Dia del Empleado

Every July 25th, Guatemala celebrates a holiday called Dia del Empleado (Employee's Day). It's specifically to honor municipal employees (and perhaps other governmental sectors). The 334 municipalities in Guatemala vary greatly in how they celebrate it -- trips to neighboring countries, trips within Guatemala, parties, lunches, day off, bonuses. Last year in Chahal they did a lunch and got the day off. This year in Chahal they're taking a trip to Livingston (Carribean coast)! And taking Monday off.

Here in Sija the mayor gathered us all up yesterday to tell us what our reward would be. It included three parts:

1. A trip to Pollo Campero (Guatemalan fast food) at the mall in Xela for dinner last night.
2. Thursday and Friday off.
3. Q400 bonus.

Everyone was extremely excited. I'd rather have the trip to Livingston personally.

So yesterday we all left work early and piled into some cars and drove the 30 minutes down to Xela. I jumped in the van with all the men I play soccer with, a pretty funny group. They all have animal nicknames (sheep, chicken, frog, donkey, etc.) and suggested giving me one -- either ardilla or comadrilla. Ardilla is a squirrel and they told me that comadrilla is a long flying animal, but I'm pretty sure it means godmother.

The big party was in the food court. They already had a long line of tables set up for the 40 - 50 employees. First everyone lined up for their bonuses (I didn't, obviously, even though they told me to...). Then we were served a fountain drink, fries, coleslaw, bread, tortillas, too much chicken (breast, leg and wing... we each ate half a chicken), and ice cream to top it off. The men at my end of the table all put in to buy a bottle of XL (cheap liquor) which we poured into our pop, and made the event a bit more fun. Then, as we were all leaving, the mayor came over and handed me Q300! I tried to tell him that I'm not his employee, that they don't pay me and thus that he shouldn't give me the bonus, but he wouldn't hear it and forced the money on me! Well, after getting Patita spayed, I could definitely use it, so I'm not going to complain!

I personally think Pollo Campero is disgusting, but all of my co-workers love it. They said they did the same thing last year for the Christmas party, so I guess I know how I'll be celebrating Christmas!