Ixhil nunchuse'

I have yet to shave this month. My overgrown facial hair and an interest in Luddism are the only things I have in common with Ted Kaczynski. Come on, I hate math. What I’m saying is that just because I haven’t shaved doesn’t mean that I’ve been a recluse this month (or been mailing bombs to people). With the exception of spending countless hours in my room obsessed with watching The Wire, it’s quite the opposite. I’ve been out and about visiting my beneficiaries and trying to get work done. Emphasis on the word “trying”. My work is rather stagnant at the moment and that doesn’t sit well with me. Part of being in the Peace Corps is having a tremendous amount of patience and constantly having to adapt and change with what’s going on. I came into this month excited with a plan of where I wanted to go with my work but as I’ve realized in the past week I’m going to have to refocus my work from making gardens (everyone has already planted) to doing more nutrition and compost work. I’ve focused a lot on composting the past few months. It’s been a hard concept to get across to the people in the towns where I work but I have had some success stories that I’m proud of. It’s a good thing that I’ll be doing nutrition work because that’s the area in which I have the least amount of expertise. In my last blog post I mentioned the rainy season was beginning. Well now it is fully upon us. That’s downpours every afternoon. The rain can be a pain with work but the good news is I’ve got beets, onions, radishes, and carrots growing in my garden. Carrots are difficult to cultivate up here but radishes grow like crazy. Just taught my host brother how to play solitaire.

Salquil Grande is 99% indigenous. The only person living there who is not Ixil Maya would be yours truly. In a way I’m special in that I am the only Peace Corps volunteer who lives in a predominantly Ixil speaking town. It has gotten to the point where it’s strange for me to hear people speak Spanish. I never hear it at my site unless people are talking to me. As a result I began taking Ixil lessons in April. I’m not the best at learning languages (i.e. my still sub-par Spanish) and Ixil is not an easy language to speak. The pronunciations are tricky and sometimes guttural but I’m enjoying learning it and little by little it will come. I don’t expect to be proficient but I would eventually like to get to the level of being able to converse. People just light up every time I say even the simplest thing like “thank you” or “goodbye”. They’re thrilled I’m at least trying to learn their language even if I butcher it and smiles from Guatemalans are always welcome. The title of this blog post is “I’m learning Ixil” in Ixil.

Living with Mayans

I mentioned a little about Salquil Grande in my last post but I think I should explain some more about my new home. Salquil Grande is located in what is called the Ixil region (pronounced “E-shill”). There are 22 different Mayan languages spoken in Guatemala and in the small area between the towns of Nebaj, Chajul, and Cotzal is a language spoken nowhere else in the country: Ixil. I will undoubtedly be learning Ixil. Remember how I said I wanted to be placed in a Mayan village? Well Salquil is 98% Mayan and during my visit the only time I ever heard the people speak Spanish was when they were speaking to me. The rest of the time they were conversing in Ixil. So now not only do I have Spanish on my plate, but Ixil as well.

There is some interesting history behind region. Guatemala was embroiled in a 36 year civil war during the latter half of the 20th century and unfortunately the war was especially hard on the Ixil people. The remoteness of the region that preserves its pristine mountains was one of the contributing factors to what some consider a genocide of the Ixil in the 1980s. As with all conflicts it’s important to recognize that there are two sides to every story as to why certain actions are taken but the fact that there were mass killings of the Ixil is indisputable. They were simply caught between two warring parties and the result was devastating. I won’t go into a history lesson but I’ll give you a brief, general overview of what I’ve learned because I think it’s pretty interesting. In the 1970s the Guerilla Army of the Poor took to the mountains of the region because of their remoteness and sadly the local villagers were trapped in the fight between the guerillas and the government as the army tried to purge the area of rebels and the rebels tried to maintain control of the region to create a independent zone. By the end of the war tens of thousands of civilians had been killed and those who survived were displaced from their homes. That’s all I really know but I would like to read more about it. I’ve heard that wounds are still fresh and although the area is commonly referred to as the Ixil Triangle (because of the three major towns Nebaj, Cotzal, and Chajul), one person told me that there’s a social stigma tied to that name and that it’s not kosher to refer to it as the Triangle.

On a lighter note I’ll tell you about my living situation in Salquil Grande. My house is a small room in a hostel. Because of Salquil’s remoteness the hostel doesn’t get many guests and that’s pretty apparent when you see the place. The hostel is run by a family of eight and they’ve been quite hospitable so far which is great. The kids are a lot of fun, they like watching movies. On my visit we watched The Mask and my host sister instantly said I was like Jim Carrey (something I’ve gotten throughout my life). I swear I’d only spoken probably 3 sentences to her and she already tagged me as a silly jokester. I’d say that’s a fair assessment.

In my travels I’ve always worried about religion coming into play with the family I’m living with. It’s a touchy subject. Hell, people die every day because of religion. I want to fit in and be accepted without any problems but at the same time there is nothing I hate more than proselytizing. It’s my biggest problem with religions. You can believe in whatever you like. As long as you’re not causing any harm then its fine with me. The family I’m living with is Evangelical and the father is a pastor. They asked me to go to church with them which I said I would. I’m interested in seeing their ceremonies because Evangelicals here are different than those in the States. However I’m a bit skeptical because Evangelicals here are particularly forceful with their beliefs (not that Evangelicals elsewhere aren’t as well, but here it’s more in your face). Maybe it was the preacher screaming in my face on the bus ride from Nebaj up to Salquil. I guess I’m a little worried about having to deal with that with my family. I don’t want to make things uncomfortable. I’ve lived with Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, two religious groups that are notorious for door-knocking, but in both of those cases I didn’t feel pressure to convert at all. Hopefully it will be the same here. I like being the thoughtful observer, there to experience and learn without commitment. Anyways it’s an issue I’ll deal with when I come to it. So far the family has been great.

I like my little room, it’s quite quaint. I have a stiff little bed, a shelf made of stacked cinder blocks with a board between them, and a table with a stove on it. It’s Peace Corps Guatemala’s policy that all volunteers live with a host family for their first three months. Then they are free to find a house of their own. This was not the case in Togo where we had our own houses to start with. I’m sure most of my friends are looking forward to living on their own and I admit that would be nice but Salquil is such a small town and there’s no house to rent so chances are I’ll be living with this family for the whole two years. And that’s fine with me. I’m comfortable in my little room. Plus it's a hostel so if I can convince any of you to come visit me (and make my life) there's a place to stay.

I should comment on the weather because it’s rather unusual. Most of the time it’s cold up here in the mountains but that can change in an instant. There’s a big hard Sun, Eddie and its mighty powerful up here. It will be burning hot and I’ll be sweating but after spending a couple minutes in the shade I’ll want a jacket. Once the clouds role in late in the afternoon, it starts to get chilly. I’m coming to site at the beginning of November which is the last month of the rainy season and the beginning of winter. I’m glad I packed warm clothes.