Yesterday, I sent the laundry to be done. I had managed to get food all over one pair of pants and yellow chalk on the other. I studied Spanish on Duolingo. We went out to the market. Jill went to her cooking class and I walked over to a presentation by a woman who started a charity called WINGS. Her organization provides access to birth control for women who can’t afford it. She was a Foreign Service Officer here and has been living in the country for 22 years. She spoke about Guatemala’s history and the situation now. She made it sound pretty bleak. The governments try to steal as much money as they can before their terms are up. Because of the corruption no one can improve education or infrastructure. Remittances from the USA help families in poverty but the money is spent on immediate needs instead of investing to start or improve a business here. Families rely on the money but aren’t inspired by it. She also spoke about chronic malnutrition in Guatemala. The small farms of today have been divided up to sons over the years. People are actually eating less than their grandparents. If her organization can help limit the size of families, parents will have more resources for their children and themselves. She was about to get to the positive things happening in the country but I had to leave and meet Jill, of course. Our tour guide the other day thought Guatemala is on its way to a generational change for the better. I hope he’s right. Though I get the idea that he meant the government will start working better. It may be a long time for some of the most needed changes to happen.
I ran over to Jill’s cooking class when I was told but I was really early for the meal. I think there were 7 students. Jill was describing the tear stopping powers of contact lenses while chopping an onion and they were all laughing. I watched the creation of bananas and chocolate sauce and some sad tortillas. The chatting around the kitchen continued. The teacher even had several fits of the giggles. When it was done we all sat down to a wonderful Guatemalan meal. There were frijoles, a radish salad, vegetarian tamales, chile rellenos, guacamole, the sad tortillas, and the bananas in chocolate mole. It was amazingly good. I would eat it again right now.
There are different Guatemalas. I’ve seen some of them. Like anyone else, the situation I’m in influences my perspective. I think Guatemala is in transition and the benefits of modernity will come eventually. Kids play xboxes now and will want more when they are adults as well. Slowly things will change for the better.