When you come out to Visit

I had the opportunity to go with some of my Guatemalan counterparts to some potential “eco-tourism” sites around the Tejutla area. There is no succinct definition of “eco-tourism”, but basically it indicates that the main tourist attraction is the environment or perhaps something cultural and that the visitor is conscientious and will attempt to do no harm. Our first stop was a little adlea called Los Arcos. As the name implies it has an arch. Allegedly it was build 1000 or so years ago, but I’m not sure anybody knows. There isn’t much too, but it was kind of interesting, although I see it from the bus every time I head out of town. Next we went up the ways to El Chorro Viente Polos which has a beautiful waterfall. The road to it is less than perfect and I’m sure it’s impassible in the winter. There was somebody shooting guns at the bottom so we decided not to go down there. The third site was a corn field near Cuya. Surrounding the field were three small mounds, perhaps the size of a small one-story home in the US. As it was related to me, these were ancient Mayan sites of worship althought they looked a lot like piles of dirt. Also in the middle of the field was small stone table which was perhaps used for some sort of sacrifice. The next stop was a hilltop outside of Cuya with a nice view of the valley. Our final stop was a place called agua tibia (warm water). The water wasn’t actually warm. There were signs that some people in the past had tried to make this a destination of sorts (pools and the like), but it’s all in disrepair at this point. Maybe I’m jaded because I’ve seen the Great Wall of China (or at least the portion that’s a replica built by the Chinese government in the 1980’s), but I’m not sure I would go out of my way to see any of these sites. The most spectacular of all the places was certainly the waterfall, but it’s a long drive to just look at it. It’s actually encouraging to see the municipality try and think in terms of how to take advantage of its resources, but I’m not convinced that Tejutla is going to be a tourist destination except for those of you who come out to visit, in which case we’ll undoubtedly be looking at an old broken table in the middle of a corn field. I'm sure you can't wait.

Panahachel—strikingly beautiful, but…

I’m not a loather. Really. I ended up spending New Years with the majority of the volunteers from my training class in Panahachel (Pana). Pana is located on beautiful Lake Atitlan one of the most spectacular places I’ve seen in the world. It’s a large lake with mysterious winds surrounded by three majestic volcanoes. Certainly the view is wonderful. It was also great to see my friends from training who I haven’t been able to spend much time with since we headed off to our sites. Mi problema was, more than anything, the sheer number of gringos in the town and the blatant catering to the tourists. It’s okay if you cater to me, but I don’t want to know you’re doing it. In terms of self definition (and we all have one), I have always thought of myself more of a traveler or explorer than a tourist. If given the choice of staying at a 4-star resort or a simple accomidation I will almost always choose the simple one unless someone else is paying the bill. I have no desire to go to Cancun except in a sort of anthropologist capacity. I had a relatively nice and comfortable hotel and a hot shower with more than adequate water pressure (a luxury here). I was with friends and good times were had. A little drinking. A little dancing. Staying up past my bedtime. Nevertheless I couldn’t get past “Pana-Rock” (Pana’s version of Hard Rock Cafe) and the vendors covering every square inch of the main road. This place is also commonly referred to as “Gringotenango”. Perhaps I should be more accepting. I have a friend who related to me a story before I went to pana. She had been volunteering at a mission in San Lucas Toliman also on Lake Atitlan. One afternoon she and some other volunteers decided to take a boat over to pana. They were discussing their plans with one of the staff at the mission. He looked at them with a bit of disappointment, and asked them “why”. There response naturally was they had heard it was a nice town and fun. He replied, in all seriousness “well, if you like it, it’s your damn own fault”. Will I be back? I’m not a lemming (again, self definition), but if the group goes I’m probably up for it. I’ll definitely head back to Lake Atitlan to explore some of the other villages surrounding it. There is supposed to be a nice hike from Xela to Lake Atitlan which takes a couple of days. Of course, if someone else is paying the bill, I’ll stay at a 4-star resort.

Christmas in Guatemala

This wasn´t my first Christmas away from family, and in all likelihood it won’t be my last. This was, however, my first Christmas in Guatemala and with that came a number of new traditions. The first of these was the “Posada”. The word Posada roughly means rest. It is a sort of reenactment of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem and not finding room at the inn. The tradition has evolved into a nightly pilgrimage to a different family´s house the 10-days leading up to Christmas. There is a procession with two children dressed as Mary and Joseph and statues of Mary and Joseph. Lots of candles. When the procession arrives at the house a series of responsorials are sung. Alter a while the crowd is let into the house (or courtyard). Some prayers are said and it ends with tamalitos and tea or coffee. It is a very simple and reflective way to prepare for Christmas. The days leading up to Christmas my host family was busy preparing a Nativity set. This included cutting out a cloth backdrop and Stars, buying different types colored sawdust, getting out the little play animals. Christmas eve the ladies in the house busied themselves making Tamales. At about 10 pm those of us who were not directly evolved in Tamale making went to mass. A simple celebration, and surprisingly no overwhelmed with people like Churches in the U.S. on Christmas (and Easter). At midnight, about the time mass was ending, people started lighting off fireworks in the streets. When we made our way back to the house the family respectfully placed the baby Jesus in the manger and then said a series of prayers ending with a decate of the rosary. After that tamales, bread, fruit punch, candy, and nuts were in order. There were only a few gifts exchanged, none amongst the family proper and we talked until a bit alter two. Christmas day was simple as well. We ate a late breakfast followed by a late, although large, lunch. We capped the day off watching the movie Elf in Spanish (my gift to them). Although one would always prefer to be with their own family during the holidays, this was a joyous Christmas with my Guatemalan family.