We ended up staying in San Marcos for a pretty long time. We left the family we were renting a room from and moved into a really nice house. The house is owned by a midwife that works with the clinic that Lily volunteered at, so we go to stay there pretty much for free. Lily met two chilean guys through the clinic, and we chilled with them and their argintinan and urugayan friends a few times. They talk really fast and incomprehensibly, especially the Chileans. One of the Chileans, Martìn, was a great musician and played some awesome victor hara and manu chao songs. They played at the party of this japanese restaurant. I was suprised to see such a full on japanese restaurant in a town as small as San Marcos, but I guess its been around for 2 years. The owner kept coming around with tequila shots, asking ¨quiere teqira¨?
One night the Argintinean, Pablo, set off a ¨globo electrostatico¨ over the lake. It was like a mini hot air balloon, you light something inside it and it floats. It went quite far, before falling into the lake.
The Uruguayan, ¨Cosito¨, took us hiking up a trail behind the town. He has been travelling from country to country in Latin America for 30 years, selling jewelry he makes.
We also hiked the ¨Nariz del Maya¨ , a tall mountain above the lake that looks like the nose of someone lying down, in profile. It was a good hike with great views of the lake (I dont have batteries so I havent been taking pictures). The coffee fields around there look almost like normal forests, as there is a good diversity in shade trees. If you didnt know there was coffee underneath, you would probably think it was natural forest.
Then we left to Fuentes Georginas, a natural volcanic hotspring, for a day. Its in a really misty, steamy jungle and is really hot, you cant stay in for long.
Then we finally made the trip to Todos Santos. We stayed with the family that Lily stayed with 8 years ago. The are incredibly nice, and wouldnt accept money even though they fed us 3 meals a day!
Todos Santos is interesting because the men still wear the traditional traje and actually stand out more than the women. The men everywhere else I have seen wear american style clothes (american, as in from china with typically american brands like Hollister). The traje consists of white and red striped pants, a white striped jacket with a colorfully embroidered collar, and a small round hat with a blue ribbon. The young guys still wear this, but underneath almost all of them had black shirts with icons such as wrestling stars, bob marley, rambo, and jesus.
I spent my 21st birthday in Todos Santos, where it is ironically prohibited to sell alchohol. Before, as lily and the lonely planet mention, there were passed out Todos Santeros in the main street at any hour of the day, especially on market days. Becuase of this problem with alchoholism, it is no longer sold in the town. It was a good day anyway, as the family made a really good lunch and lily bought a huge cake, and they sang and the kids hugged me.
All of these trips involved ¨chicken buses¨which are the normal mode of transport for people here. The first one we got on was a good introduction to how incredibly uncomfortable they are. It was packed, six people in each row, in a bus designed for school children, which is no fun if you are tall! The buses are those ubuiqitous yellow school buses, that somehow make it to Guatemala and are painted incredibly bright.
Now we are back in Xela. Lily is leaving tomorrow. I am planning on studying Spanish more here. It looks like there is alot to do here, and some of the schools look really cool.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
IMAP
On monday I went to IMAP, the mesoamerican permaculture institute. Just getting there was fun, it was like an assignment to get to this random spot that almost no other foreigners get to. It was completely random that I even found out about them. My Mom told me she looked at someones blog who was travelling in Guatemala and they went to IMAP. After doing some internet searches I didnt find any website but found an email which led me to another email of the volunteer coordinator, who sent me directions. The directions included things like ¨walk a kilometer through the avocado trees¨and ¨turn left at the cyclone fence¨
I took the boat from San Pedro to Santiago Atitlan, which was a much better ride than normal as it was a big boat and you can get on the roof. Once in Santiago I was accosted by guys wanting to show me where Maximon is. Maximon is a pagan god born out of a mixture of Mayan gods and conquistadors. He is an evil spirit, and must be appeased with offerings of rum and cigars. He is always housed with a different family (I think every year). It would be interesting to see him, but I didnt. Just the fact that seeing him is the only reason why people go to Santiago and because I didnt want to risk getting ripped off by the guides turned me off. Besides you can just look at pictures online!
Anyway, following my directions like a treasure map, I went up the hill to the road, turned left and walked a block, and found a pick up truck headed for San Lucas Toliman. I told the driver to take me to Pachitulul. These trucks are awesome, they drive around and pick up anyone anywhere and drop them off when they slap the truck or whistle, and you just pay them a bit when you get off. Hitchhiking is incredibly easy here.
Anyway I made it to Pachitulul and walked through the avocado orchard to IMAP. No one was expecting me (unfortunately I went when the volunteer coordinator who I had been e-mailing was gone) but I went up to the office. They found a guy who appeared to be the head honcho, and he explained to me about permaculture and what they do there. Its mostly for education, but they do go out into communities and teach them things. Most people wont adopt permaculture methods, whether for economic or other reasons. It started in central america when bill mollisons books, in spanish, made it here ten years ago. 5 years ago IMAP was founded. Its good to know that its a local initiative, although of course foreign permaculture experts have come and helped. I couldnt understand alot of what he said, but I got the jist. There was a Spanish couple that had been there for a month, doing various projects on a daily basis. There were three French girls that had just gotten there and were weeding. I decided not to stay and volunteer as the main guy said it would be best for me to work in the communities, but nobody could tell me what I would do with the communities. Its based on your own initiative and skills. Besides you have to pay 8 dollars a night without food!! I do wish I had gone when the girl I was emailing had been there, as she speaks english and probably could have given me a better picture of what I could do. Regardless it was very cool and inspiring to see a place like this, and to know that there are places like this all over the world that are showing people sustainable methods and how to live better.
Look at my flickr for pics of what they had there.
So I came back to San Marcos and I am staying with the family that lily has been staying with since we got here. They are a cool family, with a little yard with dogs, chickens, and fruit trees. We can cook in their kitchen. Yesterday we made them french toast with eggs from their chickens. I did another 5 days of spanish class, and whew, I am tired of learning verbs. I have re-learned all the tenses I learned before plus more, all in 2 weeks. Speaking them is another matter, which will take review and practice.
Food notes:
Coffee is a big part of the culture here. Alot of people drink coffee all the time, especially after dinner. I exclaimed that if I do that, I cant sleep. But it doesnt do anything to them, as Daniel, the father of the house explained. It actually calms him after a long day of construction work and lets him sleep better, he said as he downed his 3rd cup at 8 pm. This confused me until I heard how the mothers believe that drinking coffee alot while breastfeeding produces better milk. As they explained this, a child who couldnt have even been 2 years old was greedily drinking down a cup. Needless to say, I have started drinking at least one cup a day.
Chipilín is a leguminous shrub that grows alot around here, in gardens and amongst milpas. Im pretty sure it is the snow pea thing that permaculturists suggest for a N-fixer. Here they use it in seafood soups. My teacher in San Pedro told me about it and I mentioned it to my host family. The next day We had chipilín with shrimp soup. It is a natural sedative, and I took a good nap afterwards.
They eat unripe, green mangos here because as soon as they ripen they get worms. They are actually pretty good with salt.
So now I am staying in San Marcos, thinking about going to WWOOF in Chiapas at the end of august.
I took the boat from San Pedro to Santiago Atitlan, which was a much better ride than normal as it was a big boat and you can get on the roof. Once in Santiago I was accosted by guys wanting to show me where Maximon is. Maximon is a pagan god born out of a mixture of Mayan gods and conquistadors. He is an evil spirit, and must be appeased with offerings of rum and cigars. He is always housed with a different family (I think every year). It would be interesting to see him, but I didnt. Just the fact that seeing him is the only reason why people go to Santiago and because I didnt want to risk getting ripped off by the guides turned me off. Besides you can just look at pictures online!
Anyway, following my directions like a treasure map, I went up the hill to the road, turned left and walked a block, and found a pick up truck headed for San Lucas Toliman. I told the driver to take me to Pachitulul. These trucks are awesome, they drive around and pick up anyone anywhere and drop them off when they slap the truck or whistle, and you just pay them a bit when you get off. Hitchhiking is incredibly easy here.
Anyway I made it to Pachitulul and walked through the avocado orchard to IMAP. No one was expecting me (unfortunately I went when the volunteer coordinator who I had been e-mailing was gone) but I went up to the office. They found a guy who appeared to be the head honcho, and he explained to me about permaculture and what they do there. Its mostly for education, but they do go out into communities and teach them things. Most people wont adopt permaculture methods, whether for economic or other reasons. It started in central america when bill mollisons books, in spanish, made it here ten years ago. 5 years ago IMAP was founded. Its good to know that its a local initiative, although of course foreign permaculture experts have come and helped. I couldnt understand alot of what he said, but I got the jist. There was a Spanish couple that had been there for a month, doing various projects on a daily basis. There were three French girls that had just gotten there and were weeding. I decided not to stay and volunteer as the main guy said it would be best for me to work in the communities, but nobody could tell me what I would do with the communities. Its based on your own initiative and skills. Besides you have to pay 8 dollars a night without food!! I do wish I had gone when the girl I was emailing had been there, as she speaks english and probably could have given me a better picture of what I could do. Regardless it was very cool and inspiring to see a place like this, and to know that there are places like this all over the world that are showing people sustainable methods and how to live better.
Look at my flickr for pics of what they had there.
So I came back to San Marcos and I am staying with the family that lily has been staying with since we got here. They are a cool family, with a little yard with dogs, chickens, and fruit trees. We can cook in their kitchen. Yesterday we made them french toast with eggs from their chickens. I did another 5 days of spanish class, and whew, I am tired of learning verbs. I have re-learned all the tenses I learned before plus more, all in 2 weeks. Speaking them is another matter, which will take review and practice.
Food notes:
Coffee is a big part of the culture here. Alot of people drink coffee all the time, especially after dinner. I exclaimed that if I do that, I cant sleep. But it doesnt do anything to them, as Daniel, the father of the house explained. It actually calms him after a long day of construction work and lets him sleep better, he said as he downed his 3rd cup at 8 pm. This confused me until I heard how the mothers believe that drinking coffee alot while breastfeeding produces better milk. As they explained this, a child who couldnt have even been 2 years old was greedily drinking down a cup. Needless to say, I have started drinking at least one cup a day.
Chipilín is a leguminous shrub that grows alot around here, in gardens and amongst milpas. Im pretty sure it is the snow pea thing that permaculturists suggest for a N-fixer. Here they use it in seafood soups. My teacher in San Pedro told me about it and I mentioned it to my host family. The next day We had chipilín with shrimp soup. It is a natural sedative, and I took a good nap afterwards.
They eat unripe, green mangos here because as soon as they ripen they get worms. They are actually pretty good with salt.
So now I am staying in San Marcos, thinking about going to WWOOF in Chiapas at the end of august.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Me gusta la piña, me gustas tu. Me gusta Guatemala, me gustas tu
My teacher reminded me of these fitting Manu Chao lines as we ate pineapple during the snack hour at my spanish school.
The past week I have had class from 8-12 and have been living with a homestay. The homestay has been interesting, although I´m not that into it. The father is a painter, he paints simple, colorful pictures of the lake and some other sunjects for tourists. They belt out alot of them, they have the method down pretty well. There are two daughters in the family, one is middle school age and the other is 4. The 4 year old, Helen, is adorable. Since I dont really have a door on my room, just a curtain, she often comes in and talks to me. The adults speak tzutujil mayan dialect to eachother, and the kids mostly speak spanish. This kind of generational change is how languages die, and I wonder if these kids will teach tzutujil to eachother. The food is almost all carbs and meat, I think we had a small portion of vegetables twice. Yesterday I had meat, beans, salsa and tortillas for breakfast lunch and dinner. There are always tortillas, even with spaghetti.
During my classes, my teacher nicolas took me to a couple interesting places. The first day we went to a medicinal herb garden in a nearby town, San Juan. They had alot of herbs that I learned about last spring in santa cruz like yarrow, rosemary, horehound, etc. They use them in the community to make medicine and sell teas, soaps etc.
Yesterday we went to a chocolate factory. They make these little cigar shaped chocolates, and have 16 flavors. Some of the ingredients come from their own gardens. I tasted the batch that they are going to make into bars on monday.
The other day as I was walking along the path around the lake, a farmer greeted me and introduced himself. He then showed me his little plot, and what he is growing. He had a big plot of corn and beans, and then a bunch of flowers, lettuce and cilantro that he sells at markets. He had some small papaya trees, and when I pointed that out he straight up just gave me the only small papaya on them. Of course, he did have a motive for this niceness, which was selling me coffee (he also grows coffee). I couldn´t refuse, plus I wanted to buy some coffee anyway.
Also yesterday there was a school activity, which was supposed to be a hike up this mountain to a view point of the lake, but since the chicken bus wasnt going to the right place we ended up just walking along a road into the hills. The school, casa rosario, is owned by brothers Samuel and Vicente. Both of them are easygoing and easy to laugh. Samuel took us on the walk, and told us many jokes and stories in his slow, easy to understand spanish. He told us alot about the years of the civil war in San Pedro. San Pedro had alot of problems until 1985, when two miltary agents were killed by the townspeople and the problems mostly ended (we even passed the spot were they were killed, marked by two graves). Samuel and Vicente had friends in the Guerillas and although they never participated, they had read their pamphlets, talked to them, and sympathized with their aims. The military knew this, and thus Samuel and Vicente were on thier list. Vicente was tipped off three days before the door to his house was kicked in and they searched high and low for him. He escaped to the capital. Samuel was studying in another town, and was also informed to change his address and lie low. He met his brother in the capital were they stayed in a hotel room. He said how boring it was, staying in the hotel all day everyday, avoiding the police. After a while their mother payed somebody a few hundred quetzals and was assured that this would ensure her sons safety. She sent someone to tell the brothers. Samuel wanted to come back, Vicente feared it was a trap. Sure enough, when Samuel made it back to San Pedro, someone came to his house asking for him, saying that he was back, but his mother acted clueless. So Samuel went back to the hotel in the capital. After a while, their money ran out. They decided to sell vegetables in the perimeter of the capital, buying them from one market and selling them for a bit more at others, and made enough to live. Finally, the situation in San Pedro calmed down and they returned. In 1992 they started their school, with 2 students.
Pretty crazy to hear a first hand account of just how insane it got here in the eighties. At the end of the day both the military and guerrillas were just like mafias, both interested in money and power at the expense of the common people.
The past week I have had class from 8-12 and have been living with a homestay. The homestay has been interesting, although I´m not that into it. The father is a painter, he paints simple, colorful pictures of the lake and some other sunjects for tourists. They belt out alot of them, they have the method down pretty well. There are two daughters in the family, one is middle school age and the other is 4. The 4 year old, Helen, is adorable. Since I dont really have a door on my room, just a curtain, she often comes in and talks to me. The adults speak tzutujil mayan dialect to eachother, and the kids mostly speak spanish. This kind of generational change is how languages die, and I wonder if these kids will teach tzutujil to eachother. The food is almost all carbs and meat, I think we had a small portion of vegetables twice. Yesterday I had meat, beans, salsa and tortillas for breakfast lunch and dinner. There are always tortillas, even with spaghetti.
During my classes, my teacher nicolas took me to a couple interesting places. The first day we went to a medicinal herb garden in a nearby town, San Juan. They had alot of herbs that I learned about last spring in santa cruz like yarrow, rosemary, horehound, etc. They use them in the community to make medicine and sell teas, soaps etc.
Yesterday we went to a chocolate factory. They make these little cigar shaped chocolates, and have 16 flavors. Some of the ingredients come from their own gardens. I tasted the batch that they are going to make into bars on monday.
The other day as I was walking along the path around the lake, a farmer greeted me and introduced himself. He then showed me his little plot, and what he is growing. He had a big plot of corn and beans, and then a bunch of flowers, lettuce and cilantro that he sells at markets. He had some small papaya trees, and when I pointed that out he straight up just gave me the only small papaya on them. Of course, he did have a motive for this niceness, which was selling me coffee (he also grows coffee). I couldn´t refuse, plus I wanted to buy some coffee anyway.
Also yesterday there was a school activity, which was supposed to be a hike up this mountain to a view point of the lake, but since the chicken bus wasnt going to the right place we ended up just walking along a road into the hills. The school, casa rosario, is owned by brothers Samuel and Vicente. Both of them are easygoing and easy to laugh. Samuel took us on the walk, and told us many jokes and stories in his slow, easy to understand spanish. He told us alot about the years of the civil war in San Pedro. San Pedro had alot of problems until 1985, when two miltary agents were killed by the townspeople and the problems mostly ended (we even passed the spot were they were killed, marked by two graves). Samuel and Vicente had friends in the Guerillas and although they never participated, they had read their pamphlets, talked to them, and sympathized with their aims. The military knew this, and thus Samuel and Vicente were on thier list. Vicente was tipped off three days before the door to his house was kicked in and they searched high and low for him. He escaped to the capital. Samuel was studying in another town, and was also informed to change his address and lie low. He met his brother in the capital were they stayed in a hotel room. He said how boring it was, staying in the hotel all day everyday, avoiding the police. After a while their mother payed somebody a few hundred quetzals and was assured that this would ensure her sons safety. She sent someone to tell the brothers. Samuel wanted to come back, Vicente feared it was a trap. Sure enough, when Samuel made it back to San Pedro, someone came to his house asking for him, saying that he was back, but his mother acted clueless. So Samuel went back to the hotel in the capital. After a while, their money ran out. They decided to sell vegetables in the perimeter of the capital, buying them from one market and selling them for a bit more at others, and made enough to live. Finally, the situation in San Pedro calmed down and they returned. In 1992 they started their school, with 2 students.
Pretty crazy to hear a first hand account of just how insane it got here in the eighties. At the end of the day both the military and guerrillas were just like mafias, both interested in money and power at the expense of the common people.
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