Chichicastenango

This weekend was a whirlwind. On Friday we left Guatemala City for Chichicastenango, a city with a large population of idingenous people. We stopped at Iximche to see some Mayan ruins which was awesome. It was very weird to know that what we saw is only the top of what was once a huge city. The rest is yet to be excavated. After being in Guatemala for two weeks now we finally ate Pollo Campero, which is similar to KFC, but its huge in Guatemala. Although the food was good, it didn´t sit well with most of us when our bus climbed the winding mountains roads. There is a picture up of Seth that explains the feeling.

On Saturday we talked to idigenous women who survived the extremely violent civil war. The stories they told about their husbands who were killed or are still missing were heart wrenching. It was definitely an eye opening experience. To support themselves and their children after their husbands died, the women began to weave BEAUTIFUL blankets, tableclothes, scarves, purses, hats, you name it they make it. Needless to say we bought a lot. Later that night we played a pick up game of soccer with some kids in the neighborhood we were staying in. We also visited the Catholic church in ChiChi which is actually where the Popol Vuh was discovered. Crazy. The Methodist Mission home we stayed in was awesome as well. As Clara pointed out, it was like camping, in a good way of course. We ate our meals mostly outside and were up at dawn for breakfast. The temperature was ¨freezing¨ for our leaders Christy and Andrea but for the rest of us it was like a warm spring day in Goshen, Indiana haha. It was a great place to stay. Sunday morning we went to Mass at the church and spent time in the famous market where we also bought a lot of stuff. The market was huge, beautiful, and there was no person space whatsoever. It was a lot of fun but very overwhelming and I think we were all ready to go home. Plus I suck at bardering.

As the weekend went on things got crazier and crazier so we started a list of things that we did not in anyway expect to happen this weekend.
1. to see tigers, and african and mountain lions in Guatemala. There was a traveling circus that was in ChiChi and we stopped by but quickly realized it was very sketch and left.
2. For Seth to catch a pony. With one eye. The pony had one eye that is, Seth did not catch it with one eye....he´s not that good. Again this was at the sketchy circus.
3. To see a Catholic Wedding at the famous church. We tried to blend in but tall white folk don´t blend into the crowd, though I did try to blend into the white walls. That was more realistic.
4. For a camera to be stolen (along with other peoples money), sold, switched to Spanish, and then returned all within roughly 10 hours.
5. For Christy to laugh so hard at dinner that she spewed her food/tea all over the floor. There are pictures of this but they aren´t up yet. Stay tuned. Honestly what I said wasn´t THAT funny. (The next night she enforced a ¨spanish only¨ rule. If you spoke any word in english you had to pay 1 Q. I lost four).


Overall and emotional but great weekend!