Elections & Traje

September 12^th, 2011

I am very tired.  And my neighbors have been blasting beloved eighties hits since eight in the morning so I might as well write.

Last night was a very big day in Guatemala. Elections day.  Since I arrived in country the political propaganda has been growing and growing.  Even rocks and trees are painted with political markings.  And with 20+ parties it is a very colorful scene.  And also very noisy.  Candidates love to slowly drive throughout town with loudspeakers blasting their campaign music.  Not going to miss that.  For safety Peace Corps has required that we don’t leave our sites at all for a few days until all the elections madness cools down.

View from the second floor, right over my front door. 

Yesterday San Andrés Xecul was packed with food vendors and lots of people standing around. Waiting with anticipation to see who the new mayor would be.  Normally no one is on the street past 9 pm.  At night I walked out with my new neighbor and site mate Elana (from California & in the healthy schools program) to go grab some snacks from one of our favorite tiendas.  I couldn’t help laughing as I noticed for the first time boys hitting on us in k’iche.  “Jas abi ali?!” “What’s your name girl?!”.  All the boys learn from a young age that they should always hit on every female possible in the street (even if they are a quarter my age). The sun had set but the streets were livelier than ever.  To stay out of any possible trouble we went home and stayed in for the night.  Our friends told us they didn’t know what was going to happen.  Often in Guatemala there are political assassinations, etc. when the news is announced.  The candidates spend a lot of money on propaganda, handouts, and shameless bribes and can get murderously mad when they don’t win.

At around eleven the alcalde was announced and people went crazy! Huge bombas and fireworks started going off until who knows when.  I think past 2 am I was so sleepy I started sleeping through them.  These are much louder than American fireworks.  Fireworks that sound like a war has started.  Bombs that shake your heart.  On top of that, sound carries very well in our little pueblo nestled in the base of the mountains.  I could hear lots of whistling, hooting, hollering, and victory screams.

The view from my office with my counterpart Diego Hic

Turns out a school director won.  I hope that he cares about education and environmental issues half as much as he claims because that would make my job easier.  Today has been pretty tranquilo with the occasional school marching band.  Drizzling all day. 

When the mayor changes usually they hire their own crew to run the municipality.  I have grown close to  my friends at the muni so I am praying that some of them stay on.  Diego works at the office of the environment with me.  He always cheers me up if I'm having a bad day.  One of my only close friends in San Andrés Xecul.

This week the huge Independence Day celebrations are coming up so the semi-quietness won’t last long. 

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A few Guatemalan girlfriends of mine gave me traje tipica.   The traditional outfit that the women wear in the indigenous villages.  I was very touched by such a beautiful and time consuming gift.  They weaved and sewed everything themselves.  If I were to buy it from the market it would have probably been about 1000Q or about $125.  Coming from a poor family that is a huge gift.  Occasionally in San Andrés Xecul I will see women with pants, but they definitely stand out.  Because they have taken me shopping for traje tipica and gifted me a whole other outfit I am taking it as a hint that I should wear it more often.  Right now I am trying for 2 days every week.  People are much more friendly and give lots of compliments when I wear traje tipica.  But now when I wear pants people ask “Why the pants?!”. 

My güipil, traditional to Totonicapán

My corte. The design is called King's Cape. Hand died and weaved.

My embroidered flower güipil

Traje tipica consists of four pieces. The top, güipil in Spanish, po’t in K’iche. The belt, faja in Spanish, pas in K’iche.  And the skirt, corte in Spanish, uq’ in K’iche.  And the apron, delantal in Spanish.  I don’t have an apron yet.

Each area of Guatemala has its own traditional clothing.  Women love to mix and match with traje from different places.  I am obsessed with all the different patterns, colors, and types of weaving.  The traditional güipil from San Andrés Xecul is a gorgeous pattern of animals.  Similar to what you would see on our famous church.  It takes about 6 months to a year to embroider the entire güipil. 

Traditional top from San Andrés Xecul

Here are some typical güipil patterns that you can find around here:  

Flowers in Beadwork

Woven Deers, Embroidered Flowers

Cross-stitched Basket & Flowers

There are still some places where the men wear traje as well.  I have seen a few men wearing this outfit with the very thick woven shirt and the wrap around wool skirt (minus the pants) in my town:

I have been embroidering my own güipil with my K’iche teacher for months now.  I can’t believe my sister Sara sent me lots of embroidering string! J  Along with really, really cute panda slippers which are great for the freezing nights.  All the letters, cards, and packages really cheer me up.  Thank you mom for all the mouth watering cookies, springroll wrappers, seaweed, and sweet cards! Thank you grandpa and Jackie for the birthday wishes and awesome article (I really want to go explore El Mirador now).  Thank you Auntie Evelyn for all the thoughtful letters.   And thank you Laura for the Greenland postcard.

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After my first half marathon in Antigua with my host parents

I ran a bit more than I should of and now I am afraid I might have tendonitis so I have been taking a complete break from running. Next time I am at the peace corps office I am going to have them check out my leg. But the half marathon was fun.  Lots of Guatemalans cheering us on, bags of recovery honey, music, scenic views of Antigua and the surrounding volcanoes.

mayan fire ceremony on the shores of the sacred lagoon of volcan chicibal

Every year at the beginning of the rainy season they have a huge gathering at Laguna Chicibal.  Hundreds make the steep climb up the volcano to do mayan fire ceremonies all around the sacred lagoon to pray for rain.  No one is even allowed to swim in the waters. Notice the four women standing on the shore?  It is very stylish in Guatemala to make sure every article of clothing and accessory is the same color.  It feels weird to weird wear blue shoes, jeans, a blue top, and blue earrings and walk out the door feeling stylish.