Zunil and Huehuetenango

**Pictures: The city of Zunil, the Iglesia, all of the handmade fabric used for weaving items, inside a chicken bus, a tourist picture of me at Las Ruinas just outside of HueHue.

Friday night, there was another blackout. This one lasted a long time. We hung around the bar for a little, but decided we needed music. As we got ready to leave, the lights and music came on! So, we stayed. We figured the lights across the whole city had come back, but when we left the bar, the entire city was black. It was pretty creepy walking back in the pitch black, and the lights didn’t come back on until the next morning. We also later heard that crime increases during blackouts, so I think we'll take a taxi next time.

I’ve heard that there are many earth trembles due to the fact that Guatemala sits on three volatile tectonic plates, but Saturday I felt my first one! At 6:30 in the morning, I was shocked to feel my bed shaking. Not exactly a normal feeling when waking up! It actually took me a few seconds to realize it… my initial thought was that there was an animal under my bed. The three plates (of which I do not know the names) are the reason that Guatemala has so many beautiful volcanoes. But, they are also the reason that so many cities have experienced destruction within Guatemalan history.

Saturday morning a few of us headed out to Iper and the Scandinavian gym. It is a pretty fancy gym… they’ve got a room full of bikes for spin classes, a whole floor of weight machines and free weights, and another room for aerobics classes, etc. The whole gym has windows for walls. When taking the spin class, you feel like you are biking outside (when in reality biking outside on the streets of Xela is practically a death wish). Rachel and I ran to the gym, about 3 miles away. Eating a breakfast of beans, eggs and tortillas 20 minutes before running was not exactly a fun added factor, but I didn’t really have a say in the time to eat (when its ready, Señora Patti calls my name and I come to a plate of food already prepared for me, sitting on the table… it has its positives and negatives).

In the afternoon, a group of 6 of us headed out on our first “solo” adventure outside of Xela. We all rode our first chicken bus, essentially an old school bus repainted (usually with some sentence about God), crowded, spewing black smog out the tail every time it accelerates and blasting random music, from Black Eyed Peas to 50 cent to Alicia Keyes.

The ride to Zunil was about 30 minutes, most of which was spent stuck in traffic in the middle of a narrow road. The bus dropped us off on the outskirts of the city, and we took a bridge into the quiet city, surrounding by towering and beautiful green mountains. Although it looked much like Xela, it was smaller, there were fewer cars and more people out walking the streets. We headed towards the Catholic Church, one of our destinations for the trip. The church was nothing like those I’ve seen in Europe, but it had its own little charm. I’ve posted some pictures, but other than that, there’s not much to say. Outside of the church there was a small market that was selling all sorts of vegetables and spices and even some meat.

We headed down a little hill (little by Guatemalan standards) to a Fabric Cooperative (Cooperativa Integral de Produccion Artensanal Santa Ana R. L.). There were many beautiful hand woven items, and we were able to speak with the women of the cooperative. We were handed information on a photocopied piece of paper, of course all in Spanish. While trying to read it, I realized that the paper has no punctuation or sentence structure. As if understanding something in Spanish isn’t hard enough! From what I did understand, the cooperative was formed in 1974 as a way to join together the women of Zunil, who were otherwise not allowed to leave the house or accomplish tasks other than house chores. With the products they made, they were able to sell and earn money for the poor community. Today, the products are sold all over Guatemala and Latin America.

We then walked to the statue of San Simon. San Simon represents a “saint” that arrived from Spain bringing medication and help for the people who lived in Zunil. While the help was appreciated, San Simon was still part of a group of people fighting to take over land that wasn’t theirs. He is thought of as a smoking, drinking deity capable of healing, causing bad fortune and bringing good luck. Many people bring to the statue candles, cigars and booze as offerings.

The statue itself is located deep within the city streets, in a dark smoky room. It’s essentially a human sized plastic/wood doll, dressed in a strange mismatched outfit with sunglasses and a hat, and an open hole for a mouth. The people who take care of the statue wash him every day and change his clothes, maintain his smoking habit and provide him with alcohol.

People come to the statue to ask for good luck or wish bad luck upon others. While there, we were able to watch a ceremony. As we walked in, there was a native woman sleeping in the left corner, catching flies. To the right, there were two young girls wearing sparkle shirts and playing with a cat. In the middle of the room, there was a platform with a ton of candles burning. And behind it was San Simon.

A couple with a bottle of Quetzalteco (rum produced in Xela) stood before the statue as the “caregiver” poured the alcohol into a special flask. The “caregiver” then handed the girl the flask and tilted back the statue. As he did so, the girl poured the alcohol into the mouth of the statue. You could see the alcohol going straight through the head of the doll and into a pot below. She served San Simon the entire bottle, and when she was done, regressed back in front to whisper a prayer. It was definitely a strange sight to see and I wonder what the woman was praying! The group of us struggled not to laugh at the situation. I wish I could have taken a picture, but it was another Q10 to do so and I figured it wasn’t really worth it, seeing as pictures never do capture moments like these all that well.

Sunday we left for Huehuetenango at 7:30 AM. We took our second chicken bus adventure, leaving from a different area in Xela (and ended up riding in 6 different buses during the day). The bus ride was long, about 2:30 hours, and of course packed the whole time. We arrived in HueHue about 11, and decided to have some lunch. Marissa had a tourbook that suggested many restaurants, but most of them were closed due to that fact that it was Sunday. So, we found a restaurant close to the central park area that was actually a nice place to relax. The restaurant didn’t have much food in terms of vegetarian, so I ended up having eggs, beans, cheese, plantains and tortillas for lunch… not exactly adventurous food.

The city of HueHue is very much like Xela, except we found almost no tourists or other Gringos. Also, the people seemed to be very nice and helpful when we asked questions about where the buses to the ruins were, etc. At one point, after asking someone about a bus to the ruins, the six of us ran down a street to catch a bus (just imagine a group of gringos running down the street calling out to a bus). We ended up missing the bus and a native woman shouted out from her car, in great English, “he will return to the same place.” As surprised as we were, this made us feel better, although we did have to wait around for another 20 minutes.

The ruins were interesting. The cost was Q5 for natives and Q50 for foreigners. I wasn’t too happy about the difference, but I figured after all the travel, it was worth it (plus, once you do the math it was really only $7.50). Aeja and I were the only two that decided to pay, though, so everyone else waited outside while we were exploring. There was a museum inside the “park” where there were artifacts from the ruins. Aeja and I made friends with the museum owner, and he gave us a little tour of the museum. We also weren’t supposed to take pictures, but he said that since he liked us, he would let us take them. That’s how I got the picture of the skeleton. In Mayan civilization, when people died, they were buried in pots with their knees bent to their chest and their head pointed south, the same as people enter the world. I think that’s pretty cool!

I also saw my first public trash can, and absolute first recycling bin in Guatemala, so I had to take a picture!

This week starts the sixth week of being in Xela. This weekend we travel to Lake Atitlan, and the following weekend we head to Oaxaca, Mexico. After Mexico, we have one more week of classes, and then a free week where I will be going on great adventures with mom and dad. Then, we begin our volunteer work. I’m not yet sure what I’ll be doing, but I’m nervous/excited for practicing Spanish and working in the community.