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Las Aventuras de una volcandiosa.
I spend the weekend in paradise. And yourselves.
First, an apology. I cannot find the question mark key on this keyboard. So you'll just need to use your imagination. Imagine a keyboard who's keys don't do what they say. Hey! Fun.
Friday on of the other students here travelled with me to San Marcos La Laguna. It is one of several small towns on Lake Atitlan, one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. San Marcos itself is a trip. It has become a center for new age spirituatlity, and has several meditation centers, including places for Reiki practice and training, yoga, massage, and...well, you know. We went to a two and a half hour long hatha yoga class, during which I was peacefully bitten by mosquitos. Also, the twelve million dogs on the island bark often, but in a spiritual way. And I found the constant crowing of the roosters to be meditative.
Really, it was a lovely place and I enjoyed myself, but it was very bizarre. I'm in the process of uploading my photos so you can see. I¨ve already made one huge mistake so hopefully it works this time.
Saturday night we had a true traveller's dinner consisting of rice that the Israeli's had left behind, a small can of tomato sauce, a small can of frijoles resfritos, a zuchinni, and an apple. It sounds bad, but was actually pretty good. For lunch that day we had been searching for ripe avocados (San Marcos is covered in avocado trees) but hadn't found any. Just as we were giving up, a little girl came running after us. I guess word had spread that some gringas were looking for ripe avocados, and so she tracked some down and sold them to us for 3.5 quetzales. The dollar is worth 7.5 Q right now, and they were the best avocados I'd ever eaten. Also that day we drank liquados, which are basically fresh fruit smoothies with milk or water. They are fabulous. We also bought some carrot bread and some banana bread from a Ma'm (one group of Maya in the area) woman who sat on the corner the entire day selling her bread. It was good bread.
Today I moved into my new house. It is owned by a woman's group who is working to improve the economic opportunity for women in the area. Various groups of Maya women make crafts which are then sold in a fair trade store in Richmond (it is on Carey Street, Em and Sals). The store owner is a Guatemalan woman whose sisters still live here in Xela and the three of them run the organization. So while my money is no longer going to a family who needs it, it is helping fund this organization. I'll probably get a little involved with their work, in addition to volunteering at the orphanage (yes, they are letting me near children) and tutoring my Xela sister in English. Between the three, 25 hours of class a week, travelling on weekends, reading a history of Guatemala in Spanish, and translating old Spanish texts, I think I'm good to go. Oh, and I'm going to hear somebody speak tonight who fought with Che Guevarra.
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