PACA, meat, and The Vagina Monologues

PACA:  These are the clothing stores here that you see on every corner in Ciudad Vieja.  IF you need shoes, a bag, a jacket, whatever kind of clothing, even a onesie, you could find it at a paca if you looked hard enough!  The clothes seemed to be used clothes donated from the United States because you can find a lot of nice brands there, like Express and Limited for the equivalent of $3.  You have to bargain a lot though and never buy at the price they give you!  People who own Pacas go to the capital and get big boxes of clothes and then sell the clothes in their stores or homes.  I went into one paca and there were UNC basketball shorts, a Topsail Island track suit, and a Myrtle Beach bag!  It was weird!  I saw a Guatemalan walking down the street wearing a UNCG sweatshirt.  Maybe he went to UNCG, but it was still weird seeing someone countries away wearing clothes from home!  You can find some awesome clothes though that works for a Peace Corps budget!

Meat:  My group in Ciudad Vieja gets into lots of discussions about food because we cook together on weekends sometimes and there is a vegetarian in the group, so we mainly talk about meat.  I am kind of becoming obsessed with knowing where my food comes from, and the good thing about Guatemala is that it’s really easy to find out that information.  My host mom here gets here chicken from a lady who raises chickens in her house, slaughters them herself, and then sells the meat that day.  The pork we eat is fed Purina pig feed and has a happy life, living in a senoras back yard getting bathed twice a day until it is sent to the butchers.  We don’t eat beef very much at all, I think mainly for the reason that people don’t raise it around here.  It’s really nice to know that much about where your food comes from!  It’s nice having a farmer’s market every day on fourth street and not having to wait until a certain day to buy veggies and hope they last the whole week or something like that.  You still do have to clean the produce extra well (even soak it in water with chlorine if you are going to eat it raw) and I’m sure it’s not all organic or anything like that,  but it’s definitely nice knowing more about food and where it comes from.

The Vagina Monologues:  This was such an interesting experience!  Today I saw a bilingual version of the Vagina Monologues put on in Antigua by members of the Peace Corps and Guatemalans.  It was really empowering seeing Guatemalan women in traditional clothes expressing themselves in such a bold way in a country in which women’s opinions are rarely heard.  The proceeds went to an organization here that supports women’s and girl’s clubs in rural areas here.