Update

To touch of some of the last few ideas and experiences in Guatemala before El Salvador takes over the conversation here is an update.

September 15th:
Was independence day in Guatemala. The true state of independence is a debatable subject as their independence from Spanish 190 years ago was essentially a transfer of power from the Spanish government (with financial woes at the time) to the wealthy Guatemalan born people of Spanish parents. Which means that the poor and indigenous populations are still oppressed. There was no war for independence, just a ceremonial signing of papers stating the new state of "independence." Though, being in Xela or Quetzaltenago, on this day meant that we got to experience the largest independence day celebration in all of Central America. We stayed out until the fireworks were set off at midnight, got to see various segments of parades (there were A LOT!), and go to the feria (mostly just a bunch of vendors and rickety rides). Generally, it was a very interesting experience that was plenty of fun but also thought provoking.

The week in Cantel:
Four days that were the ones with the most rewards, rich experience, and general learning of the program thus far. It would take me days to recap all the experiences we got to have so I'll stick with the highlights and some basic information.

We stayed in a small community outside of Cantel, Guatemala. It was a rural community whose economic support was largely agricultural. They have two community buildings: an evangelical church and a three classroom school with a large cement area outside. We were put with host families in pairs. The houses were simple: mostly two rooms made out of cinderblocks with running water at one faucet and a latrine nearby to go to the bathroom in.

My family's house was nicer than I was expecting, but very simple all the same. They have four children, an eleven year old daughter (Lily), a nine year old son (Carlos), a seven year old daughter (Grialda Marisol), and a three year old daughter (Alicia). The children were some of the sweetest and most well behaved that I have ever met. Every night we would play cards or games (simon dice, luz rojo/luz verde, pato pato ganzo, etc). I also taught them some of the songs we sang at camp this summer which they really liked.

In the mornings we had Spanish classes, but since mine was over we just spent the time walking around the mountainside, reading short stories, or visiting the school and singing with the kids. The afternoons varied as far as activities. We had a cooking class, visited the natural hot springs, this really neat recycled glass factory, and a doctor of natural medicine.

Our last night we had a big party with the whole community where I taught all the kids some simple songs and then we all made improvised s'mores with chickys (a shortbread cookie with chocolate on one side) and marshmellows. It was a blast!! I think the kids had a lot of fun too.

The realities of life in the community are so very different from anywhere else we have stayed. While my professor and I, were sitting outside reading short stories we would see the people of the community walk by. We saw the men with their horses with loads of chopped wood heading back and forth from where they had to purchase the tree to chop for 300Q ($27) and where they had to sell it, a long walk away, for 60Q per load. I am not really sure how many loads they could get out of a tree, but they are not able to make a very big profit off of their constant work.We also saw kids working to help their parents make money, when they might otherwise be in school. Once a child reaches about ten years old the costs incurred in attending school, whether directly through cost of materials or the absence of the extra income they could bring by working. The idea of an education all the way through university is rarely in the future plans of the young people in this community.

The time spent in this community is hard to sum up in a clear way in writing right now, but the thought processes and images in my mind are not soon to leave.

End of Guatemala:
Once we left the rural village, we had one night back in Xela where we got to have dinner at Cafe Red once again. There was concert at PLQ also, but I was so tired and not feeling so well so I decided to skip out and go back to the hotel. The following morning we had breakfast and then headed to Antigua. Antigua is a mixed bag in my opinion. It is so familiar to me, despite the number of years that have passed since I spent studying Spanish there. It has become much more tourist central that I remember it being. More modern cafes and restaurants, but still, in my opinion, a very beautiful city. I am glad that I got to experience other parts of Guatemala as well, but I really have no bad feelings toward Antigua. I also was able to visit the house of a family friend of ours, which was very nice. Apparently, I have not changed in the past seven years except to grow taller. We found a nice cafe with a bookstore (dangerous places for me!) and were able to do some other exploring as well. It was a really calm way to end our five weeks in Guatemala.

...

I do not have a long time on the internet and this keyboard is a pain to write with... however, more blog posts to come when we get back from our rural visit. I´ll fill you in on the elections, independence day, the fair, and the rural visit....

Aventura!

Basically, we are travel champions, Anna and I. We made are way through a complicated set of directions, traversed through rainy season in Guatemala, and had a lot of time to laugh along the way.

Our trip started at noon on Friday. As we walked out of the school with out backpacks on our backs, money hidden in random places on our person, and list of directions safely stored within easy reach we chatted about the difficulty of our journey. From the school we walked several blocks to where we picked up a microbus to get to the main bus terminal. We missed the stop because we didn't know the that the bus terminal had a name that we should have listened for (to be fair, it is not at all obvious). We got off the microbus a few minutes later, and caught another microbus back to the terminal, where we should have gotten off previously. We walked up to a line of buses and asked where the bus to Mazate was... and they pointed us in the right direction but we didn't know what the meant because there were no buses in sight... just a market. We eventually realized that we had to walk through the market to find the buses, but we wished they would have just told us that in the first place. Anyway, it was not hard at all to find the Mazate bus in the mass of colorfully painted school buses.

We were the first ones on the bus aside from the helper, so we got a good seat in the front and next to each other. Of course once the bus filled up there were at least three people in each seat and people standing in the middle. They really know how to pack the people in vehicles here in Guatemala. Anyway, we left the terminal a while later.  A couple hours later we arrived in Mazate, and from there we walked to get onto another bus to get to St. Tomas. It was pouring down rain when we got to St. Tomas, so we took a tuk tuk from the side of the bus (they were waiting for people because it was really raining), to the microbus to Xelayup. We got on that bus and then got off at Pochol, which was literally the side of the road with a tiny store. We asked for the road to Pasac... which was a rocky road up a hill. Mind you, it is raining buckets and buckets at this point in time. We call the guy at Raices y Alas, but the signal is bad so we didn't get through the first few times.

Anyway, we just start walking up the hill. It was pouring down rain but we trekked on for about a half hour. We finally got to the top of the hill we saw the church and the grassy area that the directions had told us about. We asked where the building was and then headed that direction. On our way, we ran into Cristobal who showed us to our apartment for the night. We were soaking wet and tired from our adventure, but had enough sanity to find the towels and lay our clothes out to dry. Then we ate some of the food that we had bought the day before, showered, and went to bed super early.

We woke up, had a mini tour of the program site, and learned some about the program. Then, Cristobal offered to be our guide for part of our trip to San Lucas. We rode in the back of a pick-up for about a half hour, then the most jammed microbus for an hour until we got to San Antonio.  From there, we walked to where we should have been able to pick up a bus to San Lucas, but we'd missed it by 15 minutes. We ended up taking another bus that stopped in a good spot to pick up a bus to San Lucas. It was the fastest bus I've ever been on but the view from the window was breathtaking. Sugar cane fields, waterfalls, volcanoes, etc. If I hadn't been afraid of getting my camera stolen, I would have taken pictures! From there we basically ran across the street to catch the bus to Santiago, which stops in San Lucas so we almost got hit by a bus but we made it alive onto the very full bus. We managed to get off at the right town.

Once we got to San Lucas, we called Dennis who told us he would meet us in the central park in about ten minutes. We bought a snack and asked for directions to the central park, where we found Dennis. He showed us to our hotel and then took us out for lunch in one of the safe restaurants in San Lucas. Of course, we decided to order the most typical food on the menu: black beans, eggs, and tortillas. It was pretty delicious! From there we took a tuk tuk back to the hotel, because it was raining pretty hard. A couple hours later we met back up at a pizza place in town to meet the two girls that Change In Action sponsors. We had a really interesting conversation about life in Guatemala, their career choices (in Guatemala you pick your career in 10th grade), young marriages, their families, and what kind of pizza was their favorite. It was a delight to finally be able to meet them! We took some pictures together and then said our goodbyes.

After we parted ways with the girls, we walked to where we could catch a bus the following day. Anna and I, then walked back to our hotel. Since it had stopped raining, we decided to walk down to the lake to take some pictures. The lake, by the way, is gorgeous. Breathtaking. Since it was starting to get dark, we walked back to the hotel for the night.Where we watched some tv in Spanish and showered, then went to bed early.

In the morning, we packed up and then went to the restaurant for a delicious breakfast! From there, we decided to walk down to the lake. There were people there asking if we wanted to take a launch to Panajachel, so we decided to take them up on the offer. It was more expensive than taking the bus but we would get there earlier and the view was worth enjoying. From there, we checked out of the hotel and brought our stuff down to the lake. We got in the boat and took off toward Panajachel. It was one of the most gorgeous experiences of my time here, because the inescapable view was absolutely amazing.

Once we got there, we met up with some friends from the group and hung out on the lakeside. We went out to lunch, and then wandered around until it was time to meet up with the driver that was hired to take us back to where we are staying. The drive back was pretty uneventful. After we all got back, we decided to go wander around the city together. We made a french fry stop, an ice cream stop, and a churros stop. So basically, we took a foodie adventure through the central park until it got dark.

Essentially, it was an awesome weekend! :) We survived and made it everywhere without too much trouble! :)

Some photos!

Tea before adventures or tea with adventures?

The title of this blog has to do with a quote from staff orientation at CLV: "Shall we have our adventure now, or shall we have tea first?" which is attributed to Peter Pan. I´ve had many arguments about why I should have to choose between tea and adventures, because they both are needed aspects of life... in my opinion. Anyway, I guess I drank a lot of tea today and I am embarking on a mini-adventure tomorrow.... so tea, then adventure for now?


Today we are preparing for our trip this weekend.
I am at least.
Changing money,
buying snacks for the trip,
handing a copy of our itinerary off to our study abroad advisor,
and making sure we are totally ready for our adventure!


There will be a lapse in blog entries because from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon... I have no idea if we will have any access to internet. My guess would be little to none. Then again, globalization has made just about everywhere have some sort of access to technology. Our destination we be announced with photos (hopefully!) and lots of detail... on Sunday!


PS. The illusiveness of leaving out the destination is making me laugh, but it makes the trip sound so much more exciting! ;)

Civilians and Chocolate

For starters, let me just express that chocolate has been the theme of today.

This morning, after a couple hours of class we had the typical break period. We decided to go on a search for chocobananas, which are, exactly what the name makes them sound like they are.... chocolate covered frozen bananas. We brought our loot back to the Spanish school, and then went back to class full of deliciousness.

For me, class was poetry analysis practice. Ripping apart poems for the sake of literary understanding is not really my favorite activity, I´d prefer to do such things to novels. However, I am learning to appreciate it more. The other day we had a visitor in our literature class (everyone has their own teacher, but there are three of us taking literature). He was one of the few Guatemalan poets that has really made a name for himself within the community, though, most Guatemalans don´t read often.... so a lot of people know him as the poet but have never read any of his poems (or any other poems for that matter). Anyway, the class is pretty interesting and full of relearning literary analysis. This time in Spanish.

After class, we all went back to our homes for lunch with our host families. Then, we came back to the school for a presentation given by one of the teachers at the Spanish school about his experience during the war. His testimony or talk was one of the most politically balanced that we have heard all semester. Talking from personal experience of how people he knew had been killed and how he avoided the mandatory military service and became a teacher. He also told us his viewpoint on the use of arms and war in general. Neither side ever has clean hands after the war is over. Which was kind of interesting, as the end of my class I sort of had an outburst of frustration about war and the purpose of it all. The context was the book, "Retrato en Sepia" by Isabel Allende, I was reading and talking about the war in Chile during the 1800s. But the frustration was universal. We talked it through but the whole idea of a justified war just is not easily processed through my mind. Nor do I think it should be.

But back to chocolate, we went after the meeting to a really neat coffee and chocolate shop for community night tonight, which is our weekly bonding time as a whole group. I got a bottle of water and a bar of chocolate, which was delicious. And to think, I once did not like chocolate! After we left, we went to this new  eclectic store slash cafe, where I got a vegan brownie with chocolate moose. I wasn´t going to get anything there but it looked so delicious!

So basically, that was my day. Not the most exciting ever, but this weekend to come will surely be worth writing home about! Details to come after the fact, for security reasons.

The Spectacular Catch Up Blog!

It has been a while since I last posted a blog. Sorry about that!

Here is a rundown of the weekend in Chichicastenango:

On Friday night, we went to the reopening party of the cooperative here in town. It was a pretty fun party and we got some delicious dinner too! I picked this hibiscus quesadilla, which was the oddest thing on the menu so I went for it. It actually tasted pretty good! There was some great acoustic guitar music and singing for the first part of the night, and for the second it was all hip-hop. For the record, hip-hop in Spanish is really amazing! A couple of us left slightly early and took a taxi back to our houses. When I got back, I hung out with my two host brothers… who aren’t related to my host family but live there so they can go to school or work in the city. We played cards, built card houses, and then watched The Blind Side in poorly dubbed Spanish. Pretty fun night! J

Saturday morning, I woke up and had breakfast with my host family. Then, I met up with the group where we piled into the car for our two hour trip to Chichi. It was a pretty dizzying ride, even for me who does not usually get queasy on curvy roads. The view out the window was gorgeous though.

We had the chance to stop at a project run by the Methodist church, which is made up of women widowed from the war. In fact, their church was one of the many massacre sites. The military came and accused them of being guerilla fighters or communists, and then made them all go into the chapel. Once they had no means of escape, they bombed the building.  This was all a part of the scorched earth plan, which was an effort to eradicate the indigenous population and all involved or supporting the leftist revolutionary movement. Most of the women do not speak Spanish, so we got to learn a little quiche to speak with them. We heard the history of the program and some of their stories and then they shared lunch with us. They also decided they wanted someone of us to model their clothing, so I decided to let them dress my in the typical clothing. Okay, honestly, I’ve been dress up deprived for years so it really made me happy that they wanted someone to try on the clothes!

After we ate lunch there was a huge downpour, which is very common around here this time of year, and kind of inconvenient when you walked fifteen minutes down a rocky path through cornfields to get where you are…. But we waited it out a little and then trekked back to the vans. We found a giant, and I mean, GIANT, worm along the way which was picture worthy! It was a really great visit! I’m really glad we got the chance to meet the women and hear their stories… and now, I want to learn Quiche to be able to go back and actually talk to them in their language.

When we got to Chichi we checked into the hotel and then wandered around until we met up for dinner.  We definitely went on a chocobanana search, which is one of the foods our group loves the most. YUMMY!  There were a lot more people around trying to sell us things in Chichi, so that was a little different. When we made it to the restaurant for dinner, we were all really hungry and ready to eat… but the food took a while. Everyone was raving about the food there but it really wasn’t all that great in my opinion. Not that it was bad, and we were pretty hungry, but I would have preferred some beans and tortillas.

I was kind of grumpy and tired after not getting a lot of sleep the night before partly my fault for staying up late with the host brothers, and partly a car breaking down outside my window at 4 in the morning… which resulted in voices for a while. I had a hard time falling back to sleep after that. Basically, I went to bed really early.

On Sunday morning, we woke up early to make it to the mass. The special part about this mass is that it is in Spanish and Quiche, so it was really a neat experience.  The Cathedral is built upon a former mayan alter, so it has been a holy spot for a very long time. The Popol Vul was also found in the spot where this Catholic Church now stands.  There was incense in the church which added to the experience of being there. The songs were mostly in Quiche and the prayers alternated between Spanish and Quiche, and the sermon was in both languages as well. There was also marimba music accompanying the songs, which was absolutely gorgeous to listen to. The majority of the people in the church service were indigenous and still wearing their traditional clothing. The percentage of Guatemalans who are indigenous and wear the traditional clothing is about 40%, but the indigenous population of Guatemala is said to be between 60% and 70%. The clothing is absolutely beautiful and very colorful! I’m kind of jealous that we don’t have clothes like that…

After mass, we headed to the restaurant again for breakfast, which involved some very delicious fruit!! After fueling up, we decided to take on the marketplace. At the very beginning, it wasn’t so crowded but by 11am it was packed. When I say packed, I mean that there was literally no space to walk in the aisle ways and you really had to push your way around. I ended up buying a few presents for people and some artifacts for my project when I get back. Nothing huge, but bartering and experiencing the market was a really neat experience. I did get followed by this small boy who would not leave me alone. I told him I wouldn’t buy anything from him, and that he should find some other tourist to sell to…. But he was persistent. When he finally realized that I wasn’t going to buy anything, he told me I was going with the devil and was a bad person. I felt bad, but I’m not going to pay him to leave me alone just to have another kid come up to me and do the same.

Basically, the experience was really interesting!

Monday was just another typical day full of classes and writing my paper and preparing my presentation for Thursday. Also, reading for my literature class. Lots of homework! My excuse for why this blog is so delayed!

Today, we got out of class early to go visit an older indigenous couple who spent about 23 years as refugees in the United States living in Vermont. They talked to us about their experiences and what they are doing now to try to help the pueblos return to their roots of treating the earth well and understanding mayan cosmovision. We had lunch brought with us, which was latino fusion or Guatemalan Chinese food from the coop café. It was delicious and a neat experience! And if I didn’t have to finish up for the fact that I’m about to have to leave where I have internet connection, I’d tell you more about that experience!

Much love,

Caitlyn

Day Eleven: Culture Shock?

I would not say that I am particularly unhappy to be overwhelmed by information in the present moment. However, I am at that point where I am a little uncomfortable. I basically have to speak and comprehend Spanish all day, which I have been used to because of this summer working at camp but the level of Spanish that I have means that I have to be pushed to go beyond the basics of the language. There is a higher standard of precision required in my studies. Which is fabulous on the one hand because my reading, writing, and grammatical skills will naturally increase... but actually challenging because every moment of my class is pushing me to analyze, describe, and talk. There is no waiting for another student to reply or answer, because you are the only one in the class.

Also, with the speakers we have had they have all given us their perspectives on the history of Guatemala. Such very different viewpoints that you have to sort out and contextualize their truths to make your own. This is a challenge. Innundation with information is great but it really stretches your mind in ways that are not particularly easy. In fact, it gets really tiring. I feel that I am using my brain to a fuller capacity but that tires me out.  Keeping on going right now is surely the key to overcoming this sense of confusion as to what is true, helplessness in changing difficult things, and general exhaustion from being constantly surrounded by a foreign environment.  I really do not even know if this totally makes sense in these words, because it doesn´t quite make sense here. I guess this is what they call culture shock. Though, I don´t feel as much shocked as overwhelmed. But even the feeling of being overwhelmed is somewhat comforting, because I can tell that I am really thinking and being impacted by my surroundings.

The novelty of spending time in a beautiful country that has some of the most diverse animal and plant life, not to mention spectacular views of volcanoes and mountains is still strong. I love this country. However, the reality of the social injustices and problems that the country faces is far from invisible in the landscape. The very negative impact our country´s influence has had on Guatemala is not hidden in the testimonies and stories of the people of Guatemala. The feeling of superiority or guilt that follows seeing the daily differences in way of life here as being much more simple is strong. Living in a country where most people do not have enough to waste is somewhat refreshing as the ties to materialism die down a little. The realization that we really can survive and be happy with much less than what we are used to is helpful. Yet, as much as I know these truths and believe them....

I still miss the comforts of home. Mainly carpet, nice bathrooms where you have good plumbing  systems, wireless internet in my house, being able to brush my teeth with the water in the sink, and not having to worry about whether or not the food is safe to eat. These are very minor things really and if I had never experienced them I wouldn´t miss them. However, I think it is okay to realize that compared to the majority of the population I am very privileged given my background. I´d prefer to use this advantage towards the positive and learning, and not to seek power. It´s just a challenging process to adjust to a new style of life here and realize how very much I have and how little of it I really need. A process to learn patience and solidarity.... not a comfortable experience totally, but I know that in the end pushing through the uncomfortable feelings will be worth it.