Field-based training in Sololá

All of you have been wondering with all the "fun" pictures I have, when am I doing any work. If I took pictures of the boring stuff, it would be boring! Well this time I have some pictures of some of the work we did, and yes, it was a bit fun.

This past week I was in Sololá for field based training. We left Monday morning. Sololá is the department with the coolest lake in Guatemala - Lake Atitlan. This time the small business youth joined us as well, and we joined together into to mixed teams of youth and adult volunteers and taught the Empresarios Juveniles (Junior Achievement) program in an elementary school. Every morning we went to our school to teach 5th and 6th graders (together). The topics included feasibility study, savings, planning, production, marketing, leadership, and selecting the right kind of employees. The youth guys will be teaching the kids this stuff for their primary project. For the adult program, this is supposedly a good secondary project. I´ve got lots of pictures of some of the activities and the certificates after we finished the weeklong project.

On the adult side, in the afternoons, we visited a microcredit organization where 2 of our 7 Mara de Magdalena volunteers will be working. They have two locations, Sololá and Santa Cruz del Quiche, where there are currently volunteers. AYNLA, the organization explained to us that they offer sobresaldo loans, or loans just like in the states where once the capital decreases, the interest decreases too. However, the rate is like 26%, so it´s not exactly cheap, but not bad considering the alternative. A competitor microcredit org provides loans at 14%, however it´s a flat interest rate, which means the person pays 14% of the original loan every time. In the long run, the person will pay maybe 80% in interest payments, according to AYNLA. They are having a hard time explaining this to their clients, since they just see the 14% and go with it because it´s a smaller number. Go figure.

We visited a few clients of the organization that have taken out loans from these guys. One in particular we visited, is a small taller (workshop) of clothing. We had to do an exercise there to see how much profit they were making, but again, this information is based on whatever the guy tells us. He seemed to be doing very well, and he has a registered business, which many businesses in Guatemala aren´t. I don´t know how established it can be though, when he´s making copies of Puma jackets and Adidas ropa. It was pretty amusing.

We also spent a couple of evenings in Panajachel, aka Gringolandia, which is a huge touristy joint near the lake as well. That´s the best place to check out the lake, and we were able to take a boat ride there. While I was there, I was interested in a bedcover. The starting price was 600 Quetzales. I walked off. Luckily we ended up eating across the street, and I got interrupted maybe 4 times during dinner. I bargained and got him all the way down to 175 Quetzales and my watch, which is something over $20 for a nice full size quilt (plus the $10 for my crappy watch). Hey, the guy liked my watch, and I took advantage of it. It didn´t work too well anyways. So now I´m without a watch, but hey, I got a nice quilt for my bed for my future apartment at my site!

Friday we will return back to Santa Lucia Milpas Altas to the training center and we get to find out our sites. Can´t wait!

Pictures are under SOLOLA