Choppy but informative post

Well, folks, we never thought it would happen. We never would have guessed it, considering my high school years. But yes, I’m totally in with the cheerleading crowd. They gave me an official cheerleader name. And it is surprisingly similar to what my niece used to call me before she could pronounce names correctly. My cheerleader name here in Nueva is Mimi.

Life in the community is great so far. Some of Xwan and Manuela’s kids around my age are in vacation between college semesters and are visiting their parents. They liven things up at home. One of their sons is studying philosophy at a seminary in Guatemala City and wants to become a priest. A daughter is studying clinical psychology in Quetzaltenango, and she listens to the radio (in fact, I didn’t know they owned a radio until she showed up). I’m impressed with how much education the kids are seeking, and with how much their parents support them in it. A few people have told me that a generation ago, a man could earn enough to maintain a family without much formal education – subsistence and commercial farming and small mercantilism. In the same generation, women were discouraged from studying because their place was in the home, and parents weren’t willing to invest in a fruitless education. Today things have changed. It’s much harder to earn a living, and education for both men and women is being pushed. Parents are demanding more from teachers and are sending all of their kids to school. Kids are finishing higher levels of education (used to be they’d stop after primary school).

I had quite an adventure this weekend. I’m pretty much dying with the laptop the program provided (Windows 95, only has Word, Excel, and Powerpoint… and when I say “only,” I mean it doesn’t have a PDF reader program… or the basic calculator function… it’s bare bones). I really, really, really have been needing to access some PDF files I brought with me, and I couldn’t even download Acrobat off the internet ‘cuz… well… YOU try finding anything on the internet these days that’s compatible with Windows 95. Anywho, I had my mom FedEx me my laptop (I don’t want to talk about how much that cost… it’s too painful…). FedEx doesn’t deliver to teeny-itty-bitty communities in Guatemala, even if they are just barely off the Pan-American highway. So I had to go to Guatemala City to pick it up. The best way to do that was to catch a bus to Quetzaltenango on Thursday, spend the night, then catch a 4 a.m. bus to Guatemala City the next day. I love Quetzaltenango. My friend Martha traveled with me, and she wanted to stay in the same hostel we were at last time. I was a bit wary because that’s where I got fleas. She said we’d make sure to get a different room. Well, a few minutes after we’d settled into our room, I was sitting on my bed. And lo and behold, what do I see on the mattress? Yea verily, a flea. A pretty slow one, in fact. I caught it and took it downstairs to show the front desk. They agreed to spray our room with insecticide while we went into town. Just for good measure, I taped the flea into my field notes. His name is Pepe II, after the first flea I caught and taped into my journal in Ecuador. I woke up the next morning (very early the next morning, I might add…) with nary a red itchy bump. Huzzah for Baygon insecticide, I say.

We slept for most of the 4.5-hour bus ride into Guatemala City. For the last hour and a half, they put on a movie. It wasn’t as bad as some bus movies I’ve seen, but it was pretty pointless, I say. What is it with Latin American busrides and senselessly violent American movies? The movie was “The Punisher.”

more fleas – headed to Panajachel, got TONS of flea bites at the hostel. I HATE FLEAS!!!!!!!!!! And I itch like mad. What a nice thought to not have gotten fleas in Xela. What a pain to have to deal with them again. I think I’m particularly allergic to flea venom. Some other students have gotten flea bites, too, but the bites are smaller, swell less, and itch less. I must be “lucky.”

Rigoberta Menchú – there was a political rally for Rigoberta Menchú, the most well-known Guatemalan in the world. She is an indigenous woman who was politically involved in the Guatemalan civil war that ended in 1996. She wrote a book (which I read before I left) about her experiences and won the Nobel Peach Prize in 1992 or 3. She’s running for president for 2008-2012. I stood within 2 feet of her for a bit. It was awesome.