Alma: the librarian

We have started school again! Ok, well this announcement is a week old…but its coming to ya sooner than some other stuff I have to write you all about. But, I’ll just get to that later when I am looking to procrastinate more on my homework.

My new teacher’s name is Alma. It is quite a different environment having a female teacher now compared to a male one. Alma is 74 (the oldest teacher at CLM) and also super cute. She always is dressed up in dresses, that she has tailored for her, and looks like a sweet old librarian. Conversations between Guillermo and I would often be filled with talk of politics, history and justice. Now however, our conversations revolve around education (the theme for the paper I have to write) and differences between now and then. Especially when it comes to love. Last class she had been telling me about her boyfriend and how different lovers acted back in the day compared to now. She sure had some sweet stories. On Monday she is bringing me pictures from her wedding. I bet she was so beautiful. I am excited to see them.

Which reminds me, she is so thoughtful, she is always bringing me things! Depending on conversations we will have or themes that will come up- she always knows some article or book with more information. She then brings the information the next day for me to read on my spare time. (which I have been lacking lately) one day we were talking about fruits and I told her that previous to this trip, I had only known of one kind of mango. And, the mango has become one of my favorite fruits! It is so delicious. Well, the next day what does she do?? She bought me two mangos of a kind I haven’t had yet…and they were delicious!!! And the most fun fruit I have ever eaten. What you do is you squish up the mango with your hands. You basically make it nice and juicy on the inside. Then you bite into the top just a bit and squeeze all the juice out.

It is so messy, so delicious, and so fun!!!

I am going to have to take a trip to the market to buy more of those. They are like pieces of heaven on earth.

This little piggy went to the market…and THIS little piggy went WEEEEEEE on the way to the slaughter.

Yes. I am as menacing as that title sounds. I witnessed a murder. That’s right. Someone…or rather, something died on my watch.

On march 18, Siiid, Emily, Lauren, Becky, Dan, Chris and I took a chicken bus back up to Magdalena and stayed the night with our old host families. After eating a supper at the wonderful Café mi cafecito (one of my favorite restaurants) we were invited to Mateo and Nick Miller’s (two people who work for SI) and had tea & bread & their mom’s homemade jam. It ‘twas delicious!

We settled in pretty early for the night in preparation for the eventful day ahead. It felt so good to be back in Magdalena and back with my family. I didn’t realize how much I had missed that town.

Our alarms went off bright and early at 4:30 in the morning. We rolled out of bed and wandered down the streets to Veronica’s house. My older brother Marito got up early to walk us there. It was unnecessary, but so so so extremely kind of him!

Anyways, we waited outside the house for the guys who were going to butcher the pig to arrive. The truck pulls up and they motion for us to hop in the back.

I FULFILLED #32 ON MY BUCKET LIST: RIDE IN THE BACK OF A PICK UP.

Let me tell you…it was the ride of my life! Roller coasters don’t even compare to the thrill of that morning. I think part of the reason it was so thrilling was because I was still so sleepy…but that ride sure woke me up fast. If not, I may have been flown from the truck! We were speeding around corners, down streets, up streets…going every which direction! Good thing there was no one else up yet, otherwise they would have been road kill. 10 minutes later we arrived at the farm. It is still pitch black outside…so we were using the flashlights on our handy-dandy cell phones to guide our way around the farm. I almost got clotheslined by a clothesline…but don’t worry. I am ok.

Then we arrived to the scene of the crime. There in the pen was the pig who’s brain was about to become sizzled. I say it that way because here in Guate they kill the pigs by electrocution. It was very difficult to see…but the men worked together, they had a system down to placing the correct wires on the pig’s head and then it was time to do the deed.

SSSZZZZZZZZZZT. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! CLUMP.

The first sound was the electricity hitting the pig after they doused the pig in water.

The second sound was the pig/me screeching. That’s right, I did squeal in shock and sympathy.

The third sound was the pig’s body falling to the ground.

After the duty was completed, we had the daunting task of bringing the pig back to the pickup truck to then bring back to the house to slaughter. This was no small pig mind you. My host dad told me 280lbs. the men were able to hoist it into a wheelbarrow and after a lot of pushing and hauling (with rest breaks in between) the 3 guys (plus chris) were able to get the pig…wheelbarrow and all into the pickup truck.

Can you guess what comes next? We all hop in to the back of the pickup truck. Except this time as we are careening along the mountain side, not only do we have to worry about flying out of the back, but also making sure the pig/wheelbarrow doesn’t squish us. I had the pleasure of sitting right next to the head.

The thing wouldn’t stop staring at me.

(insert embarrassing story) while we are riding in the truck, the guys ask us how we kill pigs in the US. Everyone in the group is quick to say they are from the city…and don’t know how. Lucky me I spoke up and said that I thought they killed it with a big “cuchara.” Uh oh. The surprise in his voice clued me in to my mistake. “Cuchara” means spoon…what I had meant was to say “cuchillo.” (knife) man, I am always getting those two mixed up. However, I am blaming it on the early morning/lack of sleep/traumatizing events. I tried to play it off smoothly and was explaining how I am so strong, a “cuchara” is all I need. I don’t think they bought it.

Well, to make an already long story slightly shorter…the guys then proceeded to butcher up the pig. It was a long and artful process that was quite awesome to watch. I loved my pig dissection in high school, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to handle this one. I am quite proud of myself though. It was so cool! The guys who were working on it would just laugh at me because I would go from “gross!...woah, cool!...that’s so sweet!” in the same 3 seconds. And, the guys would joke around with me and say, “and now for the spoon.” When they were pulling out a big machete. Oh the jokesters. But, for those with strong stomachs I have a ton of pictures and video of the whole butchering process. It truly is art. And the good news is…I didn’t lose the pictures on my computer!! These ones were still on my camera…so I can show everyone!

After this process, I was invited back to my host family’s house for breakfast. At this time it was about 8:30 in the morning. (yeah everything lasted about 4 hours) you may be wondering how I had an appetite?? Well, this is because pancakes were on the menu, luckily no bacon.

Well….this is the first of many stories to hopefully catch you up on my life here in Antigua. More to come soon!! I do rather enjoy writing about this stuff instead of doing the “h” word.