Casa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Lake Atitlan, 1/9/2010
I can’t believe four days have already flown by. Each day here gets better as we learn more about the Guatemalans and their culture.
Our day started at 8am today because we had a lot to get done. We took a boat across Lake Atitlan to Panajachel, a relatively cosmopolitian town compared to Santa Cruz, where we are staying. On the boat ride there, we had a Mayan family sit in front of us. The Mayans try to keep their interaction with foreigners at a minimum. I tried helping a little girl get on board the boat, and she and her family avoided me and the rest of my group. They wouldn’t even sit next to us. I almost wanted to tell them, “Don’t worry, I don’t bite!” What’s interesting was that there was a baby hanging on the back of her mother from a pouch and she wouldn’t get her eyes off of us the whole boat ride. I am sure she must have been wondering, “Where did these aliens land from!” as she stared at an Egyptian and three Caucasians.
The Mayan family in front of us on the boat ride
When we landed on Panajachel, we experienced event that we would have never expected: We saw the president of Guatemala! As we moored at the shore of Panajachel, a military helicopter spun overhead. We were curious to see what it was going to do next because it kept nearing to the mountains. It then returned to the shore and landed swiftly, blowing so much dust our way. All of the sudden, security personnel surrounded the chopper. As we stood by to watch which important person would come out, a Guatemalan standing next to me almost whispered to me, “That’s our president!” His tone was that of reverence. Our Guatemalan tour guide, Jessica, then confirmed that it was indeed their president. What a thrilling experience to have seen the president of the country we reside in, especially since the political situation in Guatemala has been quite unsettling in the past.
Witnessing the landing of the Guatemalan President on Lake Atitlan:
Later in Panajachel, we toured the local market, which is the Guatemalan equivalent to a Middle Eastern bazaar. The market was filled with Guatemalans going about their daily lives and a few expats here and there. The highlight of our market tour was Dina’s Chocolate, a family owned chocolate store with some of the finest chocolate I’ve tasted in my life because they were produced using organically grown cocoa beans.
The Panajachel Market
Dina's Chocolate
We then grabbed a quick breakfast, at Deli, a local restaurant with the most delicious food I’ve had in a long time. The richness of Guatemala cuisine is mind-blowing. They have the greatest variety of fruits I’ve ever seen in the world, and its all very cheap. This time, I had fluffy banana pancakes topped with honey and a side of fruit salad. This meal definitely made my day!
We eventually toured Panajachel. Our first stop was a Spanish colonial church. We were fortunate enough to witness a wedding. Whenever I see a wedding, I become very happy because I was taught from a young age that this is a festive event and we should be happy for the newlyweds. I snapped a couple of photos of the bride and her father. We even wished the bride good luck in Spanish. It was moving experience witnessing a Guatemalan wedding!
The Spanish colonial church with a Christmas tree in front of it
The Guatemalan Wedding: A photo of the bride
We then toured the townhouse, which was a small garden with a fountain and a mural of the colonization of the Guatemala with the Spaniards fighting the Mayans. The thing about Guatemala is that the simple things that are natural and spontaneous are what make it beautiful, but not the man-made structures. The townhouse was very shabby, but other things make it beautiful, like Maria! Maria was a little 8-year-old girl we ran into that sold us some scarves. The smile on her face was priceless.
Oh yea, for work, we visited a warehouse store where we compared the various types of sand and gravel they have at hand so that we can report to Hydraid, our filter manufacturer, the feasibility of implementing a large-scale filtration project here in Guatemala. Luckily, we found what we needed. We would come back to purchase the materials we need to put the filter together.
We later had lunch at Eco-lodge, a very exclusive hotel/restaurant located at a town neighboring Santa Cruz. We were disappointed by how pricey and how small the portions of food were. Anyways, the view of the lake was worth all the money in the world anyways, so it paid off.
On our walk back to Santa Cruz, we located a beach-like spot for us to go swimming at some point.
When we got back we called it break time. I took this opportunity to read a bit more about Guatemala history, culture, politics, and economics in one of the guidebooks we brought along with us. I didn’t know this country had a rich history like the Ancient Egyptians. Apparently the Ancient Mayans had made many discoveries, such as cocoa, corn, vanilla, and devised many calendar systems. They also had a very elaborate religious system. I wish we could visit some of the Mayan ruins.
I later ran into Jake, one of our group members and we sat on the dock to get some more reading done. We then talked about our lives, what we want to do in the future, and we questioned whether our service work will really have an impact or not. I don’t mean to be pessimistic, but it seems like the problems here are very dire that if we do have an impact, it will be very miniscule. The fact that we have to do this as a school project takes away from the selflessness that I wish I’d dedicate to this project. Anyways, I’ll approach this problem with the best of intentions.
We just finished a group meeting in which we discussed the “macro” issues of the project and we devised a plan of action for the week ahead. We’ll be heading over to the Iguana for dinner and then there’s supposed to be a “cross-dressing” party. Obviously I won’t be cross dressing, but it should be interesting what ends up happening.
Overall, I’m so glad I spent another fruitful day in Guatemala and I’m looking forward to the days ahead with excitement.
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