Guatemala

Guatemala is vibrant colors: fruits and vegetables in the market, textiles everywhere, Mayan traditional dress of huapiles (blouses), tropical flowers in gardens and patios, bouquets of gladiolas, chrysanthemums, and lilies.

My daughter, Sarah, and I just returned from Guatemala, Sarah was there for two weeks and then I stayed on an extra week on Lake Atitlán to tutor English. Coffee was excellent and Sarah especially enjoyed the fruit smoothies. All the textiles were amazing, and we were impressed with the number of cooperatives that sell products made by women in the villages.

Antigua is a lovely colonial city surrounded by mountains and filled with churches and ruins of churches and monasteries, touristy but very nice. It began as the capital in 1543, but then Guatemala City became the capital in 1774 because of  the threat of  earthquakes. The streets are cobble-stoned, and pastel colonial houses line the streets; peeking into patios one sees fountains and flowers.

Antigua

We took a two-day back strap weaving class in Quezaltenango (Xeha) and made scarves, first winding, then warping, and finally weaving the threads.  After finishing the scarves, we took a tour to the hot baths, Fuentes Georginas, high up in the mountains, to relieve the tension in our backs and shoulders. It felt wonderful. On the way there we drove through the village of Zunil, an important agricultural area with vegetables growing in small plots everywhere. We observed a Mayan ceremony where a person is blessed; perhaps he is making a request or giving thanks. A priest or a priestess carefully arranges on a concrete block various items that will be burned in the ceremony, such as rice, sugar, resin balls, candy, tobacco, and small pieces of wood and candles. One ceremony was finishing as we arrived, and the fire was already burning. We watched a chicken being sacrificed, then four cans of chili  that had been placed in the fire exploded with very loud frightening bangs. The Mayan saint, San Simón, dressed in modern clothes, and wearing a hat and sunglasses and smoking a cigarette, was housed in an adjacent building.

We went to the huge Sunday market in Chichicastenango, arriving there on Saturday afternoon when vendors were just beginning to set up their booths with piles and piles of exquisite weavings, embroidery and needlework. Sarah and I had great fun looking at the goods, and then picking out a few items and bargaining. We observed an indoor market with fruits and vegetable from above; these bird’s eye views of markets are a popular primitive painting style in Guatemala. Vegetables were huge; I’ve never seen such gigantic cauliflower, carrots, or radishes. We also explored the colorful cemetery where small tombs and crosses were in bright colors on the hillside. We slept in a bright lime green room, just to add to the color. 

We traveled on the local “chicken” buses, which are converted yellow school buses, often painted with bright designs. The ticket and luggage assistants were very efficient at taking care of our luggage and making sure we got onto the next bus. We usually had to transfer to three different buses, some were crowded, and occasionally we had to sit three in a seat. A few of the bus drivers drove like crazy up and down the mountains making hairpin turns. We would slide from one side to the other in our seats, always hanging on to the bar or seat in front of us. One driver drove especially fast and talked on his cell phone as he whipped around the turns. The young ticket men were strong and agile, climbing up to the roof of the bus taking care of bundles and bags, often with the bus in motion, even speeding down the highway.

 We spent a day at Tikal, the ancient Mayan Center in the jungle, a very long day because of the plane connections we had to make. It’s part of a nature reserve where there are numerous wild animals including jaguar, deer, monkeys, and raccoon related monkeys, called white-nosed coati. I was in Tikal in 1969 when the only way to get there was by plane; therefore few people were there. So many more areas have been excavated since I was there before. Our guide and several people at the hotel there were very amused that I had been there that long ago. Tikal was once a great city with a population of over 90,000. People first settled there in 400 BC and by 250 AD, it had become an important religious, cultural, and commercial center with temples, palaces, and administration buildings. Tikal reached its peak in 700 AD. Carved steles tell the history. The limestone structures are soft and deteriorate easily and there are constant restorations being made. One can’t climb up the original steps anymore, but wooden stairs have been built on several of the five high temples with steep sides. We climbed up two of them, the highest one is about 230 feet high. Water was always a problem and the Mayans had built reservoirs and canals. Drought and environmental problems were reasons for its downfall at the end of the 10^th century. 

Sarah and I spent several days on Lake Atitlán where most travel is by boat; it was cloudy and hazy this time of year so we never saw the three volcanoes on the lake clearly. We stayed in San Marcos in a lovely bungalow with tropical flowers in the gardens surrounding the hotel, got massages, and also used the Mayan sauna, a small room with a low ceiling that we had to crawl into with its three-foot opening. We traveled by boat to San Juan and San Pedro. We admired more beautiful weaving and watched a natural dye demonstration using plants, flowers, wood, and insets, and the tie dying technique used there was explained.

Sarah left after two weeks and I returned to Lake Atitlán to the village of Santa Cruz La Laguna to tutor English at a vocational school where my friend, Sue Reinhart, has been many times. It was a relaxing and enjoyable week, and I stayed in a lovely bungalow with a view of the lake. Santa Cruz has several hotels right at the water’s edge by the docks where the boats come and go, then the Mayan town (population 3,000) is up a very steep road that is a 15 minute walk up unless you go by tuk tuk. There are no roads to the village so everything must come by boat. The vocational school, CECAP, serves the community by teaching vocational skills. They also run preschool and nutritional programs. There’s an excellent cafe in the school where the culinary students practice their skills, and a small store where textile products are sold. I met with three young employees for an hour each day and practiced conversational skills with them.  It was fun and a good way to get to know these young people and their village. I did a fantastic early morning bird watching tour, hiked along the lake, swam in the morning before the wind and waves came up, and made excursions to various villages on the lake - San Antonio Palopó and Santiago de Atitlán. 

Two of my students, Estela and Dominga

On Friday I visited the indigenous market at Sololá, it was crazy, so crowded, a whirl of color and activity, definitely not a tourist market. Almost everyone was in Mayan dress including the men. Women carried huge loads on their their heads and often  babies on their backs. Markets usually have different sections, but here the same fruits, vegetables and goods were being sold in different places side by side. The exception was the live chicken area where the women all sat together with their chickens. People came in the backs of pick-ups and left with their purchases in huge bundles. The clothes being sold were for the local people. Huapiles (blouses) were much purer years ago; people from a particular village only wore the colors and patterns from their villages, now huapiles and skirts are varied and more personal, decorated with lace, beads, sequins, and metallic thread. 

It was a good trip; temperatures were in the 70’s and low 80’s. People were very friendly and helpful. We enjoyed the food: corn tortillas, beans, rice, and delicious fruits and vegetables. Sarah and I had fun looking at all the handicrafts, which included not only textiles, but also carved wooden masks, carved animals, ceramics, and jewelry.