Today I was invited by my work friend, Eli, to go eat lunch
at his sister’s house a few miles down the road. I agreed, and met him and his
sons in front of the courthouse for a ride to the house. Upon arrival, I saw
that lunch was going to consist of pork because two full grown pigs were
hanging from a center beam of pine in between a pair of clay buildings. Behind
the two pigs was a giant metal bucket used to fry many small pieces of pig fat.
There were hundreds of chicharrones
in the bucket, and I began to see just how healthy the meal was going to be.
Before lunch, a few of us went for a walk behind the house. The walk was about
a mile through riverbeds and pine trees, and finally ended up in a small clearing.
There, some of the kids and I had a slingshot competition to see who could hit the water bottle the most. Needless to say, I will be buying a slingshot
at the market tomorrow. After I lost the competition with bruised thumbs, we
all returned to Eli’s sister’s house to eat lunch. At the lunch table, Eli and
about 15 of his family members congregated around the table, said grace, and laughed
at the tall gringo for not being able to stand inside the small house. The meal
consisted of whole chunks of grilled pork, rice, tamalitos, and hot sauce. It was a delicious
meal that ended up satisfying my appetite, and left no portions remaining. After
lunch, us men sat around the table and talked about cutting lumber. It seems my
old job at Fine Lumber and Plywood has nothing on these Guatemalans, who use
machetes and axes to cut down the trees, then long saws to make planks out of
the pine (I just said we had machines that did the job for us). Once the
conversing was over, I went outside and played soccer with the neighborhood
kids. I taught them how to open a Pepsi top with the end of a water bottle, then how to make cannons out of the many plastic bottles that were lying around.
Once everyone was ready to go, I was given a bag of green apples and avocados,
and we were on our way.
After I was dropped off at the courthouse, I went home and
began writing this blog post. After the first sentence or two, I get a call
from my host mom telling me to go the town complex for a Quinceañera. This glorified birthday
party ended up being a huge success because I got some quality face time with
the community and free food. The whole town was in attendance, including the
mother of the 15 year old girl (or woman) who was in the United States, displayed
from an overhead projector, and using Skype. I’d say that’s pretty fancy for this
small town in Quetzaltenango.
