This past week Lizzy and I were in the town where we will be living and working for the next two years. Before heading out, we were told by numerous people that it would be extremely cold. Naturally we didn't believe anyone and were quite certain that we came from places much colder than any place in Guatemala and the fact that it was summer would make coats out of the question. How wrong were we. Everyday there I wore a wool sweater and a jacket and still managed to be cold. At night we slept under 3 blankets with sweats...in July!
Our visit started out with a 4 hour bus ride northwest of Guatemala City to the small village nestled between the cities of Totonicipan and Quetzaltenango (Xela). On the ride up there Lizzy had a young admirer who for almost an hour stared at her. This despite the fact that we were driving on curving mountain roads and we had to hold on tight so as not to be thrown all about the bus. He was about 10 or 11 and had a great smile. A few times Liz talked to him and he didn't have much to say back, but as we were getting off the bus he brushed her arm as if to feel if she were real, but when she looked back at him he played it off as if it weren't him.
When we got to the town we realized that the next two years were going to be quite different from the past 3 months we had spent here. The town is extremely small with one two lane road going through the middle of town and lots of trails going off into the mountains. Our home is located in the middle of town and we can hear basically everything that goes on below us, including the buses that start their routes around 5 a.m. and honk their horns at that hour to alert passengers. Needless to say, we will be getting up early most days. In addition, there is an elementary school across from us as well as the town soccer/basketball court. We also learned that during the independence day celebrations that begin the first week of september and continue until after the 15th, the celebrations will take place across the street normally until well after midnight.
The family that we are renting our super small apartment from are amazing though and we feel very fortunate to be living with them. The dad is the english teacher at the local institute that Lizzy will be working at. They have two small children that are very friendly as well and the mom has a great sense of humor. In addition, the grandma lives in the adjacent house in the family compound with her husband who goes on month long benders. Our dinner conversations so far have been in spanish and english while the women speak K'iche ( i have no idea how to spell that). We are going to start our mayan language training tomorrow and have already learned 5 words/phrases.
Our first full day in town we went and visited one of the small village schools that I will be working in. This school only has 12 students. After meeting the director of the school we went to the town of San Francisco El Alto, which hosts the largest outdoor market in all of central america every week. We were able to see Spain defeat Germany and then we went around trying to find the bus to take us to the next village, but after asking every traffic cop and walking in circles for over an hour, we found out that the village road is currently blocked because a big rock fell in the middle of it. So we will go another day.
The next day we went and visited with the city council members and also the large school that Liz will be working at. There are over 400 students at this one school and the next school we visited had over 150. She is definitely going to have her work cut out for her. In the evening we went to the village where one of my other schools is located. The village is called Cuesta del Aire and they were celebrating the school's anniversary with a pageant. When we got to the village we were taken to a home and fed dinner and then we went to the meeting hall where it was to be held. Inside the majority of the village had arrived and were waiting for everything to begin. The floor was covered with pine needles and the decorations inside were very elaborate with balloons and streamers covering almost every part of the ceiling. When we tried to set up chairs on the side of the hall we were told that we already had seats and they ushered up onto the stage and were given seats next to the village elders. Then the introductions began and Liz and I were able to greet the crowd of over 200 people. The best part was that they said I was from Germany (based on the fact that I have a german major). Everyone was extremely welcoming that night and it was a beautiful night (pictures to come). Lizzy was even asked to put the crown on the winning girl.
The pageant ended up going on until midnight after starting just after 8. It was a very long night and the next morning we had to get up early to go and meet my last school. We had to ride in the back of a pick up for about half an hour before we finally pulled up into a pasture. When we got out we walked into a corn field and then suddenly we were there. My last school is literally in a corn field. It was really neat though because all 60 students were in one room to welcome me to their school. In addition, the elders of this village came to welcome me to their community and they were so impressed that we would come all the way from the U.S. to help out in their tiny school in the middle of a corn field (their words not mine). They were very gracious and later treated us to a bottle of coke and bread.
After we met them we returned to Cuesta del Aire because they had their soccer tournament against the school we had just visited. The kids were clearing rocks from the dirt field that extended into the street with freshly painted lines just for the occasion. The schoolhouse that they use was just completed in March and is almost done, its just in need of electricity and water. The view from the school is amazing as it looks over pretty much everything. I think the elevation is a little over 10,000 feet.
After visiting this school during the day, we went back to the center of town for the second pageant of the week, but this time it was Lizzy's school. She ended up being a judge at this one and did a great job. I will be posting pictures if I can get some. We are excited to finally be moving up and out. We have our swearing in ceremony this friday and then we are off sunday morning to our new home. Wish us luck!!
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