Dinner & Dancing

The night before we skipped town there was a special dinner at ICA complete with entertainment! For us, it was extra special because it was our last night with a few students we have become good friends with during the past month at school. The beloved "chicas de Holanda" Rogier & Jonathan, as well as our resident photographer friend Mike, finished their studies and have left Xela for greener pastures......Mexico & Antigua!

Rogier & Jonathan....things just aren't the same without you guys!

We dined on delicious papusas (cheese filled tortillas with sauce) and were amazed by the dancing skills of a local dance troupe. Some of us (those who got volunteered!) even got to partake in the dancing.

Lucky me! I got to dance with someone who knows how to lead.....sorry Benny!

The rest of the night consisted of mingling with other students, spotting a giant rat in ICA, some adult beverages, a stop by Ojala!, conversing in Spanish with some teachers, closing down a discoteca, eating hotdogs and consuming more adult beverages in Parque Central, and returning home entirely too late to get up at 5am the following morning! Here's what it looked like.

Mathias & Mario......... Rogier & me

Mario & Shelly.......... Ben & Bryan

Marek & Petra........ Mario's moto

The Czech-O........... Ana & Jonathan

Justine & Rogier........... Jonathan & Ana

Cena International

Traditionally in Guatemala, almuerzo is the largest meal of the day. Usually around 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon most Guatemaltecans head home for a large lunch and a siesta (nap) to follow. It's great since our breakfasts are usually rather small, but not so great if we have big plans for the afternoon, as the food coma tends to set in as soon as we get up for the table. Dinners, or cenas, are traditionally a small snack-like meal in the evenings around 7:00-8:00.

Friday night ICA hosted an international dinner, or cena international, but unlike a typical evening meal, this one had a large spread of delicious foods from around the world. Since we have students studying at ICA from several different countries it was a great way to enjoy a varied cuisine. Students crowded the kitchen at ICA to share a 4 burner stove and limited counter space, but the end results were worth the chaos. We made the infamous "Gordy's BBQ Chicken" (recipe courteousy of Sara Beth's dad, Gordy) and it was a hit. Other dishes included spinach quiche, a veggie/pasta dish from the Czech Republic, pancakes with cheese, bacon and apples from Holland, chorizo and tortillas from Guatemala, and various pasta dishes from the US......there are quite a few American students right now! We dined amidst candlelight in a transformed "dining room" at ICA and practiced our conversation skills with the other students.
Buen Provecho!

The Making of Tradional Mayan Textiles

Last week we took a trip to the nearby town of Salcaja, known for the making of traditional ikat style Mayan textiles. Sorry we are a little slow on the blogs - the internet connections here are not always fast, so it takes forever to get things done! Salcaja is about a 30 minute chicken bus ride from Xela. Around here the town is also known as ¨Mini Miami¨ because the majority of the population that lives there has family living in Miami, who send back money to their family in Guatemala. The town has a lot of vacent homes since many people spend a lot of their time there.

Upon our arrival we walked to a field where workers were stretching and braiding the natural string (for lack of a more sophisticted term). The man in the blue shirt explained about the process of hand tying the threads used to allow color variation in the textiles.


We then visited a Tinteria where we watched 2 guys (both who looked like teenagers) dye the material. This tinteria was for the color black only. Each color has it´s own shop. 1 person literally stamps and dances on the material in a large metal bucket filled with natural dyes, scalding hot water, and chemicals for 20 minutes so that the color absorbs into the material.
After it has cooled, it is passed off to another guy (pictured below) who rinses and twists it to get out all the excess liquid. Can you imagine doing this all day long for something less than 50 Quetzales (like $7 USD), not to mention the affect on your health?


Below is an example of what it looks like when all the little ties that are removed from the rope. How about that job? Would you want that one?


We didn´t get to see these things in action, but Ben was enamored with them. They use these bicycle wheels to wind the finished product.


After a stroll through town we were off to a another house where we watched a man doing the actual ikat weaving on a loom. He told us he works 8 hoursa day making about 7 meters of material. He makes 50Q a day as well.



Throughout Salcaja there were many tiendas selling the dyed string for weaving as well as the final product. The weavings are part of the traditional Mayan dress. It is typical for the women to wear the fabric wrapped around them like a skirt with another fabric that looks like an apron over top. Often their tops are heavily embroidered and layered under a matching cardigan. We´ll probably get pictures of the dress sooner or later, but out of respect for their beliefs (most don´t want to be photographed) we don´t have any yet.


This excursion was planned by our school and definitely worth the trip. We woudn´t have been able to do this tour ourselves as many of the places we visited were in private homes or businesses.