Back to Guatemala…the market in Chicaman is very different than in Antigua. Of course, I knew it would be this way since Chicaman is not exactly at the epicenter of tourism. The Chicaman market was more of a gigantic farmers market and I have to say, more spectacular and enjoyable than the crazy touristy markets of Antigua and Chichicastenango. Although I very much appreciated the artisan markets, the cook in me came out while wandering through the market here in Chicaman. If I were living here a lot longer, I think I would really enjoy shopping at the markets each week for fresh vegetables, fruit and meat. It was extremely entertaining to watch the women in the market hack their chickens and pork pieces to bits. Much more interesting than buying a syran wrapped package of boneless skinless chicken breasts in the supermarket back home. After watching Miny skillfully negotiate deals with the vendors at the market, we headed back home to unload all of our goods. Little did we know, when we bought our pieces of pork, Miny had set down her bag of chicken and forgot to pick it up! When we got back to the house she was looking everywhere for it and finally went back to the market and found it at the pork vendor’s stall. It was a great experience and I admire the vendors for how far they must have to carry all of their goods.
Yesterday, I went to the very small village of San Pedro to hear mass said by the local priest and we walked 45 minutes just to reach the village and we had already driven another hour before that just to get to the hiking path. I was only carrying myself, my water bottle and my small purse and still I was exhausted after trying to traverse the paths. I can’t imagine carrying a load of corn or tortillas to the weekly market. Granted, I wasn’t exactly wearing the appropriate footware. I had my running shoes, which would have been perfect had the path been dry, but it wasn’t and I ended up with extremely wet feet and unbelievably muddy shoes. Looking on the bright side, now, I will definitely not forget the Spanish word for mud, lodo. Hubo mucho lodo en el bosque!
Here's the muddy path that we traversed to get to the village.
My already muddy shoes at the beginning of the journey.
The village of San Pedro
When we finally arrived in the village, we went directly into the small wooden building that is their church and Father Cruz immediately began to set up for the mass. A handful of men and one small boy were playing the guitar and singing Spanish hymns. This village only receives mass once every three months so yesterday’s service was a big deal. The mass went well and having sat through one service already with Miny, I was able to understand much more this time around. Maybe when I go to mass tomorrow morning, I will understand at least the entire liturgy of the Eucharist. We’ll see. I did make a small faux pas when receiving Eucharist because I wasn’t exactly sure what to do. I took the communion wafer and I was supposed to dip it in the wine but before I realized that, I had eaten the host and instead took a sip of the wine, directly from the cup. I didn’t get scolded but I hope that my actions weren’t too out of place.
After mass, the kids received toothbrushes from the Canadian couple who is staying with the priests as well as a short lesson about how to brush their teeth. The kids seemed receptive but I’m not sure they knew exactly what to do.
Then they showed us their school and told us a little about what they have been learning in school. It is a small one-room schoolhouse where 17 children attend school.
The teacher is from Chicaman and lives in the village during the week but goes back to Chicaman on the weekends. It seems as they are learning a lot and most of them said they go to school everyday. I’ve been told one of the more important things for them to learn is how to speak Spanish because their first language is one of the indigenous languages. All of the kids spoke very good Spanish from what I could tell but I’m probably not the best judge of their language abilities, haha.
Here's a group of boys from the village, they were enraptured by our cameras and got a real kick out of us taking photos of them and letting them see the results instantly.
Eventually, after eating a small meal of beans and tortillas, we headed back to the car. I never fell down on the return journey but I did step ankle deep into a mud pit at least two or three times. It was quite an adventure.
This is the spot where we started (and ended) our journey on foot.
Here's what my shoes ended up looking like when we got back to the car. I decided to take them off so that my feet didn't ferment in them as we drove back home.
When I got back to Eni’s house, I was a mess and took a shower pretty much right away. Myra, the woman that helps Eni around the house, very graciously washed my shoes and set them out to dry. I felt a little bad because I totally could have washed them myself but she was almost done when I finished my shower. Sergio, Juan’s brother, was at the house yesterday and sat down to chat with me and help me practice my Spanish. It was really great to talk with him but it also made me realize that I still don’t understand a lot when talking with someone one on one. I definitely don’t understand a whole lot when a large group of native Spanish speakers are talking to each other. However, that is to be expected since I’ve only been learning for three weeks now. Little by little, I learn more and understand more. I did appreciate his patience with my lack of vocabulary. Luckily I had my handy dandy dictionary (thank you Sarah Jones!!!) close by to look up words that neither of us was sure of the translation. I am still surprised by how exhausting it is thinking and talking in another language. I went to bed around 10pm and had a hard time waking up by 7:45 this morning.
I didn’t go running today because my shoes were still wet from yesterday’s muddy hike and I was totally wiped out anyway. The NYC Alzheimer’s Run to Remember team is meeting tomorrow for a group run (8 miles) in Central Park and since I can’t be there, I’m going to try and run 6 or 7 miles on my own here in Chicaman. We’ll see how that goes.
My day today was pretty laid back. Went to the market in the morning, baked a cake with Miny and the Canadians in the afternoon, went to the park with Catharinne to catch some rays while studying/coloring and then came back to the house to read a bit (I’m really into The Devil in the White City – Thanks Tessa :-) ). After reading, I joined Eni, Lesbi and Miny in the kitchen for some coffee and a light snack and good conversation about learning Spanish, baking/cooking, and writing in cursive. Then I wrote this blog entry, which like most of my writing, took the rest of the evening. Mostly because I interrupted myself several times to watch Bachelorette clips on abc.com.
Busy day tomorrow, back to the clinic on Monday and Tuesday and then possibly head to Cobán on Wednesday or Thursday. Probably, early-ish Thursday morning. I am thinking about making the Martinez family some dinner or at least some cookies/desert on Wednesday. I’ll report back on how that goes.
No comments:
Post a Comment