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
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