SIX weeks!

I am sure you are all dying to find out about the weekend in Panahachel and Chichicastenango. We actually probably not at all dying to know, but interested none the less. Well, we didn’t end up getting into Pana until around noon on Saturday and by that time the wind had picked up on the lake and it was fairly chilly so unfortunately we did not get a chance to go kayaking. (Nor did we go horse back riding, which takes more specific planning.) Instead Amanda, Steph, and I spent the day exploring Pana. It is a fairly touristy town with a few blocks of vendors lining both sides of the street. It was really nice to just walk around and relax for the day. We ate lunch at a cute little vegetarian café and we delighted by our fresh vegetable laden meals. We spent the remainder of the day relaxing reading our books poolside (Villma, our director, booked a very nice hotel for us to stay in tucked back from the main street.) We found the nearest church and a handful of us went to church and then caught dinner on our way back towards the hotel.

Chichicastenango, famous for its market every Thursday and Sunday that draws in Guatemalans and tourists alike from the surrounding cities and towns, was actually much of the same. While some took it as an opportunity to do their gift shopping I just wandered more or less aimlessly through the extensive maze of vendors selling everything from rocks to hammocks to live animals. I brushed up on my bartering skills and did some candid price comparisons for certain items of interest but ended up leaving without anything to show from the visit. Yet, I still consider the trip a success.

Sunday night as I settled into bed to prep for the new week of activities it started to rain, a rare occurrence for this time of year in Guatemala. However, it didn’t just rain, it poured. I watched my ceiling with great surprise, no leaks. It had rained once before in Xela and it took some creative placement of a bucket and towels to keep my room out of danger of saturation. My surprise soon came to an end as I noticed drops falling on the corner of my bed. Aw man! So about a half hour later my room is covered in six or seven large buckets and a handful of towels. I shoved my bed against a safe wall and fell asleep listening to the splashes the rain made as it fell into the buckets (or not in some cases) scattered about the room.

I am very excited about the new change of pace down here, despite the fact that each day I devote a whole lot more time to class, in and out. I love my Human Rights (in the Guatemala context) class. We are reading the book Guatemala Nunca Más which my professor helped in the process of making it. The book has a Spanish and English version but since I was lazy and didn’t buy the book before coming down here I am struggling through the Spanish version. The class is taught in a random mixture of Spanish and English while the homework is in English. We have heard some very graphic stories from the war but it is nice to know the truth about the conflict. The book is part of the REHMI project which collected millions of testimonies, photos, videos, and other research to produce this book detailing the before, during, and after of the Guerilla war movement in Guatemala which lasted for 36 years, ending with a peace agreement in 1996. Many effects of that period of time can still be seen. I really like the class and our professor is a really cool guy. We meet two times a week for two hours each.

My other additional class is Senior Seminar. It seems more or less that we will be discussion based about different culture observations and Guatemala current events. This class meets once a week for two hours. The other major aspect of this class however is that we are required to volunteer for a minimum of 40 hours while we are down here. I already mentioned the organization I am volunteering with in the last blog, Gente Joven Guatemala, but as I already have two days of volunteering under my belt you may find it interesting to find out what I did. The first day, Tuesday, I received an email just in time asking me to come in an hour earlier than we had planned on. No problem. Tuesday was the big protest against the construction taking place in the green “wooded” (there are scattered trees) area of the local zoo. It was actually a really cool experience. Several classes from various schools came out with kids/teens of all ages all baring creative signs to show their support of keep the little green that exists rather than filling the space with cement for “locales” or in essence more merchant shops and housing. It was a pretty huge rally. We all meet up in one area of town and then marched to the municipality building. There was thousands of us, men, women, children, indigenous, and ladino all showing their unwavering supporting. When we got to central park a vehicle with speakers on top that had lead the march was the center of attention a participants took turns giving mini speeches trying to appeal to the “alcalde” or government official who was putting the construction in action. Anyway it was a really cool experience and I met some neat people and had great conversations during the long march.

The afternoons are filled with more one on one tutoring classes. I am to fit in fifteen hours a week between Monday and Thursday afternoon which is trickier than it may seem but so far has worked out. I really like my new maestra, she is super sweet and has a strong focus on achieving goals that mirror my own. I am excited each day for our classes. One class she even taught me how to carry a baby on my back in the traditional way that it is done everywhere down here, especially by the indigenous women.

On Tuesday night we had another family birthday celebration. It was similar to the others, only this time it was a little lower key and was at my brother’s place. For the most part at night though I just rush to get through my homework and go to bed because I just get exhausted from the day.

On Wednesday night (Valentines Day) Steph and I attended a special benefit dinner for Quetzal Trekkers. I had great food and included a free beverage, punch. Well the punch had a kick but it was mellow enough that it tasted fine so life moved on. It was a nice way to celebreat the day. They have everything decorated nicely. It was kind of funny though because following the dinner there was a party and it was 70’s themed so all the QuetzalTrekkers were dressed in odd 70’s clothes. It made a fun mix for the formal/in an outdoorsy person sense evening.

Friday I spent the day studying and then at night went to the fair/carnival in central park. Each Friday during the Quaresma (40 days of lent) there is a fair/carnival that travels around to different churches. They have a few carnival games and small rides (although at the first one there was a giant high speed ferris wheel). They have a some random vendors of jewelry and clothing. But the main event is the food stands. There are homemade sweets of all sorts that you could possibly imagine and tons of random churro stands. No, they are nothing like the churros at Taco Bell, they are far better. The variety is quite appealing as well; my favorites are the chocolate covered or the honey/carmelish filled churros.

Saturday and Sunday was fairly low key. Both days started with a hike up the nearby mountains. We bouldered once again on Saturday morning on top of El Baul and were pleasantly surprised to continue to think up some new creative routes. Saturday night we went to the Super Chivos game. They are the professional soccer team here. Apparently they have the strongest fan bass in Guatemala so it was cool to see how into it the fans got. (I still consider it fairly low scale to some things, but then again I was sitting in a fairly calm section.)For those of you interested we won 2-0, which I thought to be a bit of a miracle, the other team seemed to be controlling the ball game but just never put it in between the posts. Sunday morning we scaled La Muella for the first time. It is a steep hike and a whole lot higher up than El Baul but the view is pretty incredible. We had a whole lot of fun taking pictures of each other on top. Chanti’s dad had brought us up to the starting point and then he, his two sons, Chanti, Jeff, Steph, and I made the ascent. The afternoon of both days surrounded around studying and catching up on other work.

So here’s to another week in Guatemala, the land of eternal spring.