Holding up to her promise to come back, this March my mom returned to Guatemala a year after she left to vist again. I was super excited for the visit, and this year while we still spent a good amount of time in Pachalum, we also did some traveling (in a car! What a difference a pickup truck makes). Mom spent the first few days in Pachalum relaxing and trying to sleep in, a real challenge given the fighting rooster that lives a few yards from my door that starts crowing at regular intervals at 5:30 in the morning. March is usually one of the hotter months (last year from March through May I did not get a good night’s sleep because of how hot it stays in my apartment), but this year the weather has been weird and it was cooler, with overcast skies and a lot of wind. We waited a few days for it to heat up, but when we saw that the weather was not cooperating, we decided to do a day-trip to the pools anyways. Christian is the son of a housekeeper and had never gone to the pools before, so we took him along with us and he was the only one who actually got in the water. Despite not speaking the same language, Christian made my mom laugh harder than she had in a long time when he got out of the water and put a towel over his head and scared himself by telling scary stories.
With Christian at pool
When the weekend rolled around I decided that it would be a terrible reflection on my hostessing abilities if my mom did not get to see Lake Atitlan (two visits to Guatemala and no Panajachel? Not ok). We headed out in a pickup on Saturday morning and were able to make it to Panajachel by midday with a few stops on the way, like this lookout point over Chichicastenango (I had never stopped there before since buses do not make sceinic stops).
Chichi background
When we got to Panajachel, I took my mom to Crossroads Café, a café owned by a crazy hippie-like guy from the Bay Area who moved to Guatemala with his wife and kids and makes fair trade coffee (he buys coffee from local growers and roasts it there). The man is hilarious, I have gone three times now and whoever comes to visit me next can plan on a pit stop with him (quote from last visit when someone paid for coffee – “Thanks for keeping my kids in homeschool”). We then went over to a pupusería before heading down Calle Santander (the main street) to the lake. Since it was late in the day, there was no way to get to the other side of the lake on a public boat, so we paid for a private boat to take us to the closest town – Santa Catarina Palopó. The women from Santa Catarina Palopó make my favorite güipilies, the colors are beautiful deep blues and purples, and to be quite honest, having visited a few towns on the lake, they are not all too different – the best part of going to one of the towns is being on the water.
Mom with Güipiles in Santa Catarina Palopó
After our trip to Santa Catarina Palopó, we sat by the lakeshore and got some nice sunset photos.
Lake Atitlan
In the morning, we went back down to the lake before heading out.
With mommy in the morning
In September of this year, Guatemala is having general elections, so since the end of last year, political parties have been painting signs all over the country and putting up billboards with their candidates. The painting of light poles and rocks on the sides of roads is pretty ridiculous, it is really ugly, and has actually lead to violence between the two dominant political parties when two groups of painters started fighting because one group was painting over the other groups paint in a town close to mine. The fight made national headlines since it ended with some cars being doused in gasoline and burned and people in the hospital. And that was in March. All of the advertising in illegal until the Electoral Court decides to allow campaigning to begin in May, but the fine that is placed on parties for violating the campaign ban is small ($125) compared to the benefits of getting their names out there (apparently there are 27 registered parties running this year), so the roads are all covered. This photo is from the highway out of Panajachel to Sololá next to a waterfall, the three colors are Red – Líder, Orange – Partido Patriota, and Green – UNE/GANA.
Political signs
On the way back to Pachalum, we stopped in Chichicastenango, a famous town in Quiché that has according to Lonely Planet the most ‘authentic’ market days. I had stopped there once before with my dad last year, and it was not a market day, so there was not too much going on, but this year we stopped on a Sunday and it was great. Chichicastenango has a large indigenous community and along with the mayor and municipality, there is a parallel indigenous mayor and alternative justice system. Chichicastenango’s church has syncretism (indigenous beliefs mixed with Catholic ones) and there are incense offerings and altars on the floor along with the regular Catholic pews and front altar. Chichicastenango’s market is huge and along with regular market fare like produce and güipiles, there are tons of knick-knacks for tourists, and at the best price I have found. It was actually hard to take photos without other tourists in it, there are a lot of people who come on shuttles from Antigua for a day trip.
Looking from one church to the other in Chichi
The weekend getaway was awesome, and we returned for a few days in Pachalum before heading back to Antigua for mommy’s last three days. Mom headed out with me to two women’s groups, one where she went last year and to a new one that I just started working in.
In Ciprés por el Campo
We also ate with my host family twice, a treat I have enjoyed very few times, only when there are parental visits or birthdays and it was mmmm mmm good.
Lunch with family
This year we finished up mom’s trip where is started last year – in Antigua. I have probably spent more time in Antigua than anywhere else in Guatemala besides Pachalum and my host-training town. It is easy to lose appreciation for how beautiful it is, but going with visitors is always a nice reminder. This time we saw some new places – taking a tour of the Governor’s Palace on the main plaza that has been undergoing restoration for the past three years, and taking walks to a few aldeas of Antigua that we had not visited before. Overall, it was a lovely and tasty finish to a great trip.
1 comment:
Looks like you and Momma Markowitz had a wonderful vacation - I can't wait to replicate it! I want ice cream, and jumping pictures, and sunsets, and a pony, and, and, and...
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