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16.08.2009

categories: Family Life, Fiestas
tags: Fiesta, Food

Otto’s mother and little brother are here. I met up with them for some wine and cheese (with promises of Pollo Campero despues – but it all fell through because it ended up being closed).

Rachid is going to be here until the beginning of September. We’ll hang out. He really wants to try the redbull at Bistro Cinq. I told him that we have the best in town.

However, due to my passport troubles, I will be gone the majority of the time that he is here. I will be in Costa Rica between the 20th and the 30th. However, the time that he is here we’re gonna paint the town red.

He’s also started a blog. You can visit it at http://chino44.blogspot.com/

And don’t forget to give him a hard time about it having absolutely no content right now.

3 comments

27.04.2009

Escipulas and a broken down bus

category: Travel
tags: Confusion, Dancing, Español, Food, Marti and Carlos, Mujeres

I went with Marty and Carlos to Escipulas this weekend for a tour. Escipulas is in the South-East corner of Guatemala and is a pilgrimage site for most of Central America. There is a statue of Christ called “Cristo Negro” (Black Christ) that is said to have miraculous healing powers for people of faith. This is taken very seriously. Though I did not see it, there are people that enter into the church on their knees, make their way up to Christo Negro to pray, and then exit on their sore bloody knees.

The group. Its hard to see in this photo, but there were 52 of us.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtqvDn8hYhU[/youtube]

Año Santo. 250th Anniversary of the church. This main entry door is never completely opened. For this year alone it has been opened completely. Pope Benedict has said that to walk through this door is a very holy act.

We had just been to Escipulas two weeks ago during Semana Santa when my mother was here (had decided last minute to go there instead of Chemuc Shampey because of whether conditions). It was good to go again to see it in a different way. We went to a handful of services. One was in a small chapel that is usually never open to the public, and another was during the main service in an elevated area that is very close to the Cristo Negro.

Escipulas

People outside. This photo doesn´t do justice to the amount of people that are are actually there on a daily basis. It is packed.

I will load more pics of Escipulas once I have them available…

The town that the church is in is completely dependent on the existance of the church. Without the church, I´m pretty sure there´d be no town. Everybody is selling religious paraphanilia along with everything else that usually makes up a Guatlemalan mercado. We were walking around and met this guy:

Master of the fortune telling paraquets

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdZxfNKvq6g[/youtube]start

So the paraquet decided to pick three papelitos of advice for me, out of which I chose the yellow one. I have to admit, I still do not exactly understand the elaborate prophecy that has been fortold. Marty helped me clear it up a bit though and it is something along the lines of the fact that I will soon be recieving news that will not be good. Fortunately, it also said that the news will not be bad either… just news.

So while climbing up the windy stretch of highway on the way home, the bus driver started to slow down and then pull over to the side of the road.

Hmm

Luckily, the bus driver was basically a mechanic too. After about 15 minutes or so, he was able to fix the bus and we continued on. We then drove for about 5 – 10 minutes more and pulled over again. Repeat. Then drove a bit more and then broke down again. After the 3rd breakdown, people decided that we´d better get another bus. We ended up getting many “microbuses” to drive us to the hotel we were eating at for lunch.

Breakdown

Filing into the microbus

Because it was a spur of the moment thing, our microbus driver didn´t have his transit papers. We were then given a “free tour” through Chikimulas to retrieve the papers before going to the hotel.

We then ate lunch and then hung out next to the pool for about 1.5 hours. When the bus arrived, the bus driver was completely covered in grease but said that the bus was ready to go. We then continued back to Guatemala city breakdown-free. Luckily, this had not been at night, that would have been a completely different situation…

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05.04.2009

Lago Atitlan, Xela, una Misa, Bailando, y una Procesión

categories: Fiestas, Travel, Visitors
tags: Dancing, Español, Food, Landscapes, Marti and Carlos

So you´ll have to bear with me here, didn´t have time to explain. Check back for updates…

Arriving to Lago Atitlan

God

We chartered a boat ($12 a head) to see some of the pueblos that surround Lago Atitlan. There are 12 pueblos, and each one of them is named after one of the 12 apostles.

It was actually not the best day to go to the lake, it was cloudy and the water was choppy. However, Pedro was not at all phased by the conditions and we flew across the lake (faster than Marty would have liked).

Picture with Captain Pedro

Suiting up to head to Santiago Atitlan

Marty, Mom, and Carlos in Front of Iglesia Parroquial Santiago Apostal (built in 1547)

We got a tuc tuc (tiny toy-like taxi) and went to the center of Santiago. After some persuasion by the tuc tuc driver we then decided to do one of the tours that he was offering. We chose to go around town and to visit Maximon, a god/saint that some of the indigineous people of the area worship.

Visit to Maximón, indiginous god. Liquor and cigars...

Fitting in

After the lake we headed to Xela, Guatemala´s second largest city. It is about a two hour drive from the lake on roads that are undergoing serious construction. We were told that it is generally considered “The Athens of Central America”.

Pueblo on the outskirts of Xela

Muchos pollos

Mercado - look at the niña

Radishes

Rock n´ Roll electric altar

Centro de Xela

Xela´s Cathedral´s Double Facade. Original church in front, new church in back.

Local Mariachi´s

Flute

Our tour bus waiting in front of the cathedral

Xela

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFOD-1ojol8[/youtube]

Ridiculous end to our tour. Couldn´t have been more perfect.

After the tour we went into the Cathedral. Just so happened to be a wedding in progress...

Red light district. In Xela, red lights on Saturdays means Paches.

Paches

Leaving Xela

Sunday morning we went to a mass for Tita (Marty´s sister) and Paco. They have been married for 50 years. Otto´s family took up about the back quarter of a decent sized church. Not everybody made it into this photo.

Family photo after the Mass.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dnr6jN7q2Tg[/youtube]

Tita and Paco´s 50th Anniversary party

Tub of salad and barrel of rice...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lPEsItL-MQ[/youtube]

Dancing it up

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVOcECA2ILw[/youtube]

7 comments

26.03.2009

Weekend in HueHue

category: Travel
tags: Español, Food, Landscapes

I spent this past weekend in HueHuetenango. Jaime told me that the name of the area literally translates to “the place of old men”.

Rodalfo`s friend Carlos invited me to his house for a long weekend. HueHue is about 4.5 – 5 hours and 2 camionetas north of Antigua. The bus ride was awesome, I actually wished it had been longer. Mountains, farms, small towns… and fog, lots of fog.

HueHue bus station / market

The weekend was spent “perfecting my Spanish” (a joke that was repeated many times… you had to be there). Most of the time was just spent talking and going around visiting the local sites. Carlos and his brother accept lots of couch surfers into there house and have a few places of interest to show their visitors.

Carlos`s brother took me to the ruins of Zaculeu. This was a suprise after a little chicharron (authentic pork rind – actually really good on a tortilla with salsa, lime, and some greens). You`ll have to google it if you want to see pictures, I didn`t have my camera on me.

Carlos is a baker. He has recently started teaching classes about a block from his house in a small space that he rents. He likes to teach the international folks how to cook things. He taught me how to french bread and baguettes. I can now add two more things to the long list of things I know how to cook. The list is probably approaching a grand total of almost 5 or 6 at this point.

Watching the machine mix the dough was mezmerizing. This quicky became Carlos`s word of the weekend. From there on out, everything was "mezmerizing".

Prepping the dough

Making dough balls

Rolling dough balls

Carlos took me to a place called “El Mitador”. Its one of the highest points in HueHuetenango. There was an incredible view there. There were also two awesome houses. I`d have to say, I was into the houses more than the view.

Yes

House 1 from the back

House 2

Pretty decent view out the window

Descansando

One night we went to Carlos`s parents house for a bit. Carlos asked me if I was hungry. Do you like mango`s? He opened the fridge.

Muchos mangos

“Why do they have so many mangos?”. “Because they are crazy, they went to Guatemala city and bought 100 mangos”. We then sat around and ate mangos.

7 comments

19.03.2009

Marty Party

category: Fiestas
tags: Confusion, Español, Food, Marti and Carlos

So Marty had a birthday party on Sunday.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH2BYwdfKZM[/youtube]

The party was a good time. Otto`s aunts and uncles took this as a perfect opportunity to sit down with the gringo and teach him a bunch of palabras malas. They didn`t forget to throw in a few hand signs too…

3 comments

08.03.2009

Cuchubal

category: Fiestas
tags: Español, Food, Marti and Carlos

So welcome to the Cuchubal, a monthly event held to bring the family together… and take their money.

The Cuchubal is a very common game played in Guatemala. It`s a sort of round-robin event held with a group of usually around 10+ people (Otto`s family plays with about 30). Everybody throws down Q200 (about $26) and hopes that they win the pot.

So here are the most important rules of Cuchubal (and people make sure that they`re followed to the T):

Come to the Cuchubal
Put down your Q200 (If you don`t come this rule still applies)
If you don`t pay the Q200 during the day of Cuchubal you need to pay a penalty to the last person who won Cuchubal
If you win, you need to wait for everybody else to win before you are able to win again
If you win, you need to hold the next Cuchubal

Reading the rules (lets make sure everybody`s clear here)

Reviewing the rules (lets make sure everybody`s clear here... if you wanna start something, the rulebook`s right here...)

Olga passing out the numbers for the cash money

Passing out the numbers for the bottle of gin

Suspense while everybody waits for the niña to hold up the sign with the magic winning number

12!

So what`s the point of Cuchubal? Good question, I wasn´t completely sure myself. You aren`t actually “winning” or “losing” the money. From what I could tell, there is really no difference between playing Cuchubal and opening a bank account and putting in Q200 a month (because no matter what you have to pay by the month and at some point you`re garunteed to win the Cuchubal). So what`s it about, winning a bunch of money at once so you can then impulsively spend it?

I asked my Spanish teacher Aura about this game. She used to play with all of the other maestras at school. She explained that this is actually a good way to save money. Since you have a responsibility to put down money (cuz if you don`t you`re gonna have to pay), you actually end up putting aside Q200 a month no matter what. It is also a way to watch out for your friends and family. For example, in select cases, if somebody`s child is sick and they need money for an operation or expensive medicine, the Cuchubal is shifted to them and they automatically win for that month.

Otto`s cousin (Olga`s son) ended up winning this one. The pot was Q6,800 ($858).

9 comments

23.02.2009

Suprise party

category: Fiestas
tags: cramped spaces, Dancing, Español, Food

So this Sunday Ana Lucia (the real one) invited me to her house because her family was having a suprise birthday party for her great aunt. Her aunt was turning 87.

Great aunt - bottom left

It was really cool, there were about 30+ people waiting, and when her aunt came through the front door we blasted music and started clapping and cheering. Her aunt started crying (in a good way).

After having tons of food and cake (de tres leches – incredible), I went for a ride with Ana Lucia to “get the mariachis”. I figured that we were going to pick them up and give them a ride.

¿Que?

These guys are the real deal - read the sign

So turns out we were headed to “La Plazuela de Mariachis” (Plaza of Mariachis). The entire side of the street was full of mariachis just hanging around waiting for a job… wow, only in Guatemala (and maybe Mexico).

After some heavy negotiating on Ana Lucia´s part, we returned to the house (followed by a van full of mariachis) to suprise Ana Lucia´s great aunt for a second time.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f3-1zV5pMQ[/youtube]

Her great aunt being lead into the party room. She was happy, she cried again…

And of course there was dancing...

Ana Lucia´s father dancing with the birthday girl

Rock n´roll mariachi

6 comments

19.02.2009

Family life update

category: Family Life
tags: Español, Food, Huesito, Stella

So the family has changed a bit. Henry has since gone back to Canada. I am now staying with Miguel (Mike) and Russ and Judy.

Neri and Miguel

Miguel is from Western Massachussets. He is down here to scope out plots of land where he can build his future house. He has sold his house in Mass and is planning to move down here for good in November. He´ll be down here for about three weeks. He´s my roomate now. His Spanish is pretty good and his vocabulary is way bigger than mine… we are pretty good about only speaking to eachother in Spanish.

Russ and Judy just arrived the other day. They are from Kentucky and are here to study Spanish for a month. They have many Hispanic friends and want to be able to communicate with them better. Russ has been studing by himself for about a year or so…

Huesito rocking his warm weather gear

Magical fruit that came streight out of some Nintendo game. They grow on trees with the big seed part facing downwards. EVERYBODY has eaten a part of this fruit many times in their life. Take a stab at what it is, you won´t get it. It´s not a pepper...

Magical fruit that came streight out of some obscure Nintendo game. They grow on trees with the big seed part facing downwards. EVERYBODY has eaten a part of this fruit many times in their life. Take a stab at what it is, you won´t get it... and it´s not a pepper...

Russ and I were very amazed by this mysterious fruit. Stella is in the foreground answering Judy´s questions about it.

Russ and I were amazed by this mysterious fruit. Stella is in the foreground answering Judy´s questions about it.

10 comments

09.02.2009

Weekend in Puerto

categories: Fiestas, Travel
tags: Dancing, Food, Gallo, hats, Landscapes

So Rodalfo and his friend Christian invited me to go to Puerto San Jose this past weekend.

Puerto is a small beach town. Everybody seems to know eachother. Christian took me around town on the back of his motorcycle and was waving to pretty much every other person…

There was alot of time spent on the beach (in the shade of course) and hanging around in Rodalfo’s family’s restaurant eating seafood. We also drove around a four wheeler for a bit on the beach which was really fun.

And unfortunately I somehow lost mi sombrero chilero…

Beach

View from the Restaurant

Fishing

We spent Saturday at Christian’s family’s restaraunt drinking, eating, and listening to mariachi. Mariachi is no joke here, people get really into it. Rodalfo enjoys singing (/yelling) along to the music and shouting out to friends that drive by (usually making fun of them).

Saturday night we went to a discoteca in town. There has been a marked improvement in my dance skills due to the constant need to practice on the weekends. I got a shoutout from the DJ as being a “buen honda from las estados unidos”. We stayed up late just talking and hanging out.

Christian and his family at their restaurant (Christian's cousin Erik wanted to be sure that the "Gallo" label on his beer was visible in this photo)

The weekend was great excercise for both my Spanish and my liver. Sunday was spent drinking and hanging out in Christian’s restaurant with his family. Since we all had slight hangovers, I was told that the best way to remedy the situation was to drink more beer (and we’re talking early… like 8:30am …when in Rome…) and to eat “levante el morio” (wake the dead). Levante el morio is a soup with tomatoes, eggs, and other spices… famous for curing hangovers.

Oh and my Spanish is getting better. Christian’s cousin had me *roughly* translate “November Rain” by Guns n’ Roses and various Bob Marely songs…

12 comments

06.02.2009

Field Trip: San Mateo

categories: School, Travel
tags: cramped spaces, Español, Food, Landscapes

So on Wednesday I went on a field trip through the school. It was to a neighboring pueblo named San Mateo. We were visiting a very small elementry school that supported itself by demostrating how to make tortillas and other typical Guatemalan food to tourists.

We met in the park near my house a little before 8:00 to wait for our ride. We were going to take a camionete (bus), but in typical Guatemalan fashion, we ended up taking a peekop (pickup)

Everybody in (all 10 of you... seriously)

The ride was great and ended up taking about a half an hour or so. We ended up doing pretty well. In all we had 10 people. Luckily, the truck was an extended cab, so we were able to fit quite a few people inside. We weren´t so lucky on the way back and had to cram 12 people (including 2 local farmers).

When we got there we went on a hike around the town. The landscape was beautiful.