Mar 2007

We´ve just ended our third day of Spanish classes in Antigua and our brains are full to the point of bursting. I´ve been conjugating verbs in my sleep and I still feel like I´m talking like a five-year-old.

The town seems to be full of tourists in a similar boat, though, and both Geoff and I are definitely improving and able to converse with our respective teachers, Jose and Ninette, and with our wonderful host family.

Our mother for the week is Dilia, who is a great cook and loves to chat - a perfect fit for us. Her youngest daughter works in a glass museum and is a budding artist in her own right. We´re hoping to visit her at work later in the week, but for the time being there are plenty of things to gawk at just wandering around the city. Three large volcanoes surround Antigua and one called Fuego is still active - hopefully not too active. In the mornings when we walk to school, the view is stunning, especially past one of the many amazing ruins that dot the city (a picture of this coming soon!).

We´ve been taking some side trips too, on Monday to a fascinating museum called Casa Popenoe, a colonial mansion that had collapsed during the earthquake of 1773 and was rebuilt by an American avocado exporter who worked for the United Fruit Company in the 1920s. Perhaps the best part is its top-floor aviary which has dozens of built-in birdhouses for doves once charged with sending messages from town to town - the first Internet, according to our surprisingly understandable guide (who spoke very slowly and with perfect diction).

Today we visited another small town called San Antonio where the women basically use a belt to strap themselves to a loom and weave colorful textiles with intricate patterns on both sides. Very distinctive and very beautiful.

So far, the people we´ve spoken with have talked only indirectly about the country´s decades of turbulence in the not-so-distant past. But everyone seems to agree that corruption among politicians is still rampant, that the capital city is particularly dangerous and that so many foreigners have moved to Antigua that the houses are now priced well beyond the range of nearly all Guatemalans. One apparently sold recently for $9 million.

As promised here are some of the highlights so far (we've included thumbnails for easier loading - you can click on them for full-size images). Back to Antigua today, this time on a better bus, we hope.

This was the first of four buses to Xela.

The really cool church in San Andres Xecul. Note the jaguars at the top.

San Simon presiding over some offerings - and taking a cigarette break.

A good rule for travelers is to know exactly where your bus is going. Count us among those who have learned that lesson. We are in Quetzaltenango (or Xela), which is a fascinating town in the western highlands of Guatemala, but getting here was almost as interesting.

A supposedly direct shuttle from Antigua began heading in the exact opposite direction, back to the airport, but we realized the scam almost immediately and got out ($26 poorer). For the rest of the afternoon, we hopped from one school bus turned chicken bus to another. The first was called California and decked out with chrome fenders and brightly colored decals for days (we promise pictures soon, just need to figure that out).

We quickly realized that no school would ever send its students where these buses went. Fear is being in a bus racing another up a fog and dust covered mountain, and you are clearly in the wrong lane. But the final cost after 5 hours was much easier on our wallets. $3.25 each.

First night in Xela was rather trying as our bathroom had a flimsy screen window that looked right into the hotel kitchen and Geoff demonstrated the security issues when he picked the lock in 2 seconds flat. We survived.

Now in a much better hotel and have been to largest and highest market in Guatemala in a town called San Francisco El Alto, where vendors were selling everything from brightly colored cloth to World Wrestling Federation T shirts. Both seemed equally popular. At the very top of the hill was the live animal market, with pigs, chickens, cows, sheet and barely controlled chaos. Incredible.

San Andres Xecul, a nearby town, has a flaming yellow church with a wild facade, including pot bellied cherubs, vines and jaguars. But the most interesting sight was the home of San Simon (or Maximon), a kind of evil saint that seems to be one part Catholic tradition and two parts Maya folklore. You can visit him, actually a gussied up mannequin with sunglasses and a cowboy hat, and make wishes with colored candles if you want. Black candles if you want to wish ill on someone. He loves cigarettes and liquor and goes to bed promptly at 6 p.m. every night. The affable owner, Rafael, diverted us momentarily so he could light San Simons cigarette to complete the effect.

Last night, we inadvertently happened upon a rally by a socialist student movement. A bizarre parade with cloaked and hooded students, some wearing skull masks, kind of like a repurposed Semana Santa procession, complete with incense and fireworks. Impassioned speeches followed. Then everyone danced and sold keychains.

Today, we visited a glass cooperative, where they make an amazing variety of products from recycled glass (green comes from 7 UP bottles and brown from Gallo beer bottles). In a town called Zunil, we soaked in wonderful volcanic hot springs high in the hills, visited another version of San Simon and visited another cathedral. The cathedral has a beautiful white facade and inside, we saw portable altars with endearingly tacky icons of Mary and Jesus (complete with Cher hair) awaiting Semana Santa processions.

Quite the cultural introduction to Guatemala.