El ayudante is muy interesante!

Una flora muy bonita al Hotel Las Cumbres.
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Getting to Zunil once I made it to Quetzaltenango proved interesting as well.  What was particularly interesting was that my hotel was not REALLY in Zunil, but was a kilometer or so up the road.  Had my first experience of a chicken bus, which was not so bad - I guess the 4 hours on the shuttle bus was enough to make most bus rides boring.  The most interesting part was the ayudante.  He's the guy who stands in the doorway of the bus (this is an old, VERY old Bluebird style bus from when I was in gradeschool - but painted in a fabulously tacky style).  The doorway, by the way is open all of the time.  Before the bus stops he jumps out and urges people on.  If they have bags (like me) (by the way, SARALYN, I cannot believe you let me leave with so much stuff - I've been intentionally leaving stuff here and there and trying to figure out what I can get rid of - my bag is WAY too heavy - especially for trying to get on and off these busses) or big baskets or bundles for carrying on one's head or back (like the Mayan women and men) then he grabs their stuff, runs to the back of the bus, up the ladder and throws stuff on top of the bus, (the driver then starts driving) and the ayudante either climbs down the ladder and into the back door of the bus) or he runs up beside the bus and jumps in the front door.

A view of the farms in Zunil (in the background).
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So when I made it to Zunil, I asked the driver where was Hotel Las Cumbres, and he didn't know but THANK GOD he helped me get a piccop who knew where it was.  The piccop driver seemed impressed that I was Americana, which I found interesting.  He offered to let me sit in the front, which I declined in favor of the back of the piccop.  Now for those of you thinking I'm getting in the truck with some stranger, it is true, but this is the main way of traveling in the rural parts of Guatemala.  It is how, I recently learned, all of the Mayan people get all of their vegetables and other goods to the market and back.

SARALYN, I cannot believe you let me leave with so much stuff!!

Another view of the farms in Zunil.
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My hotel was FABULOUS!  It is, I now know, NOT where the travelers come to stay, but where the wealthy Guatemalans come.  I was the only non-Guatemalan there, the whole time, I do believe.  I had a sauna in my room and as the whole area has many many volcanoes, the steam for the sauna was natural - I guess volcanic steam, or something like that.  It was SOO hot though that I could only go in for less than 5 minutes at a time.  I have pictures of the hotel but I forgot to bring my camera to this little internet cafe, so the uploading of pictures will have to wait until tomorrow.  The hotel had a wonderful little restaurant with an area inside where they make their own tortillas - which was a fun process to watch.  The food was fabulous and I sort of decided to do away with the - "don't eat any raw vegetables or fruits unless you peel them yourself."  That just doesn't seem like very much fun!

That second night in Guatemala, in Hotel Las Cumbres, was a little lonely, and I thought much of what a very wise women told me - that when she befriends her loneliness it is not quite so scary - and so I tried.  I wondered if this little solo rural Guatemalan adventure (to Zunil) was the best plan for my first weekend here.  I realized that I can speak Spanish much more easily than I can understand it (mostly because of the speed at which many people speak).  I also realized I didn't quite have a handle on some pretty basic things - would it be safe for me to walk to Zunil by myself the next day?

I've read that the people in Guatemala (to completely generalize) are pretty subdued.  Now I think I know what that means, at least in how they tend to relate to outsiders.  And I'm in touch with how important it is to me to feel like I'm welcome and not being a burden in general, but especially when I am an outsider.  Of course I don't put the responsibility for me feeling welcome on the the people who live here.  But part of me wishes, when I'm on the bus and say I need to go to Zunil, that the ayudante would say, "ZUNIL" when we get there.  And I know that there are a million reasons (most of which I do not even know yet) why I should not be welcomed here, mostly relating to U.S. Goverment policies and history with Guatemala.

So a sad night, but this too shall pass.