Hello everybody! Looks like I forgot I had a blog.... :)
Well I will try to start updating on a more regular basis now. There's a lot to catch up on, but for this one I will talk about my cultural walking tour.
The central part of San Andrés Xecul lies at the base of a wall of steep mountain. There are four
aldeas (or hamlets) that are part of San Andrés Xecul. Each have their own schools, churches, auxilary municipal staff, culture, flavor, and even style of
k'iche. K'iche is the principal language that people in my town speak. It is an indigenous Mayan language that has no similar roots to English or Spanish.
Three of our four
aldeas are about an hour hike up in the mountains. The one that I work in most often is the poorest
aldea, Nimasac. Many people there don't even speak any Spanish so I rely a lot on working with counterparts that help me navigate the language and culture of Nimasac. One day I explored some forest trails with a friend and found this great lookout point:
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| View from Nimasac onto the center of San Andrés Xecul where I live |
Starting a cultural walking tour there has been a long process. But has resulted in a well organized, interactive, and unforgettable tour. I am still surprised that all of the logistics worked out so well. In the San Andrés Xecul culture there is NEVER a rush and it is normal to show up 1 or 2 hours late for an event. But I reinforced the idea that with 'gringos' (foreigners) you
have to be on time and ready before the selected time. The point of a community tourism project is to involve various actors to benefit the most people. But this also means that orchestrating and putting everyone on sync is lots of work. I'm so proud of everyone!
This is a full day tour that will begin the microbus driver and local guide meeting with the group of tourists in the central park of Quetzaltenango (a large city close to San Andrés Xecul). After an introduction of what we will be doing for the day we drive up a bumpy and scenic road to the
aldea of Nimasac. First we visit the house of a local family that runs a candle making workshop. For many in Nimasac, this is the way that they make their living. Usually the whole family helps out in some way from the toddlers to the grandparents. Sometimes they are even working 14 hour days and earning very little. This provides an alternative source of income while keeping their traditions alive.
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| Learning how to twist and cut the wicks |
The tourists get to participate in the whole candle making process beside the the family members. Usually the family members and tourists have lots of questions about each other which starts interesting and fun conversations.
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| Hanging the wicks on a large wooden hoop |
The tourists are not just learning about how to make candles. They get
to really see inside the home of an indigenous Mayan family of the
highlands. A truly rare and special experience. With reason, the indigenous people of Guatemala are very cautious of outsiders. It was only in the late 90s that a brutal and bloody 30 year civil
war ended. Military rulers sent out death squads to eliminate 'left wingers' where they massacred hundreds of thousands of indigenous and tens of thousands went missing. While it is not talked about, many still remember or have family that was affected.
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| The hoop swings around as dip the wicks in hot wax |
Next we visit a workshop where they make the traditional
corte fabric that the women wear as skirts. First everyone takes a rest in the open courtyard alongside the adobe houses of the family. Snacks and drink are passed out on top of a beautiful tablecloth of traditional fabric.
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| Snack and break time! |
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| Machine made of recycled bicycle parts to wind the string |
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| Helping with the final process of weaving |
None of the 16 step weaving process uses any electricity. For all of the intricate designs first they tie hundreds of little knots around along the length of the string. Then they begin to boil water with firewood to make the dye and dip the knotted string into the mixture. After it dries they pull out the string and remove the knots. It is a very time consuming process that results in beautiful hand made intricate knot tie-dye designs.
Next we take a small ten minute hike up into the forest to a communal Mayan alter where we are greeted by a Mayan priest. Everyone gets to participate in a Mayan fire ceremony using the candles from the workshop we went to in the morning. We use the Mayan 'Book of Destiny' to figure out everyone's Mayan Nahuatl (horoscope). I designed bookmarks that we then pass out to the tourists with their according signs with information. A cheap to make special souvenir that the tourists really enjoy.
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| Mayan Ceremony in the Forest |
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| Traditional Lunch with a Local Family |
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After lunch we drive down the the center of town. We visit a lookout point of the town, a Mayan altar, the house of a wooden idol, and learn about the history of the famous church. Afterwards we sit on the balcony of the second floor of the municipal building for coffee and bread (a Guatemalan staple) with a view of the church.
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| The Dark Wooden Idol San Simon |
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| Our Famous Church :) |
Phew! There are a lot more pictures I could add but it takes a long time with such slow internet connection. But I hope that you guys got a gist of some of the work I'm doing here and enjoyed a virtual tour of San Andrés Xecul's first tourism route!! There are still a lot of kinks to work out and drama with the group dynamics but it's a start. One of my technical trainers from Peace Corps came on a practice tour said that it was one of the best and most authentic tours he had been on.
