This is the view looking out from Cheka's apartment toward Zunil. This apartment is my second home, as it is generally the only place I can shower due to the general lack of water in the shower at my house. (june 14th)
This is Carla, the cutest baby in the world, who just turned 1 year old. She is the daughter of Oralia, one of the two women I work with, and perhaps the best behaved and sweetest baby I have ever met (midst my very limited baby-knowing years). Her birthday party was quite the extravaganza, including two piñatas, a ton of fried chicken (a real treat for the family, from Pollo Campero - Guatemala's less-sketchy version of KFC), two cakes (including the alcohol soaked cake that is extremely popular here but is just....soggy cake to me), fresh cinnamon tea, a new outfit for Carla, freshly made cinnamon tea, many friends and family, fireworks, and a lot of laughing. It's interesting because Oralia, her mother/vice president of TRAMA Textiles (the organization I volunteer full time at), lives in Sololá, a different department that is quite the travel. As a result, she and her kids reside in Xela during the week living at TRAMA, and the kids go to school in Xela, while her husband (Israel, pictured holding her), stays in their community. They go home almost every weekend but not quite. So, as Oralia explained to me, Carla has spent more of her life (and hence more of her home) in TRAMA rather than in their community, and so instead of holding the birthday party at home in Sololá, it was held in TRAMA - meaning that all of the family from the community had to travel to Xela. This also consequentially relates to the interesting issue of language - very few people in Oralia's village speak Spanish (she is one of the few) - they all speak Kakchiquel (a Mayan dialect). But, each of Oralia's children from oldest to youngest subsequently knows less and less Kakchiquel, because they spend more of their time in Xela speaking Spanish than at home speaking Kakchiquel.While it's a privilege to speak Spanish and an almost essential skill in Guatemala, as the language barrier for many indigenous people is the one of the greatest barriers to fair wages, it's extremely intriguing/crazy for me to realize that the younger children of the family often lose the ability to communicate fluently with their families because of the push for homogeneity with Spanish language. It certainly provides more economic and educational opportunity, but it doesn't really seem to me that Carla, when she grows up could be equally ostracized or discriminated against by indigenous and ladino (non-indigenous) populations - by one for not conforming to Western standards of dress - and by the other for not speaking Kakchiquel fluently. In short, thinking about concepts of viable and non-discriminatory pluri-cultural societies blows my mind. (the photo is from yesterday, june 16th)
This is Jeremy, Marlisa, and me in the aforementioned hostel in Guate where Che Guevara stayed. We are sunburned, ready to go to Xela, and sick of waiting for the very cute little girl to the left's sister, whom I allowed to play with my camera and take a picture of us, to figure out how to sacar a photo that actually has us in it. (june 2nd)
This is the whole TRAMA Textiles gang that makes up my 9 to 5 (and more) life. In the picture are the two women I work with at TRAMA, Oralia and Amparo, and the kids. The kids are all Oralia's, and from left to right it is Kevin (6), Oralia (vicepresidente), Carla (1), Wilson (about to blow out the candles on his..um..delicious...soaked cake for his 9th birthday), and finally Amparo (presidente). (may 17th)
This is my most recent room - ie where I have been living for the last 2 months (in Casa Internacional). It is also the suspect of my bad allergies, as there is some sort of black mold on the ceiling. However, one of the positive aspects of the room is this mural which says 'En lengua K'iche no decimos adios sino...' and then I can't remember how to spell the K'iche words...and then in parentheses...'volveré a hablarte'. So, that means, In the K'iche language (another Mayan dialect), we don't say goodbye but rather (K'iche stuff I can't remember the letters of), I will return to talk to you.
As part of working at TRAMA I get to learn how to weave (I have to translate for the weaving students). This was my first weaving project - a scarf for Heather's birthday. Since making this scarf in the beginning of May, I have woven two other scarves. This type of weaving is called backstrap loom weaving (telar de cintura), and it is incredibly time consuming and hard to do, but beautiful (although not so much my projects...).
This is the view from the porch of the house we rented at the beach in the middle of May. So, this is the sand responsible from my some odd 200 beach flea bites. However, the view and the hammocks and the water were definitely worth the nasty bites I received.
This is after Xela won. It began pouring so we took respite from the drunken shouting and rain in a bar amazingly called beer zone. After entering we received a hilarious number of drunk comments from some very excited Quetzaltecos, including the one here who insisted on a picture with all of us. From left to right, the swede couple, drunk man whose name i cannot remember for the life of me, sage, me, and cheka. (may 26th)
This is the view hiking down from Lago Chicabal (however, of course, right side up), looking toward the community of San Martín Chile Verde, which is also the community where Amparo lives. (beginning of march)
This is one of the entrance ways into Lago Chicabal. You have to hike up a big mountain to get to the Mirador (the viewing point) and then down a ton of stairs to actually get to the lake itself. (beginning of march)
