Reforestation in Simajuleu

For the past three years, Mateo, the founder and director of Long Way Home has been recieving training and technical support from AIRES(Alianza Internacional de Reforestaciones), an international reforestation organization. Mateo and AIRES workers have built up and realized a successful tree nursery at Parque Chimiya, with a variety of species, including pine, cyprus and fruit trees.

About a month and a half ago myself and the other volunteers at Long Way Home had the privilege to help execute a fairly large reforestation project in one of Comalapa´s surrounding villages. The area in Simajuleu included a deforested hillside, community market, soccer field and the local cemetery. The deforested hillside was three cuerdas, just about one acre, and it alone required nearly 1,000 Ilamos or Elm trees.
On the morning of the project a large, flat-bed truck showed up at 6am and before I had gotten out of bed ten men had formed a relay team and was handing the needed trees down the hillside from our nursery to the truck. An hour later we were all in the back of a pick-up headed out to Simajuleu following behind that bed of green. Not too surprisingly for Guatemala, we parked at the end of a series of backroads and on the edge of a large, steeply graded corn field, through which we walked in order to get to the planting site. After hiking down hill through woods for about ten minutes we arrived just above the bottom of the ravine where we were to begin planting. As we came out in to the macheted clearing, myself and Long Way Home´s resident forestry technician, Cesar, were surrounded by nearly 100 young and old, tough-looking Guatemalan men. There was a small fire going and the men were sitting around drinking soda and eating their warmed tortillas for breakfast, while joking with each other in Kak´chickel.
Our former, favorite candidate for mayor, Valeriano, had come out to put the DIA Party stamp on the development project in his hometown, at the height of the campaign season. He and Mateo gave short speeches, one taking the credit and the other sharing it around. Then Cesar gave a short instructional notice to the men as to our strategy for planting all the trees. Ilamo was to be planted because of the natural springs which perculated up at various points on the hillside, as Ilamo is not a high water content tree like Cyprus, for example. In addition, the Elm tree grows quicker and spreads its roots system faster than the our other tree options.
Three meter long sticks were to be made and used to properly space the trees out in a triangular formation, which was decided upon because of erosion considerations on the constantly wet hillside. And finally, as Cesar´s lecture came to a close, the trees were handed out and we spread out over the top portions of the hillside with our machetes and shovels.
As soon as the planting began and the planting formula found its rhythm, the men moved down the inclined slope like an army of ants. Nine hundred trees were planted on that hill before noon of that day. I personally planted only eight because that was all I had time for before our reforestation crew finished the entire job.
The whole experience out on that remote and random hillside that day was unique and unforgettable. For example, my planting partner was a toothless old man, who spoke less spanish than I did and was amazed that a gringo knew some words in Kak´chikel. This man had to be older than sixty, yet he had the body of a twenty-year-old lightweight boxer and moved up and down the rugged terrain carrying a satchel of trees and a hoe more effortlessly than I did while only carrying a machete. Afterwards we sat out in the woods with some of these men drinking cheap rum, talking, laughing and eating some of the best flank steak I´ve ever tasted.
But the day did not end there. Mateo had also arranged for us to plant 500 or so Cyprus trees at various community areas throughout Simajuleu proper. This was to serve two purposes, for municipal beautification and for educating the town´s school children to the importance of caring for trees and how to do it. In this less physically demanding project we were assisted by the entire fourth and fifth grades of the local, public school. Cesar gave a similar speach to the 100 or so kids who took part in lining their town market, soccer field and cemetery with the Cyprus trees. All of them learned how to plant and care for the trees through demonstration and then were put to work doing their part for the health and beauty of their town´s environment. Working with these kids was yet another one-of-a-kind memory, containing many great individual moments and connections.
Just last week we went back to Simajuleu to check on our trees and follow-up on the project as a whole. We took the kids back to the cemetery, soccer field and market and cleared weeds, staked weaker trees and transplanted a few to better locations. My planting group of kids and I sat on an un-marked cement block which was apparently a grave after we had finished and looked out over the impressive panorama while they informally taught me funny words in Kak´chikel.
Guatemala faces a serious deforestation problem, which is exacerbated by unsustainable efforts at economic development, a culture of environmental abuse and a high population density. Therefore, I feel particularly proud to have contributed to such a worthy project. Because of the importance that I feel reforestation has for Guatemalans, in terms of prevention of soil erosion, water contamination, landslides and loss of biodiversity, I have kept a tally of the trees I have personally planted throughout greater Comalapa area, the amount of which has reached 42.

The Tecnico Maya Field Trip and the Antorcha

This past Saturday, the 15th of September, was independence day for Guatemala. In accordance with tradition the Tecnico Maya school took a field trip to a site of national pride and history during the week before the holiday. My fellow volunteers and I were fortunate enough to accompany the fifty or so students, teachers and parents to the ruins of the Quiche Empire, near present-day Chichicastenango.
As part of the trip, the school rented a bus and we all met at 4:30am in the town center to head off on our big day. The reason for leaving so early is that the day before Independence Day in Guatemala it is tradition for the people, all across the country, to particpate in something they call the Antorcha, which means torch in Spanish. Essentially, people run with torches in hand along the highways of Guatemala for great distances on this day, passing the torch to a new runner when one gets tired. We were planning on running through three cities, at least 20km, after our visit to the Maya ruins in the morning.
The Quiche ruins proved to be interesting despite being less than impressive architechturally in comparison to some of the other well-preserved marvels of the Maya in Guatemala. Kids played soccer in the central area between great mounds of dirt, rock and stone which made up the edifices of the ancient city. The Tecnico Maya teachers gave a few lectures explaining the history of the Quiche Empire and the significance of certian Maya sites and altars on the grounds. We entered sacred caves in which Maya sacerdotes still practice their religion and rituals.
In the afternoon, after leaving the Quiche ruins it was off to modern-day Quiche for lunch and the start of our Antorcha run. We started in the town center, where we recieved the sacred flame from government officials, which is meant to represent Guatemalan liberty and patriotism. After filling the paint-can stuffed with rags and attached to a tree branch, which I had constructed in the tradition style to serve as my torch, with diesel fuel, I stuck it in the official flame, we took some ceremonial photos and were off.
We ran through the streets of Quiche, Chichicastenango and Comalapa, about a total of only 15km. The bus generally followed behind, rolling along very slowly and waiting for those who straggle behind and tire quickly. The streets on this day are filled with people observing and participating. Those who do not run in the Antorcha make sure the runners stay refreshed. So from balconies, roof-tops, overpasses, bridges and hillsides comes a barrage of water, clean and dirty. The whole Antorcha tradition can be summed up as a nation-wide marathon in the midst of a nation-wide water fight.
We ran into Comalapa at about 8pm in a steady rain and with the applause and cheers of on-lookers. In spite of the rain, we took our victory lap through the city-center and then retired our flames in the Tecnico Maya schoolyard. It was an amazing time for both the kids and us volunteers. For many of the kids it was their first time to Quiche and to the ruins. It was also the first time many of them had participated in the spectacle of the Antorcha as runners, which every Guatemala seems to take great pride in. For us volunteers, it was an amazing opportunity to feel part of the Guatemalan cultural fabric for a moment, instead of simply being regular foreigners, travelers and gringos.
A very big thanks to all who helped make this field trip possible. I am extremly greatful that we could make these great memories happen for the wonderful kids of Tecnico Maya.

Decision 2007

The elections passed pretty quietly in Comalapa. Mateo and I did quite a bit to support our candidate for mayor, Valeriano Pixchit. He is a board member of Chuwi Tinamit, the host developement organization for the Long Way Home here in Comalapa. Both Mateo and I advised Valeriano before debates and at other key moments of the campaign. We sat in on meetings, supported him at rallies and undertook development projects in the name of his candidacy. While I wish that Valeriano and other rural, Guatemalan politicians like him had a little more education and a little less self-interest, I truly believe that out of all the candidates for mayor of Comalapa, he was the best one for the job.
Unfortunately, politics in Guatemala, like in many countries, is not as simple as doing good work, gaining experience and proving that you are the best man for the job. Some people say the political system here is rigged from the top, and has been for years. Others say that only the candidates with money and exposure win, which appears to have some truth. And still others say that all Guatemalan political candidates are just waiting to cash-in once elected.
In any case, the elections passed reletively peacefully and with no major corruption scandals. Voter participation was at an all time high for a democratic Guatemala, 65%, which is more than can be said for the U.S. They had a nation-wide youth election, which has been attributed with raising registered voter participation in the elections, while building a legitimate democratic future for Guatemala as well. Ten years after the 1996 Peace Accords ended the thirty year Civil War here, Guatemala appears to be on a firm, but imperfect, democratic path.
Nevertheless, Valeriano lost and so did Rigoberta Menchu. In fact, her campaign appears to have disappointed expectations, while she recieved her anticipated 2% of the national vote, some of the mayorial candidates on her party´s ticket recieved more votes than her in many departments. For now the two big winners were Alvaro Colom of the UNE Party, and Otto Perez of Partido Patriota. The two spent the most money and can be seen on the most billboards throughout Guatemala. In many peoples opinion, neither offer anything new or exciting for Guatemala, just more of the same machine politics. Since no one recieved a 50% majority vote in the primary elections last week these two candidates will have a ¨segunda vuelta¨on the 4th of November to determine who the next President of Guatemala will be.

My Nawal

Nearly everytime I spend a few hours hanging around the Tecnico Maya school I seem to pick up a little more knowledge of what exactly modern-day Guatemalan´s believe are the religious, spiritual and cultural foundations of their Maya ancestors. At the school they teach the mathematics, calendars and language of the Maya, developing much of their curriculum from the Consejo Nacional de Educacion Maya (the national Maya education council), which conducts research, publishes educational materials and advises Maya education programs, such as Tecnico Maya.
The teachers at Tecnico Maya and other indigenous peoples of Guatemala are currently in a common position for Native American groups in the 20th and 21st Centuries. They are attempting to accurately and sufficiently preserve their culture in the new generations, while adapting and assimilating to the rapidly changing modern world. Thus, the curriculum at Tecnico Maya has shed much of the ritualism and superstition that it is still practiced and preached by many Maya priests.
So, for example, they teach that the beheading of a chicken in a sacrificial ceremony, a fairly common occurance at many Maya ruins here, is an antiquated practice, that is not in agreeance with the Maya belief in respecting all of God´s creations in nature. The teachers at Tecnico Maya also tell me that the Maya believed in one, universal God, which they call Ajaw. This is in contrast to what is taught academically in the U.S. about the Maya, which is that they were polytheistic in the pre-Colonial era, worshiping the many gods of the different natural elements of the earth. I have been told that the Spanish colonizers assumed the Maya were polytheistic because they had ceremonies for their maiz crops and for rainfall, and therefore the Conquistadores assumed they were praying to individual Gods on each occasion. In reality, the Maya believe in one God, who is the universal creator, and the Maya Nawales or Gods of fire, rain, healthy birth, and abundant corn-crop, for example, the images that can be seen carved into the sides of the great Maya pyramids, are earthly essences or representations of the one God, Ajaw.
The other day I was fortunate enough to have my Nawal told to me by the teachers. A persons Nawal in the Maya religion is the equivalent of someones Zodiac sign, as they are believed to determine a persons personality and life path. The Nawal is determined by one of the three Maya calendars. There is a lunar, solar and purely mathematical calendar, the last of which is used in this case. There are thirteen Nawales or characters which represent different personality traits or destinies. These thirteen symbols are numbered one to thirteen as well, with thirteen being the strongest number and one the weakest. A persons Nawal is then broke into three groups, 1)Nacimiento-Birth trait, 2)Origen-Your purpose or calling in life, 3)Esperanza-Your destiny for later life.
Being born on April 9th, 1984, I have a 12 No´j, 4 Toj, and 7 Kan. A 12 No´j in first category is apparently very good because it means that I have a strong number, 12, and No´j means sabiduria in Spanish or wise, intelligente, or thinker. 4 Toj is pretty good as well. It means I have a small debt to God, and have to do some of his work throughout my life. The last, 7 Kan, sounds good to me as well. It means that I will have a decent amount of peace when I am old. Here´s hoping all of your Nawales are as good as mine.