Bowdler ~ Atol ~ Why!!!!! ~ and a Saint!

As some of you were asking for more information about El Plan Infinito I have added some details to the main blog ~  you will find the information in the left hand column!   

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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.

“Bowdlerisation” is alive and well and living in Santiago Zamora!

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 10^th 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!

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!