Paches

Paches are like Tamales but made out of potato or rice. The potatoes/rice are creamed and soft. Along with the starch is a sauce and a small piece of meat (usually chicken or pork) in the center. They are wrapped, cooked, and served in leaves (I think usually banana leaves). They are always served steaming hot and I think that it makes a great mushy (in the best way) comfort food. In true Guatemalan fashion, this carbohydrate-based meal almost always comes with bread (white bread). I ate all of it. Unlike my Guatemalan host family members, I usually have one or two pieces of white bread with my Pache. They usually have about four pieces. 

Paches are the typical Christmas food here. Whenever the topic of Christmas comes up, Guatemalans always asks me if Americans eat Paches for Christmas. When I tell them no they seem surprised and then ask me what do we eat at Christmas. 

Usually they are whiter in color,
but this one had the sauce thoroughly mixed in.

Bringing Firewood to School

The school day in Guatemalan primary schools is only from around 8:30-12:30 (depending a little on the school) so kids go home for lunch. The mid-morning snack is provided by the school (purchased with funds from the Government). There are no paid faculty members who are in charge of preparing the snack. Instead, all mothers of kids in the school take turns coming in each morning and cooking the snack over an open fire or wood-burning stove. I'm not sure what happens if a mother works and cannot make it, but from what I have seen this is rare. I am not sure why the Government funding doesn't cover all aspects of snack (i.e. fuel for cooking), but to be able to cook the food each kid is required to bring in five pieces of wood each week. 

This girl didn't seem to mind carrying the wood to school today. 

The little boy wasn't quite so happy...

Some examples of snack are: Incaparina (fortified drink that contains protein, carbohydrates, and fat) and an egg, a piece of bread and Incaparina, Corn Flakes in hot milk, Atol (a sweet drink made with corn flower), etc. To help fight malnutrition, the school snack is supposed to make up a fairly large portion of childrens' caloric intake for the day. Sometimes the snack is well balanced, but more often then not it is carbs on carbs on carbs. Thanks to Guatemalan courtesy, schools almost always offer us Healthy Schools PCVs snack when we are there working. I think that this might be one of the reasons why most female PCVs find themselves gaining weight. Also since it is very rude in this culture to straight out say "no" to food I have gotten creative to get out of eating another school snack. 

A couple other things that are very different from American schools: hardly anyone gets dropped off in cars or drives to work, there are 0 parking lots or even parking spaces near the schools, kids seem to walk to school on their own or with brothers and sisters from what seems like kindergarden on so at the beginning and end of the day there are no parents at the school (except for the 5ish mothers who made the day's snack). 

Youth Forum

This past month I attended a Youth Forum workshop put on by the Peace Corps. This two-day event was centered around understanding the National Curriculum Base in Guatemala and how it relates to the Healthy Schools Project. We also participated in a round robin session where groups taught sample health lessons for the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades.  One key aspect of a "healthy school" is that the teachers teach two twenty minute health lessons each week. From my experience, the vast majority of teachers that haven't worked with healthy schools volunteers don't do this. This is one of the problems with the Healthy Schools Project. It is an initiative of the Guatemalan Government (Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health), however no one seems to know about it if there isn't a Healthy Schools Volunteer working in their school. 

For some Peace Corps trainings we have the opportunity to bring work partners. Below is a picture of me with the two work partners that I brought (teacher on the left, and principal on the right). This is also a good example of how I am considered tall in Guatemala! I definitely don't hate it :). Guatemalans love diplomas. I have received so many from various trainings here and have also made many of my own to give to participants of my trainings. 

There are a variety of locations that Peace Corps holds trainings, but this one was by far the coolest. It looked like a little hipster recycled fairy village.

Tamascal - the Mayan in-Home Sauna

Kiwa tuj - que rico es el Tamascal - how rich is the sauna

in K'iche', Spanish, and English

A Tamascal is the ancient Mayan in-home sauna. It is still widely used in many rural communities. Not all houses have one, so I am so glad that I have access to one in my house. It gets so hot in there! I generally flatten myself as low as possible to the floor to try and be at the coolest part.

It is a great family bonding experience. My host family has a big Tamascal that can fit about seven people laying down. Every two or three days all of the women and girls in the family go in together. It took them a couple months to invite me to join them in the sauna, and the first time I went in in my shorts and tank top I found out why. Most of the women and girls go in in a bra and underwear, but most of the older women just wear underwear.

According to another PCV's blog: "in Mayan spiritualism, the Tamascal is the place where the ancestral spirits reside. They say that a cold or sickness represents one being punished by the ancestors for doing something wrong. To cure oneself of the cold and to reconcile with the ancestors the Tamascal is the solution. Newborns are also placed in the Tamascal to meet their ancestors." Now I'm not sure how much of that is true or still believed, but Guatemalans of all ages use the Tamascal. My 4 year-old host-sister, Princess, and three-year old host-sister, Genesis, both get in the Tamascal. I often see them taking quick naps in there.

That little door on the bottom left is where you crawl in and out.

How it works: There is a sheet that they hang across the rope above the door and this is shut to keep all of the heat in. Inside it is totally dark except for a bare lightbulb. They fill that round metal bucket on the right with water and light a big fire under it. I am still a little nervous when I use the Tamascal because it seems to me like it would be easy to suffocate in one of these. There is also the issue of Guatemalans burning their plastic trash. I find this to be a horribly unhealthy habit, but it can be especially deadly when burned in the Tamascal. My host family does burn plastic, but only wood in the Tamascal.

Guatemalans use it not only as a sauna, but also to bathe. After they are done in the sauna they sit right outside of it and use the water heated up by the fire (mixed with cold water) to take bucket baths. Minako (the Japanese volunteer) and I both use the Tamascal from time to time, but we shower downstairs in the bathroom. I'm not sure we are THAT integrated enough yet to bathe with all of the women of the family.

A view from the inside

The metal and rock contraption on the inside of the Tamascal covers the fire, so when they throw water on this contraption it immediately turns to steam and heats up the Tamascal.

You can't stand inside of the Tamascal - it is only probably 5 feet high on the inside (nor would you want to - it's way too hot).

Another cool thing about the Tamascal is that they use small leafy branches of this special plant (I've asked but I'm still not sure what it is called) to wave the hot air down to themselves mixed with the scent of the plant. I think it is similar to eucalyptus. They also gently hit themselves with these branches which apparently helps "quitar el cansancio" remove tiredness from your limbs / body. So as I am laying on my back in the Tamascal in my shorts and tank top, sweating up a storm, I hear the gentle thwack thwack thwack of branches hitting skin. I'm not sure if this has done anything for me, but I go along with the routine.

This more accurately shows what it looks like from the inside while in-use