el fin de semana numero uno en guatemala...

So much for posting something every other day. It’s not the beginning of my second week here, and I’ve yet to post an update. However, I have been keeping up in my journal, and so I will try to pull some excerpts to catch you all up on my past week, which was chocked full of some pretty amazing experiences.

The adventure began last Saturday, as I flew into Guatemala City around 2 pm. As the plane circled the city, preparing to land, passengers aboard were provided a spectacular view of the city, built (like most cities, town, villages, municipals, etc in Guatemala) on the mountainside. From the air, I could see great houses and buildings on cliff tops, seemingly built right up to the edge of the cliff, which then dropped down to the barrios, full of the one-room brick or shack homes, below. Also visible from the plane window: a river winding through the city, and occasionally tumbling over the cliffs in the form of beautiful waterfalls. One sight in particular that caused a ripple of excitement throughout the plane was a thin stream of water ribboning down the inside center of a half-tube-shaped giant cove in the cliff side.

I found the van driver holding a sign with my name pretty easily. Also taking that particular van into Antigua was a mother and her two middle-school-aged children from DC, also spending (only) the next week at PLFM language school. What a great way to end a summer vacation – if you’re into that kind of thing!

The van ride into Antingua was also an adventure, as in Guatemala City, the lines dividing the lanes on the roads seem to be optional! Once out of the city, drivers aren’t provided that luxury, though, as drifting out of your particular lane might mean you topple over the edge of the cliff. Great vistas all the way into Antigua: mountains, valleys, hills, banks, all covered in brilliant shades of dark green. We also passed a processional of cars and trucks decorated with bright colors and green posters, playing music and projecting an announcement – via a speaker system Blues Brother style! – to vote for their particular candidates on the upcoming presidential election, to take place the day after I leave Guatemala in September.

I am living in the home of Doňa Olga, who boards all sorts of foreign visitors in her cozy home. Her home is part of a gated complex, including a small hotel and restaurant on the corner, and the homes of a few other people. I live in the small private room she rents in the back of the complex. When I first arrived, I made number foreign border number 8 staying with Doňa Dona Olga. Now we’re down to three, as only the two Hollanders remain, but I hear more will be arriving this weekend. (Actually, by the time I post this, they will probably already be here!) The two Hollanders, a guy and a girl, are my age, here with a larger group of Hollanders staying at various places throughout Antigua, as they work on a project, for the past 6 weeks volunteering at a primary school and a hospital with disabled children, and are also taking Spanish lessons at a different language school. (There are upwards of 30 different schools here!). Apparently, when they first got here, neither of them spoke any Spanish, but now – at least Brejia (I know I’m butchering the spelling of her name!) – is doing quite well, and while I wouldn’t call her fluent, she can definitely get by. So I’m excited to see how much progress I can make in my four weeks. At any rate, the two of them, along with their other friends, have been a lot of fun to hang out with during meals, after class, and sometimes in the evenings. I will be sorry to see them go next week.

Antigua is a charming city. I can’t think of a better word to describe it. It was at one point, the capital of Guatemala, during the time of Spanish colonialism. Therefore there are many old buildings, especially large catholic churches, built in such a style, with lots of arches and ... well, I’m not that great at architectural styles, so I’ll try to put up some more photos to speak for me. A lot of these great buildings were partially destroyed in a large earthquake in the 1970s, so there are many interesting ruins that all of the foreign tourists here (there are so many more than I ever would have expected!) like to visit and explore. There’s an old church almost next to my house here, where a wedding party was held yesterday.

Antigua’s charm, I think, comes from the mix of this grand Spanish style mixed with the simple Latin American style of small but brightly painted and inviting buildings: stores, homes, restaurants, all are painted a bright blue or yellow or red. Well, my home, and its entire complex, are white. But it’s only one of just a few white buildings. The streets are cobbled, but not in the way I’d ever imagined a cobblestone street to be: the stones are very irregular, and the streets are in no way smooth. But it’s just as well, as stop signs on the corners also seem to be optional, and with the uneven streets, no vehicles can really go that fast, so I think that prevents a lot of accidents! Antigua is surrounded by three volcanoes, one of which is pretty active – small eruptions (mainly of thick smoke) take place every couple of days.
(the plume of smoke mixing in with the clouds is an erruption of volcan de fuego on sat. morning)

Fundacion Proyecto Linguistico Franciso Marroquin, the school I attend, is the oldest school in the city, and one of the best. The school also offers Mayan language lessons, so a person wanting to learn one of the 32 or so Mayan languages spoken in Guatemala could do so. I’m happy sticking with Spanish. The classes are one on one, and so each day, for about 6 hours, I sit in a cute little maybe 4X4, open door, outside “classroom” and only speak Spanish with my teacher, trying to improve my vocabulary and get down all the rules of grammer. I’m pretty sure I’ve already improved, but I think that’s because in order to carry on any kind of intelligible conversation, I have to start thinking in Spanish, but as soon as I start thinking in the language, picking up on new words or rules becomes so much easier.

The school also offers ½ or full day field trips to learn cultural lessons as well. Wednesday I visited the ruins at the site of the original Guatemalan capital, Iximche. Iximche was the capital city in the early 1500s. Now only ruins remain, but it was so interesting to wander the grounds, and see the remains of what was this great, important city at a time when our great, important country was not even anyone’s idea. It was also interesting to think about how what existed at that time in Guatemala still had cultural relevance to their modern cultural (you could still visit the ancient capital), and how some traditions from that time still remained are still important to many Guatemalans, where as any culture that existed at that time in what is now our country was more or less purposefully eliminated.

We also visited a couple of the neighboring towns and municipals, visited a great, old Catholic cathedral, with some of the most elaborate wood carvings along the walls and at the alter area I’ve ever seen. We also visited a “temple” of another sort: “el templo de San Simon.” At this temple, I witnessed the mixing of two more cultures: Catholic and Mayan. San Simon, or Maximon, is who many indigenous people believe is more or less the protector of the Guatemalan people. When the country became Catholic, Maximon began to be referred to as a saint – by the people, not by the Church. The Catholic church condemns the practice of visiting his shrine or temple, as was made obvious by the postings at the second Catholic church we visited. Still, his temple had many elements of Catholicism, mixed with rituals more pagan in origin, as well. We entered the outside courtyard of the temple, which was bare expect for two or three large bonfires, fed scented candles and thick-smelling incense by a couple people in the bright colored and multi-patterned woven clothing of the indigenous Guatemalans. On the far side of the courtyard were stairs leading up maybe half a floor to the temple itself. There were two doors on the landing, one marked entrance, where a line of people holding mostly flowers and candles, queued. Our group entered through the other door, marked exist, as we were there only to see. Once inside, I realized the line wrapped around the inner wall of the temple, and led up stairs of an alter, where sat a life-size figurine of San Simon, or Maximon. The people in line, once they reached the alter, were “cleansed” by a woman who stayed in front of the alter with a bunch of palm fronds, which she brushed over the hands and face of the person in the front of the line. That person then left his or her gift, and came back down the alter, and either exited, or added another candle to the tables leading from the back the doors to the alter. The many candles on these tables, and the strings of colored party lights around the alter, provided the only source of light in the room. On the walls in the room were plaques thanking San Simon for whatever protection or gift he had bestowed upon a past petitioner. I was fascinated, but honestly, also a bit creeped out.

On Friday, I visited a folk music museum and also took a tour of a coffee plantation. At the folk music museum, there was video of a festival with San Simon in which he seemed more like a revered old friend – a spirit of the past – than the creepy pagan and possibly Satanic figure he did in his temple. So my verdict is still out. I’m not saying I’m much of a fan, personally, but at any rate, it is was it is. The folk music museum was fun and informative, and the grounds between it and the coffee plantation was a beautiful nature preserve full of bright flowers and fruit trees.

Saturday, I joined a guided hike up the volcano Pacayu, one of three active volcanoes in Guatemala. It was quite a hike – I was almost tempted to “rent” a ride on one of the horses peddled as “taxis” up the mountain. Well, not really. I had fun hiking. But it was tough work! The hike up was so worth it, though, when we reached the lava field! We walked out on top of the hardened lava, spilt from the mountain in the last major eruption (of more than smoke and small rocks), in April or May 2006. As we got further from the edge of the lava field, the hardened, hollow lava rocks got warmer and warmer, until in some places I could only stand to stand on them for so long, as it was too warm for comfort. I felt as though I was walking on charcoal, left over from some giant bon fire, and the smell of roasting marshmallows (probably actually just sulfur) further impressed the idea. The bottoms of my tennis shoes are now slightly warped because they melted a little.

Now it’s Sunday morning, and I am off to church with Doňa Olga. The plan is to find a WiFi zone after church, and post this. But now, I need to shower. Hasta Lluego…