San Pedro La Laguna, Week 6 (8/13-8/19)

The sixth week in San Pedro came with the realization that my time here was near its end. I resolved to practice my Tz’utujil as much as possible and to enjoy my remaining time. I attended a few religious services to get a better sense of how they’re celebrated here. The Catholic services I attended at the church in the center of town seemed fairly somber, especially in comparison to the lively Pentecostal service I attended the next Sunday. Interestingly, the Catholic service, though predominantly in Spanish, did have parts in Tz’utujil. The Pentecostal service, in contrast, was completely in Spanish. I wondered if this, in itself, was indicative of the way each group related to its Mayan heritage. It’s too early to make any conclusions but an observation worth following up. The Pentecostal service lived up to a reputation of liveliness and intensity. There was lots of live music, plenty of singing, vibrant preaching, and a bit of speaking in tongues and crying. Moreover, the church was smaller so it felt more crowded—and more intimate—and was brightly lit. My senses definitely felt more stimulated by this service than by the Catholic one.

On the Sunday before my last week Antonio and I met at 7am and headed up to the center of town to catch the bus up to Santa Clara. We had talked the day before about hiking up to the top of Los Cristalinos, also called Indian Nose. This set of peaks lies directly above San Juan and closely resembles the profile of a face looking up at the sky. One can hike the steep trail from San Juan but have to pay a local fee to do so. Antonio and I decided to save the money and go the other route, hiking the much shorter distance from Santa Clara. So we caught the bus to Guatemala City, jumped off at Santa Clara, and hiked the steep but short distance to the top of Indian Nose. The view of the lake, like the one I had previously seen from the top of Volcan San Pedro, was staggering. It was a clear morning the smooth lake appeared like a dark blue mirror of the sky. The top of Indian Nose is a sacred location for a number of the local tribes, especially the Ki'ché. In fact, there is a small altar up top covered with different colored globs of candle wax. We took a few photos from the top and rested a few minutes before heading back down. We walked into Santa Clara which was having its weekly market that day. The marketplace was a beautiful sight. Multicolored streamers shot down from the top of the Catholic church to various points in the market, I don’t think Jesus would have been happy. People were selling every kind of bread, vegetable, and fruit. We sampled some of the breads as we walked around then headed over to the impressive park between the municipal building and the market. From the appearance of this well developed park, redolent with colorful flowers and a fountain, Santa Clara was doing much better than its neighbors down below. After leisurely exploring the market we walked to the adjacent town of Santa Maria Visitacion. This town was significantly quieter and not nearly so impressive. But the climate here seemed ideal. One could see down the Western slopes to the ocean.

We walked from Santa Maria to the main road and caught a truck heading down the mountain road to the lake. We jumped in the back, with a dozen or more others. I stood just outside the truck bed, on the back bumper, and held on tightly to the steel bar frame that the others were grasping. We wove our way down the twisty road to San Pablo where everyone jumped out. From there we walked part of the way down to San Juan catching a truck for the last bit. In San Juan, Antonio had to go around trying to find some cheap fertilizer. Some government/international program subsidized fertilizer for the San Juaneros. If they didn’t use all that was allotted to them they sold it in a local black market. Antonio was trying to find some but only ended up with a small amount. After that we caught another truck into San Pedro and walked out to Corazon Maya.

Later that very day I took the boat over to Panajachel in order to purchase a load of local textiles. Panajachel offered a wide variety of such goods. Moreover, I had made a contact there previously with a small factory. I went to the factory store, which had stacks and stacks of shirts, pants, and the like. I spent just under $200 on two duffel bags worth of the goods. My plan is to take these to the U.S. to see if I can find a market for them. I will distribute 15% of the profits to two San Pedro groups I believe in: Marta’s program to help local girls and Juan’s cultural preservation group. Hopefully, I can find a market for these beautiful clothes and start a small business on the side.