Work Update

I gave my first charla (or health talk) yesterday. It was with a group from my first community and was with about 20 people, mostly women. I gave my charla on nutrition and talked about the three food groups Guatemala has. Grupo de crecemiento, grupo de proteccion and grupo de energia (growth, protection and energy) Growth is the group that contains proteins, energy is carbohydrates and protection contains fruits and vegetables. I discussed the importance of eating foods from each group and what each group's purpose was. In Guatemala, the diet doesn't contain much fresh fruits and vegetables (which baffles me a little considering how plentiful they are here), so I tried to emphasis this point as much as I could. I think the meeting went well, we had a few laughs and those present seemed interested in my topic and were willing to participate in my activities. I am excited to continue working with them and to build relationships with them. I have a passion for building relationships and I think once that starts to happen more, I will really start loving what I do, not that I don't now, it's just starting to get good :) I have a meeting tomorrow in the same community and will be going over the same topic with the other group I have there.
Today I finished up my home visits in my second community. It was the second day I was covering the 3rd sector because there were too many to get them all in in one day. We hiked uphill a lot on some rather difficult terrain. We got to once ladies house and I almost couldn't make it up to the latrine and all I can say is if I lived there I probably wouldn't be drinking much water so I wouldn't have to make that many trips to the bathroom. But the view was amazing! Should have taken a picture of it but wasn't thinking I guess. This picture is a view from our walk down the mountain. After we finished our day of home visits around 12:30, we were invited to have lunch at one of the ladies house. It was a simple meal of beans and eggs with tortillas, but the hospitality was amazing and I am truly thankful for it. The picture below is a guisquil that was boiled and to eat it you just have to remove the skin. It taste similar to a potato but was a bit smoother.
Here is a picture of where they grow.


On our way out of the community, we saw one of the women who I had worked with before to visit homes weaving a huiple or the tops that the women wear. She said this was for a 10 year old little girl and she also told me that it takes about three weeks from start to finish.

Just thought I would leave you with this view, it's on my walk to the health center. I have been meaning to capture it for a while and just got it today.

Oh! P.S. more pictures posted here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2414575&id=22423429&l=c9baad8481