What a beautiful beautiful weekend! And by weekend I mean Sunday, Monday Tuesday. Spanish lessons are over and I had my final on Saturday (eeeeeeeeek!) and today we started regular classes. Development Economics on Wednesdays, Spanish Literature on Thursdays, Politics of Latin America and Environmental Geography of the Central American Region on Saturdays. So I suppopse I have to get used to bizzare weekends of Sunday to Tuesday.
Santiago de AtitlanOn Sunday morning, our whole group took a bus to Lago Atitlan, a beautiful lake and popular tourist destination about two and a half hours out of Antigua by bus. We first visited the town of Santiago which I can't say I really liked. It was really really touristy without being friendly the way Antigua is. I did however run into a heavenily earring stand with about 500 pairs of earrings to choose from...and I resisted and only bought one pair!
Chelsea in Santiago de Atitlan
Earrings!!!!!
Santiago is also the home of one of the Catholic-Mayan fusion God's, Maximon. I'm not sure that I totally understand that God. He is the God of Beer and Cigarette's, but I can't figure out if he is the Saint they pray to about their sins with beer and cigs, or if he is some sort of rebellious Saint to whom they pray to about revenge on others. I can't seem to figure it out. Anyways, it was very interesting. The Mayan religion exists along with the Catholic traditions of the people. And they contradict each other as well. But there is such a desire to hold onto the indigenous traditions, even with a belief and acceptance in Christianity.
After Santiago, we visited the site of the mudslide in October 2005. I need to correct my other post about the mudslide...haha, this is what happens when my Spanish isn't amazing. When Volcan de Agua broke, it was a couple hundred years ago, and it destroyed Ciudad Viaja, they town in which we volunteered at the school. The mudslide was caused by a build up of water in the volcanoes near the lake after Hurricane Stan last year. A large crater broke at 6 in the morning and covered an entire town, killing I believe 7000 people. We visited the sight, but couldn't walk very far into it because there are gangs in the hills and it isn't a secure area. We did however get to visit the temporary housing that the government set up for the displaced families. Luis (Lisa's husband) acted as our guide. He's from San Lucas, a neighbouring town on the lake and was part of the response crew that helped after the slide. He said the Guatemalan government should be ashamed of the help they have given to their own people. A year and a half later, they are still living in metal and cloth housing that was mainly supplied by international NGO's. And Luis predicts that many of the families (there are about 3oo right now) will stay permantently in the settlement, as they can't afford to move. It was ridiculous. There are still houses on the other side of the roof that are completely covered in mud, with possessions and probably bodies inside. It was quite a disturbing sight to see.
10 of us took the bus to Luis's hometown of San Lucas on the lake. Our accomodations were amazing! Luis's family is quite well off and prominent in the town, as they own a very successful 500 Acre Organic coffee farm. His sister has a huge property on the lake that they built a GIGANTIC seven level mansion with two hot tubs, a pool, a bunk house for friends, luxurious bathrooms and kitchen and beautiful balconies. However...when they built it, they cleared ALL of the trees and didn't build any drainage. When Hurricane Mitch hit 7 years ago, the entire house fell into the lake. All that was left was the original kitchen and bunk house. Which is still beautiful. So 10 of us stayed in a giant room that looked like a rustic cabin with 15 beds in it.
Katie and I on top of the ruins.
Looking up at what used to be an amazing house.
Katie looking down at the lake.
Over the town of San Lucas
With my amazing housemates!!! Laurel, Katie, Adam, Sabrina, me!
The Lake was beautiful...we took a boat ride and jumped in in our clothes. On Monday night, we had Lisa, Luis and her kids over and had a BBQ with hot dogs and marshmellows.
The Volcan de Atitlan
Adam swimming in the lake
It was a wonderful weekend. Now classes have started. I have a politics exam on Friday that I deferred from last semester, so I should get to studying! (or possibly watching movies with my housemates...)
With my amazing housemates!!! Laurel, Katie, Adam, Sabrina, me!
Lots of Love!!
Adam showing us that's it's possible to actually frown.