Lauren and I arrived before everyone else on Tuesday morning since we took our own shuttle. We had a little bit of time to explore and settle in before the EGL-ers came. After lunch we ran to the little used bookstore (see previous post) before heading off to the
On the way back from the Fuentes, the driver explained to me rather animatedly the consequences of coasting in a manual ‘turbo’ vehicle after I explained how I drove during the HiA spring break trip and he said that it was better that I don’t drive anymore in Guatemala. But, he also pointed out a church that was built by the Spaniards in the 17th century. The altar and crucifix are covered in silver and the church is still in use today. The first church built by the Spaniards in Guate was constructed in a nearby village in 1542. The Mayans were using the church for their sacrifices (rather than solely for Christian uses) so the Spaniards came back and put walls on the building.
On Wednesday, it was time to get to work. After an incredible, huge breakfast of French toast at the Black Cat hostel, we hopped in a minibus out to
When we got there, Salou and Amanda showed us a video about the history of the community radio project and explained the current issues. A law was proposed on August 3rd that would legalize community radio (http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/news/article/community-media-bill-introduced-guatemalan-congress).
During the 36-year (1960-1996) Guatemalan Civil War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala_Civil_War), radio was the only way for news, political information about the peace accords, and music to reach the rural indigenous populations since the newspapers could not be delivered and very few had access to the electricity needed for a television. This movement came to be known as 'Voz Popular'. When the war ended, the Peace Accords included an agreement that community radios would be granted a certain amount of bandwidth. While they COULD legally broadcast today, they would need to scrounge up $28,000 to compete with the international commercial stations in a public auction…an expense that isn’t even fathomable by the rural poor who make less than $80/month. (http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/a-question-frequency-community-radio-guatemala) Thus, the radio stations that were a source of information that helped to pull people through the end of the Civil War are still being broadcast today on illegal ‘pirate’ frequencies. Now they play mostly music which pauses only for PSA-style announcements about topics such as boiling water and women’s rights. A major goal of the stations is to empower women, youth, and the indigenous populations so oftentimes the announcements will be made by teenagers or children in Spanish and an indigenous dialect like Mam or Kiche. The stations are even used by police and local governments to relay health, education, and political information to the rural communities. Most stations are privately funded, where leaders of the cause giving up what little money they have to start their own station. Some stations charge a few Quetzales to make a private announcement or ask for support from their listeners which can hardly pay for operating expenses. A few of the fortunate groups are supported by international organizations. So that they can support each other, there are community radio organizations that work together to support local stations and lobby in the Capital for reform.
Mujb’ab’l yol (http://www.mujbablyol.com/) is one of these community radio associations that works with 26 radio stations in rural western
The building is in its earliest stages and work is very slow since it is all done manually (that’s right…no CATs, no table saws, no cement mixers). One group from
Our 12 person team (which dropped to 11 when Lauren left on Thursday L), was running all over the construction site and working hard for 4.5 days. We successfully tied a whole lot of lead coated wire for the Rebar, moved TONS of dirt, and mixed loads of cement to pour another layer on the walls. Throughout the week, we got to build bridges, tear ground with pick-axes, shovel barrow-fulls of rocks and sand and watch our own progress as land was flattened and rooms were filled with dirt floors. It makes you truly appreciate the resources that we, in the
At the training center, there is a ton of work left to do and no funding or manpower to do it. Mujb’ab’l yol is trying to partner with CasaSito to find student groups in the
Other highlights of the week:
· On Wednesday night we headed out for salsa lessons at a club. Mid-way through the night, the dancing was interrupted for a fire spinning performance. A troupe of foreigners took the stage (indoors) with kerosene dipped torches and ropes to put on quite a show. They were good but one member dropped his stick once and scorched the sleeve of an unlucky audience member and a second time he nearly caught his own pants on fire until an audience member ran out and stomped it out.
· On Thursday EGL-ers (and UofM) became internationally famous. They chanted the UM fight song live on Mujb’ab’l yol radio including a ¡Vamos Azul! at the end and everything. Typical of Guatemalan men, the deejay had to slip in a question to Brian about Chapinas (Guatemalan ladies). But Estafany (Salou’s 3-year-old daughter) is his only muchacha:
· After working long days, EGL-ers would come together to play some hard core games of rummy and Scopa, an Italian card game that they learned on last year’s volunteer abroad trip.
During our commutes between Xela and San Mateo, we also learned why we need to wash our food before we eat it...
· On Saturday we had the opportunity to meet with an assembly of leaders from the Mujb’ab’l yol community radio stations. They were having a meeting and we gave a short presentation then they each introduced themselves and the work that they do in their communities. They mostly thanked us for the work we do, blessed EGL’s journey home, and expressed that they really appreciate our willingness to lend a hand to the rural villages that need the most help rather than doing ‘office volunteering’ like the Guatemalan university students. 
During the meeting, we also got to explore the current 'training center' which is really just Salou's office with a small station for recording programs (but not broadcasting) and a pretty tight meeting room downstairs.
After the meeting, a representative from Cultural Survival came to speak with our group and drop off a donation for Mujb’ab’l yol. They are a US-based organization that aims to save indigenous languages that are quickly being lost. One of the organizations they support is Mujb’ab’l yol since these community radios broadcast in 23 different indigenous languages, thus providing a way for indigenous Mayan’s to hang on to their language and culture. They send monetary donations to
We had our fair share of visitors on the construction site...and they weren't all just Mayan community radio leaders...
· Also on Saturday we went to see Malacates Trebol Shop (this is the same band I saw the first week I got here). This time the experience was much better. We all packed into a little club called La Sahara with hundreds of Guatemalans. We may very well have been the only Americans there. Since Malacates is one of the most famous Guatemalan bands…there was a lot of Guatemalan pride and we got a lot of stares. It didn’t help that all of the Guatemalans were dancing peacefully in pairs and we were dancing like idiots in a circle as if we were in a club back home. In all, the music was great and we got in and out safely. (Amanda warned us before we left that shoot-outs tend to happen at concerts making the experience that much more exciting.)
· Sunday was a side-trip of its own value. We woke up early to hop in a van, pick up Salou’s family, and head out to Laguna Chicabal. Chicabal is a sacred Mayan crater lake. Legend says there was a lake on the other side of the volcanic ridge but the Mayan powers got mad that there were so many tourists and Mayans washing clothes in the lake that they sucked up the lake and moved it inside the volcano. Still today, sacerdotes (Mayan priests) come in March and April to make sacrifices of food and animals at the altars where they ask for blessings from the nuhuales (the gods of elements of nature…there are 20…just like there are 20 days in the Mayan calendar). They burn the sacrifices so the smoke will rise to the gods. It is also prohibited to bathe or swim in the lake since it is considered sacred. They say there is a hole in the middle of Chicabal that goes to the center of the earth so it will suck you in if you get to close. It was a super difficult hour and a half hike up a hill, and down again into La Laguna Seca (where the lake used to be, they now have bungalows for overnight visitors), and up and over again to the lake. The lake is really beautiful with a forest of clouds coming in and covering the lake on and off throughout the day. 
Once we arrived we built a fire using wood that is particularly flammable because of the chemical it contains; so you can burn it even when it’s wet.
Over the fire, we roasted marshmallows then heated tortillas to eat with our ‘guerrilla lunch’ of beans, eggs, and cheese. Salou was a guerrilla in the civil war for 14 years and lived in the mountains on Volcano Chicabal and the nearby Tajumulco.
After lunch we relaxed for a bit then took a hike around the lake to see the 23 altars, each of which is used for a different request from a different god. After we rounded the lake, we headed up a flight of 600 stairs to exit the crater and descended on the other side back to the Laguna Seca.
On the edge of the Laguna Seca we sat down for the most powerful of all story times. We heard Salou’s story. See the next post for my best recollection of the history. After hearing Salou’s story on Sunday, we were even more inspired and reenergized to work hard for our last few hours on Monday.
We parted ways with Salou and his family on Monday for the long bus ride back to
So, for Monday night, we planned to join Cris and his group of students for dinner in Santiago Zamora. They meet every night from 7-8PM to learn art, music, and English and they have access to a library. This is the group of students that won the music festival. So we rushed to the Bodegona to pick up enough chips, beans, and salsa for up to 60 children then over to the market to load up on fruit to make a giant fruit salad. We were already late for our shuttle to SZ so we ran home as fast as possible to cut up the fruit, heat up the beans, and stick everything in giant bowls with serving utensils. We loaded into the car and I called Cris to let him know that we would be late. Well…little did I know we wouldn’t just be late…we actually wouldn’t be able to make it…We were almost to SZ when we saw mounds of dirt entirely blocking the road leaving no way to pass. There was an alternative road but only tuc tucs could cross because there was such a huge ditch that the van we were in would have bottomed out. I called Cris to find out if there were another way to go around and he said we would have to take a tuc tuc from
Anyway, since EGL left I have been rather lonely and have completely immersed myself in computer work for two days. I made a Facebook group for Mujb’ab’l yol (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=147683549594&ref=ts) so student groups and interested parties can follow the progress at the training center and stay up to date on news about the proposed law to de-criminalize community radio. Over the past week, I think I have learned and retained more information about history and politics than in all of my K-12 education and am actually interested and eager to learn more. Talk to me about it sometime…
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