Guatemala - 3/3 - i should log off

And who says I’m not domestic?

April 30, 2009 By Jillian

If there is one thing that first struck me about Guatemala it was the colorful fabrics and textiles we saw everywhere. Mayan women wear traditional clothes and since the indigenous population in Guatemala is around 40%, its easy to understand why the streets and markets are full of color. Last time Danny was here he bought a rug from a weaver associated with the school. For the last 6 years I’ve heard about this man, his home, and the traditional weaving patterns he makes. Six years ago Danny made a trip to the man’s home to learn about the process and watch him and his family make rugs, blankets and other traditional woven items. Thursday we walked out of school and voila, there he was. Excited, Danny re-introduced himself and Luis swore he remembered Danny. We chatted about the woven items, his family and generally caught up. Turns out the school had a trip planned for Saturday, so luckily we got to meet his family and see how they weave.

Twice a week Luis commutes to Quetzaltenango from Momostenango. Saturday we headed out to Momostenango via Chicken Bus (my first one). About an hour later and a sore butt, we got off the bus at a small group of homes precariously perched on the side of a mountain. We climbed down the dirt path and found ourselves in a small wooden hut with wooden looms, spindles and woolen thread. Luis explained his weaving process to us from start to finish in a slow even spanish that even I could understand. Turns out his family uses only natural dyes for their textiles, and he could tell us every plant used, how long it needed to soak and when the flower was in bloom.

The entire family is involved in the weaving process. They shear the sheep, clean the wool, spin the thread, dye the threat, and even the smallest ones do the weaving. With genuine smiles on their faces, the kids shared with us what they were doing and allowed us to inspect their work.

Trusting us perhaps too much, Luis allowed each of us the chance to stitch a row on his latest textile. Lets just say, I might have a new career in weaving, although Luis probably thinks differently.

After he finished the demonstration, and we bought all that we wanted, Luis invited us into his home for tortillas. Hard at work over a wood fire in a small mud hut, his wife baked tortillas like a champ. Warm and tasty, we covered our tortillas in avocados, picante sauce and beans. Besides being delicious, it was incredible being able to share a meal with his family. We ate our fill, and even after Danny refused another tortilla, Luis’s wife insisted he eat another. Some things are the same no matter the language, no matter the place.

Textiles in hand, we headed into Momostenango with Luis and his son for a brief tour before heading back to Quetzaltenango. Maybe we bought too much, maybe we paid to much, but the demonstration and the tortillas are something I will probably never forget.

Super Chivos 3 – Cremas 2

April 28, 2009 By Danny

The last time I was here in Guatemala I managed to make it to two soccer games. The first was against a team unknown to me. I went, I watched, I went home. The second game I went to was against Municipal, one of two teams from Guatemala City (think Yankees). To be honest, I don’t remember much of this game, but what I do remember is this:

Bottle rockets being shot from the bleachers at the field
All trash (100%, no lie) was thrown on the field…generally for no rhyme or reason.
There were not enough seats so we sat on the stadium wall, so if we had leaned back we would have fallen out of the stadium and onto the concrete outside.
We went to the game to learn all kinds of new and fun words that they don’t teach you in Spanish class.
The other team’s mascot was burned in effigy.

This time the game was a bit different but still just as incredible. We were set to play Los Comunicaciones (Crema) which are also from Guatemala City. I’m not sure what the stakes were last time but this time they were quite high. With the season winding down both teams needed a win to remain in the top 6 (playoff bound), with the defending champions – Crema – looking for payback from their previous meeting. Here is how the game compared to last time around:

Bottle rockets being shot from the bleachers at the field.
All trash (100%) was thrown on the field. However, with no alcoholic drinks allowed in the stadium and the soda served in plastic bags with a straw, this did not amount to much. To make up for the lack off trash, fans used toilet paper (which is generally in short supply here) instead. Added bonus was that the bottle rockets were also used to ignite the toilet paper.
The wall where we’d sat previously was now covered with advertisements, how American.
We went to the game to learn all kinds of new and fun words that they don’t teach you in Spanish class.
The other teams mascot was not burned in effigy; instead I saw a Super Chivos fan with a ram’s head (a chivo) hanging from his neck. Yes, this was an actual ram’s head.
Before the game began, two unmanned hot air balloons were launched into the air. The first kept going up, up, up and away…who knows where it came down. The second got a nasty gust of wind when it was only 50 meters off the field and caught fire. Naturally it began to rain fireballs but luckily no one was standing below and the toilet paper was at the other end of the field.

The game was extremely close the entire night. Crema scored first followed immediately by Xelaju. The score stayed at 1-1 until sometime through the second half when we scored again, mere minutes later our goalie failed to chase down the ball, leaving the goal untended for an easy pot-shot by Crema with 15 minutes or so left to play. Finally, with the time on the clock reading 40 minutes Xelaju was awarded a penalty kick. We scored, everyone cheered, and we were showered in “illegal” beer by the people behind.

Next thing I knew, I thought I was back in America watching the NFL as the official ordered a redo because the player kicking the ball crossed the line too soon. Throughout the night I had been getting tutored in vocabulary by a nice lady who was only too happy to oblige. The words that were coming out of peoples mouths at this point were so incredibly numerous that we simply could not keep up with our translations. After a few moments, we kicked again, scored again, and Jill and I were showered in beer again. A few minutes later, proudly wearing my new Super Chivos jersey to go with the hat I have back in the States, we walked out champions.

It’s like Deja-vu. Bienvenido a Guatemala.

April 22, 2009 By Danny

It was with a heavy heart that we said good-bye to San Cristobal and boarded the 7am bus for the border. Arriving at the border and handing over our Mexican tourist cards it was all to easy to leave the country, hop a cab through no man’s land, and cross into our next country: Guatemala.

Once in Guatemala it was only a few minutes before our passports were stamped and we had changed our few remaining Pesos into Quetzales. As we walked up the street with other backpackers from our bus, we were instantly accosted by a drunk, quite surprising for 11am, Guatemalteco. He thought we would appreciate hearing how good his English was and how he planned to go and live in Atlanta…then he asked for money to help send him there.

As the four of us walked up the street, trying to find the bus station that would hopefully take us out of no man’s land, we were still followed by our new Guatemalteco friend who was really too drunk for any of us to understand in English or Spanish. It wasn’t long before we were stopped dead in our tracks by another gringo and his wife. Turns out although Mexico has buses running on the Saturday before Easter, Guatemala does not. A quick inspection of the bus office confirmed that indeed no public transportation was leaving the border that day. We felt quite defeated as this was NOT the kind of place we wanted to be for more than two minutes, let alone two days. Luckily an entrepreneurial Guatemalteco offered to drive us to Xela for a fee, and soon the six of us and our bags were lashed, stuffed and crammed into the SUV.

Arriving in Xela, was a bit of deja-vu for me. I studied here 6 years ago when I was on study abroad and somehow I managed to navigate Jill and I to the school, several of my old haunts, and even 90% of the way to our host family’s house. Thats right, same school, same host family only six years later. Meeting up with the family, it was clear the boys (12, 16, and 19) had grown quite a bit and that none of them knew who to expect (the photos I sent to the school weren’t passed to the family), Nevertheless we quickly settled down and acquainted ourselves and I quickly recalled all the reasons I wanted to come back to Xela to study Spanish again.

Danny’s Top 10

1. It’s one of the cheapest places in the world to learn Spanish.

2. Where else can I purchase baked goods from an Mennonite who speaks both Spanish and Pennsylvania Dutch?

3. All Futbol games include homemade fireworks…launched from the bleachers.

4. Everything is cheap, except the national cerveza which costs as much as Budweiser.

5. The national food is pollo frito (fried chicken).

6. My teacher has a book with every curse word, dirty thought, and linguistic expression of frustration you could ever think of in both English and Spanish

7. The water heater is built into the shower head, with the wires sticking out to prove it. Added bonus, if you touch the faucet while standing under the water you can feel the electricity pass through you- who needs coffee. Only bummer is that because of the water your hair can’t stand up…

8. If there is cereal for breakfast instead of eggs and beans, that only means the eggs and beans are coming for dinner.

9. The bed is the same as it was six years ago….same springs still bite me in the night.

10. Last time I had no stomach problems so I really just needed to return so I could say I pooped in a cup* too!

*Jills says this needs to be explained. Stomach ‘challenges‘ are quite common here and the general pattern is to go to the lab, poop in the cup, take the results to the pharmacist, pay for the medicine they give you, and wait three days…if it doesn’t work try another plant and pray.

And who says I’m not domestic?

Super Chivos 3 – Cremas 2

It’s like Deja-vu. Bienvenido a Guatemala.

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