So much to catch up on! My computer somehow acquired a virus over the previous weekend, and it’s been a bumpy road to finally get it fixed. It still is not completely fixed, but I am now able to posts blogs again. Now that my computer is at least semi back in action, I am faced with the task of re-venturing through an entire week of experiencias guatemaltecas!
Sunday, I began the search for a church family in Guatemala. The family I am staying with doesn’t attend church, so I was on my own. A few Internet searches previously in the week brought up a church with an English service for missionaries and student volunteers and a Spanish service after. The church is only a ten minute walk from my house, so I checked it out. The service was a little different than I am used to; the pastor described it as liturgical, which I found out meant lots of specifically scheduled reading from passages in the Bible and a book of prayer. The pastor even recruited me to read a passage from Jonah.
There was a short break before the Spanish service began where I met a few other volunteers and a few couples who have been living here for many years. I stayed for the Spanish service and understood about one quarter of it, which I guess is okay for the first week.
I started my Spanish classes this past Monday. I will meet one-on-one with Oscar from 2:30-6:30 for the next three weeks. Oscar is an amazing teacher. He speaks slowly enough for me to catch all that he is saying, but fast enough for me to feel like we are still having a normal conversation. The first two days we mostly just talked the whole time, so he could get a feel for where I am at already. Our topics of conversation ranged from my motivation for volunteering to the morality of the death penalty, with interesting sidetracks from pizza to kite-flying in between. Now we have begun the more necessary-but-evil tasks of grammar ;). Right now I am in the process of learning when to use the different past forms preterito y imperfecto.
Tuesday, I took a day trip with an instructor and other students from the Spanish school to a smaller pueblo outside of Quetzaltenango. The purpose of the trip was to see the statue of San Simon, and it was by far the most “interesting” part of my trip yet! San Simon is a cultural figure in Guatemala. Imagine tossing a pinch of Catholicism, a handful of Mayan beliefs, some alcohol, a teaspoon of John Wayne, a smidge of indigenous customs, and a really bad wardrobe into one giant pot and simmering until slightly browned with an aroma of a little bit smoky and a whole lot creepy.
San Simon himself is a plastic mannequin covered head-to-toe in what I can only seem to describe as Mayan mafia garb. Dressed in a full American-style suit of black and white, he sits with intricately-patterned Mayan cloths draped across his chest and lap. FBI-inspired sunglasses cover his eyes and a black scarf covers his mouth. To top it off, San Simon sports a black cowboy hat and pointy black cowboy boots. He sits enthroned on a wooden chair surrounded by an arch of brightly-colored flowers with his name inscribed on a plaque at his feet.
The statue of San Simon moves from house to house every year, making his residence in a family’s downstairs room. Guatemalans come from the surrounding cities and pay the entrance fee to light candles at his feet and ask for money, power, success, marriage, and harm to enemies. Traditionally, when a person makes a request of San Simon, they guardian removes the scarf from his mouth and tilts the entire throne backwards at a 45 degree angle while the requester pours liquor down his throat and into a basin on the floor. Afterward, a cigar is place in San Simon’s mouth and lit while the person continues to utter incantation-like requests. The only light in the room illuminating from the army of candles on the ground casted an eerie glow as we watched two different families come and participate in this strange tradition.
We also visited an old Catholic church in the pueblo before heading back to the school. The church was crafted in a distinctly European way with gigantic vaulted ceilings, intricately carved walls, and an elaborate steeple.
While we were there, I was able to ask and understand the brief history and meaning behind San Simon and the conquistadores’ religious takeover in Spanish from the instructor who accompanied us. At some points during the trip, I even acted as a translator between the instructor and an English woman who has only been here for one week. My Spanish comprehension is getting better every day; however I still have a long way to go speaking it.
Wednesday, I got the chance to practice speaking Spanish! Wednesday night I went to my new favorite café El Cuartito (literally translating into “little room”) for some hot chocolate and journaling.
The café is squeezed in between two tall buildings on the south side of el parque central. One little ill-timed blink strolling the sidewalk will leave it unnoticed and its treasures undiscovered. The crooked little sidewalk door opens up to a narrow room wide enough for the coffee bar and just enough space left over for one person to pass by. Once you pass through the Willy Wonka-esque entrance, the following room doubles in size. Warms colors of fall wrap the room filled with tables, couches, photographs, foreigners, paintings, benches, Guatemalans, armchairs, poetry, and cushions like a cozy hug.
Hot chocolate, wrapped up in a corner with a journal as dear as an old friend, and the lazy comfort of fall; you can see why I love this place, right? I also love El Cuartito because of the refreshing diversity of people who have been lucky enough to find its wealth. Wrinkled old women dressed like they came straight from the traditional el mercado, groups of tourists donning university sweatshirts, young Guatemala couples in the latest fashions, old international friends who look like they have sat at those seats often in the past years, and the occasional journaler like me, taking it all in.
On that particular day, I met a young guy named Gener who recently finished his studies and is now working as an electrician. He didn’t speak much English, but we were able to have an almost normal conversation I would have at a coffee shop back home. (I say almost normal, because of the rare but occasional sign language it took to for us to arrive at the same meaning). I learned all about his family, his opinions about faith and the Bible, and his love for Switchfoot. His heavily accented version of Bullet Soul was actually quite nice. On another note, who knew having a whole Switchfoot c.d. memorized would come in handy one day for making friends in a foreign country?
Thursday was another famous day in Guatemala. It marked the beginning of an entire month long celebration of the Virgin Mary. I was actually unaware that it was a day of celebration until I stumbled upon something really interesting in el parque central on my daily morning walk to the orphanage.
Set up like a small green island surrounded by a sea of concrete, the park is encircled by a busy avenue constantly populated with cars and street vendors. Directly to the east of the park is an elegant cathedral. Every year during this commemorative day, the avenida is closed to traffic and religious processionals and marching bands circle the street. But the thing that makes this celebration different than any other parade I have known are the breath-taking alfombras.
Alfombra literally translates into the English word “carpet.” In Spanish, you can use the word alfombra to signify exactly what the English word “carpet” does. However, alfombra also doubles as the name for a beautifully unique spectacle that, although not in writing, in person is impossible to mistake for that tacky floor covering in your great aunt’s living room.
The idea is the same, but the execution is completely different. The alfombras cover the street like a carpet covers the floors of a house, but on these alfombras people spend hours of very detailed and specific work. Using colored saw dust and many different types of flowers and petals, Guatemalans craft intricate works of art on the paved street surfaces. The result resembles enormous chalk drawings in some cases as elaborate as canvas paintings. The processionals and bands walk through the alfombras and spread the saw dust and petals everywhere.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me. However if you follow this link you can see an example of what a Guatemalan alfombra looks like (courtesy of the website Guate360).
Finally, Friday. Today. I had another new experience today, although this one was not as welcomed as the others. I woke up today with a fever, headache, and cough. At least now I can check being sick in a foreign country off my list! Hopefully this first time will be the last. Although, turns out, being sick in Guatemala is not too bad. I spent the day at the house mostly sleeping it off, with a few hours of reading, studying vocabulary, and blogging in the mix. Luckily I had brought some medicine to help keep my fever down. But even more luckily Senora Vilma is an amazing host and great at caring for the sick.
Learning about and from Vilma over these past two weeks have been one of my favorite parts of the trip so far. She is currently staying at home and caring for her three kids, but before she graduated with a degree in and worked in the field of social work and women’s rights. Although she doesn’t speak any English, we have been able to have some insightful conversations about her childhood, her role as a mother, the state of women’s rights in Guatemala, and our shared passion for empowering the voiceless. I love hearing her convictions and seeing her passion more and more every day.
