At Long Last - SUN!

Once again this weekend we fled the rainy streets of Xela in search of some sun....and we found it a Lago Atitlan! Hemmed in on all sides by volcanoes and steep hills, the lake is at least 320 meters deep and has no visible outlet. The lake was created from a volcanic crater and has a few spots of tepid water, slightly heated from the volcanic activity. We spent the day visiting a few of the towns that surround the lake via lancha (a small boat).





First stop - a dip in the lake! This was a little tricky as no one was wearing their bathing suits and we had to change on the lancha. All the guys didn't hesitate to dive in, but the girls didn't feel like getting wet (except for Megan) - afterall the water wasn't even completely warm, so what's the point??




Next stop - San Antonio, a tradional village steeped in Mayan culture. Many people in San Antonio speak a Mayan language as well as Spanish. We visted a the white-washed central church as well as a women's co-operative, where I got adorned in tradional Mayan dress.



3rd stop - Santiago, the largest and most important of the lakeside villages. In Santiago we paid homage to San Simon, the evil saint, once ex-communicated from the Catholic church for his beliefs in partaking in all things indulgent (drinking, smoking, dancing, etc.). A wooden statue, adorned in scarves, San Simon is moved from house to house, and frequented by devout believers and tourists charged 2Q per person (not to mention 10Q if you want a photo - hence no photos of this specitcal). As explained by my teacher at ICA, it is a "witchcraft-like" religion. We also visted the original catholic church at Lago Atitlan. Afterwards we stopped here to have a delicious lunch at a rooftop restaurant!



Final destination - Panajachel, where we spent the night. This larger lakeside town is comprised of tourists, American & European hippies, hotels, restuarants, bars, shopping, tuk-tuks, and a few language schools (for those looking for a partial-immersion experience). This weekend the town also had a fair, with 2 ferris wheels that moved about 3 times as fast as normal and a greased pole for entertainment. It was quite an experience!

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!

Chicken Bus of the Week #1

Contain your excitement.....we're adding a new segment to our little blog that could. Beginning today, we plan on celebrating the art form of the "Chicken Bus" by highlighting a new bus each week. Each is completely unique, most are religiously themed, and all speak for themselves. Enjoy!

This beauty is all cleaned up and decked out for her next ride!

Fuentes Georginas

Right outside of Xela there are some natural hot springs called Fuentes Georginas. There are 3 pools heated by the activity of the nearby volcano, so there isn't a strong sulfur smell! The largest pool was extremely hot and most of us couldn't even get in it! While we were there, it started to rain.....imagine that. Actually it made for quite a nice cool off from the hot water! By the time we left there was so much steam, we could hardly get a photo.

Definitely worth a trip if you're ever passing by Xela!

2 hours to Totonicapan

In the nearby town of Totonicapan, there was a festival on Monday to celebrate the Arcangel San Migueal. Our school scheduled a trip in the morning and allowed us to switch our class to the afternoon so we could all attend. In reality Totonicapan is only about an hour away, but it ended up taking us 2 hours to get there.....on chicken bus. We stopped about 100 times to pick up others heading in the same direction. Once we arrived we walked into town, fighting our way through the massive crowd, with hopes of seeing some of the action at the church. The photos below show just how crowded it was, so we never quite made it to the church. We did get to spend a few hours wandering through the endless market though.



Just one example of the vendors lining the streets.

Students at play in a carnival-like arcade.

This is a photo of the inside of the chicken bus on the way home. Now imagine it with twice as many people. That is how it ended up!

The Best Coffee in the World

Over the weekend we took a overnight trip to visit a finca del cafe (coffee plantation). We heard about a group called Cafe Conciencia, a non-profit group that promotes fair trade coffee business in Guatemala. Since we´re all about fair trade, we thought we´d check it out.....plus it was near the coast and that means a warmer climate than Xela!

We traveled to Nueva Alianza, the first co-operative finca in Guatemala, with a group of 8 other students. 40 families live and work within the farm. There they have a sort of ¨Eco-resort¨(dormitory style beds with cold showers) that we stayed in. We learned all about the coffee processing business as well as other projects that they have started in the co-op, including macademia harvesting, bio-diesel, water purfication, and bamboo furniture.

We picked coffee off the trees on a hillside. Did you know coffee begins as red berries? When you suck on them they have a sweet flavor.

After picking the berries, we hiked into a nursery where they graft coffee plants together to ensure they will produce a plant that fits the Guatemalan terrain.

After the berries are picked they are hand sorted to make sure only the reddest berries are processed first. The green berries are stored in burlap bags for 8 days to ripen. The berries go through 3 processes to remove the 4 outer layers over the bean. These processes take a total of 86 hours to produce raw beans as shown in the photo below. What begins as 100 lbs. of red berries ends up with 19.5 lbs. of raw beans.

The beans are then sent to a nearby women´s co-op for removal of the final layer and roasting. At this time Nueva Alianza does not have these capabilities, but are hoping to change that in the future. This would allow them to create greater income upon sale of the coffee.

Most of the coffee from the finca, the 2nd to highest grade of coffee available, is exported to other countries. At this time, the Guatemalan coffee market is the best in the world, mainly due to small scale farming. Ironically enough, most Guatemalans drink instant coffee. Good thing we brought some of the good stuff home for our family!

We also did some rainforest-like hiking to nearby cascadas (waterfalls). We really enjoyed cooling off, after being eaten alive by mosquitos and ants!

Excursion to Salcaja

Along with making textiles, Salcaja is also know for an alcoholic drink they make, a sort of high ocatane sangria called caldo de frutas. It has a sweet wine taste made from rum, vanilla, suger and various fruits that are mixed together and fermented for 5 months. It is actually quite good in liquid form, but the fermented fruit is pretty potent - just look at Ben's reaction!

Salcaja is also home to the first church (Catholic) in Central America, Iglasia de San Jacinto. The church dates back to 1524. It wasn't open for us to tour the inside, but even from the outside it was interesting. Xela has the second church in Central America which is also Catholic. Considering Mexico is about 98% Catholic, we were actually surprised to learn that Guatemala has many religions, including Evangelical, Mormon, and Presbyterian. Catholicism is less than 60%.


Part of the adventure of this excursion was riding in the chicken buses and mini-buses. These are a few of our classmates from Switzerland, Iceland and America. We are actually embarrassed that we only speak 1 language fluently in comparison to the Europeans. Most of them are working on a 3rd or 4th language. They all speak English almost as well as we do. It is kind of cool that people from all these different countries can bond and converse through the use of English language. We tell ourselves everyday not to feel bad about our primary Spanish skills. At least we are here, trying to do our part in making a difference in the future of America.