When I think of the “company Christmas party”, I generally imagine a gift exchange, a slide show, eggnog, and maybe even bonus checks. When you work at a health post in rural Guatemala, though, it’s a little different. Sure, we have a gift exchange: I got a hat and a scarf, and gave away a tiny transistor radio to my nurse friends who walks the countryside giving vaccinations. A slide show is out; we don’t have the budget for that kind of stuff.
Instead of eggnog, the tradition here is to have a big ‘ole barbecue, packed with an astounding array of tasty meat products (click on the image to see the goodness). I am not a big meat eater, but the stuff they cooked up was pretty amazing. It is hard to identify everything in the picture, but it includes: chicken adobada, lime-marinated beef, spicy ribs, pork loin, salchicha, longaniza (both are homemade sausages), roasted green onions, and baked potatoes. This is a tradition I might have to bring back with me.
They even had a christmas tree. It’s made from pine branches assembled together into a tree shape. Apparetly it’s illegal (or very expensive) to cut down trees. Hah! Also, you should know that the lights are the kind that play a selection of tinny Christmas music. Several strings were going at once, none of which were on the same song at the same time. Aaah, Guatemala.
The doctor made an important, sad announcement. He will be leaving us next week. But it’s in the best possible of circumstances: he got a scholarship to continue his education at the national university, studying to specialize in OB/GYN, his area of interest. It’s a fantastic opportunity for him, and also for Guatemala. There aren’t a lot of specialists here, and he’s the kind of guy that will continue working with poor rural poplations, instead of taking his degree to the city to get the $$. When I first heard the news, I was a little sad, because I just started working hard to get donations for the Midwife Kit project (a few posts back). I’ve had TERRIBLE luck with my projects getting the rug pulled out from under them. But he took me aside during the party, and asked (in Spanish) “So, how are the donations for the midwife project going? You know, I still want to do this. If anything comes through, give me a call and I will travel up to Santa Eulalia to help set them up and distribute them.” Wow. I was pretty blown away; they guy would skip class and travel 10 hours to work for FREE to help the local midwives. That’s the kind of guy he is. So, the project continues.
Oh, and I got a bonus check equal to a full month’s pay.