Guatemala Journal

January 15, 2006

In the last ten days, I have seen extremes that make this journey a wonder. The Boca Costa has some of the richest agricultural territory in Guatemala and some of the most grinding poverty. We students had a chance to witness the richness of the land and the warmth of people who live on next to nothing.

CHICHICASTENANGO
When I left, I went back to the highlands via Chichicastenango, a famous market town in the altiplano. Indigenous people come from all over the central highlands to buy, sell, and trade agricultural and artesenal products. I was out in the plaza as soon as I arrived on Saturday afternoon to look at local weaving. I found every kind of blanket, bedspread, and tablecloth. There were bags with leather trim, bags without leather, bags big and small. Women´s traditional blouses and skirts were for sale, as well as weaving and embroidery specifically for the tourist trade. I found a shop on the plaza that had clerical stoles and bought two. I wish I could say I was glad to be back in the thin cold air of the altiplano, but I loved the warmth of the Boca Costa. My trip was rudely interrupted by food poisoning. I had been the only student so far not to experience stomach distress, but I made up for it in one dramatic night of misery. What made me think that ordering chorizo in a country restaurant was a good Idea? As I was making trips back and forth to the bathroom, I could hear trucks and handcarts arriving in the dark, and locals setting up booths all around my plaza hotel location. I finally slept and when I got outside at 11:30 am, the streets were packed with merchants and customers for six blocks in every direction. I think I saw more American tourists in that morning than I had seen in all my time in Xela. I wish I had been able to enjoy the drama of the market. It was a throbbing, colorful whirl in every direction. I have never seen anything like it. Everytime I walked out in to the throng my stomach began to tighten up, and I went back to my room. I just wanted my car to come and take me away.


TIKAL
I returned to my own apartment and private bath in Xela, settling in for another week of study and quiet for my stomach before leaving on Friday afternoon for Antigua, the beginning of a trip to the Mayan ruins in the jungle of Tikal. A 6:00 am flight took us to Flores, from which the hotel bussed us into the ecological park about an hour away. Our guide, Nixon, took us for a four hour hike across ruins that date from as far back as 250 BCE. Tikal comprises the largest area of Mayan ruins in the tropics. Archeologists worked for 30 years to clear vegetation and reconstruct the limestone ruins that have been melting under rain and vegetation since 900 CE. Some of the temples emerge from mounds of vegetation on one side to huge blocks of limestone on the other. Nixon introduced us to local trees, including the cieba, the national tree of Guatemala. The largest example we saw rose hundreds of feet to branches so thickly covered with epiphytic vegetation that they looked like they were wearing fur trim. We climbed up wooden ladders to the top of Templo IV to look out across the acres of flat green forest in every direction. Two other temples rise up out of the forest as if the civilization which created them is still scurrying around below trees. We saw squirrel monkeys chasing each other through the trees, and a squad of coatimundis busily checking every root and crevice for bugs.
This is a perfect time of year to visit the jungle. It is warm, but not too hot, and because it is starting to dry out after the rainy season, the mosquitos are not too bad. Our hotel was a tropical dream with thatch--roofed bungalows and a huge pool.. A bunch of Spanish students from all over the world hung out by the pool, in the dining room, wandered the grounds looking at amazing birds and animals we had seen in books. We had long conversations in English and Spanish, drank beer, lay in the sun. I didn´t want to leave.
I kept trying to remember that only the week before I had been living with some of the poorest people in the world, had been in the thin, bitter chill of the altiplano. But it was hard while my body was so comfortable and relaxed and warm, full of good food and charmed by pleasant company. What a lovely respite. Guatemala is a land of extremes, hot and cold, rich and poor, lush jungle and barren mountain plain, old and new squeezed side by side every minute. It is almost too much to take in. I am eternally grateful to have had the chance to experience so much of it. I makes me wish I had more time to travel and see even more.