House Project Week 3

This week for was full of activity and we still managed to make great progress on the house as well. On Monday we all went to Bodiga with Semillas de Ayuda for a range of projects from water vessels to agriculture. I concentrated on bottle lights. Well to say I concentrated, I delegated mainly. This was for two reasons. For one I know how to make and install them so it was more important for the volunteers, and especially Roberto and the womens group to learn. Secondly I am fed up to my eyes looking at them at this stage. The new design I talked about in the previous post is the best I can do and I can only hope that Semillas de Ayuda see it worthwhile to continue with them and eventually the people in la cumbre might start making them for themselves. I think they are a great addition to the houses for only 1.50 euros but im not sure if they will become the norm in la cumbre. For example we installed three examples in Bodiga on Monday but it was with limited success only. In one house I am fully convinced that the woman was so enthuiastic becuase she just wanted a hole in her roof fixed, she said there was a room in her attic but there was no sign of life. Suppose it benefited even if it wasnt for the intended use. The other was in a house that had more light than a green house so was more of a fashion accessory than a light. I hope the benefits will be seen eventually but am not fully convinced the amount of effort put into them will be worth it in the end, or more importantly if its worth the effort of Semillas de Ayuda to continue with them. This is the way with a lot of projects, it is hard to justify the initial effort without much benefit but then to be fair it probably is worth it for the times you are suprised.

Jon and Amaia teachin the women of Bodiga the fabrication of the bottle light and below Roberto installing the light.

Below is an example I installed in the doctors room....

Work on the house contiued from Tuesday to thursday, most work concentrating on the roof structure but also

Work on the house contiued from Tuesday to thursday, most work concentrating on the roof structure but also important mini projects like the repairs around the tyres with lime and sand (1 to 3 mix) to prevent water ingress by Jose Luis and Miren and the painting of all the timbers with borax as can be seen below being carried out by Jon and Amaia. In case your wondering, im delegating and trying to get some tan on my legs at same time.

Had to put this picture in x large because it was the only one I could find with me looking like I was working......

Myself anf John standing proudly with the first of the roof trusses up.....

Roof structure completed in record time thanks to everybodies hard work and drive.....

On Thursday nigth there was a special night in the hall in Chiantla for the school Sylvia attends, Fe y Alegria. We went with Dona Eulalia and family. We walked in and were ushered to the front seats like VIPs. Great for the family but there is no doubt it was a pure example of critical whiteness. They are white, must have money, must be more important than anybody else in here. Totally wrong by anyones standards but cant see it changing anytime soon.
The nights main event was something else that didnt sit well with me. It was basically a beauty contest of the girls from different towns and villages that attend the school. It is fairly typical kind of thing for Guatemala but for me I cant see anything good about it. On this night there were girls of 12 or 13 wearing typical clothing from there town parading up and down a stage watched by hundreds of their piers and other onlookers. It is fine for the girl who eventually wins maybe but what does it tell the other girls, your not pretty? Or as pretty? Now im not an expert by any means but at that age couldnt be a good thing surely. The other thing that got to me about it was that it basically was a popularity contest too, some girls had cheers others got more booing. I walked out and it was about 2 seconds before the rest of the gringo brigade were with me. Maybe we just dont understand the culture but you have my opinion on it now anyway.

On Saturday we went on a Family outting to La Cumbre. We didnt get a chance to bring rio san juan last weekend for her birthdaz because the weather was too bad so this was a second best choice and the volunteers got to see laguna magdalena as well.

The view from el mirador where we had the chance to see the peaks of 6 volcanoes. The sky looked bad but thank the gods the rain held off until we were on the way home.

Dona Eulalia showing off her indigineous skills. The walk to the lagoon was about 20 mins down a rough track and there was not a problem with her balancing the heavy bag on her head, Diego tried to balance it standing still without success so there is definiely a skill to it.

At the lake.........

Family photo at the viewing spot of the waterfalls........

View over the waterfall..........

Diego and Dona Eulalia getting the fire started for lunch. Me delegating..........

Saturday night on a different sort of outting to Huehue for a beer or two or..........

On the way home myself and Diego obviously hadnt done enough dancing. Dirty eigits.......

Sunday we went to Huehue again to the ruins. Think ive mentioned it before but the ruins were repaired by the United Fruit Company in the 50s with cement and brutal workmanship. The United Fruit Company or Chiquita as they are now known are also the instigators of the CIA backed coup around the same time. The socialist government wanted to pay United Fruit Company the same amount of money that they declared their lands worth in their tax returns for lands to be distributed to local indigineous people. They didnt want to take lands that were in use only the land that was not being used. But if people had their own land where would they have got the near slave labour from... call in the CIA and start a civil war that lasts almost 50 years. Sounds more sensible alright....  

After Zaculeu we headed for a town called San Juan Atitan. I posted the photo above in penance for my own stupidity. To be fair the hangover didnt help but after 10 months you would think I would know better than to be going around dressed for the beach in Huehuetenango. Below is the typical dress that still a lot of people wear and is Unique to this town. The nicest I have seen so far.

For the week ahead the plan is to continue with the roof and possibly the walls and floor too. The problem with the earth at the moment is that there is massive rainfall everyday so the site, along with the neighbouring properties will become a bog. Ideally we need a couple of days of dry weather before delivery but im not sure if this will be possible as it has rained consistantly every daz for a couple of hours for the last two weeks or more. There is also a possibility that the roof material will come in the form of a donation so I am reluctant to buy that just yet also, that along with the fact that the cash flow is not great for next week meaning that a lot of progress might not be made. We will see next Sunday I suppose..... Hasta luego......