Encima del mundo

El fin de semana pasada, no puedo creer ha estado tanto tiempo, pero el fin de semana pasada subì al volcàn Tajumulco, el volcán más alto de todo de Centroamérica, posee más de 4000meters. ¡Que increíble! Aquí estan alugunas fotos:

Camionetas o chicken buses in gringo.
They are colorful, lively, blessed by our lord,
and los conductors son locos...all this for fifty
cents an hour.


















We at the beginning...




Up there, way up there, is where we go....




















Wild turkey, it did a dance!
On the way we saw...

Feet and flora at the top...

So, the deal is this...here where my feets are is our base camp. These feets are ones that have walked 7km uphill in very high alititudes. Era dificil, pero, las vistas eran...something else entirely. Despues de hicimos campamento, we climbed to the smaller of the peaks for the sunset....

























I find it really hard to get an acurate portrayal of the sun setting on this camera, so I will spare you seeing the twenty attempts I made....it was gorgeous though.












Dinner was had, bed was made, and we slept....I also have no pictures to convey how very cold it was, below zero, celsius, but still worth it. The next morning we woke up early, 4am, and walked the 1km mas to the top, for the sunrise.


Here are the ten peaks under which Xela sits, and from which part of its name is derived


and here is the shadow of santa maria

So, Tajumulco was so good. I saw a since abandoned guerilla camp, but not very animals because said guerillas ate most of them during the guerra civíl. The volcano is also in need of many more trees, because the then military run government destroyed loads of them trying to eradicate the guerillas. I am becoming a student of guatemalan polictics here as well, thanks to my maestros.

The group I went with are called Quetzaltrekkers, where all the guides are volunteers and all the money goes to the kids. They just started a sister branch in Bolivia, so those of you who find yrself here or there, look into it. I am looking forward to a five day trek with them from Nebaj to Todos Santos, to see some seldom seen Guatemala and speak some beloved and bountiful spanish.

Still love Guatemala, learning loads, seeing loads, doing loads. Still love you all too, even more so. I think I may try to swing a couple of more weeks than originally planned here, but I will see you all so soon.

Pues...

This is a little off subject, but its significance, whatever that may be, is heavy on me. I have been dreaming a lot since I arrived in Guatemala. Vivid, and some terrifying, dreams. I cannot recall the last time I have awaken, for so many days in succession, in such intense states. I do not know if the unfamiliar surroundings are the culprit, or something more intrinsic, but there they are and here I am.

Since Jack passed away, I have had very few dreams of him. More significant is the fact that in all of those dreams he is only in the form of an inherent, sensed presence. Sometimes it is just his voice. I have not seen him once since the summer of 2004, in life or dream. Last night, in my dream, we talked. Over the phone this time. The topic of conversation is inconsequential.

Today I have a dark cloud following me around. I am without much enthusiasm and lacking some serious spunk. Today I want to say I miss Jack. Today it is important to tell this to all of you.

pretty things to see

Here is Questzaltenango heading sur al centro



Here is Quetzaltenango from the roof de mi escuela


Here is a Pupuseria turned used clothing store. Pupusas are El Salvadoran deliciosos of dumpling, queso, cabbage, y carne si deseas.



Aqui son estudiantes de mi escuala en el pueblo dondè La Guardarìa esta. La Guarderìa = the daycare my school works with.

Trabajando en la estufa......

¡La estufa!

Donde construimos la estufa.....

¿Como se dice en español?

I wish I could say all of these wonderful things to you in Spanish, but I do not know enough words (todavìa) to convey how wonderful this first week in Guatemala has been.

I arrived to la cuidad de guate late thursday. In the ten hours I spent there I have only to say that Dos Lunas is a lovely and attentive hostel and staying in zona 13 means lots of loud and not very inviting noises. I hope that I see more of the city on my way back that way.

The next afternoon I arrived in Quetzaltenango, or Xela as the locals refer to it. I spent much of the weekend walking so much and seeing so much and doing actually very little, outside of eating. The food here is awesome, so so cheap and friendly to my kind. Los mercados are amazing, overflowing with the brightest verduras and freshest frutas. The street vendors sell tostadas covered with raw beets, carrots, squash, soya, guacomole, etc. The eggs are the best I have eaten. Panderias and tortillerias on every corner. And the tortillas here are thick and homemade and always warm...like magic.

I started school on monday, and am here 8 to 1, lunes a viernes. Mi maestro se llama Alberto and we study all over the city. The school was founded to fund various proyectos and los estudiantes are able to particiate in some of them. They have a medical program that runs a free clinic downstairs, so I am meeting lots of doctors to be from all over, whom make up the bulk of my friends here. Monday we have cinema nights at the school, where we watch movies about or made by Guatemaltecos. Tuesday I went and volunteered at a day care and did some cleaning and painting in preparation for school to start. Later, my friend Andre and I went to an awesome lectutra given by Willy, a guatemalteco who fought in the civil war here in Guatemala in the eightes, as a guerilla, and fled to los estados unidos in 1996, as a polictical refugee, when the peace treaty was signed. He spoke of his experiencias as a migrant, his ideas for sustainable living here in Guatemala, and showed a documentary he directed. This was great, as you all know my passion for working with the immigrant and refugee peoples.

I met a girl named Su from Canada who spoke to Willy, who knows of many proyectos locales that need volunteers. She is off to an organic coffee farm for the next three to four weeks, where I may join her next month some time.

Yesterday I went to a beautiful pueblito northwest of xela and built a stove. Yes, a stove. It is part of another proyecto the school has, building safe stoves en el campo. Most homes traditionally cook on open fires, inside. We go in, buy the products and build the stoves, designed by an engineer here at the school. I cut tiles and bricks with a machete, mixed clay and cement, laid clay and cement, and other fun things. I will post fotos as soon as I can of este estufa muy bella.

Some other neat things I found are a track down the street from my house where I can run, yoga classes that cost 15 quetzales, about 2 dollars, how my name is pronounced en español, hot springs, a cafe that shows spanish, french and itallian films with spanish subtitles (very good practice), great cafè (which I guess I drink now), pretty trees and flowers that grow in between the tiles on roofs, many nice cats and dogs, very polite people (except that hijo de puta that grabbed my ass last night as he rounded a corner on his bike) and all things foriegn that teach me and awe me.

Long story not so short I love it here. And I have so much more to see and do. This weekend I am going up with some students to the tallest point in Centro America, Volcon Tajumulco. It is a two day hike, which we finish at sunrise on sunday! No worries mama, we have a guide. I promise to put some pictures to supplement this narration after then. I love you all muchisimo and there are things I wish you were here to experience with me. And if I get to live here one day you will. many, many hugs and kisses, laurel