Diane - 12/23/04

12/23/04

I got up early and went to some tiendas to get some things for breakfast. I ended up buying eggs, pancake mix and syrup. You tell them how many eggs you want and they put them in a plastic bag. It is always fun to try out my Spanish.

After breakfast I went to the Maya Tradition workshop and shop with Jane. They have so many great things and they are so beautifully done. It will be fun to work with them. I haven't visited any of their groups yet so look forward to doing that. We got everything packed up in bags and picked up the family to go across the river to Chonitas by boat. When we got to Santiago we took a pick up to Chonita's. We had 5 bags full of great items from Maya Traditions that we wanted Mynor to bring back to Guatemala City in the van after bringing out the boys.

When we got to Chonitas everyone was busy. Tomorrow the 24th was the big day for the dinner for everyone so people were working hard. After our greetings we were put to work.

Ed, Steph, Ana and I wrapped all the towels and the flashlights. This was the gift to the elders. Lots of people donated money for the towels and our friends the Monroe's from Vermillion bought all the flashlights. (They have been to Santiago and seen the elder project). We wrapped them in bright paper. Chonita's niece Diana was there and spoke English so she could translate things from Tzuthil right to English, which was a good thing for everyone. It is always difficult when it goes from Tzuthil to Spanish to English.
After wrapping the presents we started decorating the place where the party was going to be. It was down about a half a block. It is a small building with 3 rooms. I didn't know how we would fit 100+ people in it. We decorated with balloons and crepe paper streamers. After this we started making tamales. This is quite a process and everyone took their turns at stirring the big steaming pots.

Steph and Chonita decorating

Diane stirring

We also had to clean banana leaves for the tamales to be wrapped in. There were hundreds of leaves because we were making tamalitoes for tomorrow too. There were about 4 young girls helping us clean the leaves.

Ed and Diane cleaning banana leaves

Girls cleaning chicken

Ed and Luis

At about 5:30 the others arrived. It was our sons BJ, Seth and Miguel (They had been at the orphanage at the river for a few days.) Luis ( We call him our Guatemalan son. He was going to be adopted to the states by a family near us and the adoption fell through because of some things down here. He really doesn't have a family so we claim him. He still keeps in contact with the Hanson family in the states that tried to adopt him. In fact they sent down lots of presents for him. Anyhow, Luis doesn't have family so he was going to spend Christmas with us.)

Two others joined us too. Jeff and Heather. Both are from Minneapolis and know our son Seth. They wanted to do some volunteering in Guatemala so Seth linked us up. They came down in Oct. Jeff has been volunteering with Sharing the Dream and Heather has been volunteering at one of the cooperatives Upavim. It was good to have them with us for the Holidays too. So our family keeps increasing.

Cooking the meal

Ana making tortillas

After they arrived we put them to work. They ended up cleaning banana leaves too. Chonita made several trips to the market and different kids went with her different times. At one point BJ and Seth went along to carry back 50 #'s of chicken. We ended up cooking all evening and making tamales.

Chonita making tamales

go to December 24 Journal Entry

Ed, Steph, Ana and I wrapped all the towels and the flashlights. This was the gift to the elders. Lots of people donated money for the towels and our friends the Monroe's from Vermillion bought all the flashlights. (They have been to Santiago and seen the elder project). We wrapped them in bright paper. Chonita's niece Diana was there and spoke English so she could translate things from Tzuthil right to English, which was a good thing for everyone. It is always difficult when it goes from Tzuthil to Spanish to English. After wrapping the presents we started decorating the place where the party was going to be. It was down about a half a block. It is a small building with 3 rooms. I didn't know how we would fit 100+ people in it. We decorated with balloons and crepe paper streamers. After this we started making tamales. This is quite a process and everyone took their turns at stirring the big steaming pots.
Steph and Chonita decorating	Diane stirring
We also had to clean banana leaves for the tamales to be wrapped in. There were hundreds of leaves because we were making tamalitoes for tomorrow too. There were about 4 young girls helping us clean the leaves.
Ed and Diane cleaning banana leaves	Girls cleaning chicken
Ed and Luis	At about 5:30 the others arrived. It was our sons BJ, Seth and Miguel (They had been at the orphanage at the river for a few days.) Luis ( We call him our Guatemalan son. He was going to be adopted to the states by a family near us and the adoption fell through because of some things down here. He really doesn't have a family so we claim him. He still keeps in contact with the Hanson family in the states that tried to adopt him. In fact they sent down lots of presents for him. Anyhow, Luis doesn't have family so he was going to spend Christmas with us.)
Two others joined us too. Jeff and Heather. Both are from Minneapolis and know our son Seth. They wanted to do some volunteering in Guatemala so Seth linked us up. They came down in Oct. Jeff has been volunteering with Sharing the Dream and Heather has been volunteering at one of the cooperatives Upavim. It was good to have them with us for the Holidays too. So our family keeps increasing.
Cooking the meal	Ana making tortillas
After they arrived we put them to work. They ended up cleaning banana leaves too. Chonita made several trips to the market and different kids went with her different times. At one point BJ and Seth went along to carry back 50 #'s of chicken. We ended up cooking all evening and making tamales.
Chonita making tamales