San Andres (3)

1/1/02 - 4:15pm

Life in Flores is very different. Several Internet cafes; hotels; a health-food restaurant and very much more expensive. Spent several hundred Q's on souvenirs and another hundred for the lancha to bring us back. It seems that the regular scheduled lanchas include San Benito, but not Flores, so we didn't have a handy way back, without having a personal lancha for the trip. The textiles are the best workmanship of the things to buy. I got myself a couple of nice shirts but put off larger purchases until we're at the hotel and have a room to ourselves.

By comparison, the public lancha we took to Flores, by way of San Benito, cost Q5 apiece. It was interesting that the lanchero had to buy gas in San Benito and left the boat load of us sitting while he went for gas. The locals clearly thought nothing of it and went ashore for snacks and drinks. But, the lanchero warned me that San Benito was for Petenistas only - I guess he thought we'd get lost or mugged.

1/2/02 - 3:15pm

Talked to Daniel last night. His guess about the lanchero and San Benito - apparently the locals might be a little embarrassed by it as its very chaotic and dirty.

Last night we got word that a man had been stabbed by his estranged wife in the afternoon. Of course, he's a cousin of Ulisses. Based on that, I asked Francisca how many cousins he had - she didn't actually know but explained that she has 7 brothers and a sister. At 4 kids apiece, like herself, that would be over 30 cousins. The stabbing was the talk of the town as nothing like it has happened recently. Apparently the couple separated and she found out that he had been with another woman while somehow in the possession of a ring belonging to his wife. Fortunately, the lancha had just arrived, and they hustled the man aboard and across the lake to the hospital.

The power was out from 6 to 9:15pm so we sat out on the street and looked at the stars. Alex came by and sat with us talking for awhile until Daniel came to get him for a phone call. He offered to give us a tour of the biblioteca that he has founded across from the Escuela. The only lending library in the area, it is wildly popular and the only source of books that aren't the bible.

When the moon came up it was orange and soon blotted out the stars. We repaired to our room for a card game before retiring. This morning we still don't have running water - for the 2nd full day. I'm getting seriously gamey.

School as usual this morning. At the break we went to the Post Office which miraculously was actually open. I'm not convinced that somebody didn't pass the word that we were looking to buy stamps, so he opened for us. Anyway, based on the information we received, our postcards should arrive home about a week after we do.

After school we spent half an hour confirming that we have a hotel reservation for Friday morning and that we know how to get there. Then we went and met Daniel and Alex at Daniel's house for a quick tour there. He called the hotel to confirm that we had a lake view then took us up to the biblioteca for a quick tour. I made him a gift of the Spanish copy of Harry Potter and offered to buy as much software in the U.S. as they can use. He'll work up a list and send it to me. In the meanwhile, I'll see if I can get a hold of Spanish language versions of Encarta and all the Magic Schoolbus games. Either I'll send them to him or through an organization in the U.S. that is a non-profit so I can get matching funds.

After all that we were an hour late for lunch and I needed to apologize to Francisca. After that, we have running water so I can take a shower! Very little water pressure, so it is a standing sponge bath, but a relief nonetheless.

After, back to school for a hands-on demonstration of local cooking. We make our own tortillas from masa and water; 1st we cut circles from plastic bags to use as both a non-stick surface and lazy-Susan. Then we take a ball of dough about 1 1/2" in diameter and flatten it onto the plastic. Then turning and forming/guiding the edge with the other until they are about 1/8" thick. Onto a hot griddle for maybe a minute per side and they're done. Salsa made by pressing tomatoes through a plastic colander with black pepper and dried chicken soup for flavor. Filling of mashed but not whipped potatoes (done with a fork). The potatoes are rolled into the tortillas and dunked into the salsa, then sprinkled with some kind of grated cheese and they're ready to eat. Locally, these are called "tacos."

Back to the library (called Viva la Selva) - It is basically a community center as well. It allows students to use school texts, which they would have to buy otherwise, has educational computer games, does classes in traditional dance and music, teaches the practice of reading to children (which was previously unknown locally), and is a lending library. Apparently it is the hub of youngster activity for miles around in the afternoons after school. It took about $10,000 to buy, fix-up, repaint (locals painted murals with center-purchased paint), and stocked with books and furniture. Now Daniel is working to make it self-sufficient. Alex brought down a Playstation and they're planning to set it up in the billar for people to play for a price. The proceeds will go to support the library. He's also planning on meeting with the organizations that have similar centers in the mountainous areas to the west to pool their resources and ideas to build a larger network of centers throughout the country and to organize getting funding support from U.S. companies and philanthropic organizations.

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