| In front of my new house |
Welcome to Jamul, Guatemala.
This is what my new site looks like, much different from the last but it reminds me of a familiar hood in San Diego called, Jamul.
I arrived on Wednesday evening after an 8 hour ride with a man, his 80 year old father and all the random belonging that I have acquired within the last 6 months.
After two tire changes, one comedor stop and multiple stops for directions (which, might I add, were all the same…”yes, straight ahead 7 more kilometers” yet they were given three different times by 3 different people). Anyways, we made it and I was glad to get out of that van, so was gramp’s.
My new home of Pachalum is quite different than my last community. I used to live in a little town of 400 people who ALL worked on the tea cooperative and who were all related in some sort of way, inbreeds maybe but I never gained to courage to ask a lady, ‘isn’t that your cousin?’ only to find out its her husband.
Here in Pachalum the town has about 14,000 people in the center and the aldeas (surrounding towns). People seem to all be related as well in one way or another. The ice cream shops are all owned by a few sisters and the butchers are all cousins.
I was excited to come here because I had heard it was a really safe town. My first night here I went out for a stroll with my site mate and had some Chinese food. It was dark by the time we walked home and in Coban this was something I could never do. While she was calm I was on guard. Bottom line is, this place is safe, the mayor told me himself today.
Did I mention that I work in city hall? My boss/ counterpart is 19 years old. Her friend Maria works at town hall too. Her job is a bit different than ours. She watches a big screen TV all day that projects every movement in Pachalum. In short, there are cameras on every corner watching everything. I was advised to not trip or fall in the streets because the cameras will catch me and re-play it on the evening news. Talk about comedians. New goal, become famous by the number of times I make it onto the evening news.
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| A view of the town from the Municipality building |
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| New Kitchen |
My new house is completely different from the rural living set up I had in Chirrepec. Here is my new Bathroom J
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| New bathroom....missing my latrine... |
It looks like something from the USA and I can even flush my toilet paper, something very uncommon to see in Guatemala. My host mom, Paty has lived in the states before and has brought back some customs and amenities like the toilet paper flushing. Long live toilet paper flushing.
Even though I have a new set up that is pretty nice I've had the overwhelming urge to come home this past week. Its been about 7 months and I'm ready to see my best friends and lovely family. I miss you all so very much!
XOXO
