...Well, I have been living in Panajachel, Lago Atitlan, Guatemala for the past couple of months. I have been having a good time hanging out with César
Yes, Panajachel is a tourist ghetto, which was defined by a Russian traveler I met as a place where over 50% of the businesses are geared towards tourists. Panajachel does fit this description, but it is an interesting paradox. As I think about tourist ghettos in the United States, I must say that tourism draws out the extroverts and the artists. Panajachel definitely has the best selection of artisan goods I have seen (and cheaper than the tourist trap known as Chichicastenango) and it is just amazing the artistic capabilities of the people who live here. Right down to the clothes they wear everyday, the whole town is filled with walking masterpieces.
And as for extroverts...when people are used to seeing tourists they are more willing to talk to you. I just recently visited a small mountain town of Momostenango to visit my gringo friends Scout and Eric before they head up to Mexico. It was a nice trip, although Momos is a bit high in altitude and I didn´t feel to well.
But, Eric told me something interesting.
There is myth circulating around the Guatemalan highlands that white people sometimes come to Guatemala to steal children. Now this may or may not be true, but recently there was an article in one of the local papers that said that about 15million children are trafficked through Guatemala for sexual and fiscal exploitation. So maybe the fear is justified, but the result is that when Eric and Scout are walking around Momos, they sometimes encounter Mayan women pulling their children close or children running away in what seems like fear. It is an interesting scenario, which makes me love Pana all the more because there is no fear of white people. Only that they might not spend their money.
My time here started with a little trip to the neighboring pueblo of Santa Catarina where there is a hot spring and it is also where some of my friends en la calle are from. César and I walked there in a bout an hour, but people usually come by pick-up in about 25 minutes.
At my request, my mom had sent a package of things to César and enclosed were some crayons and paper.
Throughout my time here I have befriended a little troupe of girls from Santa Catarina. They are girls who vend in the street because their parents need all the money they can get. Somehow, through a few experiences, I began showing these girls how to read and write the alphabet in Spanish. It is really interesting to watch these girls as they try to pin down the muscle coordination to be able to draw letters. They range from ages 8-12 and it is possible that they could count the number of times they held a writing utensil, but they can add fairly large numbers in their head. They don´t go to school and they barely speak Spanish because Kaqchikel is their first language. It is fascinating...
Anyway, I brought some of the goods my mom sent me to the house of these girls in Santa Catarina. As a result, I received a little bag and a necklace, from the pile of goods they vend, as thank you gifts.
I have also started giving English classes twice a week to group of kids about 30 minutes outside of Panajachel. César randomly met a woman who has a group of kids she teaches music to while school´s out on vacation. When she found out I was willing to be free labor, she enlisted me as a teacher. This is also fun because there is a lot of giggling as girls try to sound out words in front of boys and vice versa. I can´t wait to see what happens when we start playing games...or if they get too embarrassed I´ll just have them try to teach me Kaqchikel and then we´ll see who´s laughing.
So, I have been taking a lot of chicken buses and I have to admit I think that the chicken buses are my favorite part of Guatemala. For refresh, chicken buses are old school buses that have become the public transportation of western Guatemala. And they are awesome. Each bus has it´s own name and it´s own unique design. You hardly ever see a plain old yellow bus. They are all colorfully painted, playing music and adorned with God and Jesus loving paraphernalia. And they pack these buses full of people mainly because no one has a car. I just love being with all those people...
Oh, a sad thing did happen today though. I was talking with some other girls who vend en la calle and they wanted to get their picture taken with Santa Claus. I asked them if they really believed in Santa Claus and this was the conversation that followed...
"No, I don´t believe in Santa Claus. Well, I don´t believe in the Guatemalan Santa Claus."
"Well, which Santa Claus do you believe in?"
"I believe in the Santa Claus from the United States."
"Why do you believe in that Santa Claus and not the Santa Claus from Guatemala?"
"Because the Santa Claus from the US gives presents and the one from Guatemala doesn´t."
"Why doesn´t the Santa from Guatemala give presents?"
"I don´t know. but, kids form the United States get presents on Christmas. We don´t."
The sad reality of poverty. César never got presents on Christmas either.
Other than that, I have just been hanging out and talking with people. I went to Chichi, a near-by trading town, learned how to make tamales with César´s sister, got my Nahuales from a sacerdote Maya, and I see live Andean music almost every night.
It is a pretty nice life and all the more interesting because it is always happening in Spanish.
Sometimes, without sub-titles.
1 comment:
I like travelling with you through your words. This post was very fitting to this time of year and some of the things I have been thinking about.
(Good looking blog)
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