I went to town today to run some errands. Pretty mundane stuff, really: check in on the progress of the two girls we matched up with scholarships, get some groceries, look for mail at the post office, and stop by the jobsite of the new high school. The last thing on the list was to exchange our empty propane cylinder for a full one.
“There you are!” smiled Chico, the guy that runs one of about five propane stores in Santa Eulalia. I met him several months ago, and he was really excited about gringos in town. He also offered me a slightly better price on propane, in an effort to lure me away from his neighbor. In the interest of fairness, I thought I’d give him a try today.
“Yep. Here I am,” I replied. “Can I leave this cylinder with you, and come back to pick up the full one in a few hours? I have some errands.”
“Sure!” he beamed. “But wait, I have something for you. An adorno.”
I was suddenly struck with fear. “Adorno” translates literally to “decoration”, but could be just about anything you can imagine a Guatemalan might use to decorate his home: gaudy pinup calendars, crosses with a bleeding Jesus, ceramic puppy dogs with giant googly eyes, or desk clocks shaped like miniature neon guitars.
“Thanks, that’s very kind,” I lied, “but I have to run. And I don’t have any place to carry it.”
He was not to be dissuaded. “Don’t worrry, it’s only about this big,” he said, spreading his hands about a foot apart. Realizing that escape was futile, I awaited my doom.
He disappeared into the back office, then came out holding a fascinating, grotesue, and incredibly cool terra cotta figurine of a Mayan god. I was floored.
“See? It’s a Mayan adorno!” and he gave it to me.
I was struck dumb for a few seconds, then regained my composure. I thanked him profusely, and was on my way. This thing is so sweet that it’s coming with us back to the US when we finish our service! I have no idea what prompted him to do this, and I probably never will. But it really illustrates the random sort of things that happen to us almost daily as Peace Corps volunteers.
Emily theorizes the adorno has something to do with Jaime being the arquitecto famoso of the new high school so heavily referencing Mayan culture…but we may never know.