Yesterday: After deciding on a Spanish school, Hilary started adjusting to Guatemalan speed... Work from 8-12 then eat and sleep for a couple hours, then do a little more work or food-prep from 2-5.
I received some very welcome news from two sources yesterday about the tour. One was from the ladies of Santiago Zamora, telling me that one of the Spanish schools I had talked to had gone on a tour last Friday. Also, the school Hilary is attending and which is the largest school in Antigua, after some negotiation, committed to doing at least 1 tour every other week. This was big news for both me and the ladies of Santiago Zamora.
I'm starting to understand the reason that I am needed here. The ladies are perfectly capable of running the tour all by themselves. The problem for them, as they told me, is that when they walk into a Spanish school in their native dress, they look no different than the random beggars who walk into doorways banging their cups on the counter. Whereas when I show up with my legal pad and pen, with a polished pitch and "American" clothes, the desk attendant doesn't shoo me out, they call the director. The sad part about this is that I understand this, don't see it changing, and have not a single idea of how to fix it for the long-term.
Right now I think I may ask the head lady of Santiago Zamora to start coming to the schools with me so that I can introduce her as my boss, and forge the relationship between her and the school so that when she walks in she is served a glass of cold water, not a dirty look and a "get out of here, beggar."
The problem with this is that directors come and go in many of the schools, or some other white person walks in 6 months later with shiny brochures and a polished pitch and the director switches to back to the for-profit tours. I can't figure out how to make it stick.
But overall, progress is being made!
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