Tikal and Flores

We've had 2 amazing days in the beautiful, hot and muggy northern part of Guatemala. Sunday morning we flew from Guatemala City to Flores, then shuttled to Tikal where we stayed at the Tikal Inn (PHOTO 1) - rooms and pool were lovely. We headed out to explore the ruins. PHOTO 2 is a group shot, missing Perry and Jodie who had flown home. PHOTO 3 shows the view from the top of Temple 5; the dots on the acropolis to the right are Holly and Judy who we could hear talking - great acoustics. PHOTO 4 shows the climb down (see the little ant-sized people at the bottom for perspective). We saw spider monkeys and some black howlers treated us to their incredible roaring voices.

Monday morning we headed back into the ruins with a truly fabulous guide, archaeologist Roxy Ortiz (PHOTO 5 - top of Temple 4). She gave us a great background into the history of the site as well as information about the plants and animals. With her help we watched spider monkeys jumping from tree to tree and scrambling on the ruins and spotted rare emerald toucans as well as keel billed toucans, aracaris, oropendolas, and several types of parrots.

Enroute from Tikal to island town of Flores we stopped at Ixpanpajul nature park. Some folks tried out the canopy ziplines (PHOTO 6: Sharon) and Judy and I hiked to the Sky Walk canopy bridges (PHOTO 7: Judy). PHOTO 8 is the large male black howler monkey in a family group we watched at close range from one of the longer bridges.

We checked into our hotel, La Mesa de Los Mayas (The Table of the Mayas), had a dinner out by the lake, and prepared for tomorrow - the end of Live and Learn in Guatemala 2009. In the morning 8 of us will fly to the Guatemala City airport and home and 5 will head by road into Belize. This has been an amazing few weeks with a wonderful, interesting, and interested group of people. If you'd like to follow my adventures into Belize, the new blog starts here (click "Newer Post" at the bottom):
http://holemansandbrinksinbelize.blogspot.com/2009/08/we-arrive-in-belize.html
HAPPY TRAILS!!

San Pedro to Panajachel to Antigua

Before 8:30 we had all said goodbye to our families and made our way to the dock for our boat ride to Panajachel (PHOTO 1). The ride took about a half hour and when we landed, Perry gave our Captain, Leo, the University of Oregon baseball cap he'd been admiring (PHOTO 2).

We had just over 3 hours to shop and eat in Panajachel and made lots of purchases since Pana is a great place to shop and many of us had waited to buy gifts and souvenirs until now. Well, honestly, few of us had resisted the urge to buy things earlier, but most of us really went to town with the shopping in Pana (PHOTO 3: me with Juana, a little woman selling beautiful huipiles and other weavings that my friend Sylvia and I purchased from 2 years ago and Rosie and I did this year.)

We loaded into a tour bus again and enjoyed a little show and tell as well as amazing views (PHOTO 4: Pana and the Santiago volcano (I think) from the road. Back in Antigua, we checked into our hotel, Posada La Merced (PHOTO 5: Jeannie, Michon, and Holly), strolled around town (PHOTO 6: street performers doing a conquistador dance) and some of us reconnected with our beloved Benjamin. We walked (PHOTO 7: the ruins of Santa Teresa, I think) to a nice restaurant and had our last meal together (PHOTO 8) since Jodie headed to Guatemala City after dinner to stay close to the airport for an early flight, and Perry is flying home shortly after the rest of us fly to Flores.

Last day in San Pedro La Laguna

Trust me that I’ve taken far more food pictures than I’ve posted; I couldn’t resist posting this morning’s breakfast (PHOTO 1). PHOTO 2 is my wonderful host family.

The next 3 photos are street scenes. Most of the streets in town are narrow, many too narrow for cars or even tuctucs to drive on. PHOTO 3 shows one of the wider streets but no room to spare; the top of the truck’s windshield says, “We have confidence in God”. As I walked up the street today I saw groups of young people passing an old man who was walking the other way; as each passed him they kissed his hand - very sweet (PHOTO 4). The produce market days in San Pedro are Tuesday and Friday (PHOTO 5).

PHOTOS 6 and 7 show a view of the Cooperativa Spanish school garden (the palapas are the study areas) and the teachers at the school. Each teacher in the school has selected 2 local families who are in grave need of support. Every other Friday students at the Cooperativa school travel to meet the families and take clothing, school supplies, and food; the school buys supplies with tuition money and many of us contributed additional items or money. PHOTO 8 shows a wonderful family that Rosie, Sam, and I visited this afternoon that included 2 of the most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen. The school is also collecting money to build a new home for a local family.

Tonight was the final event of the school Olympiad featuring rhythmic gymnastic routines and lots of trophies for the champion basketball and soccer teams in each age group (PHOTO 9: the littlest ones with more enthusiasm than rhythm).

The San Pedro photos in this blog represent just a fraction of the things that happened this week. Various members of the group went kayaking and/or swimming in the lake, ate out and took families out to eat, enjoyed extra salsa lessons and/or walks in the country, shopped and bought bread and pastries from the ladies combing the streets and restaurants for customers, and found various causes deserving of time and donations. The weeks have flown by and our study time is behind us - in less than 4 days we’ll be going our separate ways. HAPPY TRAILS!

Thursday - to Santiago and back

Some of us headed by boat on July 30th to Santiago Atitlan, another village on the lake. We visited Maximon, the patron saint of prostitutes, alcohol, and tobacco (PHOTO 1). There are at least 2 cofradias (church groups) in Santiago and the shrines are moved to new houses each year; guides took the morning visitors to a different shrine than the one Perry visited outside of town in the afternoon.

A highlight of my visit to Santiago 2 years ago was an incredibly hard working bucket brigade doing a cement pour on the roof of a building. They were working away again this year (PHOTO 2). I was also able to hire the same guide as last year, Salvador (PHOTO 3); as we each had our picture taken with him the cement workers hollered and whistled - hilarious. We also thought the sign in PHOTO 4 was hilarious: “Urination is prohibited in this place, 100 Q ($12) fine”; La Muni is the municipal government.

PHOTO 5 is Mary Ann, Judy, and me with a tiny Maya woman and her son who sold us beaded jewelry and key chains; her huipil (blouse) is typical of Santiago - woven vertical stripes and richly embroidered with birds. In the background you can see edges of a carnival - you would not believe how rickety the ferris wheels looked or how fast the went. The church, also in the background, has a beautiful wooden alter and a memorial to Father Stanley Roth, an American priest who was devoted to his indigenas parishioners and who was assassinated by the government in 1981.

At 6pm we had a guest speaker at the school who talked about the Maya calendar and view of the world, then a few group folks met for dinner and 4 of us passed a very pleasant hour or 2 in a hot tub. HAPPY TRAILS!

Wednesday

With some studying in the morning and some in the afternoon we choosing activities with varying numbers and groups. This blog is obviously textured with my interests and activities but I hope it will still give a feel for what our lives are like here. One of my favorite things to do is engage old men in conversation (PHOTOS 1 and 2 - 2 of my favorites).

I watched a little more basketball, volunteered at the disability program a bit more, and hiked way up a steep hill (even though no less than 5 people told me it was just around the next corner) to watch some “futbol” (PHOTO 3).

After that I walked back into town and caught a ride in the back of a pickup to San Juan, a neighboring town; I wasn’t hitch hiking, the pickups run every 10 minutes or so both ways and the standard fare is 2 quetzales or about 16 cents. PHOTO 4 is the cemetery in San Juan and PHOTO 5 was taken outside a fabric store. There are also several women’s weaving cooperatives and a cheese “factory”.

This evening the school offered salsa lessons with Luis, one of the instructors at the school (PHOTOS 6, 7 (Jodie), and 8 (Rosie).We also met at a local restaurant for dinner or dessert - another full day. HAPPY TRAILS!

Tuesday

This week in San Pedro it’s the kids’ Olympiad - no school and lots of soccer and basketball. This morning the 8-year-old girl in my family had a basketball game. PHOTO 1 is Micaela getting Jullisa ready for the big game in the open area of the house. PHOTO 2 shows the game (Jullisa is #10). In the background are the Municipal building, Somos Hijos Del Lago (Our Children of the Lake - the program for kids with disabilities where I volunteer), and the top of the white cathedral on the upper left. In addition to cheering in Spanish I enjoyed the enthusiastic coaches in traditional attire and the women crowding around the meat shop on the corner of the square for the opportunity to buy the freshest chicken (PHOTO 3: the women on the left watching the game over their shoulders are Andrea who is the wife of Lorenzo, our Spanish school’s director, Micaela’s sister Maria who is the mom in Judy and Mary Ann’s family [and Sylvia’s in 2007!] and Micaela. There’s no refrigerator in our home and daily trips to the market are important for social reasons as well as sustenance. No washing machine and limited water at home mean washing clothes in the lake, another social time that included Jullisa and her friends.

While the population in Antigua is largely Catholic, in San Pedro it’s split between Catholic and Evangelist (PHOTO 4: “Only Jesus can change your life”).

Our days are full of new experiences, like the dog that strolled into the restaurant this evening and raised a leg on Sam, eating fish served with eyes, teeth, and fins intact, and the tuktuk (golf cart taxi) ride that Michon and I shared with the sweet old lady in PHOTO 5; the cost of the photo was her fare.

There are also threads that tie all families and all countries together, like the silly antics of the 3-year-old in Lorenzo’s family (Rosie and Sam’s hosts), Jullisa’s missing teeth and avoidance of vegetables, and coaches and families cheering on their teams. HAPPY TRAILS!

July 27th, exploring San Pedro

Half a day of classes means half a day to explore; here are some photos from my first morning in San Pedro that will give you a feel for the place. PHOTO 1 is a group of teachers and students heading down the hill and PHOTO 2 is a group of soccer players heading up.

San Pedro La Laguna is 95% indigenas Maya who are native T’zutujil speakers (one of 23 Maya dialects) and who tend to be empathetic and clear Spanish speakers. PHOTOS 3 and 4 show the traditional local attire, common for women but less so for men, mostly seen on older guys. PHOTO 5 is my home away from home, la casa de Micaela y Jose Mendez. HAPPY TRAILS!