And another week winds down. It's been almost 7 weeks since I got back to site after the evacuation. And things are going well. Sure I have my bad days (see previous entry), but when I look back at this past week as a whole, I have no real complaints. Notes on the week:
Jareau and I had our first couchsurfer, a traveler from Holland. He was very tall and dutch looking so the locals had lots of questions.
It's hot, like 2-cold-bucket-baths-a-day-hot. It's the dry season, so everything is hot and dusty. By the time I show up to my schools, I'm completely covered in sweat and dust. It's like being tarred and feathered. Once you're sweaty, there's no fighting the dust.
The women's group is officially in the manejo (literally 'to drive') phase of our pila project, and if all goes according to plan (which it most likely will not), I'll start making house visits next month to check that the families have installed and are happy with their new pilas.
The primary schools are still on strike (they're hoping to resume classes after Holy Week, as long as the government meets their demands), so I've been taking advantage and going to the Institute each morning to meet with the school's director, who with no classes or students to attend to, has no excuse not to meet with me and work on developing some smaller projects at the school that have until now been neglected. It's been interesting to see what a school strike is like here. I'd almost qualify it as more of a "sit-in" than a strike…the parents and teachers congregate on the school grounds each morning where they play loud music, sell and eat food, play pick-up soccer games, and sit around socializing. Yesterday they put up a large "Vive el magisterio" ('Long live the teachers') banner, adorned with the famous "Guerrillero Heroico." Pulling out all the stops, I guess. I would too if I hadn't been paid in months.
Today around noon I noticed droves of people walking past my house in the direction of the local school. I finished hanging out my laundry and followed, and soon found out that Sandra Torres de Colom, the ex-first lady (she divorced her husband so she could run in this year's election) had helicoptered in and was giving a campaign speech on the plantation next to the school. I stayed long enough to snap a few pictures, buy a mango, and then headed back to the homestead. It's generally not a good idea for us to associate ourselves with any political parties, especially during this election year. It's still pretty nuts that she decided to show up here, of all places.
No classes today nor next week due to Holy Week. I still have activities planned with the women's group, and hope to get some good GRE studying in.
Truckin along.
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