ay ay ay...tengo que jugar catch up

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Despues mi tiempo en Los Cuchumatanes regrese a Xela por un ratito. Por mi ruta, parè en Huehue y tropecè con un amigo, Marcos. Nos quedamos aquì en Xela, Casa Argentina.  Los cuartos aqui son super baratos y el ambiente muy tranquilo.  

Despues Marcos y yo viajamos al Lago Atitlan, donde nos quedamos en San Pedro La Laguna. El lago era fenòmenol, un cràter viejo de un volcòn, ahora llenò con agua, rodeado por otros volcones. Una vista por segura. Pero, me molestè el pueblo de San Pedro, al menos el turismo. Me parecè que la mayoridad de los negocios les dan muy pocos a la comunidad.  Me gustaria haber pasado mas teimpo explorando otros pueblos circundante el lago...otra vez.

Dos dìas màs tarde hubo màs buses pollos y mucho calor durante el viaje a Monterrico. Monterrico es una playa de la costa Pacifica con arena negra, vistas hermosas, cangrejitos, muchisimas aves, mangroves, pescados frescos, micheladas, y nada màs hacer pero relaja en una hamaca por horas. Tambien, Monterrico es un lugar donde yo conocì y pasè mi tiempo con amigos preciosos. Estaba aqui pase algunas de los mejores dias de mi viaje.  Estaba aqui tambien donde cai y me heri mi pie. Pero, que mejor lugar esta sedentaria, en una hamaca con vistas y brisas del mar.  Era maravilloso.

amigos preciosos

pie herido

Viento del mundo (el segundo parte)

When I last left, I was going to sleep in Xecocon, which I did. The next few days I will condense into images, rather than many words, mostly because they do better justice to the beautiful scenery than my written meandering.

We awoke before dawn to hike up some 90 switchbacks, 3.5 horas of invigorating work, to rest here, and watch el sol rise...

We then saw these things along our way...


















Entonces nosotros dormimos, barely, on a dirt floor in an old barn in Canton Primero. Not so remarkable. But, oh what was to come...

this next day was my favorite. We hiked through so many different zones, the vegetation and scenery went from altiplano, to massive rock formations, to old growth forest. We hiked up two hills dubbed Hell Hill and the Bitch, rightfully so. And this day too produced the most baby animal sightings yet. I saw baby dog, baby pig, lamb, baby fowl, baby goat...and spoke to all of them in my best spanish. I tried to take pictures of them all, but they were hard to capture. Take my word on their adorableness, especially the piglets...

Despues hitching a ride encima de a dump truck filled with gravel,

this night was spent in La Ventosa, the home of Geranimo y familia. We were so warmly recieved, with beds, mashed potatoes, tortillas and la temezcal. La temazcal, or chuj in Mam, is a type of sauna in which the indigenas use as their ducha. It consists of an adobe brick igloo, some hot coals upon which to pour some hot water for steam, and a basin of cold water to rinse with. It is possibly the best thing ever after three days of climbing.

La proxima mañana subimos a La Torre, the highest non volcanic peak in all of Central America. And from there we went down, en mi caso slid down, a Todos Santos de Las Cuchumatanes.

Estas son las vistas ví este dìa...

Los demàs salimos la proxima mañana para Xela, pero me quedè en Todos Santos por una semana de clases. Todos Santos es un pueblo de 3000 personas settled in a valley of the Cucuhumatans. Practically every person, inclye los hombres, wears traditional traje....beautiful traje. The colors they use here are stunning, deep purples and tealsand maroons. My Todos Santos madre weaved these brilliant textiles, so I was given the chance to see the process. The family also grew mushrooms, mi verdura favorita. And I can vouche that the papas here are the best in Guatemala.

I woke up todas las mañanas knowing I was in the mountains, not by memory or sight, but by a more abstract sense. And the feeling and sights in the middle of the night, being in Guatemala, in that valley, in those mountains, under that sky, rivaled some of the better ones in my life.

I will spare you the deatils of my first bout with a Guatemalan parasite, except that of course it was going to happen in a place with no more than an outhouse for a bathroom. Mi madre aqui was very madre like though and insisted I sweat it out in the chuj, which I did.

So this ends my two week trek through the Guatemalan highlands. I am not sure exactly how much ground I covered, but it is a really impressive and large number of kilometers. Again I leave you all with my unwavering love and best wishes and sincere anticipation to give you all loads de abrazos very soon.

Viento del mundo (parte uno)

Salcaja

San Andreas Xecul
Nebaj

Xexocon

Canton Primero

La Ventosa

Todos Santos

Huehuetenango

Chichicastenango

San Pedro Laguna

Esta es una lista de todos los lugares he visitado estas dos semanas. Había más, pero no recuerdo los nombres. Para razones obvios no hablo sobre cada pueblo, pero creéme, todos eran iluminaciónes.

Myself and the Questzaltrekkers started our journey in Nebaj, a pueblo in the highlands that was hard hit durante la guerra civil. Los guerilleros lived escondidos en las montañas de los highlands and as a result of their presence their, as well as their pressures on the campesinos to join their cause, los soldados del ejercito punished the townpeople both directly and indirectly (if you can call it that). To set examples they made the indigenas kill their own, as a pledge of allegiance, as well as ordered every able bodied hombre (o muchacho) to join the civil patrols. The guerilla luchadores were not innocent either, they too had their own examples to set, punishing those who, forcibly, had joined the army. What ended up happening was hermano contra hermano. Es una historia muy triste.

Aqui es el cemetario en Nebaj, y un mural honorando las vidas perdidas...

We stayed the night in Nebaj at a hostel owned by a man named Don, a chain smoker and ex pat who has lived in Guatemala por 25 años. The name is Popis. You should stay there too if you get to Nebaj. He makes a great pesto and panqueque.

The next morning nos levantamos a las 6 and began the long walk. This is where we are heading, los Cuchumatanes...

We walked and saw native plants, we walked under the bluest sky, we walked and dipped in the clearest river, we walked and I talked to every animal, in spanish, we walked and talked and shared our lives, we walked and learned the story of the land, we walked and stopped at a queso finca, we walked and ate ice cream, we walked and greeted the locals.

We then landed here, Xecocon, where we would sleep in a building known as the community center. Many pueblos throughout the department of HueHue got together and created kind of an infrastructure to support tourism. Part of this is the community centers built to host both events and persons. Another thing I have to remark on here is the water, so clean. Clean enough to drink from the source. Es raro aquí.

Unfortunately I will have to leave you all hanging. This is a time consuming entry and I want to go play a bit. There is more to come soon. I love you all and am glad you like my stories and pictures. They are here for you like you are for me. xo

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