Liz and I eat at the pleasant breakfast place at the far end of town. It is three stories up but they are always ready for customers in the morning. We order huevos revoltos (scrambled eggs) again that are mixed with tomatoes and onions. You have to say "no salt" otherwise they tend to triple or quadruple the amount of salt we are used to. Even the coffe is not too bad. Meanwhile Liz is still lining up some important notes for our meeting: 1) A cookstove should not be built in any house that has only a thatched roof. 2) A house that is only "proposed" or only has a foundation shall not have a stove built for it. 3) Masons, in future, should only be hired if they have a proven record in stove-building 4) Remedial action may be required for deficient stoves. (Hope I have this mostly correct.)
Map of Communities served by AMMID:
The long, all-morning meeting goes very well. AMMID does tell us all their responsibilities and operations. They even go as far as the gold-mining areas and educate the people on how to stick up for their rights. They have heard of other mining permits being issued close to the GoldCorp mining area. Six to nine new community groups are being accepted into the AMMID umbrella. These new cummunities are near the Huehuetenago area were the gold mining takes place. One of the main aphorism's is "Farmer to farmer..". This is the idea of helping one or two farmers in a community or village and then having these individuals educate others. When we help you we ask you to help others around you. Pass on the important ideas of increased production and/or more sustainability. You can understand how we are impressed by thec work of AMMID.So one of my specific intersets was micro-entrepreneurship and micro-loans. They are well prepared for our inquiries and receptive to our trying to help. A few years ago when there was another peace corps worker there by the name of Justin, he believed that AMMID was only thinking of getting into micro-loans. Then in an e-mail before we went to Guatemala we heard that the micro-loan business that AMMID is carrying out is well under-way.
A first loan to a Guatemalan family (usually for farming) is Q600 (about $80CAN). The terms are such that the micro-loan is due at the end of the year with an interest payment of 15%. The micro-loan is co-sponsored or co-signed by many individuals in the community. The payback of loans so far has been at the rate of 99.5%. A successful loan pay back individual is subsequentially eligible for Q800, and Q1000 and finally Q1500 loans.
After lunch we get a shuttle ride (driver Eric) back to Xela. When we show interest in visiting Tikal in northern Guatemala sometime, Eric says that he also wants to see more of his country. He has a young family with two ninos but he knows he'll get a chance to see these far-away places. Northern Guatemala is supposed to be a very different terrain.
In Quetzaltenango(Xela) Liz and I meet up with the rest of the GSP volunteers. Phil and daughter Meg are there. Tom and Rita. Dr.Bob and family. Andre' and Renny. Joe and Marg. Joni and Jackie. Paul, Karen, Margarita, Sarah, Max, John, David, Janice. (Trying not to miss anyone.) Everyone, .....yes everyone is great to work with.
My first dinner out in Xela is Utz' Hua Restaurant. Supposed to have traditional Guatemalan food. Since Molle chicken is on the menu I head for that one. The molle is not really cooked into the chicken as I taste it but it makes for a pleasant offering. They have a dark bock beer called Moza. Very good.
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