2/6/09
We have finished our 4th week of Spanish school. I have many verbs and scrambled verbs running around my head (when I can find them) but not much to connect them to. We have meet some other students who have taken a lot of Spanish in high school or collage and still do not understand the locals when thy talk regular speed, so I don’t fell to bad about not understanding them yet, even when they talk slow. We have made a change in plans and will go to Lake Atitlan on the 16th for 5 nights, instead of staying here for 6 weeks. We need a break to rest and study what we have before the last 6 weeks
2/10/09
On Saturday we hiked Chicabal Volcano near San Marcos. We where supposed to meet at the school at 6:30 am to go to the volcano, when we got there only one other student showed up. We thought that the other 2 decided not to go as one of them was looking for us the night before. Then after 15 minutes the guide did not show up either. We waited another 10 minutes then Elizabeth the other student knocked on the door of the school to wake up Julio the school owner. He told us the guide and other students left at 6:15. We where not happy as apparently there was a change in plans and we were not informed and they left 15 minutes before we got there. Julio said he would take us to the volcano, so he grabbed his 10 year old daughter and we headed out. When we turned off the main road to the volcano we found our guide and other students hiking up the steep road which was 5 kilometer to the volcano. Apparently they had left early to catch the chicken bus which dropped them off at the bottom of the road. Our SUV was full so Julio did not stop to pick them up. On up the hill Alicia, kids and Elizabeth had to get out and walk because the SUV was underpowered for the hill. We thought that Julio would go back and get the other students but he did not. For us it turned out nice as we did not have to hike the 5 kilometers to the entrance. We hiked about a kilometer to the top and down to the lake in the crater and around the lake. It was very pretty and quiet I could have stayed there all day. For the Mayans it’s a sacred lake so there is no swimming in it. We had taken a dirt trail down to the lake but took the stairs back up. The girls counted 635 stairs on the way up. At the top we sat in the overlook and watched Satiaguito erupt. The guide and the other students caught a pickup truck on the way down.
2/14/09
This week we finished our 5th and final week of Spanish school in Xela. We had a Valentines Day party on our last day of school as they celebrate Valentines Day in a big way here. Each set of teachers and students made a different type of “enchilada” (our Tostitos). Then our family was given our certificate showing that we had competed level one. We were asked to speak Jared and my talks were very short and Alicia and Shannon’s were longer. Shannon sounded like a native, she then broke down and cried as she was going to miss her teacher. This is the girl who did not want to be here in Xela for the first week and a half. She also stated she could live here.
On Tuesday we had a lecture in the evening about the economics of Guatemala that was interesting. Went back to Fuentes Georgians hot springs, a lot more people this time. On Thursday morning we went to Salcaja about 30 minutes from here. It is known for its weaving. At one place we watched as they dyed threads bundles by hand in a tub. Actually by foot as they put the thread bundles in the tub of and stomped on it for a while then squeezed out the excess by hand using a stick. The thread bundles are bundles of thread that are tied together at predetermined intervals that allows the dye to penetrate certain areas leaving a green area then a white area on the tread for example. They can then tie off areas to add other colors to the thread. After the thread bundles are dyed they are hung out to dry. The next place we stopped was a open field where they take the tread bundles and unravels them out into long section and connect them to other bundles. The whole length of the finished section was about 200 feet or so. The finishing drying also takes place here. These long sections are then put on bundles to feed to the looms.
We went to see the weaving looms after we stopped at central Americas oldest Catholic Church. The church is 500 years old. We where not able to go in apparently the roof is in bad shape so they only use it on Saturdays.
The weaving loom was located on the upper story of the weavers home. The weaving in this area is all done by hand and the fabric is for the ladies skirts and aprons and other indigenous needs. The loom its self is wood and is worked by hand. It takes 20 hours just to set up a run of fabric. It takes 10 hours to make enough fabric for one skirt. it’s an eight step process from start to finish.
Saturday morning we took a trip up the Totonicapan to see the town and market. The town is about 1 hour and 15 minutes from here and the area is pretty with a lot of pine trees. We bought a section of cloth (the hand woven fabric) 8 feet $40, to put on the wall at home. I want Alicia to get some more fabric for a skirt. I also got pickpocket at the market they got 25 Q or about $5. On Thursday I had bought a wallet that has a string so you can hang it around your neck and drop it inside your shirt. I had seen other backpackers use these on other trips that’s why I bought one and it paid off as I was using it today. If I had been pick pocketed at the other markets we went to they would have gotten a lot more.
We went to a Indian restaurant tonight and it was very good . Another student a 18 year old girl from MA went with us. She is at the school for a month then she meets a friend who will travel with her for 2 of her remaining 4 weeks in Guatemala.
It is interesting I was reading a Michener book in which he was talking about the sound barrier to new language. The sound barrier is where the new language just sounds like noise as your mind does not recognize the language thus it is just noise as you have no understanding. But after you hear the language enough you then start picking up some words then at some point you break through and start hearing all the words (even if you don’t know the meaning) not just a lot of noise. This is when you can start learning the language. I have been hearing a lot of noise but am starting to pick up words, I hope to break the barrier soon.
For the most part temperatures have improved over the last few weeks. A few nights I went without my sweater. There weeks ago I think Xela was near a record low the temps made the national paper. They stated the Xela area was down to 5 C (=- 23 F). Last week we were down to 5 C again. Not to bad except nearly all homes do not have heat. On the warmer days the kids room is up to 55 F in the morning.
Tomorrow we pack for Lake Atitlan and warmer temps. Hopefully we can pack up our Under Amour and sweaters.
We have liked Xela a lot and would like to come back, especially at the end of the rainy season before it gets dry. Its nice to be in an area and not see many tourist, at least in our part of town. When we go out to the villages we hardly see any tourist, actually I don’t remember seeing any. I am not looking forward to all the tourist in Antigua.
2/17/09s
We are in San Marcos at Lake Atitlan. Its very pretty here the lake is 8 x 18 kilometers. Our hotel is right on the water the Jinava Bay and it is real nice. Our private boat took us right to the hotel dock, which turned out nice as it would have been a good hike up through town and back down to the hotel. The hotel is only $30 a night. And it is warmer here our room was 66 F this morning I think it was in the upper 70’s today. Its nice to have a week off of school. San Marcos is a hippy town with a bunch of holistic places. We meet a short hair hippy left over from the 60’s at breakfast. The town is small the guide book says 3000 people but I don’t know where they are. There is no banks or large stores, everyone shops in Panachel or San Pedro crossed the lake. We took a tut tut ( a three wheel transport imported from India} to San Pedro today walked around there then took a boat back. On the way back to the hotel we took a little path along the lake the path was pretty bad in places but it was pretty. There were cliffs along the way where people were sun bathing and we were told they cliff jump there. We sat on the beach, studied and swam a little. Right now