And it is actually hard for me to just speak English now as my sentences are now peppered with Spanish words and phrases. All very confusing for poor Kim!
Bebidas (Drinks)
I have not had an alcoholic drink for about 3 weeks! But continue to explore the amazing range of “Chapin” drinks and beverages. This week it has been “atols” ~
Atol de Elote, Atol blanco, Atol de haba to name but three!
Atol de haba is made from roasted and ground fava beans mixed with cinnamon (canela) and then a paste is made with water and this is added to boiling water and cooked for about 10 minutes, then milk is added and the whole cooked a further 5 – 10 minutes. The resulting drink is thick, warming and very comforting! A bit like a thickish “Horlicks!”
Normally drinks like this are drunk directly from a bowl and in order to stop any sediment forming you have to deftly keep the liquid circulating in your bowl in a clockwise motion.
San Valentin
 |
| It takes 7 or 8 people to play the Marimba! |
San Valentin is big here! The day was anticipated by a tea dance in the “central park” with the music supplied by not one marimba band but four all playing together, sadly the number of dancers was small, I had imagined all the older population of Antigua samba-ing around the park like a giant come dancing spectacular…. The reality was different, but I just love the sound of the Marimba.
Oh yes on Friday, Jossefet and I had had what is becoming our regular weekly BBQ, this week it was fillet steak at a wallet wrenching £2 per pound! Had it been simply rump or sirloin it would have only been £1.65 per pound! Seems crazy to be BBQing fillet steak but boy-oh-boy did it taste good! In order to get the charcoal (carbon) going the wood of a particular pine-type tree is used as the sap bursts into flames and sets the whole thing off in spectacular fashion!
OK that’s it, time for another Lem-sip!
This weeks gallery ~ the Charming Park Central of San Antonio, Aguas Calientes and .....
and dancing in the park! (maybe the men were shy?)
Hasta Luego Amigos!
Sounds like an Atol de Haba, accompanied with a wee dram, if you have any such thing?, could be pretty effective at shifting your cold.
ReplyDeleteStill have snow and ice here in Sussex!
Ah now there is an idea - the equivalent here isthevery very excellent "Rum" - as good as a single malt! especially the 23 year old Ron de Zacapa! mmmmmm
ReplyDelete