Hunting in the bush

Rescued birds

Daily life in a village:

           San Jose is a primitive Mayan Indian village of 800 with no electricity, an only recently established water system, and very few cars. We raise our own egg-laying chickens and sheep, and use horses as our primary means of transportation. Chores such as tending to the livestock, cooking meals, and washing clothes are daily experiences around the mission station. On the average, we make a once a week trip into town (Punta Gorda) to send and receive mail (e-mail and snail) and to restock on supplies for the mission station.

The village was named San Jose in 1954, and was formed by people who moved from San Antonio and the alkilos (independent family dwellings in the jungle).

The people grow vegetables to sell at the market in Punta Gorda. The main crop is corn, which is also sold within the village for human and animal consumption. Other cash crops and products are cacao (where cocoa comes from), beans, rice, and baskets weaved from local plant fibers.

San Jose is considered one of the cleanest villages in Toledo. This is largely due to a village rule that all pigs must be penned and every family must have their own outhouse. Most families cook over an open fire on a type of griddle called a camal. Corn tortillas are cooked on this, as well as local bread in a makeshift oven.

Hot peppers drying

Cooking a gibnut

Washing by the river

San Jose Waterfall

Returning from plantation

Playing ball with Mubi