weekend tidbits and life´s big moments

This weekend Bruce and I had very little planned.  We kind of let the time happen, and thus we happened upon a couple of interesting events.

On Saturday evening, we were returning home from the free movie at a local cafe.  It was dark, nearly 9pm, the witching hour by when you should be safe inside your home - or a taxi.  But we were walking, having chosen the busiest - and what we hoped were the safest - streets.  As we rushed along, we looked up and saw candles flickering from a sidewalk leading into an ancient church.  From the church doors, people were spilling out onto the surrounding lawn and patio where a tent was set up with tables.  The only lighting was candlelight.  Muy romantico!  And then we noticed the bride and groom and realized that we had happened upon a wedding.

We slowed down and nearly stumbled over a case of fireworks sitting on the pavement, about to be set off.  We scurried out of the way and watched while beautiful colored lights went screaming high into the night sky with a resounding boom.  What a way to celebrate a marriage!  Quite enchanting.

Yesterday Bruce went off to a sports bar to watch the World Cup Rugby finals between New Zealand and France.  I was home alone, quietly reading, when I heard band music outside.  The music got closer and closer until it sounded like it was just outside the front door.  I excitedly grabbed my camera and ran to fling open the door.  There, two feet in front of me (there are no front lawns here) was a funeral procession.  I ditched the camera and assumed a sober countenance, too intrigued to close the door.  Everyone was dressed in black, everyone was walking, and the coffin was the largest that I´ve ever seen.  It must have been four feet across and 5 feet tall.  At least 16 -20 people struggled to carry it, including many young women.  Trailing the group were musicians, some playing brass instruments and drums.  They all processed slowly down the street and out of sight.  It seemed very old world and ancient, with none of the modern trappings of hearses and motor cars and funeral directors.

The Guatemalan culture is full of contrasts and ironies.  For example, the used clothing that finds its way down here from the USA.  Today, back at our Safe Passage routine, I couldn´t help but smile at the man we passed on our bus ride, trudging along in this busy, smoggy foreign city, wearing a University of Pennsylvania t-shirt.  And later, at school, the 6 year old boy wearing the Mount Rushmore t-shirt.  Places and names so familiar to us - but just clothing to them.   When we were in Xela,  we spotted a familiar item of clothing  hanging in front of a store - it was a Portland Seadogs sweatshirt!

All is well here in Antigua but it is getting colder and the homes have no insulation or any heating systems.  We are told that these luxuries are not needed because it never gets that cold - let`s hope so!

Back to work

This was our week to begin working at Safe Passage.  Feeling like elementary school kids ourselves, we leave Lucky and Jose´s house each morning with our backpacks to walk the 6 blocks to the bus stop, where we catch a yellow American school bus for the ride to Guatemala City.  Safe Passage provides the bus and driver for the approximately 20 volunteers.  We are the only ¨seniors¨.  Most are young Americans, many from Maine, with a sprinkling of Canadians and Europeans.  Like us, most are here temporarily, but some have found themselves very commited to these children and have extended their stays or have even decided to live here.

Our week began in the pouring rain, with daily mudslides threatening to cut off the road between Antiqua and Guatemala City.  Huge traffic jams slowed things down, stretching out the trip to 2 hours - from the usual 45-60 minutes.  Bruce and I spent the first part of the week working in the kitchen or the storehouse (the bodega), where we bagged 350 bags of navy split peas, donated from Canada.  They will be given out to the Safe Passage families, along with other commodities, to offset the loss of income that results from their children attending school instead of working.  It was a bit mindless, but we got a good system going and were weighing and filling like crazy.  I topped the day off with some time with the two year olds, realizing how much more satisfying kids are than beans!

When the volunteer coordinator returned from the USA on Wednesday, we newcomers, 6 of us, had an intense and thorough day of orientation.  Since my Spanish language skills remain rudimentary, it was decided that I would spend each morning working in the kitchen at the Guarderia, the beautiful day care center, and the afternoons working with the teacher for the 6-7 year olds.  Luckily, I like to muck around with food, so it seems like a good balance and will hopefully allow me to gain more language skill.  Entonces,  following our Thursday holiday to honor the Day of Revolution, I began my new assignment on Friday.

Friday morning involved peeling pineapples, chopping tomatoes, pouring juice for 50 kids, chopping meat, and trying my hand at making tortillas.  Not as easy as it looks!  The two women in the kitchen pat-patted their way through a large mound of corn dough while I struggled to get a few small tortillas to hang together long enough to get onto the griddle.  My goal is to be able to make a decent tortilla by December.  There should be lots of opportunity to practice, since tortillas are served to the kids every day.

The afternoon was spent with the 11 students in the grade between kindergarten and first grade.  The teacher was amazingly adept at fun movement activities for this boy-heavy group, and the afternoon flew by.

In the meantime, Bruce spent part of the day with 12 year olds and part of the day working on an administrative project that promises to be engaging and meaningful.  We´ve both spent time this weekend thinking of our coming responsibilities.  So, we´re off to a good start at Safe Passage.

Photos - finally! - and Antigua Ramblings

These are our fellow students from our Spanish language school in Xela when they visited us last weekend in Antigua.  We have been so lucky to be befriended by amazing ¨kids¨ - most in their 20´s, as these friends are, and a few in their late teens, as are two of our current housemates, both from Maine.  One of the teens, Mia, has just helped me to upload photos from my camera onto this blog. Hopefully, I´ll be able to do it again by myself.  I´m not counting on it, though.  Mia arrived in Antigua this week and will begin with Safe Passage tomorrow - with us.  She´s from Freeport.  At the moment, Bruce is out watching a ball game at a sports bar with the other Maine teenager living at our house, Campbell, from Yarmouth.  Campbell, too, is working at Safe Passage.  These are bright students, taking a year before or during their college careers to do some service work and some exploration of the world.

This is the Cathedral of Santiago, which dominates the Central Plaza in the middle of Antigua.  It is magical when lit at night.  Construcion on the cathedral was begun in 1542, but it was wrecked by the earthquake of 1773.  Only this front facade and a small space behind was saved.  The rest was left as ruins which can be toured.  The city has many, many colonial churches and ruins of churches, as this was the city where everyone wanted to be at the time of the Spanish dominion.  After a number of destructive earthquakes, the Spanish decided to move the capital to its present location in Guatemala City, leaving Antigua in its original state until the last 50 years or so.  Much of it has been restored, though it still oozes old-world charm.

The architecture in colonial Antigua is so European in its provision for privacy and safety.  You walk along the streets and have no idea of what is behind the pretty pastel-colored walls and doors, large and small.  Houses have very few windows, street-side, and those that do exist are usually frosted and barred and often hidden by plants.  They´re like coy Spanish ladies, hiding behind mantillas.  If you should be walking by a door just at the moment that it´s being briefly opened - and you get a glimpse inside, you are apt to see a beautiful interior courtyard with a tiled sitting space around the perimeter and a lush plant-filled interior space, maybe a fountain.  All very enticing at the same time that it is closed off from you.

                         This is another colonial church with big rosary beads hanging in front.

This is the famous arch in Antigua which is an icon, apparently, for Guatemala.  Done up in my favorite color for buildings!  The arch is the remnant of a convent that was here in the 1500s.  Such amazing antiquity, right in our own continent.  Note the cobblestoned streets, lower in the middle to offer a place for rain water to settle.  We´ve been sloshing through them for the past week.  My shoes are still drippy.

This is the closest volcano to the town - Vulcan Agua.  Luckily, it´s inactive. There are two other volcanoes hovering over the town, also, just not as prominently at this one.  The photo is taken from the town plaza, with Catredral Santiago just out of sight to the left. The large colonial building in the foreground is being restored.

Look carefully to see the lady and her leaky breasts, one of four mermaids making up the large fountain in the center of the plaza.  The plaza is where the action takes place.  Mayan women and men wander around looking for likely candidates for their beautiful handwoven textiles (my weakness) and jewelry and wooden whistles. Around the perimeter, people sell street food + newspapers, shine shoes, offer horse and buggy rides or taxi rides or tuk-tuk rides (small 3-wheeled vehicles with canvas-plastic sides).  A few old folks beg for money.  Sometimes there are outdoor performances.  In the past week, at different times, we have heard a Peruvian pan-pipe band, seen a political demonstration with lots of soldiers carrying guns encircling the square, a handful of young models being tutored by their agent as they paraded elegantly around, and great clumps of school kids all dressed up in crisp-looking uniforms.

Another remnant of centuries past, though I read that it is still used sometimes.  This is the outdoor community laundry area with cement wash basins all in a row.  Very picturesque and timeless and located on the same street as our house.

And finally, this is the view from the terrace on the roof of our house, where the laundry is hung.  Most of the household laundry is done in a modern washing machine by Vickie, the Mayan household helper, but I often hear the sounds of her scrubbing clothes by hand, in the open patio area just outside our room, as I heard in our home in Xela.  Can´t quite give up the old ways, I guess.  I can identify.

Well, this project has been a fun activity for a damp Sunday afternoon.  I expect that we will be very busy and tired this week with our new responsibilities at Safe Passage.  We¨ll catch up later.

Rainy Day in Antigua

Well, it´s a rainy Sunday afternoon in our new city of Antigua, where we´ve been for about 5 days.  After a few days in a very basic hotel, we have moved into the home of a Guatemalan couple - just yesterday.  They seem very nice, much more sophisticated and lively than our family in Xela.  The one dinner that we have shared together was accompanied by lots of animated conversation.  At least for them and the other students - I´m still not too communicative in Spanish but they seem very patient and speak clearly and seem to feel that helping us to learn Spanish is part of their responsibility.  The home is quite large, with about 8 renters.  The young man in the room next to us is from the town of Yarmouth, Maine, and is volunteering at the program that we will be working at - Safe Passage.  There are also a couple of students and a coordinator from Seattle who are studying Spanish and volunteering nearby, as part of a college program.  There are 2 Taiwanese students studying Spanish in preparation for teaching in Central America.  So, it should be an interesting experience.

Our buddies from Xela - Julie, Jeff, Jing, Jacob, and Letizia (in that order around the table, below) - came to Antigua for this weekend.  It was great to see them, and we had fun doing a bit of exploring and some delicious eating!

On our first full day in Antigua last Thursday, we had a tour of the Safe Passage facilities in Guatemala City.  It involved another pick-up truck ride, something we had sworn off from.  Sometimes you have to go with the flow, however.  Once in the city, we visited several sites, including the Guarderia, the beautiful day care center for the youngest students; the facility that houses the classroom for parents working on their own education; the heart of the program which is located in a lovely building and educates the kids of school age; and lastly, a cemetery from which we could look down on the dump where the families - mostly women - sort through the trash of one-third of Guatemalan society, looking for stuff that they can sell.  It was an impressive experience, for the tragedy of families being forced to make a living like this, as well as for the palpable love for these kids expressed by the staff and volunteers.  And they apparently can be tough kids, as one would expect of anyone living in conditions of urban poverty.  So, I hope that we´re up to the challenge!

Looking down on the massive Guatemala City dump, located in a ravine.  The big trash trucks in the forefront give you an idea of scale. 

We have a week before we begin volunteering on October 17, 2011.  In the meantime, we´ll do some touristy stuff in Antigua, which is a very touristy city but a very beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site.  And we´ll continue to plug away at improving our Spanish.

                             Colonial building in Antiqua city center, with a backdrop of volcano

Antigua is quite a change from Xela - warmer and more upscale, while at the same time exuding a very charming, old-world atmosphere.   It feels like we have returned to the "land of the large" meaning that we spot lots of  big and tall people from away.  It's a bit of a shock to be reminded of how large Americans tend to be and, in our experience,  how clueless we can be about what is appropriate behavior in other cultures.

This is a conservative Catholic country yet, for some reason,  Americans on vacation want to violate the norms of appropriate attire and behavior.   The hot pink tight shorts that you bought on sale at Macy's do not look great on you - especially with the baby doll blouse with the large pink flowers that barely fits you.  I know that your girl friends said it looked adorable on you - they lied.    For the men who insist on wearing that basketball under their shirts - the bright purple polo shirt and tight yellow gym shorts along with the cowboy hat - do not enhance your image - trust me on this.  I don't know why this is so difficult because all the tour books suggest that you dress conservatively, but maybe we have different interpretations of that word.

We are trying to be good representatives of our country and, while we will never blend in, at least we don't want to stand out in the extreme.

Hasta la vista!

transitions

This is a quick update to let you know that we have ¨graduated¨ from our Spanish school and have moved out of our host family.  There was a little ceremony on Friday at which we each gave a quick speech in Spanish to the other students and teachers gathered for a typical Guatemalan soup luncheon.  It´s a little sad to be leaving our small community of students and teachers but, as always at the end of a ¨term¨, it´s a relief to be out from under daily hours of homework.  In my case, it could easily take me 3 hours to do my daily assignment.  That may be why my certificate says that I´m on the Intermediate level.  My writing is not too bad after 80 hours of instruction, but my speaking skills are still rudimentary and painful for all!

We also were ready to be in a new living situation.  All of that time in a bedroom with no outside window left us hungry for sunlight and fresh air, especially since we were not invited to share the rest of the house, except for meals.  The family took very good care of us, but there was an understandable barrier.  Having said that, we exchanged small gifts as our departure time neared and are grateful for the warm welcome that we received from the family.

For the next couple of days we are living in a small hotel downtown with a big window and HOT water (yeah) and water pressure (another yeah) in the shower.  All of this for only about $30 per night for the two of us.

On Wednesday, we´ll take a shuttle van to the beautiful (we hear) colonial city of Antigua where we´ll live for the rest of our time in Guate.  The next day we´ll have a tour of Safe Passage in Guatemala City but won't  begin our work there until the 3rd Monday in October.   In the meantime we´ll try to summon up the self'discipline to commit to memory the mountains of grammatical information from our Spanish classes. 

Adios!

What´s up with that?

"What´s up with that?" is a question that we often ask here in Xela when we don´t understand some aspect of Guatemalan culture.  Some examples:

Honking Horns
It seems that  every driver here honks the horn at every possible opportunity, and the streets ring with the honking of all types, ranges, and volumes of horns.   Any delay in passage along the street calls for constant blaring of the horn for no apparent reason and with no apparent result.   A long line of stalled traffic - caused by a stop light or a sign  - will produce a constant honking, even when the line starts to move.  For some reason that we don´t understand,  there seems to be an assumption that honking will result in a faster flow of traffic.

This happens at other times, as well - when we are crossing the street,  when the driver spots a young woman,  when another car is slowing down, or just randomly for no apparent reason that we can detect.   The only time when horns are not honking is when the traffic is moving rapidly with no obstructions, a rarity here in crowded Xela.

Music and Loud Noise
On the streets, in shops, and in our house,  it seems that the volume of every possible electronic device must be at its highest level.   The shops often have huge speakers blaring loud, ear-splitting music in an attempt, I guess, to attract customers, but it seems to have the opposite effect - at least on us.  In our host family, the radio is on at all times, often with the news or other programs, but it makes it almost impossible to have a conversation at the table.   On the streets,  we spot a number of trucks with large loud speakers on their roofs blaring advertisements, announcements, news and music as they move through the city.

Combined with the constant rumble of trucks without mufflers,  motorcycles, bus conductors yelling destinations, this makes for a constant noise level that is something we find unfamiliar.   This is common in other parts of Latin America, too, but it takes some getting used to.  However, it does lend a certain dynamism to life here.

Boys and their mothers
We were puzzled after observing one of the women in our host family cutting food on the plate of her 17 year old son.   She waited on him hand and foot - running to the tienda next door to buy him a coke,  fetching him food,  serving him from the bowl,  cutting his meat, and removing his dishes - everything but feeding him the food.   We found this uncomfortable and wondered what was going on and why he was being treated with such deference.  The kid did absolutely nothing in the family and had his mother and two aunts to wait on him.  A week later,  a ten-year old grandson arrived, and he was treated exactly the same way.

I asked my teacher about this, and she assured me that it was normal practice in Guatemala where the gender roles are very strict and rigid.   Males, of all ages, are treated with great deference by the females, who are expected to wait on them hand and foot.   The women do all the work around the house, and men do virtually nothing - their role is limited to earning money outside the home but even that seems to break down at times.   My teacher is a young woman with a 6-year old son, and she is trying to raise him differently but, since they live with her traditional family, the boy has the expectation that the women in the home are going to do all the work.  Very strange.

Security
It is very common to see security guards everywhere, most armed with huge 10-gauge shot guns and outfitted with bandoliers of ammunition strapped across their chests.   We might expect them at banks, but they are also at coffee shops, farmacias,  restaurants and even small shops.   It is similar to seeing security guards at the Maine Mall but multiplied a thousand times, with heavy armor.  We have never seen a robbery attempt but we are told that these are not uncommon - thus the need for security.

We are very aware of security issues, given all the warnings about such things here.   We are advised to get home before 9 PM or take a cab, so we try to be inside before 7 - with occasional later weekend times.  All the homes seem to be built with high walls, secure locks, and metal bars on all the lower windows.    Some homes even have razor wire, barbed wire, and broken bottles embedded in cement on the tops of surrounding walls.  Some of these houses have loud aggressive dogs posted on the roof terraces to deter criminals.  This is common in many parts of the world but a far cry from our life in Gorham.

Dynamic Markets
In contrast to the ordered stores and marketplaces of home,  the markets here are huge, colorful, loud, and dynamic.  The market closest to us is a warren of small shops selling everything imaginable.  Mayan women, squatting on blankets, are surrounded by colorful vegetables for sale.   Men wander the area selling belts and crying out to get customers.  Buses and trucks weave through the chaos, honking horns and blaring music.  Vendors sell food from smoking grills or large pots of boiling oil.   Loud music is playing from shops selling cell phones, computers, ice cream, shoes, or anything possible.  Shoeshine boys are snagging customers, Mayan women are selling fabric goods,  food vendors are selling cotton candy, peanuts, fruit, or pastries.

This is unlike any experience that we´ve had at home or on our travels to Europe, where things are much more controlled and ordered.  Here, it seems, anything goes.  There is a certain dynamism and excitement that accompany the chaos.

There are other examples but this covers some of the main things that we have observed thus far - more to come.  Hasta mañana!