So Friday was Charlie`s last day at Familias de Esperanza. We met up for drinks later that night.
Drinks
And I guess even without the full blown beard I`ve managed to maintain my scrubby bum-like appearance. While we were walking around, we saw a group of volunteers that had helped at the organization for a week or so. “Brian, you shaved!”. And these people had not seen my beard, they were talking about my 5 o`clock shadow that I had let go for a bit too long…
I spent this past weekend in HueHuetenango. Jaime told me that the name of the area literally translates to “the place of old men”.
Rodalfo`s friend Carlos invited me to his house for a long weekend. HueHue is about 4.5 – 5 hours and 2 camionetas north of Antigua. The bus ride was awesome, I actually wished it had been longer. Mountains, farms, small towns… and fog, lots of fog.
HueHue bus station / market
The weekend was spent “perfecting my Spanish” (a joke that was repeated many times… you had to be there). Most of the time was just spent talking and going around visiting the local sites. Carlos and his brother accept lots of couch surfers into there house and have a few places of interest to show their visitors.
Carlos`s brother took me to the ruins of Zaculeu. This was a suprise after a little chicharron (authentic pork rind – actually really good on a tortilla with salsa, lime, and some greens). You`ll have to google it if you want to see pictures, I didn`t have my camera on me.
Carlos is a baker. He has recently started teaching classes about a block from his house in a small space that he rents. He likes to teach the international folks how to cook things. He taught me how to french bread and baguettes. I can now add two more things to the long list of things I know how to cook. The list is probably approaching a grand total of almost 5 or 6 at this point.
Watching the machine mix the dough was mezmerizing. This quicky became Carlos`s word of the weekend. From there on out, everything was "mezmerizing".
Prepping the dough
Making dough balls
Rolling dough balls
Carlos took me to a place called “El Mitador”. Its one of the highest points in HueHuetenango. There was an incredible view there. There were also two awesome houses. I`d have to say, I was into the houses more than the view.
Yes
House 1 from the back
House 2
Pretty decent view out the window
Descansando
One night we went to Carlos`s parents house for a bit. Carlos asked me if I was hungry. Do you like mango`s? He opened the fridge.
Muchos mangos
“Why do they have so many mangos?”. “Because they are crazy, they went to Guatemala city and bought 100 mangos”. We then sat around and ate mangos.
Want to feel 10 years younger? Grow a beard for 3 months and then impulsively shave it off one night.
Photos to come….
So Marty had a birthday party on Sunday.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH2BYwdfKZM[/youtube]
The party was a good time. Otto`s aunts and uncles took this as a perfect opportunity to sit down with the gringo and teach him a bunch of palabras malas. They didn`t forget to throw in a few hand signs too…
One of the projects of Familias de Esperanza is to build houses for poor families in the pueblos surrounding Antigua. It is unbelievable, the majority of the families that Familias de Esperanza helps do not even own the land that they are living on. They are squatting; and when the government/landowner tells them to move, they have to move.
There are two kinds of houses that the organization builds. One is a fixed house with 2 rooms and the other is a moblile house with 1 room. The mobile houses are able to be dismantled if/when the families are forced to move.
Keep in mind that these “houses” are just rooms with a roof. There is no running water or even a bathroom. However, in most cases its a big improvement compared to what the families had before.
Last Thursday we built the larger 2 room fixed version. The process of construction between the two houses is more or less the same, the only difference is in the foundation, the mobile house uses concrete tiles while the fixed houses use a poured slab.
So here`s the work crew:
Charlie - Team leader. He`s good times. He`s a longterm volunteer and has been working for the organization for over a year. Unfortunately he`ll be leaving in about 3 weeks. This was his 45th house.
Felix. He grows his own coffee (he has a bag of it in his hand). He is always good with the bromas. On the first day, when I was leaving, he said (in Spanish) "Ok, bye... say hi to your sister for me"... There`s alot of this kind of thing that goes on around here...
Pablo - Macho.
These guys are the main workers in the shop. Felix and Pablo have been working for the organization for over 10 years.
Getting ready to drive to the site.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O6LPRdVovs[/youtube]
Charlie giving everybody a rundown of what needs to be done.
Constructing the first corner
Chalk-line
Make sure everything`s square
Second corner
Pablo and Felix getting the roof started
Front of the house. Not sure if Pablo was blinking or if he`s just sleeping.
The amazing thing is that the house went up in only 1 day (not including the poured foundation).
Ok, so as far as design: When I first saw the houses, I felt that there was easily alot of room for improvement. I`d have to admit though, after building one, I came to the conclusion that they are actually designed really well. They`re about as simple/cheap as they can get and can be put together by a bunch of volunteers with no prior experience.
Familias de Esperanza
The shop
The two jigs/workbenches for constructing panels (including 2 completed panels)
The chopsaw. Note that there isn`t one. This is a guide for the circular saw to ensure (+/- 25% of the time) perpendicular cuts
Area for making the concrete footings and floor
Completed footings and floor tiles
Familias de Esperanza is a private organization that has been around since the mid 80`s. Before beginning work, they require that you go on a tour of the surrounding communities that they are helping to educate you on what exactly you are helping to better. The state of some of the schools and living conditions is pretty unbelievable. Some of the schools don`t even have a roof nevermind running water (or books). Tomorrow I will be going on a house visits with a social worker to check in on certain families to see how they are doing. I`m sure it`ll be pretty eye opening…
This past Wednesday was both Jaime`s birthday and Fabiola`s birthday. We had a small party for both of them.
Cheescake birthday cake post transit. Fabiola rode on the back of a motorcycle and a camioneta to bring it home. It was suprisingly somehow still intact (just needed a bit of work to rebuild it)
Huesito rocking his v-neck shirt for the party. I`m not sure if it has a collar or a cape...
Jaime holding a giant balloon catipillar. You can really feel his excitement.
Jaime, Fabiola, and Huesito birthday shot
I have been trying my best to keep the blog updated. Over the past two months I have learned to be extremely patient with ridiculously slow computers and unacceptably slow internet connections.
Today is a glorious day. I have finally found an internet cafe with everything I need:
Its a bit pricey (Q7/hr) but I can now continue putting my blood sweat and tears into the blog without feeling like I`m wasting my life doing it…
So welcome to the Cuchubal, a monthly event held to bring the family together… and take their money.
The Cuchubal is a very common game played in Guatemala. It`s a sort of round-robin event held with a group of usually around 10+ people (Otto`s family plays with about 30). Everybody throws down Q200 (about $26) and hopes that they win the pot.
So here are the most important rules of Cuchubal (and people make sure that they`re followed to the T):
Reviewing the rules (lets make sure everybody`s clear here... if you wanna start something, the rulebook`s right here...)
Olga passing out the numbers for the cash money
Passing out the numbers for the bottle of gin
Suspense while everybody waits for the niña to hold up the sign with the magic winning number
12!
So what`s the point of Cuchubal? Good question, I wasn´t completely sure myself. You aren`t actually “winning” or “losing” the money. From what I could tell, there is really no difference between playing Cuchubal and opening a bank account and putting in Q200 a month (because no matter what you have to pay by the month and at some point you`re garunteed to win the Cuchubal). So what`s it about, winning a bunch of money at once so you can then impulsively spend it?
I asked my Spanish teacher Aura about this game. She used to play with all of the other maestras at school. She explained that this is actually a good way to save money. Since you have a responsibility to put down money (cuz if you don`t you`re gonna have to pay), you actually end up putting aside Q200 a month no matter what. It is also a way to watch out for your friends and family. For example, in select cases, if somebody`s child is sick and they need money for an operation or expensive medicine, the Cuchubal is shifted to them and they automatically win for that month.
Otto`s cousin (Olga`s son) ended up winning this one. The pot was Q6,800 ($858).
So since Semana Santa is such a big deal here I have decided to devote an entire page too it. Look for it in the list of pages. Check back from time to time because I will be (hopefully) constantly updating it.