Sibinal, San Marcos - El sitio mio

When I first arrived at my site I immediately jumped on food security projects that were already in progress. Oyster mushroom houses and outdoor fish holding ponds are some examples. The central goal of these programs is for them to become sustainable. Ideally families sell a certain % of fish or shrooms to maintain the projects. The rest of the stock would be used for consumption. Photos courtesy of MCC.



Here is a Northern view of my primary site Sibinal! This is also where I live. It is located in a beautiful valley. The central muni is not very large as you can see but there are over 20,000 people living here total. The majority are in the surroundings Aldeas (small poor suburbs essentially) which, is where I predominateley work. In this photo you can see occasionally active Volcan Tacana. NOTE in this photo the clearer 1000m (from the muni) ridge that appears to be half-way up the Volcano.


Okay now take a look here, this is a Southern view of Sibinal from THAT same ridge in the previous photo now looking in the opposite direction. You are now looking outwards past my muni (down below out of sight) at another Volcan, Tajumulco (Central America´s largest Volcano at 13,845ft. Just about 400ft. shy of Mt. Rainer). Yes I live between to Volcanos. I have yet to climb either but will do so when the rainy season is over.

Yeah you would look like crap too if you just climbed THAT 1000 meter ridge! Now we have to get down! Here I am gracefully posing with my counterpart buds Nate, Osmar, and Juan Puablo. We were coming back from an overnight trip from one of the far off Aldeas. Note the sweat.