Familia en Guatemala

I’ve wanted my children to meet my Guatemala friends for many years, it felt like an answer to prayer to finally be able to go. It’s 20 years since I lived there as a youth girl.

    We had the Guate trip planned long ago and then my nephew in Georgia thought it was a good time to get married too. We always go through Atlanta to get to Guatemala so we just decided to add onto the trip. Jesse and Lynnea’s wedding was beautiful. It felt way too short for a Georgia visit with my family and cousins and friends but we quickly packed back up and left for Guatemala Monday after the wedding. We got into Guatemala airport in the late afternoon and it seemed like immigration took a long time. on our flights there, we traveled with a big church group from Kentucky headed to Guatemala to build houses for some families in Chichicastenango and Flor was outside visiting with the man who was picking them all up.  I could see them waiting outside in the crowd through the big sliding doors before we were able to go out

   Finally the big doors opened for us and Flor and I hugged. Her girl Iana has grown so much in two years and Berna knows how to make everyone laugh and feel at ease. I would happily take Iana as one of my own girls, she’s brown with amazing curly hair. I always thought  Flors hair had nice wavy texture but Iana’s is at a whole different level. Berna is tall and quick mannered and easy to understand in Spanish and in English. He loaded up our baggage into his microbus and we started the drive to Antigua for our first night. We stayed in the exact set of rooms that Wes and Mel’s family had last time we rented that air bnb. The house decor is old colonial and Mayan and it’s got a lot of wood accents, tile and stone. There are lovely bougainvillea plants and flowering vines hanging off the roof plus I spotted lobster claw plants blooming along the wall.  The rooftop terrace offers a lovely view of Volcan Fuego’s grey and red lava sides, Acatenango beside it and Agua overlooking all of Antigua with its forested slopes. We got up early to see the view from the roof, I found some coffee and made a small pot for Jeff and I to share on the terrace. Volcan Fuego is so massive, I wish we had gone up on the roof the night before to see the glow at its crater but we were tired. Our route to the house we were staying was confusing cuz the road we should have taken was under massive construction, there’s pulled up all the cobblestones for a whole block and were relaying them.

   After leaving our villa, Berna took us up to the Hill of the Cross that overlooks the whole city of Antigua. You can see the yellow arch from there and the old convent and Volcan Agua with its empty crater atop embraces the whole view. A small barely apparent ribbon runs down through Agua’s slope of foliage where it emptied its lake of water in the crater years ago and flooded a village. There is a large convent right at the foot of that in the village.

   The view was incredible and the hilltop outlook is planted full of rosemary and lavendar and grows old large trees like pines so the scents were incredible. We bought a bit of pineapple and mango from a street vendor and snacked on Flor’s trail mix while heading for the highland route to Lake Atitlan. Berna’s wanted to eat at Vista Bella, a beautiful restaurant with a plancha in the middle where a lady was cooking tortillas and then she started making tamales.

  We ordered desayunos chapines, eggs, black beans, longaniza, chorizo and platano. And a chuchito. Everything came with tortillas of course. It was delicious.

  Here’s a link to view the restaurant

Restaurante Vista Bella

   The air was cool at the high altitude and the views of the planted field on the hillsides and mountainside are incredible. We saw onions, cabbage, carrots, spinach, strawberries, guisquiles and I’m not sure what all more. Anthony and the girls started a game of saying “chicken bus” and tickling each other  whenever they saw the splashy decorated camionetas and soon Iana joined in. She became my girls little sister very quickly.

   It didn’t feel long to me before we were going down the mountains to the lake. Berna is a great driver and the traffic and curves made Jeff thankful he wasn’t driving a rental vehicle like we’d planned. We came by the waterfall on the curve that gets more amazing during rainy season but sometimes blocks off the road. We pulled into where our apartment was Berna had booked. It was in a high rise building with amazing views of the lake and the day we got there the weather was perfectly clear. Sunny but not too hot and few clouds so the views were pristine. Volcanoes surrounding greenish blue water of a lake, villages settling in on the slopes of the mountains and dabbling their toes in the water, docks stretching out their fingers and letting go of the launches of tourist boats and public transport. The best, safest and sometimes only way to get around to the eleven or twelve villages surrounding the lake is by a public seating boat that’s made of fibreglass and has a roof overhead. The driver stands in the back and looks over the roof. The lake gets choppy later in the day and tourist places shut so we were trying to get there in time. It took a bit to get booking confusion figured out but it was all overlooking this lake and the building had a terrace with games and seating overlooking pool and gardens. It gave the children a great desire to swim but we promised them after the tour was over they could swim. The girls and Iana played Jenga and Jeff and Tony played foosball and ping pong. Lynnea and I played Ping Pong for a bit too until we lost the ball over the ledge down to the pool area and some people threw it up to us and made us laugh because we couldn’t catch it. Finally I just told them to throw it behind us.

   Got to our room on 8th floor, dropped off our luggage and headed down through the gardens towards the dock where Miguel was waiting.  Miguel is a Mayan man, Kaqchikel,  who I knew from before and I think every gringo that goes to the lake gets to know, he’s not Quiche like I knew from when I lived in Paxtoca  but his Tkakik language has resemblance. He likes teaching his tourist people to say thank you and other words to the kaqchikel tourist guides. He asked me on the boat as we drove across the lake if it was Jeff’s first time at Lake Atitlan because he said new visitors just look around at everything like he was doing and don’t visit. The panoramic view is so incredible it’s a lot to take in. It feels like a person should just sit and soak it in like a sponge and adore the Creator of it all. We figured it out that Lake Atitlan is about the same area as the big part of Tobin lake where no one really goes but it’s really deep, . I think I’ve read that it’s the deepest lake in central and maybe South America? But what’s unique about the lake besides the volcanoes all around it is its Mayan heritage and culture. The natural scenery looks like something in Thailand or somewhere but the towns have a rhythm that is unmistakably Mayan and they play it up well. Panajachel is the night life village, the big one where most people go to start out from on the launches or just to stay there. It’s got markets and street vendors, some museums and parks. At night it has a street called Calle de Santander that’s lighted for a long ways with bulbs strung across the street going all the way down to the lake and all the restaurants stay open to humans and some to dogs. There are a lot of street dogs but they don’t look too awful.

   Santa Catarina is the town of ceramics or pottery and known for the vibrantly blue painted houses and street art in it. I’ve been there once but not this time. That’s where we saw the most wooden Mayan kayaks last time.

   I forget the next villages names but they are situated on a small lake inlet and from them you can climb one of the volcanoes overlooking the lake.

   San Marcos is the one that’s called the hippie capital of the world. It’s filled with new age retreats and meditative courses and hippie feel. That’s just what I’ve heard and read, haven’t gone there.

  San Pedro is the second biggest village around the lake and you can get down to it from the highway but they call it the route of death because it’s a really steep incline.

   San Juan is where we’ve always gone. It has a famous street with umbrellas in many colours strung up overhead and the street slopes and curves down to the lake. It’s really scenic.

It also has a cooperative for textiles and weaving and takes one throughout the whole process. From cotton plant to spinning, from making the threads to forming a bundle or wrap of them and then tying off the patterns and dyeing them in natural dyes. Then they demonstrate weaving with a back pack loom and show how the patterns are created.

   The colour dye process is what I love, red from cochineal, indigo blue from a plant that only produces blue if harvested at full moon, otherwise it makes a purple colour. Orange from carrots, yellow from flowers, purple also cones from cabbage I think? I can’t remember how they make green. Purple basil, green basil, these were plants she showed us too.

   We also went through the cocoa bean factory and their whole process of taking the seeds out what looks like large winter squash or some sort of melon and they make rum with the pulp and dry and toast the seeds to make cocoa. The husks are removed and used for fibre or fuel. The chocolate tastes great. I wish we could have brought more home. They were technically closed and Miguel had them reopen so we couldn’t get choco bananos but we did a different day in the market.

  We climbed up many many steps to an outlook overlooking the lake, San Juan and offering a closer view of the Mayan face profile on the mountain beside and above us. They used to offer sacrifices on its nose. The outlook we stood in was wood and brilliantly painted with Mayan images of their stories and legends.

   We also went to the honey farm, they show you their tiny Mayan bee varieties which pollinate the coffee. The Mayan bees make black honey which is used for medicinal purposes. They also have royal bees and European bees there and showed the different hives for each. Mayan bees don’t sting, they bite, They look like ants they’re so small but I think they have to be to pollinate coffee. Their hive looked more like a wasp nest or something. I’m glad my children got to see that. Miguel carefully cut a piece of purple basil for Flor off one of their beautiful plants, we put it in a water bottle so it wouldn’t die, and Berna or Flor carried it all day and then we all forgot it in the apartment kitchen when we left our room the next day.

   Ok, that tour was not at all written in order, I’m just trying to remember what we all did. I bought a dress for Lauren’s baby girl at the textile cooperative and I think it’s adorable. There are so many types of textiles, so many brilliant colours and patterns, I think I could use them all and it’s hard to decide what to buy, later we wish we’d bought more but the memories of them all are precious.

Flor and Iana bought coin purses for our girls from there that my girls will each treasure and Anthony and Iana each got a wooden ball in a cup toy. Well, Flor bought one for Tony and he was thrilled. Every window he gets near has felt threatened ever since. Also his sisters heads. But we’ve all enjoyed playing with it.

   Back to the hotel and the children rushed back out to swim. We adults took our chance to rest and visit as we watched them.

   We went back to the rooms and cleaned up and went to Calle Santander to find supper. There are so many choices we walked almost the whole lighted fun street before choosing to go back to one place we saw and eat pupusas and drink either horchata or naranjada. The pupusa with chicharron and cheese was my favourite . Fran didn’t like their El Salvador style horchata cuz it had peanuts in it but I liked it. They also had the regular kind but she likes trying new stuff so chose that variety.

   Back to the hotel and we took mattresses of the bunk beds and put all the girls on the living room floor. In the morning I awoke to someone singing hymns over a speaker. It sounded just like those mornings in Paxtoca where they’d play religious sermons and hymns early in the morning. It wasn’t melodious but the words were pretty, a song we have in our hymnal. Jeff and I woke up and had devotions on the balcony with its amazing lake and volcano view and then went down to the hotel restaurant to get coffee for us and eggs for Jeff. I ordered French toast to take back to the room for people to eat as they woke up, it was fancy French toast, filled with jam and deep fried and served with honey. It came with fruit and the papaya was delicious.

   We stopped at the waterfall on our way up and looked way up to where it spilled over the edge and splashed its way down the mountain. By the erosion you can tell that at times a lot of water has gone over the edge. The waterfall flows down into a river right beside our hotel and into the lake.

   We stopped up higher further one last view of the lake and then kept going on the highland route towards Guatemala City and then Guastatoya. The air got cooler the higher we climbed and at times we were in the clouds and then coming back out to the view of colourful chicken buses, motos, on the rise and carefully maintained market garden areas of vegetables or hillside terraced crops of corn or other vegetables. For brunch we stopped at a place called In The Clouds and even Jeff and I felt cold there. We got chicken soup to eat and it was delicious. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted better broth and it came in pottery bowls. The restaurant worker lit the fireplace for us because we were all huddled in blankets, Flor looked at my children with their blankets and warned, “Just wait till they feel the heat of Guastatoya.”

   We left the restaurant in the clouds and continued on. Our hurry to get back was the boys class program. Bernas were in charge of the food and the boys all stayed in her sister’s empty house beside them so they supplied a lot of the hospitality. We came at a busy time for them, but they have a lot of busy times I guess. The people in Guastatoya work hard and it looks like they’re teaching their children to also work hard. We always had lots to talk about with Berna and Flor and also Iana. I don’t know how long it would take before we’d run out of topics. They’re very comfortable people to be with.

   Finally Guastatoya. Some of the streets have changed from two way to one way to help ease traffic flow but so much is still the same. I recognize Calle Principal, Casas Viejas, Doble Via, Santa Lucia and a lot more but the town has also grown. Berna’s pretty wooden house is up in a part that was just natural mountainside  when I lived there. Their porch offers a good view of all of Guastatoya.

   We picked up Flor’s chicken salad for on the tostadas after the program and I got to see Dina and some companeros quickly there at the sanatorio where Dina works. One of the nurses made the chicken salad for Flor. We cleaned up a bit and changed at Bernas then Iana guided us to church cuz I wasn’t sure if I knew the way after Elias house. She’s a pretty good guide. Once I got left and right mixed up in translating to Jeff so he took a wrong turn and she stopped us and said, “But I told you to continue left!”

    The boys class program was interesting for me, I think it was for my girls even if they couldn’t understand. There are ten boys I think. They were from Guatemala in the Peten and Palencia area plus two from Guastatoya. Chris Dyck from Hesston Kansas taught the class and I think Maelser helped. Chris and Joni’s family were there as missionaries for two terms and only left about two years ago. They were all there visiting now and the children were enjoying being with their old friends.

   Three of the class boys came from Paraguay. That was neat to have people there who know Jeff’s folks. I mean, I guess Maelser’s do too because they taught school in Paraguay while folks lived there.

    I think Guastatoya’s membership is over 30. Many are old friends of mine but there were some new faces. There are new members in Palencia and they all came to the program along with the missionaries from Peten. We didn’t have time this trip to go to Palencia although I know I’d love to see the old places there. It’s special to me that Thelma’s granddaughter, Katy is helping teach school in Guastatoya, she seems really sweet. Her twin sister is teaching school in Paraguay I think.

   Guastatoya members served chuchitos, (a type of corn tamal wrapped in corn leaves) bean tostadas and chicken salad tostadas and many types of cake or squares. There was a lot of good food. We sat in the parking lot and the youth went to play volleyball on the new net Hesston youth just sent.

   Jeff and I left with Sheny so she could show us the house where we were staying. Tio Isaias and Tia Clara were with her. It’s the house where Carlos and Yulianna lived so that was kind of special to imagine my lil cousin living there with his new bride for over a year.

   After good nights were said, we settled in and Bernas popped in to visit a bit. For a bit I thought, I could totally live like this, live here and have this be daily life. I don’t know if Jeff could live without the wide open spaces and his cows though. We’d left the girls suitcases behind in the back of Ennio’s pickup and they went home to Ennio’s house to be with their girls. I was a little nervous about them getting enough sleep but I really wanted them to get to know and enjoy the people in Guastatoya.

   On Thursday we slept in a bit and went up to Flors close to noon. Berna had picked up chicharrones and coke for brunch. Jeff left with Berna to look at his construction projects, The girls went to hotel Santa Fe to swim with Ennio’s girls and Flor and I ran some errands with Anthony and Iana tagging along. She was making supper to take up the mountain where Felipe lives with Jaime and Corina and their children. She made Dominican Republic food, chicken in the most delicious broth or gravy and rice with beans in it and a beet salad. The power went out for awhile so we sat on the couches and visited. Soon everyone was back and we loaded up to go up the mountain, Berna’s single brother, Abraam joined us and it was jolly. Supper was delicious, Flor’s lemon cheesecake was amazing and the mango salad Corina made topped it off. We played four square and sat around and visited while the skies opened and dumped rain on the tin roof. It made it cozy.

   It was good to be with Corina and good to see Felipe another time. He hasn’t been feeling very good, he’s 93. I always think I’ll never get to see him again but I have a feeling this time will be the last so it was a blessing that Flor made food and took us all there fur an evening, Felix, another son,  was there too which made me surprised. I thought he’d said he was headed back to work towards the city.

   Jaime’s have a beautiful family and it makes me happy to see them all together.

   We hauled all the food dishes back to the van in the mud and the ride down was jolly with Berna and Abraam and Flor riding in front joking and laughing. After dropping off the girls and taking dishes into Flor’s house we headed  back to sleep.

   Friday we just walked around Guastatoya and visited. I found people I knew to say hi to, we walked through both markets, we went to a coffee shop, we ate granizadas under the huge ceiba tree in Central Park, we walked to Santa Lucia and visited Flors parents and ate a watermelon. My girls napped in hammocks there. Papa Elias showed us all his wooden figurines or tree root pieces in his garden. He collects roots and paints them and displays them to look like a cowboy on a horse or an eagle or a snake. He has lots.some are quite humorous. It was good to see Mama Delfina in mostly good health.

   We met Bernas and Ronal and Sheny and Sofy for supper at Dona Mayra’s taco stand. Her tacos are as good as they were 20 years ago. We used to love to eat there.

   Saturday we all headed for Coban, it heads off towards rainforest area and is in the highlands too. Ronal and Sheny came along. We were going to go to Ronal’s coffee farm on the mountain but because of rains that didn’t work.

   We didn’t make it to Coban because Fran got sick, I don’t know what she got. But after a few times of stopping in beautiful scenery for Fran to puke, Berna pulled into this resort place called Hacienda de Rio Escondido.

Hotel | Hacienda Ecológica Río Escondido | Gl

   It was beautiful with cabins and trails and a pool and gardens and a restaurant. We walked the trails and looked at trees and plants while Fran rested in a hammock. After eating lunch in the restaurant we helped her walk to the van and we headed back to Guastatoya for out last night. (Oh yes, the farm made their own cheese so the girls ordered cheese in fried tortillas which was delicious. Jeff and I got chicken soup again but it wasn’t as good as what we had the other day) We picked up the girls suitcases from Ennio and Brenda’s so we could get everything arranged for leaving Sunday evening. Fran crashed at the house.

   Sunday morning we tried to find all our head coverings and Sunday shoes. Fran was too weak and wrung out to join us to go to church. There was a military parade and I had a hard time figuring out a route to get to church but we made it, just a bit late.

    Church was a blessing, I’m glad we got to be there for a morning service. I quick went through the schoolrooms after visiting and telling people goodbye  so I’d have an idea of what it was like. They used the rooms for boys class so it wasn’t put back in place the first evening we were at church.

   Lunch was at Sheny’s with Maelser’s and Dina and Selvin. And the 3 class boys from Paraguay. Flor made beef hilachas to eat with rice and tortillas. It was delicious. Selvin actually biked from Guatemala City on Saturday, I think it’s 75 kilometres of mountain hills and valleys. He’s taken up biking seven kilometres to and from work in his city home each day because traffic in the city is so bad. Now he says he just passes them by, it was good to be with the youth group of old days. Good to be at Tio Isaias house too, everyone is getting older and that’s kind of sad but I guess that’s how life goes.we never did go to Maelser’s house in the regadio because now they’re busy with the class boys from Paraguay staying with them till the 5th and boys class was busy. We did walk over the bridge on Friday and could see their house in the regadio. That was the day after they climbed the volcano pacaya with the class boys. We met Chris and Joni on their way leaving Guastatoya that day headed to Palencia for the weekend.

   Finally said some more goodbyes, I’m grateful I got to visit with Selvin and Dina and Maelser’s one last time. We placed up our luggage and drove one last time to Bernas and he drove us to the city towards our flight. Stopped at a mall and ate subway sandwiches and Lynnea started feeling sick. So that wasn’t cool but she came down with whatever Fran had. By the time we told Bernas goodbye, how lovely it was to be with them…and we got to our airline counter Lynnea had vomited enough times she could hardly walk through security. After security we got her a wheelchair and assistance onto the plane. Now it makes us all laugh how helpless our sickness made us all. The picture we have in our minds of Nea in a wheelchair only has to get mentioned and we all crack up.

   By the time we got to Washington DC Anthony got sick, it was an overnight flight and I was so wrung out from worrying over them all and making sure all the sick ones had fresh bard bags, we all just sat on the floor by the bathrooms right before customs and must have looked awful, some kind people and an airline superintendent offered to get paramedics for us and take us to a hospital. That scared us enough we gathered our forces together, stood and walked though customs and made it to our flight to Atlanta. By then we all felt kind of sick. Jeff less than anyone, thankfully Kajsa never barfed either. The kids could hardly walk but Jeff thought we should just try to get home. We went to baggage claim, rechecked our bags, and then dragged ourselves and our weak children to security line in Atlanta which is a harum scarum ordeal even if you’re well. But then Anthony barfed again and on peoples feet and our girls were so embarrassed they cried. So we went to the ticket counter and changed out flights till the next day and got a shuttle to an airport and crashed till 4 am the next morning.

   The next day we all felt much better, we’d gotten door dash to bring us  bananas and juice. Shuttled back to the airport and caught our flight home. And here we are, weeding garden and fixing fences on July 4.

   It was the trip of a lifetime and we’ll have laughs and precious memories forever and friends who are even dearer and nearer to our hearts than ever before. I hope I can see them again one day. My children say they are a few things they’d miss but they think they could live there in Guatemala. It was nice to see all our animals again. And I’m still thinking in Spanish even though it’s been a few days back, I don’t know when that will stop. I told the kids and Jeff that I think I’ll set one day a week for only Spanish for and with me and I have to study my advanced verb tenses more and they have to study everyday communication by communicating only in Spanish with me. I think just having to talk it is the best way to learn and from there study grammatical rules.

   If you read this all, you’re a hero, ask me any questions you have. I know I left out a pile of details and jumbled things up.

   And to you Guate people, I can’t say thank you often enough. I love you people and would like to be more like you. If you ever get anywhere near here visiting, we want to treat you back and show you our country and lake and farm and life.

We’ve been drinking the coffee from Ronal and savouring it. It’s nice to have the taste of something grown in Guatemala. We even still have a tiny bit of pan tostado left to eat with the coffee. Thanks, Ronal.

   (Frances also wrote a trip report, I’ll add the link here yet if you want to see her viewpoint.)

We’re struggling to get the right link and code but maybe we’ll figure it out yet.)

https://www.mobileapp.app/to/nSGqLWo?ref=2_m_cl