Lago Atitlan

I visited Lake Atitlan this past weekend. It was a relaxing weekend in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

The Past Few Weeks

Happy belated Thanksgiving! It’s been a few weeks since I have written. Lets see if I can recap. Overall, everything is still going well. My only complaint is that I have lost weight and I didn’t think it was possible for my breast to get any smaller; but they have. Maybe that is God’s plan to keep me humble? Or a curse bestowed upon me the morning I was born when my father asked my mother “Do you think she will have breast one day?” I still don’t know if that story is true and one might think that it is odd and somewhat perverted that a father would ask such a question. So I’m just going to change the subject and move on to my next thought.

During the past few weeks, I had the chance to visit “Fuentes Georginas” which is a natural hot spring with Jacuzzi like pools cut out in the mountains. The steaming, medicinal water was very relaxing and by the end of the day my hands and feet looked like prunes. It’s the closest thing to a bath I have had since I have been here since all the homes only have showers.

One night my legs and stomach were attacked by an unknown predator. I woke up one morning, itchy and with red bumps on my body. My host mom thought I had an allergic reaction to food, I thought I had creepy crawlers in my bed. Whatever the case may be, I bruised myself scratching too hard. I changed my bed sheets immediately, washed all my clothes, and luckily within a few days the bites went away.

On November 3, I participated in a Mayan ceremony on the anniversary of my grandmother’s death. Without going into detail, I told Sergio about it and he thought that this was a really bad idea. He is Christian and believes that it’s possible that this priestess put a spell on me or something. I’m not too concerned about this woman wanting to eat my soul. I enjoyed the ceremony and found it quit therapeutic and peaceful. But I’m sure he is praying to Jesus for me right now. He grew up in a very religious home so I can understand his concern. On Halloween, his mother told me to ask the Lord to cleanse my body and rid it of any bad spirits before I entered her house that night. I told her “ok, no problem.” I mean, who wants bad spirits following them? I believe in God and I think there are many forms of worship, meditation, or prayer. As long as my head doesn’t start spinning like the girl in the exorcist, I think I’ll be fine. I’m open to learning about other religions and spiritualities.

Translating conferences continues to be a challenge but I can tell that I am improving. Some of my new vocabulary this week included the following words: clandestine operations, neo- liberalism, trans-culturalization, bio fuel, agrarian reform, impunity, patronage, extra judiciary, legislative chamber of labor, open pit mining, paleolithic, vindicate, African palm oil, fair trade agreement, and gross domestic product…some of which I have no idea what they mean in English. I’m not complaining, just pointing out why this process might take a while.

I know I’m happy because the usual annoyances that would typically bother me; don’t. I don’t mind the fact that my shower only has two temperatures; cold and scolding hot. Or that my bathroom sink has two speeds; dribble or fire hose. I don’t mind that sometimes the electricity goes out or that there is no running water in the house for hours. My bank account was over drafted by $400 last week but hey whatever’s… My sister is mailing me packets of Swiss miss hot chocolate. Its freaking cold at night. Xela is located about 8,000 feet about sea level in the mountains and the homes have no heating system; so you have to make do with lots of blankets and warm clothes at night. Add rain to this already cold climate, it’s no surprise I often hug my hair dryer at night. The hot air and heat from my Conair Ion Shine over my body is so orgasmic.

Some of the things I really like about living here: Life is simple. I know I speak with someone with a lot of privilege, as a US citizen living in a third world country. But that’s a whole other topic. I’ll just say that life, for me, is simpler here. I’m fulfilling one of my life goals. As I reflect and compare my home country with my new home country, the materialism of the US is quite disgusting. There is such an excess of shit, shit, and more shit….of clothes, toys, cars, food, waste. I think of the many poor children and people here that only have one pair of shoes or no shoes at all. How many pairs of shoes are in your closet? I think of the poverty in this country. Malnutrition and hunger is an epidemic. How much food do you have stored in your kitchen cabinets? For how long has that food just been sitting there? I think of our justice system, though flawed, the numbers don’t compare to how 98% of all crimes committed go without any type of jurisdiction. How easy it is to go about our lives and not think of all the sadness and injustice in the world?

Laundry Time

Most families here wash clothes by hand or if they have a washer, they dry all clothes outside on the line. Since I didn’t want my underwear blowing in the breeze for the whole family to see. I chose to bring my clothes to a laundry mat the other day. All laundry mats here are full service; You can’t do your own clothes. To wash, dry, and fold, it costs about 15Q ($2) per small load. I dropped off my bag and a few hours later I returned to pick up my laundry. This guy handed me my bag with a big smile. I said “Gracias” and I headed home. I put my clothes away and felt a little weirded out at that fact that this man was probably the one that hand rolled each one of my panties into perfect, little, palm sized balls. I could have juggled with them. Although this guy may have experience folding women´s undergarments, I’m gonna look for a female lead laundry service next time.

Full Service

The other day I woke up to find a yound mayan woman mopping the floors. "Buenos dias" I said and she politely smiled back and said "Buenos dias." Its not uncommon for families to hire someone to help around the house. But the mere fact that this woman/girl didn´t look any older than 15, completely disturbed me. Shouldn´t she be in school? Why is this child cleaning the house? I left that morning and returned home for lunch and as I walked in the kitchen, I saw her again, this time eating lunch by herself. I sat at the kitchen table with grandma. I was completely bothered at the fact that the "hired help" was sitting in a separate place, facing the wall, sitting at the counter. Why am I so upset at the fact she sits at a different table? Is it because I never had a maid or servant growing up? Is it because I think everyone should have the right to sit at the same table regardless if you are the hired help? WTF!!! She is a human being, let her sit at the table like everyone else! Do I invite her to the kitchen table? Do I say something to the family?Its not my house or family to be making such decisions. I am merely a guest. The next day at lunch, I sat at the kitchen table and there was Leticia or "Lety" sitting at the counter with her back to us. I had the great idea to play stupid and ask questions. When Leticia finished lunch and left the kitchen, I asked my host mom "Why is she sitting at the counter and not the table?" "Becasue there is no room at the kitchen table." She said. I thought to myself.....Rigghhhttttttt....there´s no room....lets just keep it real and not make excuses. To give her credit, that day there technically was no space because me, grandma, cousin, and mom were at the table. (its a really small table) but yesterday the table wasn´t full nor was it full the day after. So I retreated and said nothing more, knowing very well that the maid doesn´t and shouldn´t sit with the family. Come to find out, Lety is really 15 years old and will be living with us for a while. Lety is in school, but its school vacation time. What a way to spend winter break, being a personal servant! Maybe its her young age that bothers me? Someone her age should be at art camp or something else during break. Maybe its how they sometimes refer to her as "Niña" (girl) instead of by her first name. Maybe she is really happy she has a job, and I should just stop analyzing it? I asked her if she likes to read and she said yes. The only book I had on me was "Guatemala Nunca Mas" which is the story and history of Guatemala, kinda the real version, written from a progressive and leftest perspective. So I gave her the book and told her she can keep it as long as she wants. Maybe she will read it and become an activist or something. Maybe she will grow up and teach others that everyone should be welcome at the same table... because I don´t know how to do that.

My Address and phone number

Proyecto Linguistico Quetzaltecto
5A Calle, 2-40, Zona 1
Apdo. 114
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
Central America

phone number: Dial 011 than country area code (502) my number is 4881-5115. Once again it is 011-502-4881-5115

My Mother

One year ago today, I remember your death. And before that, I remember the last night the nurses came in to the room to change your gown. I saw your naked body; yellow and swollen. You lay cramped and stiff. I wiped the mucus foaming in your nose and heard the gargles in each breath. Your final stage of life reflected the years of damage and neglect. How you drank and drank and drank to come to such a point. How you gave up, how you must have felt so alone, how you questioned God’s existence. I will not judge your decisions or pretend to know what it was like to be you. I will not be ashamed that you were my mother. You purposely slipped away in the early morning hours while I was resting my eyes. And I awoke to the peace in the room, your body still, warm. I remember how your left arm and hand felt and how your face was smiling. It was just me and you in the room along with the grey light humming thru the hospital window. I was with you in the end, did you see me watching you?
I’m sitting outside in the community of Santa Anita and it’s about 6:15am. Volcano Santiaguito has just erupted and I can see the smoke in the distance. The smoke reminds me of your cigarettes. As the clouds drift across the sky, they cover the glorious mountains. I am reminded that although I can’t see you, that doesn’t mean you aren’t there. Where have you been the past year? There are birds chirping, dogs barking, crickets singing, roosters cocking, bugs buzzing, and a gentlemen sweeping the patio; preparing to lay down coffee beans in the sun. With a few deep breaths and a clear mind I hear “Yes, I saw you watching me and I’ve been waiting in the mountains. “

Spirituality

I´m happy to say that i´m in a very peaceful place here in Quetzaltenango (a.k.a Xela) After a rough couple years, I feel stronger than ever and i´m just going with the flow. One of the students at the school, Wendy, has agreed to help translate workshops with me. Before every conference, I research the topic and review potential vocab. And if I don´t understand something I just think to myself "There are worst things in life than not understanding Spanish." I´m also learning alot about Mayan religion/spirituality from Willy. According to my birthday, my Mayan spirit or "nahual" is the owl carring a lot of wisdom from my ancestors. Mayans believe that humans live a total of 13 lives throughout history and that I am already on my 10th life. Willy is only on his 7th life so I told him he has to listen to me because i´m his elder (Ha! Ha!) I felt a little sad at the thought that I only have 3 lives left and at the same time thought my many lives could explain why I feel connected to so many people on this earth. When I was born I also inherited all the pain and characteristics of my four grandparents. "That´s a lot of baggage!" I told him "What am i suppose to do with all that?" "I don´t know, I´m just telling you how it is." Willy explained some Mayan mathamatical calculation on how every26 years there is a change in a person´s life and that every 52 years a person is born just like you. That this happens within families and is connected to DNA. I didn´t really understand this concept but thought to myself, who was 52 when I was born? The first person that came to mind was my grandmother that passed last November. She was born in 1928, I was born in 1980, which means she would have been exactly 52 years old when I was born. Willy said "Yes, you are your grandmother." I was completely amazed. For one, it was too much of a coinsidence. Willy had no idea about my grandmother´s age or that I was very close to her. And two, because when she passed many people compared me to her. I am able to love, because she loved me dearly. She will always be one of my favorite people. Willy also talked about how Mayan´s believe that the human societal cycle is every 5,200 years and the year 2012 will be year five thousand two hundred. Now that doesn´t mean the world is going to end it means that a new cycle will begin and that our universe will actually shift, move and occuply a different space in the universe. The last 13 years of this cycle (representing the 13 lives of a person) will become more and more intense as we approach 2012. Which we have already seen in terms of natural disaters, wars, crisis etc.