Las Fuentes Georginas

We went up to Las Fuentes Georginas (a natural hot springs site about an hour from Xela) on a weekend overnight trip from Saturday to Sunday, and it ended up being pretty awesome, although at first I was concerned that we would not have enough to do for the entire time that we were there. I was obviously not thinking hard enough, because drinking can definitely take up a lot of time. We spent the first day in and out of the springs, drinking a few beers and enjoying the weather (no rain, shockingly). Later on we attempted (and failed disastrously) to create a charcoal fire to roast hot dogs. We ended up cooking most of them on our one tiny candle and a few small flames on pieces of wood that we added to the charcoal to try and get the damn things to light. Therefore the hot dogs were mostly lukewarm and not very satisfying. Thankfully we had enough alcohol that we didn't care all that much.

As could probably be expected, the night devolved into drinking games and a lot of laughter and shared secrets, which was fun. The best part was that the weather was good enough that the sky was clear and absolutely filled with stars. Jill was lucky enough to see a couple shooting stars, too. We braved the dark to chill in the springs again when it got cold, and then drunkenly built a blazing, cozy fire in one of the two bungalows that we had rented for the night.

View from the path at Las Fuentes

Path from our bungalows to the main hot springs pools

End of the path at the main pools

The main pool

Our two bungalows with the view

The cozy fire while we were going to sleep

Momostenango

On Sunday we traveled about an hour outside of Xela to visit the town of Momostenango (Momos for short). We spent the morning with a family of weavers, learning their craft. They produce everything on their own, and have been doing so for 150-ish years. Their looms, made of rough wood, have been in the family for generations. Not only do both the parents, Telma and Luis (I thought that was pretty funny), work the looms, but their 5 children all do, too. The children range in ages from seven to maybe seventeen, and all are very handy with the looms.

Luis working the spindle (we all tried it, too)

Telma brushing the wool

Their various colors of wool (all dyed naturally with ingredients from the woods around their house)
The big loom (for large blankets and rugs)

Here is a view in the central park of Momos, where we went to check out the local market

Laguna Chicabal

On Saturday we visited Laguna Chicabal at the top of the old inactive Volcano Chicabal. It was a hell of a steep climb, and with the thin air I was definitely tired and gasping for air during parts of the climb. The Laguna itself was beautiful. It's actually a sacred lake - sacred to the indigenous Mayan population anyway, and that sacredness is respected by the rest of the population and visitors. There is no swimming in the sacred waters, and during our visit we saw two groups of indigenous Mayans performing long chanting rituals at the shores of the Laguna. Below are some pictures from the trip.

Me at the Laguna

Mist settling over the Laguna

All of us at the Laguna's shores

The beginning of the 540 stairs up the mountain from the Laguna

Santa Rita

On Friday afternoon we traveled about 40 minutes outside of Xela to the small town of Santa Rita. It's a town filled with corn fields, as most Guatemalan towns are. There we were introduced to two important parts of the town, one old and one new: the Puesto de Salud (place of health), the local women's health clinic that has been around for many years; and the new, several-months-old young women's group, which meets twice a week and has members ranging in age from 13 to 20+. The girls were mostly shy, but opened up a bit when showing us pictures of their town that they had taken themselves for a group project. It was an eye-opening experience in many ways, but I think it is an excellent project and will ultimately greatly benefit the young women of the town. In fact, some of us will be working with the group for our volunteer projects when those begin in 4 more weeks.

Cornfields and mountains in Santa Rita

Road through the corn

House within the corn

Me and the corn

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good: Bake Shop. Today after our refacción (snack), about seven of us students and our maestros took a field trip to the bakery called Bake Shop, which is located near La Democracia. Apparently they are only open two days a week because the shop is run by Mennonites, and their religion prohibits them from earning too much money. Since the place was packed, I can understand. I ate one of their "donas" (donuts), with chocolate and pudding (basically a Boston Creme), and it was awesome. I also got some cookies to munch later, because there is no dessert at Antonieta's house.

The Bad and The Ugly: (Gotta keep with the theme of my post, right?) My sunburn!! On Sunday morning I wore a tank top to go running up at track at the Completo Deportivo, but I neglected to wear sunscreen because a) it wasn't hot out, and b) we were only going to be out in the sun for an hour or so. BIG MISTAKE. Turns out I got one of the worst sunburns of my life, complete with blistery bubbles on my shoulders and stark red-white tank top border lines. It's really sexy and amazing (especially when I roll onto my shoulder while in bed). It's fading, but we are headed back out into the sun again on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, maybe Sunday...... so I really hope it heals up some more in the next two days. I really should have taken into account the altitude and our proximity to the equator and put on some damn sunscreen, but I will never make the same mistake again.

First week in Guatemala

This first week has been very eventful. First, of course, was the nerve-wracking solo journey from Newark airport, layover in Charlotte, and on to Guatemala City. After claiming my bags I walked out to a crowd of Guatemalans holding signs and staring as I walked past. Supposedly the hostel we were staying at was supposed to pick me up, but I didn't see a sign for the place or a sign with my name on it. Suddenly someone was waving in my direction - a white girl! It was Amy, and she had recognized me from Facebook. Standing with her were Nicci and Eric, and I was greatly relieved to see them.

The four of us were eventually found by the hostel people and they took us back to the hostel. It was mid-afternoon at this point, so the four of us took a taxi out to the restaurant area and had a bite to eat. Upon returning (and paying an exorbitant taxi fare on the way back because we had not bargained with the taxi driver in advance), we met Jill and Kira. Since we were all staying in the same room that night, except for Eric, we went and chilled in our room and chatted a bit. I passed out from the long journey, since I had been awake for most of the previous 48 hours, and I awoke at 10pm to find everyone had left. However, when I went down to the common room I met Ruchi and Greg, who were chilling with Nicci and watching some TV. So we all talked a little bit and eventually everyone came back home and we crashed for the night.

The following day (Sunday) Liz arrived to take us on the 4 hour, winding mountain road bus trip to Quetzaltenango (Xela). She seems very confident in all her duties with us, and that day was no different. We passed through a countryside filled with incredible natural beauty (vibrant green mountains and valleys) juxtaposed against squat, dirty huts lining the roads and situated in the middle of the valley fields. Most of the cars along the roads belched smoke as they passed, and the entire experience was a strange blending of extremes.

Here is a bit from our bus ride:

Arriving at our school in Xela, we were whisked away one by one by our host families. My "host mom" is Antonieta, a woman of indigenous Mayan descent who holds her family and her faith close to heart. With her in the house are her mother, Francisca, and her nephew, Carlos. Carlos is a swimming instructor just like me, so we found common ground early on.

Antonieta seems very happy to have me in her house, and I feel very welcome. Meals are always ready when I come into the kitchen, and Antonieta always sits and talks with me to help me with my Spanish. So far, we have talked about schools and children, the economy, my school and classes, both of our family history, and (of course) morality. I got a lecture the other night about the vices of drinking alcohol and of going to "discos." She's a nice woman, but I guess I just won't tell her when we go out drinking and dancing.

Here is my room at the house:






And the view from my room:




The school is great. All the teachers (maestros) here are very friendly and open. Everyone seems to know me already (maybe it's my red hair - that always seems to happen), even though I know the names of only a few of the teachers. We are being taught one-on-one, with lessons running from 8:30am-12:30pm in the courtyard garden at the school. 4 hours is a long time to have a Spanish lesson, but the time doesn't go too slowly. My maestro is a mid-50's indigenous man named Rocael (he likes to be called Rocky), who enjoys telling me stories and teaching me Spanish phrases with dirty connotations.

This week, for our activities, we have mostly been having tours of the city (Zona 1, where the school is, and Zona 3, where the big market - La Democracia - is), although we did watch a video on Wednesday about "los guajeros," people who live, work, and eat in the Guatemala City dump. Even with knowledge of how destitute much of the population is here, it was still a very shocking and disturbing documentary.

This weekend is free, which is why I have started blogging. Hopefully I will add pictures and such later on, along with more frequent and brief postings when there is something interesting to share.