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XELA PAGES GUATEMALAN NEWSLETTER http://www.xelapages.com/ Issue #16, June 6, 2000 Current Subscriber - 760 Copyright © 2000 By Tom Lingenfelter -- Xela Pages ================================================== */*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ Please forward this Newsletter to
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[EDITORS RAMBLING] My wife and I are considering putting together a group trip to Guatemala in January 2001. If any of you would be interested in joining us we would like to hear from you. We have not decided on an Itinerary yet but here are some highlights we are considering: Colonial city of Antigua
This would be a 10 to 12 day trip. If we find a few other couples we will approach a few tour companies we know for a customized package deal. We welcome those with children also as we will have our 4 year old son with us!! If anyone is interested in batting around the idea let me know. Tom Lingenfelter ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tell us about your trip to Central America. Where did you stay?
SEND ALL TRAVEL STORIES TO: mailto: stories@xelapages.com
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Maureen Hennessy is the author of "How to Go Almost Anywhere for Almost Nothing," the latest edition now available at Barnes & Noble. http://www.bn.com A strange and beautiful landscape surprises and delights the senses with Mayan ruins, tropical jungles, active volcanoes -- even an exotic Caribbean port. The sheer drama of Guatemala was demonstrated during my sojourn with rumblings of earthquake tremors, the violent eruption of Pacaya volcano and a lunar eclipse. The indigenous people of Guatemala don't dress up for tourists; they dress as they always have and women can be seen toting huge bundles on their heads. Goods are taken in this fashion to sell in the Parque Centrales in each town and village. It also seems the preferred way to transport firewood, groceries and everything except babies. Babies are carried about in a sling fashioned from a shawl. The currency of Guatemala is the Quetzal, named for the fabulous red-crested bird that is the national symbol of the country. At this time a Quetzal is worth approximately thirteen cents (US). Most hotels will give you a fair rate of exchange. US dollars are accepted everywhere, but the rate is less favorable. ANTIGUA Antigua nestles in the shadow of three volcanoes, Agua, Acatenango and Fuego. Of the three, only Fuego is currently active, regularly emitting puffs of white steam and dark clouds of ash. On a clear night you can sometimes see bright red lava flashing along the rim. This ancient capitol is noted for Spanish colonial architecture, with churches and picturesque ruins from a series of devastating earthquakes. Peace Corps volunteers flock to the town to attend the numerous Spanish Language schools for which Antigua is justly famous. I stayed with a Spanish-speaking family while attending one of the schools, paying $120 per week which included tuition for twenty hours a week and full bed and board. Not only a great bargain, the arrangement mandates language practice. Firecrackers are heard at all hours. When curiosity got the better of me, I asked and was told, "cada dia es la fiesta," or every day is a fiesta. This neatly sums up the Guatemalan attitude. Firecrackers in the morning celebrate birthdays. Saint's days are celebrated in the evenings and afternoon firecrackers are, well, just because. Food in Guatemala is similar to Mexican, but seasoning is more delicate. Antigua's elegant restaurants provide lovely atmosphere and exquisitely prepared meals. There are also many little comidas serving delicious "tipico" meals and street vendors sell tasty snacks for next to nothing. Food bargains can also be had at the Mercado Central, Antigua's version of a shopping mall. Drink only "agua pura" as even the locals don't drink tap water. You shouldn't get into trouble eating cooked food or fresh fruit than can be peeled. Having brought only lightweight clothes for a warm climate, I was unprepared for cool mornings and evenings. No problem. Shopping can be one of the joys of traveling if you don't mind haggling for treasures. The best bargains in town could be found behind the Mercado, where farmers exhibit produce. Truck loads of factory rejects, new and used goods from the United States are also sold at incredible prices. I paid three Quetzales (39 cents) for a gorgeous sweater - perfect except for a small tear in a seam. Guatemala is a bargain-hunter's dream. Lovely hand-loomed fabrics and exquisitely embroidered blouses called huipiles typically take three months to create and can be had for as little as 100 Quetzales ($13). Colorful woven fabric suitable for wall hangings, rugs and table cloths can be purchased throughout Guatemala for incredibly low prices. Jade, obsidian, turquoise and silver of good quality are available in street markets and stores. Arts and crafts will also tempt you to part with your Quetzales. LAKE ATITLAN Panajachel on Lake Atitlan is deservedly popular with both residents and tourists. This laid-back village offers stunning views, a taste of Mayan culture and a variety of accommodation and dining to fit any budget. As in most Guatemalan towns of moderate to large size, there are language schools here. Villages around the lake are named for the twelve apostles.
Maximon, a wooden figure in cowboy hat and western clothes, resides at the Casa de San Simon in Santiago Atitlan. He seems to be a combination of the ancient Mayan deity, Mam, Judas, Saint Peter and Alvarado, the hated conquistador. Maximom is considered lord of sexual matters who watches over wives when husbands are away. Apparently he is not averse to sleeping with them himself. Traditionalists bring gifts of Coca Cola, whiskey, cigarettes and money when requesting Maximon's help in matters of love, money and revenge. When I asked if he was a saint, our guide replied "Oh no, he does evil as well as good." CHICHICASTENENGO After the serenity of Lake Atitlan, the utter chaos of Sunday market at Chichicastenango was overwhelming. A processional from Santo Tomas church wound through the market with traditionally-garbed supplicants bearing candles and incense. Carved wooden figures were borne on pallets as noisy firecrackers and ear-splitting rockets were fired off. If you take pictures, the celebrants quickly approach with an extended hand. A contribution is required. You should always ask permission to photograph anyone and a tip is expected. On the steps of the church, women and children weave baskets and hats from reeds. The inside of the church reflects an intriguing blend of Catholicism and Mayan beliefs. Taking photographs inside the church is considered deeply offensive, so you'll have to be content with description. Ancient Mayan ancestors dwell beneath the altar railing and former officials in the center aisle. Deceased native priests and Catholic saints receive equal respect. Candles are burned and flowers and alcohol are offered for marriage, health, children, harvest and good fortune. The fruits and vegetables of the region are haggled over inside the chaotic central market. Outside stalls exhibit fabrics, crafts and exquisite huipiles, each pattern reflecting the creator's village. QUIRIGUA I traveled from Antigua to Rio Dulce with a stopover in Quirigua for $27 in a tour van while the return from Rio Dulce by "luxury" bus cost only $4.50. I almost got left at a cafeteria midway because they only stopped for fifteen minutes - I thought the driver said fifty! He was speaking in Spanish, of course. Avoiding the better-known and tourist-packaged Mayan sites, I chose Quirigua. Located in a national park in the middle of a banana plantation, Quirigua has some of the best preserved ruins in Guatemala. The serene setting was a definite plus. The stelae depicting rulers and historic events are protected from the elements by thatched-roof shelters. A small museum contains Mayan pottery, fabrics and historical data. Most of the artifacts date from the sixth century AD. THE CARIBBEAN COAST The only way to reach Livingston is by boat up the Rio Dulce. The boat trip was solemnly observed by multitudes of heron and pelicans perched in the trees along tropical banks. We drifted close to shore to see water lilies and huge frogs. In another spot a natural spring fed hot water into the river and emitted visible steam. The climate, terrain and culture in Livingston seem like a whole different country. It's tropical, with coconut, banana and pineapple vying for sustenance with dramatic wild flowers, ferns and vines. Along with Maya and Ladinos, are the Garifunas, descendants of Caribbean blacks and escaped slaves. The tempting aroma of Creole food wafts from the many comidas lining the streets and the music is a mix of Bob Marley and Latin-American. Ignore the main streets, littered and dirty despite pleas from town officials and merchants who welcome tourists. Livingston's charm lies in side streets, riverside and surrounding jungle. The beautiful Playa Blanca (white beach) is a short boat trip away. While in Livingston I stayed at the Hotel Garifuna on a quiet street above the town. I had a large, clean and quiet room with private bath for about $5. I also stayed in a bungalow at the picturesque Casa Rosada on the waterfront for about $7. Thatched-roof cabanas clustered around the main lodge provide accommodation with overflow visitors housed inside. Another good hotel option is the African Place Casa Rosada has one of the best restaurants in town with romantic tables outside under thatched roofs and umbrellas. Low cost scenic river trips and tours to Belize and Honduras can be arranged at the hotel. A sumptuous dinner with drinks can be had for less than $10. There are plenty of hotels in Livingston, ranging from budget to Western standard four or five star, depending on your comfort requirements. SIDEBAR Getting around in Guatemala: You can fly or bus to major destinations. Guatemala City to Flores costs about $60 round-trip, but use caution; some of these planes are quite old. "Chicken buses" are so called because drivers stop along the road to pick up people (and sometimes their chickens). They are a "must" experience if you really want to know the culture, but only for short hops as they tend to break down frequently. These provide the cheapest option, from $8-15 for Guatemala City to Flores. "Luxury" buses cost only a few dollars more, make fewer stops than standard buses and some have air-conditioning. Private tour vans can easily be arranged in Antigua and are comfortable and inexpensive. =+==+==+==+==+==+===+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+==+
http://www.xelapages.com/newsletter/ Read all the past issues plus other articles
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We're a tad older than the usual student at the Xela language schools
First, let me answer some of the fears that many people seem to have if I'm reading the chat section of Xela Pages correctly. You DON'T need to be afraid of taking the chicken buses! In fact, you really aren't having a great experience unless you do. Furthermore, they're a lot easier on the budget, run a lot oftener and can get you almost anyplace you might want to go. We had some concerns before we arrived in Guatemala and intended to take a first class Galgos bus to Xela but inadvertently got on a chicken bus instead. After spending the first 50 miles worrying about whether our packs would
be stolen from the top of the bus, we realized that the bus driver's assistant
keeps very good track of every- thing up there and somehow is able to match
every piece of
After that, we rode chicken buses wherever we went. sometimes sitting
three to a two-person seat and sometimes standing but always enjoying the
colorful costumes, the children and the occasional interesting conversation.
We were usually the only
We are on a pretty tight budget but wanted to include some sightseeing
We attended the CBA school and found it to be very good but we realized
too
My husband was pretty much starting from scratch and he was just getting
the hang of it when we had to leave. The teachers were university
students and lots of fun as well as being dedicated. We were pleased
to receive e-mails from them recently.
We went on our own to ChiChi on the weekend - chicken buses again -
and were
We splurged on a tour of Tikal and Ceibal after school ended which we
We had no problems with safety anywhere we went but we did take reasonable
precautions such as carrying our money in concealed money belts, cameras
in waist packs in front of us and not letting our backpacks out of our
sight
We carried all our clothes and incidentals in backpacks and feel
that's the best way to travel, especially when you're going to be doing
a lot of walking and when you don't have a hotel reservation. One
tip we would pass on in terms of security - baby diaper pins through a
zipper pull and into the fabric of a pack or waist
We'd be happy to elaborate on our experiences if anyone has any
Just e-mail us at dizro@sprintmail.com.
References: CBA Spanish School: http://www.xelapages.com/cba/
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As the number of Spanish speakers in the US grows, more and more Americans are heading to Central American language schools for a crash-course in Spanish and a dose of local color. Here are some excerpts from the journal I kept during my three-week stint at a Spanish language school in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Day 1: Flew to Guatemala City and embarked on the 4 ½ hour bus-ride
to Xela
Classes are one-on-one for five hours a day, Monday through Friday. After a brief introduction, my teacher Maribel led me through a rigorous grammar and vocabulary review. I spent the evening poring over family photos with Catalina and Marina and fielding their inquiries about life in America. Day 3: I breakfasted at the Café Baviera, one of Xela's many
gringo haunts, with several of my fellow students. On the walk back to
school, we got caught in an afternoon rainstorm of monsoon proportions.
I froze my butt off sitting in Maribel's "classroom," which consisted of
a desk in the corner of an outdoor courtyard. After class, I met up with
the gang at Giuseppe's for pizza and garlic bread and then headed to the
Blue Angel where we nibbled on popcorn and watched
Day 6: Skipped class today to make the two-hour journey to the village of Momostenango, in Guatemala's wool-growing district. It was pouring rain and we nearly broke our necks on the slippery climb down to the hot springs at Payexú. A crowd of indígenos (natives) were drying off under a rain shelter and eyeing us curiously. Once the rain cleared, we headed back to town for some shopping. As luck would have it, all the vendors had gone to the market at San Francisco; we had heard, incorrectly, that San Francisco was closed due to a rubella epidemic. Eventually, we came across an American missionary who took us to the home of a man who sold rugs and blankets. We picked up some nice rugs for about nine dollars and returned to Xela just in time for the school's Fourth of July bash. After washing down our dinners with 40 ounce bottles of Gallo (the local equivalent of Bud Light a bunch of us hit a local disco. Day 8: Spent the weekend on Lake Atitlán in the hippie waterfront town of Panajachel. Although decidedly touristy, Pana is relaxing, colorful, and, above all, sunny. (Definitely worth the two-hour bus-ride spent standing, wedged between two women breast-feeding their babies!) The perimeter of the lake is dotted with small pueblos, and we took a leisurely ferry ride from Pana to the sleepy village of San Pedro. We returned to Xela at midday on Sunday and stopped by the huge market (which takes place on the first Sunday of every month) in the Parque Central. Day 10: Helped with a stove-building project this morning. We traveled by bus and then by pick-up truck out of the city and into the hills to a small, two-room house belonging to an indigenous family. It's hard to imagine that a stove can have much impact on such severe poverty, but the project leader informed us that 40% of Guatemala's indigenous women develop emphysema by their thirties from cooking over an open flame in an unventilated room. And the woman of the house was thrilled to have our meager help. Back at school, Maribel and I joined another teacher and student for some delicious hot chocolate at a crowded café --- my first visit to a local (non-gringo) hangout. Day 15: Spent a long weekend visiting the magnificent Mayan ruins of Tikal with a group from school. We traveled by bus to Guatemala City, stopping off for an afternoon and night in the Europeanized city of Antigua. From Guate, we flew to Flores and spent two days exploring the massive pyramids and lush jungles of Tikal. Day 17: Today's project was desk building at an elementary school about a half-hour outside of town. There weren't enough tools for all of us, so I played with the children and helped them stir a huge cauldron of porridge that would serve as their mid-morning snack. The kids were adorable, energetic, and eager to learn English. A boy named Antonio had me spelling out English words and their Spanish translations so he could record them in his notebook. Day 19: Maribel took me to an outdoor book sale in the Parque Central where we picked up a thin volume by Gabriel García Márquez and another by Guatemalan writer Miguel Angel Asturias. We spent the afternoon laboring over our new purchases. Day 20: For my last day of class, Maribel and I headed to the nearby
town of Zunil for a dip in the hot springs and a peek at a shrine to the
Maya god Maximón. Tomorrow it's back to Guatemala City and then
home.
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jon merrill <buddahjon@yahoo.com> Hello my friends, i must be learning something down here even though it dosnt feel like it to me. while catching up on email this morning i had to run to the facilities down stairs and so i started searching my brain on how i was going to explain my absense to the internet attendant. Lo and behold i had the words in spanish to tell him! how can one person, me, have a life time of experiences in one month. that is the way i feel. everything is so rich for me here. the colors, the sounds the smells. i feel as if i am drinking from a goblet filled with the swirling energy of life. it tastes delicious!! Every mornning the head grandmother in the compound of houses i live in calls out my name about seven for breakfast. i call her the head grandmother because there are severl there but she seems to be the grand dame. her name is concha and she is a delight. a simple breakfast of oatmeal and bananas maybe a fried egg and the always constant tortillas. School starts at eight. one on one instruction. i have had three diferent
instructors in my four weeks here and everyone excellent. i feel stupid
most of the time but im getting used to that. whenever the frustration
level reaches an observable level, i usually get a smile and a poco a poco
speach. lunch is at one fifteen or one thirty. that is the big meal
of the day. pastas, salads, fried or grilled meats, fresh fruit and the
ever present tortillas again. the school has an activity for us every afternoon,
movie, field trip, volunteer work, of which i do most days. on those days
i cant cram one more thing into my brain i treat myself to a siesta. personal
study in the afternoon or sometimes i will just sit in the
It really is quite funny. i know i speak spanish like a four or five year old but that doesnt seem to bother anyone. i meet and have conversations with twenty or thirty new people a week. i'll know the whole city soon! A few weeks ago we visited a small village near here that has a local venerated saint. although the worshipers are catholic, the saint is not accepted by the church. his name is san simon. some of his description may sound humorus or funny but i assure you i describe him with real respect. he is not what we usually think of as holy but he is here, and i try to see and understand with "new eyes". Winding our way on a drizzly day through small allys and back yards
filled with small vegatable gardens and the occaisional chicken or two.
jumping from cobblestone to curb we found our way to the house of san simon.
each year
A large bare concrete room the size of most of our living rooms is the
setting. one small window that lets in some light, but the rest of the
scene is illuminated by candels, hundreds of them. a row of simple
wooden chairs line the back wall occupied by those waiting thier turn to
seek san simon's blessings on themselves or curses on others. one of the
things i find facinating is that this character is whole, in the sense
that he is imbued with the polarities of the human condition.
The offerings surrounding him are bottles of rum which are rountinlly poored down his mouth which is collected in a bucket underneath him, packets of cigarettes and buckets and buckets of flowers and hundreds of candels. the candels are all the colors of the rainbow. Each color reperesenting some different kind of blessing. i brought a white candel which means protection. i had wanted a green one for health but the young man i purchased it from shook his finger at me most dramaticly and said, "no senior, you need blanco for protection". i thought it entirly possible that he knew something that i didnt, so i obeyed. i am glad to report that i feel safe and that i have someones protection, of that i am sure. This last weekend i got to visit my first mayan ruins in guatemala.
a small
I got a picture of myself sitting on the throne, looking very grand
im sure. as soon as it is developed i will post them with these letters.
well enough story telling today. i could go on forever. i have visited
so many places lately and each
Let me just tell you how sweet these people are. i hiked with a lovely
indigenous woman the other day to a waterfall just outside of a town called
san cristobal and when we arrived. sat on a boulder at the base of the
falls and ate fresh mangos. this woman representative of so many of the
people here absolutly glows from the inside out. when i would say something
in spanish that didnt make sense, her gigle
I will keep you informed of my next adventures. in three weeks time i go camping in the jungle and lowland swamps of the peten, northern guatemala, in the search of the jaguar and the bright green, long tailed bird called the quetzal. love, jon merrill <buddahjon@yahoo.com>
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If you would like to advertise in this newsletter send request to
Have a great trip!! Tom Lingenfelter - Editor
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