Prosaic stock-taking

File this under "win some, lose some". Invariably, when I am in Guatemala, some things get lost. I guess that is passive voice, obscuring agency. So, to rephrase, I lose some things each time. This time for example, I lost a perraje -- a shawl, woven using the shiny, brightly-colored threads that identify that item as being from Santa Cruz del Quiché. The perrajes are woven in alternating strips of solid colors that give off a sheen (I think those are mercerized cotton), and then strips that have geometric designs, using black, white and sometimes metallic threads as well. I had it with me when I was in the Boca Costa from December 23 through the morning of the 25th, and then I couldn't find it the next time I wanted it, some days later. I know I washed it out and placed it on the fence of the home of Don Cristóbal and his family to dry... but it is gone somewhere. I hope whoever now has it is putting it to good use. Maybe I left it in a public place -- a bus, a café, or someone's home. I also had a pair of black yoga pants that I liked especially because there was no brand or tag visible and so they were just very comfortable black stretch pants. I thought I had left them in the house of my friends outside Chinique, along with my furniture and some toiletries and appliances -- basically most of the household stuff that I hadn't sold or given to them. I thought it made sense to keep a bit of clothing in Guatemala, just in case of emergencies, although as my research and involvements have shifted, Quiché is no longer at the heart of my research-- well, no longer at the heart of the research on radio and the indigenous movement.  But when I asked my friends, they couldn't find them. I can't fault my friends -- I didn't do a great job of packing up my stuff, and they also have had some problems with the house and had to move things around. So, some of my belongings are kept in a very specific place (one side of the wardrobe that I gave them) but others are just floating around... Ah well, these are only small, inconsequential items. Too trivial, almost, to be worth a blog entry, but I'm on a roll to clean out my backlog, and so, out into the world you go.