Coban and San Cristobal, Alta verapaz

This past week for our individual directed activities, we visited a current Youth Development volunteer from Tues through Saturday. I was lucky enough to be picked to go with two other trainees to San Cristobal, Alta Verapaz.
San Cristobal is about 15 miles south west of Coban. The department of Alta Verapaz is very warm and is known for its beautiful exotic flowers plus a range of other natural wonders including hot springs and waterfalls. The main city of Coban is also famous for its anual half marathon.

First Aids talk with the kids at a school named Aguas Benditas, bottom charla @ Chiux .

My Artwork

Just figure I take these quick ten minutes to display some of my art work on this blog. I have always been a good drawer but never really pressed on the talent until I met my girlfriend who is an amazing artist. From her i drew the inspiration to start painting which I had never done before until summer of last year. It began with the idea of making painted t-shirts with different colors and designs to sell. The idea was great and the product was beautiful. Unfortunatelly the work was too time consuming and funds were not really generating. Some of the finished product came out beautiful and I sold many t-shirts, one thing I regret was not painting on canvas which is what I plan on doing this time around in the Peace Corps.

When I begin work at my site in Guatemala. I plan on doing a side project with children teaching them how to paint on canvas for them to possibly sell. I am very excited about this project and I can´t wait to get started on my art. I have some very good ideas for paintings including the vibrant color garments of the idigenous in Guatemala, the beautiful landscaspes of Lake Atitlan, the Volcanoes and most importantly the Resplendent Guatemalan Quetzal.

Santiago Atitlan, Saint Maximon.

Last Sunday my host family was nice enough to take me to Lake Atitlan which is a famous tourist spot here in Guatemala. The lake was formed thousands of years ago and is about 10 miles wide and sits on the base of three massive volcanoes. Pananajachel is one of the major towns that hosts tourists. It is also called Gringotenango (land of gringos), because of its reputation from the 60's were many hippies were known for backpacking through the town.






One of the most interesting towns to visit in the Lake is Santiago Atitlan. It is a small Mayan town were the locals still speak their native Kaqchikel toungue. What makes the town so interesting is that in Santiago you can visit the famous Saint Maximon (Mashimon). Maximon is the Mayan underworld saint that brings forth virility and fertility. He is the saint of the gamblers and the drunkards and when visiting don maximon make sure to bring cigarettes, cigars or liquor as offerings for he has exquisite tastes.
Santiago Atitlan

Man Praying to Saint Maximon

Tikal

May 28th.
The school we currently work at in our town invited us to go with them on their annual school trip. Apparently their school trip was to none other than the Tikal Ruins in the department of Peten in Guatemala. For those who are not familar with the Tikal ruins, they are the ancient ruins of the Mayans that ruled the Guatemala north east about over 3,000 years ago. They were an advanced civilization who had knowledge of Mathematics, Agriculture, Astronomy ect.. The group of Peace Corps Trainees in San Bartolo were thrilled after the Peace Corps gave us the Permission to leave with the school for a two day trip. We left on Thursday night May 28th with approxiatelly 110 students and 12 teachers in 3 buses and arrived that Friday to Tikal. The trip was awesome but also wet and humid. There was a tropical storm brewing that day around the area so it rained all day.








We left Tikal at about 4 in the afternoon and camped at a sports recreational center for the night. That Saturday Morning we got up at 4 Am to go to The Castle of San Felipe located in el Rio Dulce, Department of Izabal Guatemala. We arrived at about 11AM & stayed in the area til about 3PM. During our stay in Rio Dulce, we took a boat tour with the kids and visited the castle. Apparently this castle was used by the spaniards in the Late 1500´s as a trading poast as well as a jail. According to history, the castle suffered many attacks by Caribean pirates throughout the centuries. It was recently restored and made into a tourist attraction by INGUAT.












I arrived to San Barolome at 9PM that night exhausted only to have to repack my bags for the next day trip with the Peace Corps for our Field Base Trainig. The PC scheduled us for a week long trip to El Chol, Department of Baja Verapaz for our Training. Field Base Training is hands on training the Peace Corps sets up with current volunteers for hands on experience. That Sunday we headed off early and arrived in el Chol at about 4PM. we met with the volunteer and were assigned to stay in el Chol´s main hotel locted in ts municipality building. El Chol is a rural Ladino town located on the edge of some beautiful mountains in Baja Verapaz. It is a romantic little town with very warm climate and warm locals. We were all assigned talks of an hour and a half to two hours to give to the children in the local schools. My Talk was scheduled last for that Wed in a neighboring town named Granados to 9th grade students. My session with the children was a success and that night being that we were all done with our Talks all 15 of the Youth Development Trainees celebrated by watching a movie and sipping on some beer.

El Chol...




The folloing day we left to another town by the name of Saltan to visit another Youth dev volunteer by the name of Michael.


In Michaels house we were honored to have been served SAMPOPOS. SAMPOPOS are a special dish served in Parts of Guate but are not for everybody's taste. SAMPOPOS are a type of flying Ant that is considered a delicacy in Guatemala. They are usually stirred fried with oil and served alone. THEY WERE DELICIOUS! Their taste is a mix between fried pok and popcorn. YUMM!

Sampopos.



The next day the whole YD crew headed towards the town of Pachalum where we stayed till the next day to receive a charla from a counterpart who works with volunteers in that area.

After Pachalum we headed towards the Mixco Viejo Ruins in Chimaltenango. This was a site were a famous battle between the Spaniards and Mayans took place.

Indiana Rene and the Temple of Mixco Viejo.

More pics...

Here are some more pics...
Me in action at ¨Los Patojos¨ Jocotenango, Guatemala.


http://www.lospatojos.org

Me in action at Granados...


Art Museum in Antigua.

The crew at Kafka´s Antigua.

Sunset in San Bartolo.

More Travels

It has been a while since my last post, but it has not been due to neglect. Since my last post of May 14th, I have been very busy. Not only busy with technical training and demands of the peace Corps but also with Travels. When I signed up for the PC, I was very enthusiastic about getting the opportuniy to travel through out Guatemala, well the world works in misterious ways because I have definately had the chance and have been lucky enough to already have traveled half the country.


Travels so far...

1. Volcano Pacaya
2. Tikal Ruins, department of Peten, Guatemala
3. Lake Izabal and rio Dulce, Castillo de san Felipe, Department of Izabal, Guatemala.
4. Towns of El Chol, Granados and Saltan, Department of Baja Verapaz
5. Town of Pachalum, Department of Quiche, Guatemala
6. Mixco Viejo Ruins, department of Chimaltenango, Guatemala
7. Panajachel and Santiago Atitlan, Lake Atitlan, Department of Solola, Guatemala
8. Iximche Ruins, Iximche, Department of Chimaltenango




The last week of May the Trainees set up a trip to go to Volcano Pacaya Located near Escuintla Guatemala. The volcano is about 2250 Meters tall and is one of the few volcanoes that is active in Guatemala. This particular volcano has been active for three decades now, at days more active than others. Regardless how active it is, people are allowed to climb the volcano and walk through the solid lava to view the rivers of lava that usually flow through out the volnaco. We went during the day but from what i've heard the view is outstanding at night. People are also allowed to camp overnight (which is what I plan on doing for my next trip to the Volcano).



We roasted marshmellows on the hot lava. Yumm!

Mayan Rituals

Sunday June 14th.

This past sunday the whole Training group was taken to experience a mayan ritual by a Mayan priestes. The ritual took place in the Iximche ruins in Chimaltenango. This event was set up by Peace Corps staff, apparentlly it is done to bless the trainees as they get closer to Swearing in which is the date when we actually become Peace Corps Volunteers. The ritual took about an hour and a half and we were lucky enough that it did not rain. It was all in kaqchikel so we didn't understand anything except for what was translated to us. The priestes prayed to her Mayan ancestors and to the 20 different Naguals (mayan Spirits), and asked for our blessings.
Ther ritual was made burning offerings such as incence, chocolate, sugar cane, and candles.

Iximche ruins.


Mayan Ritual.


I also asked for my deceased kin to bless my endeavours.


This time is very exciting in our training phaze. We ae now close to our Swearing in date which is on July 18th. Next week (June 23rd), we get our site assignments (where we will live and work for the next two years), so everyone in the group is very anxious. Fortunatelly we all were interviewed and asked our site preferences. I requested an indigenous rural comunity high in the mountains. I have a good feeling I will get what I want...lets see.