Sunday, June 12 2011

¡Hola amigos y amigas!

We had an early to start to a long and ultimately exciting day. We started the day with a 6:15am breakfast and a 7:00am departure for Lake Atitlán. In van número uno, which included tonight’s blog writers, Tracy and Gabby (students), Spanish songs were sung on the long and bumpy ride. In van número dos, which included the other writer for this evening, Meridith (practioner), we rocked out to the Epic Playlist (created by yours truly). It seems that singing was a common trend to help pass the time and the amount of physical injuries due to the curvy, bumpy ride, especially if you were in the back of the van.

We arrived at the lake, in the town of Panajachel. We proceeded to the shore where we split into two boat teams. We rode across the lake for about 30 minutes and, besides the sharks, alligators, and water spiders, it was a lovely, beautiful morning (just kidding about those animals). We did see some trash floating in the water, which was quite sad. We saw some beautiful lakefront homes, which brought out the stark contrasts which we have observed thus far. Our lovely boat drivers stopped in the middle of the lake which allowed us to capture our inner Leonardo DiCaprio from Titanic.

We arrived on the other side of the lake in the town of Santiago Atitlán, where we were immediately bombarded by Mayan artisans who were trying to sell us everything from key chains to huipiles (which is the typical Mayan women’s blouse) to shoes. In the chaos of docking the boats, Mackenzie had a clumsy moment and watched her camera submerge into Lake Atitlán, just like old Rose dropping the big diamond at the end of Titanic.

After grieving Mackenzie’s loss, we were greeted by Francisco who is a member of the Cofradía, which is part of the Mayan cargo system. The Cofradía is a social ranking system. A man’s status is partially dependent on how much money and time he gives to your religious beliefs. Francisco took us via pick-up trucks (yes, we were standing on the back of open pick-up trucks). There were approximately 12 people per truck. We traveled to Parque de Paz (Peace Park). Francisco then told us of the violent Guatemalan history of the civil war and the atrocities that the Maya suffered at the hands of the military. We then traveled by truck around Santiago before heading back to the boats. We ate our lunches on the boats in a rush to get back to the vans to depart to the Mayan Ruins, Iximche.

We made it to Iximche just in the nick of time (shout out to our drivers, Darvy and Melvin for being awesome) before closing. The highlight was watching a pack wild street dogs chase each other around the ruins. The security guard asked us to leave, but Darvy used his powers of persuasion, and we were allowed to view the area where currently Mayan rituals and offerings are still performed. We saw four main plazas with many temples that have grass and greens growing on them because they were rediscovered about 50 years ago.

The gang was quickly routed back to the vans to head off to dinner. We ate dinner at Rincón Suizo, a local Guatemalan steak house. The team split into vegetarian and meat lover’s tables where each person ate enough meat, cheese, and guacamole for a small army.

The team has made it back to the Lutheran Center where they are preparing for tomorrow’s first day in the clinics.

¡Adiós!
Meridith (practioner)
Tracy (student)
Gabby (Student)