1-16-09. Quit my job and got on a plane for central america. Little nervous, really excited. Landed in Guatemala City and went straight to our hotel. (Couldnt really go out. There´s about 10 murders a day in guatemala city, and the distance between somewhere safe and somewhere dangerous is usually no more than a couple blocks.) We had a beatiful hotel with a really friendly (and cute!) staff. Wendy went straight to bed, but I couldnt sleep. I bought a beer (I later found out they charged me about twice the going rate) and sat on the balcony to drink it. Not a very eventful night.
1-17-09: Chicken busses.
Woke up around 5:30. Havent been up that early in about 6 years. Went to the bus station and had breakfast. It was a cup of weak coffee (they sell all the good stuff to america) and a bean and cheese sandwich (much better than expected.) Basically, this is how the busses work. Theyre refurbished school busses from the US painted with crazy designs and jam-packed with locals. Our bus had a huge jesus mural and ´Cristo se Amo´(christ loves you/i love jesus... not sure) painted on the side. Theres a driver, and two helpers. the first helper hangs out the bus and yells where its going the whole time. The second helper jumps out and throws peoples bags on top. We take the bus up into the mountains. The scenery is impossible to describe. It must be seen. Will add photos soon... We had to change busses in some small dirty town outside lake atitlan. It was difficult to find the right bus because all the drivers kept telling us they were going there, even though the bus sign said they werent. Eventually a local pointed out the right one, and we boarded. Unfortunately, the ride too about 3 hours more than it should have because there was a lot of road work on the highway. Kids kept hopping on to sell candy and fruits. I got a super tasty batch of pineapple chunks. Eventually we arrived in Panajachel (on lake atitlan.) I cant really describe the cities. Theyre like small towns in the US only more dirty, busy, beautiful, interesting, and friendly. Anyone is happy to talk to you, usually because they´re selling something. More busses and more busses until finally we reach our destination: San Lucas Toliman.
San Lucas is a beatiful small town beneath two huge volcanoes. There is an interesting mix of traditional mayans and modern guatemalans here. It´s not uncommon to see a woman in hand woven clothing carrying a basket of laundry on top of her head as a young man whips by on a motorcycle covered in blue LED lights. We ate dinner at the church where my aunt volunteered 7 years ago. Theres a bunch of groups from minneapolis here (winter break programs, volunteers, church groups.) and a handful of cool kids my age. I was walking around when one of the stray dogs on the street started growling at me. I just walked away. Bad Idea. It grabbed my leg and drew blood. Everyone at the church asked why i didnt scare it off when it started growling by saying ¨Ch'Ch'Ch'Ch'Ch.¨ Wish I woulda known sooner. The first local I met was a funny older lady named marta. She was really friendly and spoke a little english. Between the two of us, we were able to hold a good conversation. She took me out to see San Maximon. He´s a cigar smoking saint. You can make an offering of tobacco or booze, and it will bring you good luck. She invited me over to her house where we watched some soccer, and i drank a beer. Afterwards I went up to the cantina for one of the volunteers birthdays. I met a cool dude named casey who is from wisconsin.
1-18-09 Today we took a boat tour of the lake. Really really cool. On board, I met a cool girl that goes to st thomas. we walked around Santiago de Atitlan together and checked out the markets. Then had lunch in a small restraunt (waay delicious authentic food. I had beef tacos with fried onions and peppers,) then we got back on the boat, and chilled on a beach on the other side of the lake. We met a crazy hippy lady (probly european and very very very high on something other than weed) who gave us rocks and told us her name was ¨la tierra, la agua, y la sol.¨ She was kinda weirding me out so i went and climbed a tree. When we went back to san lucas. My aunt introduced me to one of the women in town who she had helped alot in the past, and we were invited into her home. She sold me an awesome hand-woven scarf for q125, about $17. Then dinner, then bed, but I couldnt sleep, so I got up to have a cigarette. I met a cool guy named eduardo, hes the night clerk at our hostel. We sat around talking for a while (in spanish only.) I told him I was bummed cus I wanted a good view of the stars but everyone at the parish said it was dangerous to go up the hills or by the lake at night. Eduardo just lauged and said, it´s not really dangerous, that´s just where all the trouble is. (It´s a small town, so kids dont have anywhere to party except dark areas just a little out of town.) He convinced me we had nothing to worry about, and we went down by the water. The lake is amazing at night. The mountains are sillhoutted against the starry sky, the water laps at the dock, but theres almost no other noise. We saw a shooting star, and eduardo explained that means someone just died. We talked about constellations... Apparently no one knows the big dipper in central america, and orions belt represents the 3 wise men. I talked about wanting to climb a volcano and he invited me to do so with him and some friends on saturday. Unfortunately I was going to Xela before then, but I think i´ll come back to San Lucas before I leave guatemala. Who could resist camping atop a volcano and watching the moon rise with a group of locals?
1-19-09 Woke up, went to the doctor for a rabies shot. She told me it would be about a 20 minute wait. 2 1/2 hours later, I was still waiting. I guess this is typical for guatemala. After the shot, I went and hand mixed cement to help build the new basketball court in town. It´s about as hard as it sounds... but I just gotta say it aint easy. After lunch I went and talked with the mayan vendors down by the dock. Theyre a pretty friendly group, even though we hardly understand each other. On the way to dinner, I met a guy from Xela. He seemed real cool and told me to call him as soon as I made it to the city. Then Dinner. Afterwards, the group from St Thomas had a group discussion with this english man about the education system in guatemala. Most kids barely finish jr high. Highschool is pretty similar to college in the US. Afterwards I went to the hotel and drank a beer on the stoop and played kalimba. A group of local kids came up and just stared at me. I offered it to them and they went nuts. Sat around with a bunch of kids and listened to them play hectic music for like an hour. Afterward, I went to the gringo bar and found the other college group, thoroughly hammered, dancing to a tupac song. Not really what I expected from guatemala, but I had fun with them.
1-20-09 Woke up, went to market for socks and shaving cream. Socks were easy enough but I spent an hour walking around looking for shaving cream before someone told me no one here can afford it, and to just use soap... Walking back to the hotel I spotted a sweet pair of shoes in the market. I needed some new kicks anyway, so I bargained with the man for a while, and got them for q90. (about $12?) Tonight i went to the bar again, but got bored with the gustavis kids, so I sat at the bar and joked with the bartender as well as I could.
1-21-09 Woke up to a spanish polka version of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Went and hopped in a pickup to santiago. I have some cool photos of this to post later. Looked for a friend in the volunteer kids library. Somehow, I found the library and the friend. We went and checked out a really cool church over the town. In the church there was a memorial for a pastor who was assassinated during the civil war. Bullet holes and bloodstains still on the floor, it was a heavy room. The rest of the day was rather uneventful, except i sat and talked with eduardo a bit more. He´s pretty fun.
tomorrow: Xela
