guatemala's second capital

ah, xela.

this is such a funny town. at first glance there is nothing exciting about quetzaltenango, popularly called xela ("SHAY-la") by travelers and locals alike. the main parque central america is a neoclassical construction of pillars and once-working fountains, and is surrounded by a few buildings with some interesting architecture. as for the physical town itself, that's about it -- the rest is bad cobblestone streets and concrete block construction. but the people here are what makes this town special.

i took another week of spanish classes here at the juan sisay school. my instructor's name was rené and he was a great match for me. rather than 3-4 hours of intense study like my previous class in oaxaca, here we had 5 hours of mixed formal and informal instruction. my rambling conversations (with corrections) with rené gave me much need confidence in approaching locals, as well as important background in local politics, spirituality, and culture.

rené was a treat to meet, too. one day he asked me what i did for work at home. imagine my surprise when, after i told him i made maps, he asked me if i used arcview! apparently he worked for a government funded group for a while, running a ranch and training local maya various aspects of sustainable agriculture. one of his tasks involved using the gps unit in the field and so he has arcview experience. i am trying to get him access to my conservation group's international scholarship program so he can bring more skills back to his project.

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fuentes georginas

if you get a little ways out of town you can find some real gems to visit. in fact the only reason i decided to stop in this town was for the hot springs nearby; after two months on the road i was ready for a good long soak! and indeed i was not disappointed when we finally got to fuentes georginas, as the springs are called.

the road there alone was worth the trip. a chicken bus from xela drops you off at a bridge in the town of zunil. from here you catch a ride in the back of a collectivo, which in all of guatemala is a toyota pickup with a rack in the back so 10-20 people can stand up for the ride. the road from zunil to fuentes georginas is simply stunning. it is a tiny paved road winding up the side of a steep mountain, with amazing views of the nearby volcanos. as you ride along you are passing garden plots mostly of maize and potatoes, and people working them, and little villages perched on the side of the hill.

finally you arrive at the springs. a walk up a path takes you past bungalows that can be rented for the night, but at a rather (i thought) overpriced rate. finally at the top is a series of pools, starting with the largest and hottest, and terraced down to cooler and smaller pools. the clientele here is a mix of locals and travels and makes a great place to meet people. there's a restaurante here that serves decent food at a decent price considering how remote it is.

i met one couple from xela here. he is a health inspector and she is a clerk in the health office. sadly this was before my second week of spanish and so i felt at a loss in the conversation. i also met a couple of travelers from santa rosa and was happy to find some further north-coasters. they have been partially funding their trip through clown acts on the street and playing guitar songs on buses, and then passing the hat. people love it!

lago chicabal

another even more amazing event was my hike up to lago chicabal. this volcanic crater lake is considered the center of the mayan religion, and in fact there is a special holy week when mayan shamán everywhere come to this lake for their rituals. no outsiders are allowed during that holy week, but travelers are welcome at other times if they respect the sacred nature of the site.

the best way up is with a tour, and the tour service we took was adrenalina. in addition to several new road friends i had met, shannon ryan and i had met up again in guatemala and she joined us on this trip.

the hardest part of the trip was the seven am departure time, but as you will see later there was a great reason for this early departure. the first stop is the town of san martin, where we met our tour guide roy. roy is the son of a local shamán and he himself is in training to become one. we met his father too, who is a wonderfully unassuming farmer in addition to his religious studies. some days his father leads the tour, but lucky for me roy was taking us out today, because roy's english is great and my spanish still sucks.

the hike is a bit taxing, and not just because it is a rather steep climb at times. after all, this is a volcano we are scaling! the elevation gain from the village to the lake is large, plus you are doing all of this at an already relatively high elevation. it's amazing how 5,000 feet or so can really suck the oxygen right out of your lungs!

but it is a gorgeous hike, up trails and dirt roads used by local farmers to reach their plots of maize and beans. the vast majority of the forest in this area, like forest everywhere in guatemala, has been cleared to make room for substanance agriculture, little plots that basically provide just enough food for a family to live on without starving. only the impossibly steep or inaccessible slopes have forest, and these woods are often used for fuel and building materials.

at the shoulder of the hill is a little educational center where travelers can stay, learn, and work for the betterment of the local community. i don't know the name of the program here, but if you are looking for a true cultural immersion, this would be the place to be.

finally we reached the lip of the volcano, and here you can see down into the bowl that holds the lake. it is simply amazing. one can sense the age of the place and the reason why it is sacred to the maya. there is a really steep decent into the bowl from here, and finally you reach the lake proper.

i can't really describe how special this lake felt to me. things that i saw during my meditation here would look lame written in text. it is the experience that counts. yes the physical aspects of the lake really support such visions. as we sat on the shore each in our own personal space, the clouds began to come over the rim of the volcano. white, fluffy giants flying though the air, reach limbs down to the water, only to dissipate and reform again, provided a show. over the coarse of an hour the entire lake became engulfed in clouds and visibility dropped to nil, explain clearly why we needed to leave xela so early.

roy provided excellent narration and information for this entire trip. local history, philosophy, the mayan calander system, and politics were all discussed. shannon really connected with roy on this trip, and in fact returned to study with roy and his family for a week.

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mios dios, amor!

ok, i know you are all waiting for this story. yes, i have fallen in love in guatemala!

during my spanish classes my instructor mention that one of the other instructors, a woman, had been asking about me. but i was so focused on learning español i didn't make any sort of connection. it wasn't until the class party that i really understood what the connection was.

at the end of each week my language school throws a crazy party and give certificates of graduation to each departing student. this week, being valentines day week, was special. each student-teacher pair was required to invent a mixed alcoholic drink as a "love potion", and give it a name. my instructor rené, bless his doggie sole, had already instructed me in some of the language of love, and i had learned that osito, meaning "little bear", was local slang for a pussy. and so we cracked up later that day when during the school outing to a bakery we found several honey bears, just like we have in the states, for sale under the name "miel de osito" ("honey of the little bear"). so that, to much amusement, was the name of our very popular love potion made of fruit juice, tabasco sauce, and jimador vodka. yum!

several of these love potions later i noticed a woman with a pagan star around her neck. wow! i hadn't seen one of these around in central american, let alone on a local. so i inquired about this, and got to talking. she is an instructor at the school, she said, and he name is ibeth. born and raised in xela, ever since she was a little girl she knew she wanted to be a witch! and so with few local resources and even less local community, ibeth has been studying wicca and practicing as a pagan. she was thrilled to meet another actual pagan and pick my brain about rituals i have been to and books i have read.

ibeth invited me to a hike with her sister up to a hilltop park on one side of town, and so we had that and a couple of birthday parties that weekend to get to know each other. like most people in latin america ibeth lives with her extended family; her two parents in their sixties, her two older sisters, and her nephew and niece. while living at home has many social and economic benefits, dating is not one of them. so we had to make a plan to sneak away for the weekend.

our first real date then was at san pedro la laguna, at lago de atitlan, a lake i will write more about in my next entry. i found a cute little place with solar-heated tubs set in a gorgeous garden, with a very rustic bungalow to stay in. the tub was a wonderful soak, the water hot, and it retains it's heat for hours. that was the first of two dates we had at the lake, both really really magical times.

i didn't know what to expect when i met ibeth, but i am super happy i met her! i am hoping to meet with her again in november when she is coming to the usa for a visit with friends.