Life in the Clouds: Cunicult-WHAAAT???

This week I spent a few days in the cabecera (state capital) of Huehuetenango. Becca and I traveled down to attend a few days of training with the NGO Casa Materna. We looked at the schedule for the second day and saw “Cunicultura” as a two hour session. Neither of us had any idea what that meant but both of us saw a relation to a similar word in English that is not so appropriate. Becca later looked it up online and to our relief “cunicultura” means the cultivation of rabbits. Whew. We attended two days of sessions on a bunch of different topics such as how to grow and use composting worms, reforestation and school gardens. The sessions were intended to train the Guatemalan technicians who are working directly with Casa Materna. Each municipio, Santa Eulalia for us, has two technicians assigned to work in the aldeas of the muni. One technician will be working to improve nutrition through education and projects in about 30 different aldeas over a three year period. I am hoping to work with the technician to assist her in her training of the community. It is a very valuable and much needed project. The malnutrition throughout all of Guatemala is horrible (most malnourished country in the Western Hemisphere as of 2009) so I am hoping this project will at least aide the families of my community.

During the week we stayed with my friend Claire who lives about 20 minutes outside of Huehue in a small aldea. She is always such a great hosts and lets us crash at her place when we have work in Huehue or passing through. I always have a great time hanging out with her and we got to watch some Disney movies and Becca and she let me sing along! We also took a hike up the hill by her house which provided us with a beautiful view of her aldea, a volcano and part of Huehue. The day was warm and the sun beaming down on my white, flea-bitten legs felt so soothing. It was a great way to end a semi-stressful week of travel and training sessions. Tomorrow I am off to Todos Santos, another municipio in Huehuetenango about 2 hours away, to enjoy a Peace Corps Halloween Party and the famous Day of the Dead celebration! Pics and stories to come I’m sure 

On the bus to Huehue with Becca