Fire on the Mountain
I woke early in the morning to the sounds of roosters crowing and what I presume is a daily pre-dawn breakdancing party enjoyed by rats on my tin roof. After eating my breakfast and chatting with Luvia a bit, I grabbed my backpack and dashed up the hill to the primary school, where I met my colleague and trainer to conduct earthquake drills. San Miguel is situated over a geological fault, and I have felt a good many tremors in my two months here, so seismic preparedness is something we have been working on with the kids.
Earthquake drills could be quite boring, especially when we make the kids repeat them a few times in a row, so we never call them 'simulacros' (Spanish for drills), but a game called 'Temblor!' (Tremors!). It is remarkable how popular the game has become, to the extent that children want to play with me even when we aren't in the school and there are no desks to hide under. Basically, I bang on the blackboard as hard as I can, screaming, 'Tremors! Tremors!'. The kids then have to hide under their desks covering their heads, until the the tremor stops and the teacher tells them to evacuate in a semi-orderly fashion. This particular day we did a drill with the whole school, and they cleared the building in less than three minutes--not bad for two hundred kids between the ages of four and ten.
After the fun had ended Melinda and I scooted off for a Spanish class with our new teacher, Sandra. It is an election year here in Guatemala and Sandra did us the favor of explaining the major political parties, their platforms and leadership, and a little about recent political history. It is noteworthy that the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize-winning indigenous female Rigoberta Menchu is running as the presidential candidate for an alliance of two leftist parties, and has an excellent chance of making it to the run-off. It is conventional wisdom among some down this way that Bush's recent visit to Guate was nothing more than a feeble attempt to discourage people from voting for her. Of course, I am not so cynical;).
In the afternoon our Spanish class ended and I was back at home, stretching out and preparing to go for a run. I go jogging about three or four times a week, and every time it is a major ordeal. The landscape is so mountainous that in order to run a loop of five or six miles, I have to climb close to one thousand vertical feet. At least my calves aren't atrophying. I was about to leave when I heard a bullhorn out in the street. I couldn't make out the words, but it didn't sound like the fruit guy hawking pineapples and plantains. Chepe has just returned from the woodshop, and he came pounding on my door: "Juan! There is a fire on the mountain! Let's go!"
We grabbed a machete and azadon (a large hoe) and raced up through the town, through the fields of corn and snow peas, up to the pines where we saw smoke pouring from the forest. There were already two guys up there working to put the fire out. We climbed on to the steep slope and worked furiously to clear a meter-wide lane from brush and pine needles, then light the undergrowth to burn it back towards the fire. In this way we stopped the fire before it could do serious damage, and only a couple acres were burned.
Afterwards we stood around with the other men, joking and talking about what had happened. It was the first fire in San Miguel in over ten years. It was pretty cool to get to help put it out!
I got my site assignment this week. I will visit the town in a few days, so tune in later to find out more about where I will spend the next two years of my life!
Love to you all...
Earthquake drills could be quite boring, especially when we make the kids repeat them a few times in a row, so we never call them 'simulacros' (Spanish for drills), but a game called 'Temblor!' (Tremors!). It is remarkable how popular the game has become, to the extent that children want to play with me even when we aren't in the school and there are no desks to hide under. Basically, I bang on the blackboard as hard as I can, screaming, 'Tremors! Tremors!'. The kids then have to hide under their desks covering their heads, until the the tremor stops and the teacher tells them to evacuate in a semi-orderly fashion. This particular day we did a drill with the whole school, and they cleared the building in less than three minutes--not bad for two hundred kids between the ages of four and ten.
After the fun had ended Melinda and I scooted off for a Spanish class with our new teacher, Sandra. It is an election year here in Guatemala and Sandra did us the favor of explaining the major political parties, their platforms and leadership, and a little about recent political history. It is noteworthy that the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize-winning indigenous female Rigoberta Menchu is running as the presidential candidate for an alliance of two leftist parties, and has an excellent chance of making it to the run-off. It is conventional wisdom among some down this way that Bush's recent visit to Guate was nothing more than a feeble attempt to discourage people from voting for her. Of course, I am not so cynical;).
In the afternoon our Spanish class ended and I was back at home, stretching out and preparing to go for a run. I go jogging about three or four times a week, and every time it is a major ordeal. The landscape is so mountainous that in order to run a loop of five or six miles, I have to climb close to one thousand vertical feet. At least my calves aren't atrophying. I was about to leave when I heard a bullhorn out in the street. I couldn't make out the words, but it didn't sound like the fruit guy hawking pineapples and plantains. Chepe has just returned from the woodshop, and he came pounding on my door: "Juan! There is a fire on the mountain! Let's go!"
We grabbed a machete and azadon (a large hoe) and raced up through the town, through the fields of corn and snow peas, up to the pines where we saw smoke pouring from the forest. There were already two guys up there working to put the fire out. We climbed on to the steep slope and worked furiously to clear a meter-wide lane from brush and pine needles, then light the undergrowth to burn it back towards the fire. In this way we stopped the fire before it could do serious damage, and only a couple acres were burned.
Afterwards we stood around with the other men, joking and talking about what had happened. It was the first fire in San Miguel in over ten years. It was pretty cool to get to help put it out!
I got my site assignment this week. I will visit the town in a few days, so tune in later to find out more about where I will spend the next two years of my life!
Love to you all...
posted by John Engler at 9:08 AM
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