This week we discovered that life is just one big tortilla…
In our first Guatemalan cooking lesson, we quickly realized that making tortillas is not as easy as it seems. At first, the dough stuck to our palms and tore resulting in a lumpy unidentifiable shape rather than the perfect circle we imagined. However, with the guiding hands of one of our beautiful host moms, Vicenta, we were able to finally get the hang of the pat-pat motion of tortilla making by the end of our cooking lesson. While our tortillas weren’t “retail ready”, it was satisfying seeing how much progress we made in such a short period of time.
The same could be said for our experience so far in Guatemala. While we’ve had some struggles (language barriers, bug bites galore, and the passing of a family member) the locals have been more than accommodating to adjust quickly and become part of the community. We feel very lucky to be surrounded by such patient and loving people.
After a breathtakingly scenic thirty minute boat ride, and a few minutes of trying to catch baby chickens, we had a presentation by the Mayan Tradition Foundation weavers. It was fascinating to see how much work and time is put into the backstrap weavings…one scarf takes around eight hours! It also hurt us to realize that not all women are getting paid fair wages like the Maya Tradition staff is, and that so much hard work could result in an income next to nothing. Click here to learn more about the importance of buying fair trade.
After taking a stroll around the lake with our host children and mentor, Fredy, we all went our separate ways to settle in our houses and get to know our families more over dinner. I feel incredibly lucky to say that both of my host moms I’ve had so far are great cooks, and that I will never get sick of fried plantains…especially when the produce are picked from the backyard!
The following day, we all met at Christina’s host mom, Elena’s, house, and had a presentation on Mayan medicine. Since the demonstration was in Tz’utujil, the native language of San Juan, we relied on pointing and hand motions to understand the purpose and process of using medicinal plants. Who knew you could say so much with your hands?
A large portion of the time this week was devoted to planning lessons for the English classes we are holding twice a week. On Thursday afternoon, we gathered together ten children to teach introductions, colors, animals, and fruit vocabulary. The lesson was filled with songs, smiles, and giggles, and the sheer cuteness of the kids was definitely a highlight of the week. We look forward for more lessons to come.
Over the weekend, we ventured two other towns of the Lake Atitlán area, San Pedro and Santiago. Although the two locations are only a short boat ride separate from each other, they differ completely. San Pedro is more of a touristy site, full of backpackers from all walks of life, vegetarian cafes, and holistic spas…it’s the perfect place to kick back and relax in a hammock with a good book.
On the other hand, Santiago is much more traditional with a large open market from local farmers, shops filled with wooden trinkets and woven goods, and women suited in traditional guipils and cortes.
After getting home to San Juan, we went fishing on the lake, and had some success! After much patience Juliana caught herself some dinner, and fish was received with many jumps and cheers.
On Sunday, a few of us decided to challenge our minds and legs as we hiked the infamous Indian Nose.
While huffing and puffing a few miles up a seemingly 90 degree incline, we were flabbergasted to see two little old woman clutching suitcase sized baskets trot down the mountain with ease. We’re convinced that Guatemalan’s have superhuman strength. Hopefully, at the end of this trip we will bring some San Juan strength back with us to the states.
Next week we are finally starting the holistic garden! All of the interns are excited to get our hands dirty, and are praying that the rainy season won’t hit us hard since the weather has been so kind to us. Until then…¡hasta luego!
~Xoxo Maris