Thursday, January 18, 2007
The Crisis Corps. Well, it isn’t your Mother’s protected ‘in loco parentis’ Peace Corps. Maybe more the way the Peace Corps was at first – put the volunteer out there and see what happens. Training consisted of a day in the Capital to touch base on medical and security issues, reporting, and banking procedures. Then out to the official training location in San Lucas Milpas Alta for introductions, a discussion of the recent political events in Guatemala, and a good summary of what the Peace Corps and Crisis Corps have been doing since Hurricane Stan. That was an excellent presentation by a volunteer who was here and set up some very good programs, and who is now in charge of the whole Crisis Corps program in Guatemala.
Then an unscheduled weekend, to visit Antigua and maybe practice using Spanish a bit more. Monday was a very full day with an in-depth discussion of the local government hierarchies, who has been doing what, the confusing relationships of government programs and offices, a Who’s Who of NGOs, a technical introduction to the causes of landslides and other disasters, a more detailed history of post-Stan eforts, and finally language and basic cultural issues in Guatemala. The Spanish air kiss to women is not used with indigenous women, where patting the upper arm is expected instead. The ‘vos’ form is used in introductions but can be an insult in certain cases, best to stick to the Ud. / Uds. forms. It was all rather overwhelming. The bright spot is that I understood a bit more of the Spanish than I had expected.
Tuesday morning, early, a truck from Peace Corps picked us up to deliver us to our sites – me to Nuevo Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán, Alanna to Tacaná which is much farther out, almost at the Mexican border. The ride to S. Catarina took about four hours, due to a lot of waiting in lines where the continuing reconstruction of the roads closes one of the two. Approaching S. Catarina the mountains get very very steep, with huge dropoffs. Beautiful scenery though, and beautiful handmade jewelry at the turnoff where we stopped for the view of Lake Atitlán. I bought a necklace for Ellen.
The town itself is directly adjacent to the Pan American Highway, at its very highest point, 9000 ft. Today it is cold, windy and overcast. I’m told this is normal here in winter, and winter lasts until May. Goody. The town itself is quite attractive, lots of recent construction painted white or pastels with orange fiberglass-plastic roofs. It is clean and neatly laid out, with a planned market and a nice park between the town offices and the church that has been under construction for two years and is expected to be finished in one more.
I walked around a bit and then visited my counterpart,Tomas, in the Municipal Building to say hello. I’d been told I’d have an office, and an internet connection. Tomas was clearly surprised by my arrival, and as to the office and internet, no and no. Sooooo, I guess it is time to just hang loose and see what develops.
****
I’ve spent the first week reviewing the Municipal Disaster Plan, locating and looking over information on the communities in the district, and trying to talk to my counterpart Tomas. He is the Municipal Engineer and the key guy for disaster prevention, mitigation, and recovery. Language is a problem, and he is busy doing the other things a town engineer has to do.
There are nine towns (Aldeas) and a total of 105 communities (Caserios). The plan looks like a nice model, but seems to lack an implementation scheme. For instance, if the Municipality needs to warn the communities of a threat, it isn’t at all clear how that would happen.
At the moment, there is a good census and list of resources available for the towns that the last Crisis Corps guy put together, but nothing about the community resources. However, a questionnaire will be going out to all 105 communities next week. Tomas is sure there will be a 100% response. I’ll have to see that to believe it. Very few people in the communities speak Spanish, by the way. This is K’iché territory. Even my host family speaks K’iché among themselves.
Saturday I had nothing much on my plate to do, but it turned out to be an exceptional day. I explored the strange-looking building in back of the unfinished Church, and found that it is the Instituto Paraiso Maya. It was closed up tight, but a student happened by and told me there are three grade taught there. Typical school subjects, but also including K’iché, Maya history and intercultural issues. There are anti-discrimination posters in the office promoting Maya Pride. I look forward to talking to some of the teachers about their response to the powerful intrusion of “western” values that threaten the traditional values in the name of Progress.
They have a well-equipped computer room, and a sign indicates that they have internet access. Can I hope?
Then I dropped in at the Cantina Alaska, a rather dreary neighborhood bar on the other side of town. (This whole area goes by the name Alaska for its temperature and wind.) No “bar” per se, but a few tables and lots of chairs stacked up on the side. There were two guys at a table working their way through a pint of rum. They weren’t too drunk yet – it was about 11:00am – so we talked for some time. Samwel knew Houston and Dallas. Jose was 69, a farmer with a face like leather. They were interested in David Beckham’s move to the LA Galaxy, and soccer in general. According to them, Sta. Catarina has a good regional team and tomorrow will be playing against Santa Lucia, an away game.
Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be the big market days, so I dropped by hoping to buy a mirror for my room and maybe a warm pullover. The market consisted of a half dozen or so women selling vegetables, some fruit, and peanuts. Not very exciting. I bought my mirror from the Ferrateria, and the Q50 bill I got in change wasn’t accepted at the next shop where I wanted to buy a phone card. It had a hole in it. Fortunately the Ferrateria exchanged it for me, no questions asked, and I got my card.
My main project for the day was to hike to the nearest Caserio. I found the path (verdera) for it and headed out, through the fields. Took photos of the beautiful views of the valley, mountains, volcanos and distant communities. I stopped to eat an orange and some peanuts, and was soon joined by Juan and his two sons. We talked a bit and shared the peanuts. When I left, they fell in behind me occasionally pointing out something of interest. All very friendly, but I was feeling rather vulnerable and a bit uncomfortable so turned around and came back to Sta. Caterina without ever reaching the Caserio.
Along the way there was a stand of tall pines. Two boys had scaled the trees and were high up there, very much the way natives climb palm trees to get the coconuts. As a matter of fact, these pines looked like palm trees – no branches except for just up at the top. It was clear that these boys had machetes, and were lopping off all the branches they could reach for firewood. This is illegal, and they clearly didn’t like my attention. Deforestation is one of the major issues here, and impacts the whole range of erosion, landslides, and sustainability problems.
On the way back, Francisco came out from a small group of houses to say hello – and find out what this stranger was doing here. I asked about his water supply, since that is another big problem in Sta. Catarina where they only have water for an hour or so a day. He said they have no problem, and was glad to show me the spring that is piped to an in-ground water tank beaing the insignia of the NGO donor, Mercy Corps. It was dated from 6 years ago, so was part of the recovery effort from Hurricane Mitch – like Sta. Caterina itself.
But I think it is clear that I haven’t yet fully adjusted to the altitude here. I was breathing hard climbing some of the hills, and really felt pooped when I got back home after the 2 ½ hike. A long siesta put me back in shape though.
Finally, at the end of the day, I had my introduction to the indigenous sauna (tooj). Delicious! It consists of a low sauna that you crawl into. Fire and stones in one corner, buckets of cold and very hot water, a shelf to sit or lie down on. This, after a day outside in a chill wind ---- Wow! Dry heat, or throw some water on the stones for wet heat. I think the Maya and the Scandinavians are on to something, for sure.
Sometimes I even think my Spanish comprehension is improving.
I will try to make entries to this blog weekly, but bear with me – I don´t have internet access in Sta. Catarina, and can´t guarantee how often I get to town.
Then an unscheduled weekend, to visit Antigua and maybe practice using Spanish a bit more. Monday was a very full day with an in-depth discussion of the local government hierarchies, who has been doing what, the confusing relationships of government programs and offices, a Who’s Who of NGOs, a technical introduction to the causes of landslides and other disasters, a more detailed history of post-Stan eforts, and finally language and basic cultural issues in Guatemala. The Spanish air kiss to women is not used with indigenous women, where patting the upper arm is expected instead. The ‘vos’ form is used in introductions but can be an insult in certain cases, best to stick to the Ud. / Uds. forms. It was all rather overwhelming. The bright spot is that I understood a bit more of the Spanish than I had expected.
Tuesday morning, early, a truck from Peace Corps picked us up to deliver us to our sites – me to Nuevo Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán, Alanna to Tacaná which is much farther out, almost at the Mexican border. The ride to S. Catarina took about four hours, due to a lot of waiting in lines where the continuing reconstruction of the roads closes one of the two. Approaching S. Catarina the mountains get very very steep, with huge dropoffs. Beautiful scenery though, and beautiful handmade jewelry at the turnoff where we stopped for the view of Lake Atitlán. I bought a necklace for Ellen.
The town itself is directly adjacent to the Pan American Highway, at its very highest point, 9000 ft. Today it is cold, windy and overcast. I’m told this is normal here in winter, and winter lasts until May. Goody. The town itself is quite attractive, lots of recent construction painted white or pastels with orange fiberglass-plastic roofs. It is clean and neatly laid out, with a planned market and a nice park between the town offices and the church that has been under construction for two years and is expected to be finished in one more.
I walked around a bit and then visited my counterpart,Tomas, in the Municipal Building to say hello. I’d been told I’d have an office, and an internet connection. Tomas was clearly surprised by my arrival, and as to the office and internet, no and no. Sooooo, I guess it is time to just hang loose and see what develops.
****
I’ve spent the first week reviewing the Municipal Disaster Plan, locating and looking over information on the communities in the district, and trying to talk to my counterpart Tomas. He is the Municipal Engineer and the key guy for disaster prevention, mitigation, and recovery. Language is a problem, and he is busy doing the other things a town engineer has to do.
There are nine towns (Aldeas) and a total of 105 communities (Caserios). The plan looks like a nice model, but seems to lack an implementation scheme. For instance, if the Municipality needs to warn the communities of a threat, it isn’t at all clear how that would happen.
At the moment, there is a good census and list of resources available for the towns that the last Crisis Corps guy put together, but nothing about the community resources. However, a questionnaire will be going out to all 105 communities next week. Tomas is sure there will be a 100% response. I’ll have to see that to believe it. Very few people in the communities speak Spanish, by the way. This is K’iché territory. Even my host family speaks K’iché among themselves.
Saturday I had nothing much on my plate to do, but it turned out to be an exceptional day. I explored the strange-looking building in back of the unfinished Church, and found that it is the Instituto Paraiso Maya. It was closed up tight, but a student happened by and told me there are three grade taught there. Typical school subjects, but also including K’iché, Maya history and intercultural issues. There are anti-discrimination posters in the office promoting Maya Pride. I look forward to talking to some of the teachers about their response to the powerful intrusion of “western” values that threaten the traditional values in the name of Progress.
They have a well-equipped computer room, and a sign indicates that they have internet access. Can I hope?
Then I dropped in at the Cantina Alaska, a rather dreary neighborhood bar on the other side of town. (This whole area goes by the name Alaska for its temperature and wind.) No “bar” per se, but a few tables and lots of chairs stacked up on the side. There were two guys at a table working their way through a pint of rum. They weren’t too drunk yet – it was about 11:00am – so we talked for some time. Samwel knew Houston and Dallas. Jose was 69, a farmer with a face like leather. They were interested in David Beckham’s move to the LA Galaxy, and soccer in general. According to them, Sta. Catarina has a good regional team and tomorrow will be playing against Santa Lucia, an away game.
Saturday and Sunday are supposed to be the big market days, so I dropped by hoping to buy a mirror for my room and maybe a warm pullover. The market consisted of a half dozen or so women selling vegetables, some fruit, and peanuts. Not very exciting. I bought my mirror from the Ferrateria, and the Q50 bill I got in change wasn’t accepted at the next shop where I wanted to buy a phone card. It had a hole in it. Fortunately the Ferrateria exchanged it for me, no questions asked, and I got my card.
My main project for the day was to hike to the nearest Caserio. I found the path (verdera) for it and headed out, through the fields. Took photos of the beautiful views of the valley, mountains, volcanos and distant communities. I stopped to eat an orange and some peanuts, and was soon joined by Juan and his two sons. We talked a bit and shared the peanuts. When I left, they fell in behind me occasionally pointing out something of interest. All very friendly, but I was feeling rather vulnerable and a bit uncomfortable so turned around and came back to Sta. Caterina without ever reaching the Caserio.
Along the way there was a stand of tall pines. Two boys had scaled the trees and were high up there, very much the way natives climb palm trees to get the coconuts. As a matter of fact, these pines looked like palm trees – no branches except for just up at the top. It was clear that these boys had machetes, and were lopping off all the branches they could reach for firewood. This is illegal, and they clearly didn’t like my attention. Deforestation is one of the major issues here, and impacts the whole range of erosion, landslides, and sustainability problems.
On the way back, Francisco came out from a small group of houses to say hello – and find out what this stranger was doing here. I asked about his water supply, since that is another big problem in Sta. Catarina where they only have water for an hour or so a day. He said they have no problem, and was glad to show me the spring that is piped to an in-ground water tank beaing the insignia of the NGO donor, Mercy Corps. It was dated from 6 years ago, so was part of the recovery effort from Hurricane Mitch – like Sta. Caterina itself.
But I think it is clear that I haven’t yet fully adjusted to the altitude here. I was breathing hard climbing some of the hills, and really felt pooped when I got back home after the 2 ½ hike. A long siesta put me back in shape though.
Finally, at the end of the day, I had my introduction to the indigenous sauna (tooj). Delicious! It consists of a low sauna that you crawl into. Fire and stones in one corner, buckets of cold and very hot water, a shelf to sit or lie down on. This, after a day outside in a chill wind ---- Wow! Dry heat, or throw some water on the stones for wet heat. I think the Maya and the Scandinavians are on to something, for sure.
Sometimes I even think my Spanish comprehension is improving.
I will try to make entries to this blog weekly, but bear with me – I don´t have internet access in Sta. Catarina, and can´t guarantee how often I get to town.
