El Paseo en la Lancha (the boat)

Today, my roommate Eli and I woke up around 7:30 to meet the others for breakfast and a group photo. At 8:30 we prepared ourselves for “La Lancha” with Dramamine, rain jackets, and water. The ride to our first pueblo, San Juan, had incredible views of the mountains and volcanoes which border Lake Atitlan. Green and lush don’t even begin to describe this place. All of the colors that make up the geography, homes, clothes, and food of this country are so vibrant you just can’t help but smile. Unlike New York and our "black only" dress code, Guatemalans proudly wear clothes of color, many of which are hand-woven by the indigenous groups of the surrounding areas.


In San Juan our group visited a local school where we donated things like pens, pencils and stickers to the students. We had to literally drop our supplies and run for fear of being stampeded by the excited children. I’d love to see my own students jump up and down for a pencil and Dora the Explorer sticker. Righhhttt….I’d have to whoop out an IPOD, a roll of bills, and a Rolex just to grab the attention of my over-privileged punks. The majority of my students are obviously not this demanding, but they certainly do not crave writing utensils as much as the students I witnessed today. It’s a damn shame isn’t it?

Our next stop was a textile factory where we learned the arduous process by which they create hand-woven materials. This task took way too much time for my New York patience, but I still managed to snag a few solid photos of the machine.

Lastly was the town of Santiago (the Tzutujil Mayan capital) where we listened to the story about the legendary Maximon, the Mayan god of the underworld. Apparently this guy was a total Casanova, pissing off all of the townspeople by boozing, smoking, and taking everyone’s lady. One day, a group of angry Mayans captured him and cut off his legs and arms as a way of getting revenge for what was obviously just their envy of his excessive lifestyle.  However, unbeknown to the assassins was that Maximon was in fact a very BIG deal. Somehow he became a god following this and later, with the introduction of Christianity became associated with Judas. At a festival called Santa Semana during holy week he is moved, by procession to a different house in the village. Worshipers offer money, spirits and cigars or cigarettes to gain his favor in exchange for good health, good crops, and marriage counseling, amongst other favors. The effigy usually has a lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth and we were told he even has a hole in his mouth (leading to a small bottle somewhere within) so that his attendants can pour liquor in! Nice life eh?

The rest of the tour was filled with rain, rain, and more rain. Now I’m back in our habitacion about to read “Como agua para chocolate.”

More to come…stay tuned!

-Marta