From Antigua to Flores

On Sunday morning November 29th I took the optional OAT tour Life in Guatemala’s Mayan Villages.  As such we went by tour bus to the village of Santa Maria de Jesus.  Although this village is only 4km from Antigua it seems like it is isolated as we saw no other tourists the entire morning.  

Richard had plan for us to arrive just before mass let out at the village church so we could see all the people wearing their traditional dress.  But, alas, for some unknown reason mass was let out about 40 minutes early!  So we only saw a few people who hung around.  Still we tour the small church.

Altar

View from inside church front door

After a walk through the village market, we took the bus to another village, San Juan del Obispo.  Here we met up with Lucy the owner of a small shop there that makes handmade chocolate solely for hot chocolate.  We got to see the whole process.

Here I am roasting the cocoa beans

Lucy and Jane, a fellow traveler, are breaking so the roasted bean shells

Jane is sifting the cocoa meat from the shells

Once the cocoa meat is separated, then you must press it out by kneading on a type stone board in order to turn it into cocoa butter.  Then you add sugar and any other natural flavor you may want to add.  The final product is a hard paste which is either made into tablets or dry into powder.  These tablets and powder are sold so customers can make hot chocolate by simply had hot water or milk and mixing.

After a large lunch, we then left for the airport in Guatemala City.  On the way, we saw more eruptions from Fuego Volcano.

This view of Fuego is a bit blurred but you get the idea

We arrived at the airport over 2 hours early for our flight only to discover it was delayed.  They estimated it would be 1:35 hour delayed.  However after about 2 hours of waiting, they announced that the flight was canceled as the pilot was incapacitated.   Richard, our group leader, was quick to respond.  The airline offer him a free hotel and meals at an airport hotel for all 13 of us.  But that would have messed up the itinerary so Richard hung tough.  The airline finally decided it was in they best interest to cancel another flight that was using the same type of small turboprop plane.  Thus the plane to Managua, Nicaragua became out plane to Flores, Guatemala.  When all was said and done, we got to our hotel in Flores about 2 hours late.

On Monday morning we left our Flores hotel early and took the 1+ hour bus trip to Tikal Natural a Park.  This may be the largest Mayan ruins site as it is massive with just a small part uncovered and then even a smaller part that was restored.  The Mayas pyramids were solid stone structures.  But the Mayas would built over these pyramids again and again every hundred or so years.  So it is common to see three set of stairs when the pyramids make apart.

A scale model of the main part of Tikal

An unusual tree in the park that is being run over by air plants!

Mayans always built their pyramids in pairs

More ruins…

We returned to our hotel in Flores in the middle of the afternoon.   Tomorrow we have a long bus ride to Belize.

Antigua

One last view on Lake Atitlan as we left town.On Thursday morning (Thanksgiving)  we left our hotel in Panajachel and headed towards the big Thursday market in Chichicastenango.

One last view on Lake Atitlan as we leave town

During the trip, we stopped in a small town where Richard met up with this shaman who was on his way to perform a ceremony at the cemetery.  He is famous locally as he accompanied Nobel Peace Prize winner, Rigoberta Menchu, to Norway in 1992 to perform a ceremony for her.  

On arrival in Chichicastenango, we met up with two local guides that Richard had arranged for  previously.  Then we went for a tour of both the market and the town.

This large Indian market operates on both Thursdays and Sundays.  It is centered about a  large central plaza.

The produce market from above.  Note the basketball hoops.  Except for the two market days (Thursday & Sunday), this building serves as an indoor basketball court.

The local worship is a combination of Indian and Christian elements in the local parish church of Santo Tomás built in1540.

Santo Tomás and the shamans ‘smoking' the entrance to prevent evil spirits

Next to the Santo Tomás church is a Dominican monastery dating from 1542; in it the Popol Vuh, a well-known Mayan manuscript, was found in 1690.  Popol is a very important document in the history of the Mayas.  It tells about the creation of mankind.

This sign commemorates the the finding of the Popol Vuh

Local guide Tomas putting on an elaborate costume that is rented for semi annual pageants.

Colorful cemetery in Chichicastenango

Finally before we got to our hotel in Antigua, we stopped at a shop that converts US school buses into Guatemalan Chicken Buses.  The average conversion consist of shortening the bus by three rows of seats, replacing the seats, installing luggage racks inside over the seats and on the roof for luggage and painting the bus in custom colors.  This conversion cost only about $4,000 but takes about 6-7 weeks.  To that price an owner must add the cost of the used bus and cost of changing the transmission to a manual transmission (9 or 12 speed) and possibly the changing the engine to a larger one.  This buses are made to be fast in the hill country and to be small enough to maneuver around cramped areas.

A bus in process and Richard talking with the head worker

On Friday morning we walked down to the town market.  This day is devoted to “A day in the life” by OAT.  On the way to the market, we saw this man who is a member of the Antigua Fire Department working the street corner for donations.  Obviously, money is hard to come by here.

 

The market is also the Chicken Bus station for Antigua.  We were supposed to take a Chicken Bus to our next stop, a local town, Jocotenango.  But Richard decided that was a bit too dangerous as they have killed 279 Chicken Bus Drivers in Guatemala so far this year.  Apparently these drivers refused to be exhorted so the extortionists paid (man on a motorcycle) to have them shot while they are driving.

Instead of taking a Chicken Bus, we rode our own bus to Jocotenango.  On the way we stopped a local artist who does extensive sawdust sidewalk sculpture.  Actually he is a mason by profession but he does major art for the local pageants.  This art is only found Guatemala.  The artist buys the sawdust from local wood mills and then dye the sawdust by boiling it in dye pots.  Then the artists create their design from their own predetermined drawings and stencils.  

Here is me trying it out.  Maybe I missed my calling?

After the sawdust workshop, we stopped at a local primary and middle school that is sponsored, in part, by the Grand Circle Foundation.  This school is the first English/Spanish school in Guatemala.  It is free to the students for qualify as it is meant primarily for families that cannot afford alternatives.  Unfortunately today is in the middle of a school holiday (coffee harvesting) so there are no kids here.  Still the teachers wanted us to stop and tour the facilities as they want to thank all for Grand Circle for all their help.  Of course they are always looking for more sponsors…

After the school visit, we continued on to Jocotenango.  

The church in the main square in Jocotenango

We will have home-hosted lunch here by a family that is also supported by the Grand Circle Foundation.  But before lunch Richard gives us a little exercise.  He writes down items in Spanish of produce that will be used in today’s lunch.  Then he gives us some money and we are to purchase the items in the local market.  He also takes back the paper he wrote on so we couldn’t simply hand it to the produce vendor.  I got lucky in that I was to buy “seis chilies wake”.  I didn’t know what type of chilies they were but it was easy buying them.  I now know chilies wake are dried red chilies!

We gave all the produce to brought to the family for had already prepared lunch for us.  Belinda was our hostess.  She was helped out by her mother, sister and oldest daughter.  They prepared a nice meal consisting of tostadas, vegetables, chicken, a type of gravy, tortillas and, for dessert, a type of swe mole.

After lunch on the way back to Antigua, we stopped at a famous local artist that specializes to making model birds from clay.  Actually, he is internationally famous as he has personally shown his art in Europe and America numerous times.  He demonstrated his ability for us by sculpturing a bluejay while we talked with us!

On Saturday morning, we got a local guide to show us Antigua.  Antigua was the Spanish capital of the area until the big earthquake of 1774.  After many rumors, the King of Spain finally decided to move the capital in 1776 to the location now known as Guatemala City.  Apparently 1776 was a very happening year.

We started our city tour by going, by bus, to a scenic overlook over the town.

This volcano is the one that is really active.  According to the locals, it has been spurting lava the last few nights.

Then we took the bus back in town to tour the restored convent of Santo Domingo.  This incredible restoration was entirely paid for by the family that owns the Hotel Santo Domingo.  We started the tour two blocks away where the hotel has built an underground walkway/museum to continue the underground garage to the hotel.  

I don’t feel any photos can do justice to show off the magnificent way this hotel has be created around the ruins.  No expense has been spared in the restoration.  On top of that there are several museums here that are special unto themselves.  There is a museum that compares ancient sculptures to modern ones.  All sculptures here are works of arts!  Then there is a museum of of the statues found in the old churches here.  The detail of some of these works is remarkable.  Unfortunately photos are not allowed inside any of the museums.

Some of the ruins

The old main alter which is now used for weddings

Next we visited San Francisco Cathedral.  This was the home of Saint Peter of Saint Joseph (1626-1667).  The first saint from Central America.  People are still lining up here to visit his grave vault.  Pictures inside were not allowed.

Church and hospital run by Catholic Church and named after Saint Peter of Saint Joseph

Here is yet another church.  Although it was built in 1688, it looks much newer as the outside is redone every few years.

The Cathedral opposite the main plaza.  This church is really only a facade as the rest is in ruins.  

The main altar looking towars the front facade

The main plaza in Antigua

Tomorrow, Sunday, we will be traveling my plane to the Guatemalan lowlands.

Lake Atitlan

On Tuesday morning we left the concrete jungle of Guatemala City and headed to Lake Atitlan.  This lake region has been called the “closest thing to Eden on Earth”.  It is a beautiful and deep lake - being the deepest in Central America at more than 1,000 feet.  

On this road trip we stopped several  times.

A small Mayan town municipal water hole for washing.  

One of my co-travelers handing out the hotel give-me's like soap, lotion, etc to the kids at the laundry site.  Our group leader had already given them packs of cookies.

Check both the size and perfection of these carrots. Doesn't this soil look amazing?

We stopped at a trade school for women that is sponsored by a Spanish foundation.  Women come here from over 4 hours away to learn a trade like sewing, baking, weaving, etc.

Lake Atitlan from my hotel balcony.  Hotel Porto Del Largo in Panajachel

On Wednesday November 25th we took a charter boat over Lake Atitlan to the town of Santiago.  

On the way to Santiago we saw this volcano smoking or is it just a cloud?

Santiago is the largest town along the lake with about 35,000 people.  Panajachel has about 11,000.  In Santiago we had a local guide who took us to see the Mayan deity of Maximon.  

According to our native guide, the Mayas foresaw the invasion of foreigners.  So they got together and put all their energy into the formation of a god to protect them.  This is how Maximon came into being.  However as the story goes, shortly after being created the elders caught Maximon being naughty - running around and putting his hands into everything.  The elders then gathered and decided to resolve this situation by cutting off Maximon’s hands and legs and then tieing him down.  

When the Spanish invaded they tried to captured Maximon but the Mayas passed him around from house to house to confuse the Spaniards.  In the end, Maximon did protect the Mayas in that they pretended to convert to Catholicism but really Maximon was still their deity.  The Spaniards never did find Maximon but the tradition of moving him around still is carried on today.  Every year Maximon is moved to another shaman’s house.  He also is still tied down but today these ties are made of neckties.   

Today the Mayas have Maximon smoking cigarettes and drinking hard liquor.  I really didn’t understand the symbolism the guide tried to explain about this.  It seems the smoke is meant to cleanse and the alcohol is meant to avoid alcoholism?  Whatever, now most every group has to bring him a bottle and one of his assistants pour it down his throat.  (We all wonder where the liquor goes but we all thought it in bad taste to ask.). One of Maximon’s assistant also puts a cigarette in his mouth and lights it.  Seems he is a chain smoker to boot.  BTW, Maximon’s face (wood mask) is replaced annually with a new craved one.

We next stopped at the town’s Cathedral.  

This church has a memorial on his priest who was killed in the civil war in the 1980s.  This native town was split between the army and the gorillas.  But this all came to a head in 1989 when the army fired on a peaceful protest outside their small fort.  They killed 13 people - including 2 children.  This proved to be the breaking point for the town.  They had enough.  So the town all got together and forced the army out.  Other native towns took note and followed suit.  Today they still have no presence here!

This 74 year old woman is demonstrating how to wrap her cloth into the hats that the local women wear here.  While the young girls in town still wear this hats on special occasions they don't know to to wrap them as they use hats that are preformed.

After the tour of Santiago, we took the boat back to the other side of the lake near Panajachel.  We had lunch here and then visited a women’s weaver co-op.  

Note the bicycle wheel used to spool the tread

Finally before we returned to the hotel we took in a small town’s festival in celebration to its saint day.  

Note the guy controlling the Ferris wheel on the right foreground.  He is using a car engine and transmission.  He cranked up the speed thru second and third gears as we watched.  It is definitely the fastest Ferris wheel I have ever seen and the kids were having a blast.  But just how safe can this be?

This is a dance of the town’s young people trying to outdo other towns.  They are wearing painted masks and wigs.  I know this picture is out of focus.  I blame it on the loud music.  It was the loudest music and the deeper beat I have ever had the misfortune to experience!