Antigua, Guatemala, October, 2011
It has been raining here for days. It IS the rainy season,
and to be expected, but it´s supposed to be winding down, now that we´re in
October, or so we thought. As I lay in my lumpy bed, wide awake in the middle
of a recent night, snug and warm, listening to the drumming of rain on the
metal roof, I couldn´t help but wonder about landslides in the countryside and
dark little tin-sided shacks with dirt floors with streams, undoubtedly,
running through them by then. Or a classful of squirmy kids, unable to go
outside for fresh air and a good run - which I may be dealing with soon.
Well, it turns out that there have, indeed, been landslides and
flooding in the area surrounding Xela, where we were living until last week.
Already 10 people have died in that area and 10 others in other parts of
the country. Schools have been closed all over the country. Closer
to Antigua, where we are now, Safe Passage volunteers have been sent out of
Guatemala City and back to their living quarters in Antigua early for a couple
of days because of concern about the roads getting cut off with landslides.
The land must be so very saturated with water by now, as the rain
continues, both day and night. There are periods of just drizzle but it´s
been pretty constant, in one form or another, for the better part of a week
now. It´s all part of a tropical depression that is predicted to continue
into next week.
To keep our spirits up in this dankness, Bruce and I have been
gathering up our books and the umbrella, putting on our ïmpermeables and
heading out each morning (our "gap" week), to a beautiful cafe where the
coffee is good and the prices are good and the ambiance is amazing. The
guy with the uniform and the big gun, standing guard at the door, (guess he´s
part of the ambiance,too) will soon begin to recognize us. We sit at a
table, upstairs in a colonial home dating to the 1500`s, looking down on a
patio filled with lush plants, with little sparrows darting in and out, pull
out our Spanish verbs and settle in for the morning. Slowly, we are
making sense of the present tense, the preterite tense, the imperfect, and the
future. Still painful, but we´re trying to be patient with ourselves.
Today Bruce and I went on a 3 hour walking tour of Antigua.
The tour was given by a woman from California who has lived here for 30
years and is an authority on the city and its history. We learned all
about the Spanish conquest of the area, the strong role of the Catholic church,
and the history of the Mayan people in this area. We visited
several churches, the town hall, a jade factory and a lovely old Dominican
monastery. We were pretty tired at the end and hungry, but it was
a great orientation to the town. I`m sure there is more to learn
during our stay.
Adios for now.
ps. I love the Spanish word for retired: jubilado!
