mayan ritual

on wednesday night, i went with margarita, gladis, and the other students up to baúl (the mountain pictured below) to see a mayan ritual.



the baúl looks pretty small from afar, but it's actually quite high, and has an amazing view of all of xela. my friends margot and kelli often run all the way to the top of the mountain, which seems impossible and crazy to me, but they really like it. it takes them 2 hours.



the ceremony was conducted in part by xela's indigenous queen, who was just elected and holds office for a year. there is a strange pageant culture here, which i haven't completely figured out. for instance, the other night i watched the señorita deportes contest, but none of the girls seemed very sporty, and the competition had the standard swimsuit, evening gown, speech-about-your-goals parts that all pageants have. but anyway, everyone in town agrees that the yearly contest for the reina indigenous is different and far more serious...the queen is chosen for her cultural knowledge, spirituality, and her ability to represent her people to the rest of guatemala. here is xela's queen setting up the offerings for the ritual:



every part of the circle above represents something important to the community (the purity of the young people, the health of the older people, fertility, etc). this ritual was also attended by all of the other queens from all over guatemala, and each arrived wearing traditional ceremonial outfits from their region.



once everyone arrived, they forned a circle around the offerings, made speeches of welcome and introduction (which i couldn't understand because their backs were to me and i couldn't hear well), and then they each lit their candles from one central flame and lit the center offerings on fire. after each queen contributed to the fire, the circled the flames and danced.



above you can see some more of the regional outfits.



and here again is xela's own queen, who's ceremonial dress was beautiful and completely made by hand. although you can't see it in the pictures, it was also extremely cold and started raining very hard, so we left before the ceremony finished. but i was told by gladis and others, that witnessing one of these ceremonies is typically very exclusive, so i'm glad that i had the opportunity to go!

a strange day

this morning when i woke up and went downstairs for breakfast, this is what i found in the living room:



a four-foot glass case with jesus in it. right in the middle of the livingroom table. julia was in the kitchen talking on the phone, so i was able to snap a quick picture. when julia joined me at the table later, she didn´t mention it and neither did i. i still have no idea what it´s doing there.

after a quick breakfast, i set out for my 50 ft walk to school (which is two doors down), and saw something weird in the street. when i approached it, i realized that it was an olden-type wooden baby doll that had been smashed and set on fire, then left for dead. (that´s her face in the top right and a severed leg in the bottom left corner). ((i took this picture horizontally, but it won´t load right)). very strange.



after another informative spanish class, in which my teacher thoroughly enjoyed my stealthy pictures of our living room santo ("en serio?!", she said over and over), i headed home for lunch. when i walked in the door, i was greeted by several small children (and jesus, who was still on the coffee table) who are often in the house visiting and eating lunch. julia left for the hospital to visit a sick nephew, so she left us to serve ourselves. as you may know, i like kids a lot, and being here has given me the chance to hang out and play with many many babies and tiny people, which has been fantastic. it may have even kicked my biological clock into action...today, however, slowed it down significantly. here's why:

meet ricardo. he eats lunch with us about once a week with his mother and little sister (who is almost 1). he is hilarious and super imaginative, and he has a constant flow of ridiculous stories pouring out of his mouth at all times. when you ask him his name, he tells you he is ricardo guillermo villatoro of the wedding of the cats (in spanish, but that's the basic translation). and he follows it up quickly by telling you that his father is a bombero (a firefighter). today he told us something about when his mother died (don't worry, she was alive and well and sitting next to me) and also a long story that culminated with him peepeeing in his camita. he talks in classic kid-telling-a-story mode, like this (except in spanish): once......there was this guy.....and he......and he......he told me.......etc. but it's weird kid-spanish and it's really hard to understand, even for his mom. his pose below speaks volumes of his personality:



here was another dining guest: i forgot to ask her name, but she was quiet and sweet and sang tiny songs to jorge (next picture).



here's jorge and adriana. he's tiny and precious. in the middle of our meal, both he and baby #2 (below) started simultaneously crying, and were simultaneously set to breast feeding, while ricardo kept telling stories and the little girl looked curiously between the two nursing babies.




here's baby #2. before feeding, she wriggled in her mothers arms, pulled her earrings out, yanked on her hair, and effectively kept her from feeding herself and monitoring ricardo, who ate a tiny bit inbetween stories and getting up and walking out the front door (he came back).



all-in-all, a fun lunch. and even though i like kids, this was a little much for me. there are many families that have at least four kids here, and i have no idea how they manage. needless to say, i won't be having four kids anytime soon. (oh, and by the way, no one mentioned jesus during our lunch either.)

a small cultural difference

i'm not sure if it's really a cultural difference, but it's definitely something to note. like new york, xela is a walking kind of city. everyone walks. and thus i walk a lot. the main part of xela is basically a grid (although mariam insists that it's not), with streets and avenues intersecting at nice tidy right angles. this set up means that you can't see around the corner you're approaching--which seems obvious, and you may be wondering why i'm explaining something so simple, but it's important. i'm telling a story here.

the point? much much much more often than i'd like, i round a corner and nearly collide with a gentleman (or teenager, or small boy) peeing on the side of the road. it happens at least 2-3 times per week. it's like the national pasttime here. when traveling by bus, you pass scores and scores of men on the side of the road peeing. and sometimes, when the bus stops to pick up new passengers, a desperate man will quickly jump off and try to relieve himself before the bus starts rolling again. and the bus won't wait. so usually the guy will start running and zipping his fly while trying to hop back into the door of the moving bus. it's fun for everyone!

but it can also be awkward. i'm a curious person by nature, and so i will often see someone from a distance looking secretive, and i want to know what's happening. (yes, even though i know that there are men peeing everywhere all the time here--you'd think i'd realize, but never!) so i'm looking at him, wondering......and then i realize! aaah! and then i feel embarassed and cross the street.

before writing this post, i checked with others to make sure i wasn't exagerrating this phenomenon, and my observations were confirmed by many people (and with the same shock and amazement). if i get up the courage, i'll snap a picture one of these days, and then you can all share in my embarassment and amusement.

mis nuevos amigos

mariam left a week ago, and as you can probably tell by the significant lull in blogging, it's much quieter here without her. i daresay boring. i didn't realize how much my daily activities would change after her departure, but after a week left to my own devices, i'm starting to figure things out. but don't worry! i've already made some new friends...would you like to meet them_ here they are:

amigo numero uno: ricardo



ricardo is obviously indispensable because he speaks english and spanish.

amiga numero dos: blanca



so smart and funny! we talk about music and tv shows!


and amigo numero tres: the tv



after 7 weeks in the dark, i realized that the tv in my room has cable! and that there are many english channels. so i watched a riveting episode of CSI: Miami the other night. now, many people seem to think that the tv is a bad influence and that i shouldn't hang out with him, but that's just not fair! people are worried that watching english tv shows will ruin my slowly-progressing spanish skills. but i promise i'm reading the subtitles and checking them for accuracy.

obviously, i'm only kidding about my new friendships (kind of), and i still have many real live friends here in xela (like margot and kelli, who i will have lunch with today--i'll post pictures as proof!). and i'm going to try to get back on the blogwagon and make more frequent posts, so stay tuned...

buena vista social club

last night, after spending 9 hours on a bus (to and from guatemala city), i went with gladis to see buena vista social club perform here. the concert has been generating a lot of excitement here in xela because 4 of the original members were playing.

the show was in the ballroom of a hotel, and the place was packed. there weren´t enough seats for everyone, but most people seemed content to stand. there was also a bar serving drinks and cuban sandwiches, which were yummy!

the event started at 7, but wasn´t very well planned (virginia, it was your worst nightmare!), so the opening group went on around 8:30. they were pretty good, and they sang luna de xelaju, which is the local anthem here, and i´ve never heard it! they also had the gallo girls dancing for them, which the crowd really liked--especially when they each grabbed a gringo from the audience to dance (or try to...). after the opening group, we waited and waited and waited. then, around 9:30, the power went out (classic xela!, see below):



about 15 minutes later, the electricity decided to cooperate again, and the band finally appeared around 10. here they are!!:



the music was beautiful, and the crowd was thrilled. but sadly, in between each song, there were more technical difficulties and loud feedback...by 10:45 they´d only been able to play 3 songs. and i was TIRED. so gladis and i ducked out early to get some sleep. but i had a great time, and i had the good luck to see these living legends perform.

when chickens fly

yesterday, i rode the bus with mariam to guatemala city to see her off at the airport (and help her lug her insanely heavy bags). we had heard from our friend marilyn about the campero airport phenomenon, so we wanted to witness it and participate in it in our own tiny way. "what is the campero airport phenomenon?," you might be wondering. well, in a nutshell, it´s this: as you´ve gathered from our ravings, pollo campero is deeee-licious, and we´re not the only ones who think so. so, when guatemaltecos are taking a trip to the u.s. (or other places lacking in campero), they first head to the airport campero to load up on chicken to bring to friends and family abroad. you think i´m kidding right? just wait...

the guatemala city airport is currently undergoing major renovations, so pollo campero has a portable trailer set up in the parking lot (run by a generator!). mariam is pictured in front of it above. after checking her bags, we set out for said trailer, and passed several groups of travelers carrying giant bags of chicken. picture bags and bags of kfc buckets...now picture more bags. some people even brought empty suitcases to put the chicken into for easier transport. it was incredible!

lacking an extra suitcase, mariam and i settled upon a 2 piece meal and some nuggets, which were delicious. they also seemed to be the perfect way to say adios to guatemala. we ate our snack outside the airport, cried a bit, said goodbye, and i hopped in a taxi for my return bus ride to xela.

¡hasta pronto!

my bags are packed, my ticket is confirmed, and margarita, michele and i have bought our seats on the 6 am bus to guate tomorrow. today is my last day in xela and i have to say i'm going out with a bang. really. the poor strawberry shortcake piñata we celebrated with at school today makes a lot of noise as she goes down. :)



like this whole trip, today was full of people and sweetness and lots and lots of affection. i skipped aerobics but somehow still made it to school late, which gave johanna (michele's teacher) enough time to drag strawberry schortcake in on the low. i had my class and exchanged gifts of appreciation with sury (note my new necklace above), along with quite a number of tears, though we did our best to stem the tide. at the break we beat up shortcake and ate the candy she yielded, along with fantastic guacamole and tostadas.



julia made us a delicious goodbye lunch of milanesa (which is sort of like chicken fried steak, to totally debase it), along with my favorite vegetable soup and one of her very impressive jello molds. for dessert, we drank some of the homemade chocolate, with cookies that i couldn't touch because i was so full. i got lovely gifts all around, and people just said the most beautiful loving things to me all day long.



it's sad to leave, but it feels so good to know i have made some relationships here that will last and last. there are many new friends, like sury, my incredible teacher, margarita and julia who opened their home and family with immeasurable generosity, margot, who suffered the moving debacle and sweetened this trip from day one, kelly whose smile i will miss but hope to see stateside, and reina who i will see in brooklyn so soon! there are also people we met on the road (hello hannah, lisa, and tanya), and new yorkers like lee and amanda who we got to hang out with pretty much for the first time in a hundred years. i feel full to the top with all kinds of good things, and as hard as tomorrow will be, i feel like i am taking so much with me.



this is where i sign off, but stay tuned over the next few months for michele's updates, anecdotes, and capers... they're sure to entertain and we can all glower with envy from afar together. see you/talk to you soon!

pizza & beer

yesterday afternoon, we went out in search of xela´s best pizza (with margarita as our guide of course!). poor julia had cooked up an amazing feast of jocom, but none of us were feeling hungry...until an hour later. we´ve tried to explain that in new york, we eat pizza like guatamaltecos eat tortillas. and thus, mariam and i were craving some pie, which we haven´t had in a record 6 weeks. so we set out for giuseppe´s, a pizzaria near the park.

to make it a real quasi-new york experience, margarita and i ordered beers (corona and gallo, respectively). but mariam, with all her refinement and class, practically squealed with glee when she saw manischewitz on the menu. (see her absolute joy below)




the pizza was delicious. different than new york, of course, and maybe a bit different from any pizza i´ve had, but delicious nonetheless. check out our progress:





after stuffing ourselves to capacity, we left giuseppe´s and headed for la luna to meet up with friends from new york. on our way there, the heavens opened up unexpectedly and drenched us with a ferocious thunderstorm. like always, we had no umbrella, so we huddled in doorways waiting for the rain to stop. at one point, there was a huge bolt of lightning, and the power went out around us....the three of us screamed in unison and then literally grabbed hold of each other in a hug of terror. it was hilarious! but the rain finally slowed, and we trudged through flooded streets in soaking wet clothes to have another lovely evening at la luna.

¡feliz cumpleaños a mi!

yesterday was my birthday, and we lived it up here. margarita and julia woke up at 7 to sing "las mañanitas" to me (while rubbing the sleep from their eyes), and then my mom called at 8 to sing like elvis (as she does every year)!

mariam got me an amazing pair of knock-off puma wrap arounds...they're super space-age and green like an alien. they're the trendiest shoes i've ever had and i'm obsessed with them (i'm wearing them now!). i also got a super chivos hat (hot sheeps!....no, it doesn't say hot sheeps, or else i'd be bringing one home for everyone). check out my style:





(there're the shoes!!!!)

we celebrated at lunch with margarita and julia, and then again at dinner with the entire extended family of our school. the more clever of you out there have already figured out what this means: two cakes! here they are:





i also got many flowers and other gifts (foot lotion, a mug, a notebook, a chalina, and a hand-colored precious moments drawing from a coloring book!)





here are more pictures of the festivities:


lunch: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, lemonade, CAKE!



here's the party at dinner time


gladis, the director of our school


the chicas



tons of arroz!!!


tio leonel


julia getting her groove on!


i had an excellent birthday, but i missed everyone back in the states. however, i received a barrage of emails and ecards (which i'm replying to as quickly as possible!), so thanks for all of the love!

lago de atitlan

to celebrate michele's upcoming birthday (august 22nd! email her! michelecjames@yahoo.com), and to have a little break from xela, we traveled to lago de atitlan this weekend and vacationed with a capital V. at the suggestion of a number of people (thank you javi, joe, and whoever else...), we booked a room at hotel la casa del mundo (link above, in title) and stayed for three nights.

after a nearly three hour bus ride from xela, we arrived in panajachel and took the lancha across the lake to la casa just in time for the family style dinner. the food that night was a little lacking, but we met a pair of friends who were chatty and funny, which more than made up for that. sasha, one of them, is starting social work school at columbia in the fall and has already secured an apartment in park slope. i see a spanish conversation group in our future! we chatted a while, then spent about an hour watching a furious and gorgeous lightning storm illuminate the lake and volcanoes, which was amazing.



friday and saturday we spent our time sunning, eating, and reading back issues of the new yorker out loud. we also finally got up the nerve to swim in the lake-- it's clean and huge, beautiful and deep, so it's kind of inviting and intimidating at the same time. we were glad we got in, though-- it's gorgeous, and a real experience being in there with the expanse of the lake and the shadow of the volcanoes all around.

we met great people on this little trip. first, hannah pratt, a washington state teacher in training who's had an amazing life and seems to really be going places (pictured below). she has a photographer sister libby who just moved to brooklyn too, so we may even get to see her again.



then we met two women from australia who had come to guate after a dragonboating competition in toronto. tanya was sick for part of the time but surfaced eventually, and lysa made that last night's dinner warmer, livelier, and more fun for her great conversation. they were fantastic.

we didn't get to go kayaking, but we did read alot, eat alot, and talk alot. the swimming and tanning took center stage too. i know we're already on vacation and that this post might not do much to endear us to all you worker bees still out there in the states, but we just had to share. if you're looking for a place to relax all day and fall asleep to the sound of rain on the lake, this is it. again, the invitation to drop what you're doing and join us still stands. in case you need any more coaxing, pictures form the weekend follow, below.


a self-portrait of us on the balcony in front of our room



michele surveying the lake



balcony, part deux



swimming (we're so far!)


morning cafe



chairs on another of the many balconies


hammock time


reading lakeside


look how blue it is! that´s where we swam!


michele hanging out...look how long her hair is now!