My weekend.

(jealous?)

my day-

1.decided to wear a dress. mistake. ive never been harassed so much in my life. heeeeyyyy bbbbaaabbbbbyyy
2. had to judge little girls. yes, another nina escolar
3. got blisters on my feet by 11 am
4. rode a super crowded bus and almost fainted.
5. tried to get off said bus in said dress. struggle fest.
6. while walking to bus number 2, a dog emerged from under a truck and barked at me. then 8 more dogs came out from under the same truck. i ran into the street and started screaming, swinging my purse in giant swoops to break through the circle the mad dogs had formed around me and worrying that if they bite me i dont even have jeans to protect my legs. rabies anyone?
7. i realize while my heart was still pounding that a lot of people witnessed the scene of the insane gringa screaming in the street.
8. got home and the electricity was out. not really a big deal, but heck, just thought id add it in here for kicks.

im laughing right now. honestly though? what on earth.
oh peace corps. love it!

I've already talked about beauty pageants here in Guatemala. They are, for lack of better words, a big deal. Each school has a Niña Escolar who represents the school in district wide events for the entire year. The truth is I'm not a huge fan. These things always tend to end with tears, and it seems to me that it teaches girls at an early age that what is important is how new their traje is. But on the other hand, the girls do have to give a speech so there is some skill involved.

That being said the Niña Escolar presentations are pretty freaking cute. Little girls in their best trajes are adorable. They walk in doing this little sidestep dance to marimba music (the traditional music here in Guate).

These pictures are from the Niña Escolar competition at Chacap in Zunil so the girls are all wearing the Zunil traje. Their top is called a wipil in Spanish (or 'pot' in K'iche'), their skirt is called a corte in Spanish ('uq' in K'iche') and in their hair they use a cinta intricately wrapped through their hair, and heels of course!

It's important for you to know that the girls dress in traje everyday! The only thing they don't really use is the cinta in their hair (older women use the cinta everyday). These girls play basketball in their heels and cortes, I guess when you grow up in them it's comfortable...

Most of the schools I'm working with are super interested in teaching their students about trash... Strange? Why, yes. In the US we put our glass in one bag, our cans in another bag, our paper in another bag and throw out the rest (or put it in the compost pile). Here in Zunil the trash issue is city wide. They have a trash truck that charges Q2 for each big bag and they take it off your hands, throw it off a cliff and light it with a match. Or if your family doesn't have the Q2 to pay (25 cents) then you burn it yourself or throw it in the river. Yes, trash is an issue.

So as a part of Healthy Schools, the teachers really want to work on trash management so that the next generation won't continue with the status quo. It's hard because you don't want the kids classifying their trash and then having them haul it all to the river in the end. So what do you do with this classified trash when there aren't good industrial recycling options nearby? YOU GET CREATIVE!

Enter the paper brick! This brick is pure paper (newspaper, notebook paper, whatever kind of paper minus cardboard and toilet paper). The paper brick was a peace corps invention back in the day and it's still chugging. You have the kids put all their paper in a bag then once they have enough you tear it up, and let it sit in water for two days. After two days it comes out looking like a strange and not-so-appetizing dough that you throw into a metal mold which pushes the water out (with a bit of elbow grease) and bam. you have a paper brick.

What do you do with said paper brick once it dries? You use it to cook. Most families here still use firewood so by utilizing the paper brick, which lasts up to FOUR HOURS in the fire and releases equivalent or less smoke than firewood, you reduse the number of trees that get chopped down from the mountaintops and you use what would have been trash for something productive.

No, it's not a perfect solution. But it's a start...

The wet paper in a huge bin

Sixth graders in Zunil putting the paper into the mold to make the bricks

Pushing the handles down on the mold to get all the water out

The final product set out to dry! We made around 30 bricks with one week's worth of paper from a school of 500 kids... They are planning on giving to the three schools in the district who still use fire to cook the school snack!

Some views from my neck of the woods...

This is the view of the volcano Santa Maria from Zunil. The school bus (more commonly known as a chicken bus, is how I get from Almolonga to Zunil in about 20 minutes). Those of you planning to visit, better find your self a a step machine because we'll be hiking up it!)

A nice view of Zunil, on a sunny morning as I head for a school in an aldea of the town center.

The view from my house!

The view from my house in the afternoon when the clouds move in...