Chimal!

(For the full wished for effect of the title of this post, it is best shouted out loud while pumping a fist in the air.)

Chimaltenango is the armpit of Guatemala. Volunteers whose sites are in the department are usually met with a look of pity, which translates into, “Oh, I’m sorry you got placed there,” and it is the lucky volunteer (I still count myself in that fortunate minority) who has not yet been robbed on the camioneta line between Antigua and Chimal. (Slightly related side note: Upon first arriving in the country, my sitemate mistakenly thought the Chimaltenango ayudantes were yelling, “Chimar. Chimar. Chimar” instead of “Chimal. Chimal. Chimal.” Unknowingly she started repeating this as a joke. It wasn’t until much later that she learned it definitely wasn’t something she should be saying…especially around men. Look it up.) And furthermore adding to the appeal of the department, in mero Chimaltenango there are probably more prostitutes per capita than any other city in Guatemala…and that’s saying a lot.

Okay, so perhaps all this Chimal bashing is rooted in bitterness for having lost to the department in a basketball tournament. Sorry Chimal, I don’t hate you (especially since you are the number one provider of high quality pirated DVDs to volunteers)…but I will not negate the prostitute comment.

As an event tied in with the All Volunteer Conference and 4th of July Celebration, VAC hosted the First Annual Departmental Basketball Tournament, pitting volunteers from the different departments against each other in a 3-on-3 double elimination tournament. San Marcos, Huehue (pronounced “way way,” as in “way way the hell out there”), El Quiché, The East (all the departments on the eastern side of the country are lumped into one block because volunteers are few and far between in that area), Chimal, and the Verapaces (Alta and Baja together) all fielded teams. Unfortunately the Xela/Toto duo and Sololá were absent from the competition (I blame this on poor representative leadership…yes, Mosiah, I am specifically calling you out.).

And as can be easily gathered from my bitterness and anger directed towards Chimaltenango, we, the Verapaces, did not come out victorious (“winning isn’t everything” is a crap saying for the losers). But in our defense (another one of my convenient excuses—I call it becoming fully culturally integrated), we played twice as many games as Chimal, and by the time we faced them in the championship we were not bringing our best stuff. Due to an unfortunate first round loss to El Quiché, we had to fight our way back through the losers bracket, and even though we took one game from Chimal, we didn’t have enough steam left to repeat for the title.

It was that devastating first loss that prompted a team strategy change that put us in a position to even participate in the “big show.” We, as in the members of the team who played basketball competitively in high school, decided to stop giving equal PT to everyone and put the best players on the floor. Unfortunately, as a result of this decision there is an unnamed volunteer who will probably hate me for the rest of her service. (The rules stipulated that a female had to be on the floor at all times, and in my defense, I never denied her the right to play; I just simply never left the game.) It is probably not the most becoming or healthy personality characteristic, but since approximately the age of 8 when it comes to competitions I have placed winning above feelings, and it has only gotten worse over time (as my mom would say, “I am my father’s daughter”).

But despite not winning and still not being able to comfortably chew with the left side of my mouth due to a blow I took to the jaw (if you are not bleeding and/or bruised then you didn’t play hard enough), I really had a great time. Maybe winning really isn’t everything…hmm, no. And for our Verapaces bragging points, not only were we the only team to beat every other department, but we were by far the best dressed. Playing off of the name of our departments, I “designed” (my younger brother thinks I have a problem with copyright infringement dating back to a Mizzou lacrosse t-shirt that might have had a strikingly resemblance to the Puma logo) VeraPacers t-shirts, each one personalized with individual nicknames and numbers. So even though we lost, we sure looked good doing it. And there is always next year.