the mayan antcestors

we are a little more than a little obsessed with the ants in guatemala. they were amazing and we always expected to come upon some giant ant pyramin constructed solely of leaves.

as i was in full wildlife photography mode laying in the dirt path trying to catch the emotional landscape of this.... i realized i was in fact lying in horse doo. sweet.

Bone Doctors of the Mayan Variety

that is sunrise on lago de atitlan...two steps out of my bedroom there

On my last day of Spanish class in San Pedro, Guatemala I had a really wonderful conversation with my teacher (en español of course!). it started out with me telling her that we were going to go on a hike the next day to a forest. she asked if it was the forest on the town limits. it wasnt but she described to me this place.

apparently for... thousands of years maybe, Mayan priests have been coming to this forest because it is a very sacred place. they hold various rituals there and ceremonies too. within the last ten years the christian church bought it and since then is trying their best to prevent the Mayans (which is a religion as well as a lifestyle) from performing these ancient rituals. The church has gone so far as to put a huge christian altar up in the forest and tells people to go pray there.... hmm... i mean i am ok with whatever religion you want to be but its when people prevent other people who are doing no harm from believing what they want to believe, thats when i get upset. the idea of buying or owning that land never even occured to the Mayans. Similar to the Native American in the U.S. way back when, that is not how they think.

I asked my teacher who told me like many other locals that she is very Christian (they are very proud of it and see it as being modern as well). I asked her what percentage of the people on Lake Atitlan practice the old religion. It was then that she got this funny little twinkle in her eye and said that a whole lot more than you would think. because although San Pedro is a beautiful village that shows strong undertones of the way life was for hundreds of years there are also a lot of signs of change too. more capitalism, less traditional dress, and many many new non-mayan churches.

apparently people either practice in secret or in her words they do it subconsciously. the mayan religion is so infused in who these people are and their lifestyle that there it is inherently a huge part of their lives but they dont even see it as that because they dont know any different type of life. she said that there are quite a few people who practice it when it is convenient for them as well. for example if they break a bone or come down with some serious illness.

there are 2 kinds of shamans that she told me about. depending on what day a mayan is born on there is a gift that is associated to this person. occasionally right away a midwife can tell a mother that this child is going to be a shaman.

one type of shaman is harder to explain she said. for example, lets say a person is picking fruit and suddenly they fall down. maybe they are ill for several days after this. the mayan people believe that when that person fell down that their soul escaped them. a ritual is then performed by a mayan priest in the middle of the night while the person is sleeping in their house. they would never do it in the daytime because it would scare the soul away.. the priest and his helper go to the tree and light candles and give some simple offerings and do this thing while hitting a stick on the ground that chases the spirit back into the person´s body. she said that you are able to see the sleeping person shudder in their sleep when the soul returns....

another kind of shaman is a bone shaman. this person has a special tool that is kept wrapped in cloth that they use for their entire life. they find this tool through their dreams and they say that it is impossible for them to lose it.

my teacher has seen this ritual performed twice where a person has a fractured bone. apparently the shaman does nothing other than lightly rub their special tool upon the fracture in this ritualistic fashion and the person within days is healed. sometimes faster and sometimes slower, my teacher said that she once saw it done and actually HEARD the bones snapping back together. the person had to be held down because they were in so much pain but the wrist was no longer broken!

i am not sure what to believe but there are so many cultures and rituals in this world that are being lost through globalism and capitalism and it was really relieving to me to hear that there is still a strong rhythm of ancient ways in this beautiful sacred place.

if you like this kind of thing, i HIGHLY reccomend: Martin Prechtel´s Secrets of the Talking Jaguar. it is about an american man who was called to lake atitlan through his dreams and once he arrived became a highly respected shaman.

evangelical songs in the night

so this happened a long time ago but i have been meaning to write about the night that we spent in another village on lake atitlan.

San Marcos is a place that is supposed to have even stronger healing power than other places on a lake that is indeed magical all over. Many foreigners have gravitated to this place and now it is a hot spot of sorts for healing retreats and meditation centers. its also just beautiful and more green and lush then the somewhat more bustling little town of san pedro where we stayed.

the reason that we went there was because we had heard that there was a course on lucid dreaming.... well i am going to skip the grumbling and complaing about how that did not in fact work out because of the some er.... miscommunications you might say. but it was a beautiful day spent there anyhow.

we met our friends from san pedro over on the cliffs that are just outside the village. i myself did not jump but jared and some other friends courageously leapt off a rock that was at least 30 meters high!!! definitely a record for red he said.

later that night we were sitting outside of our guesthouse room when a voice in the dark sang out loud and clear. it was a woman and we didnt know where but it was quite beautiful sounding as she sang really strongly out into the night sky. the song continued for some minutes when suddenly another woman started singing as well, only this woman was somewhere completely different, in a whole other direction! after a moment the first woman stopped singing and the second woman carried on and on until wouldnt you know another starts from somewhere else! it was really interesting, i couldnt tell if it was spanish or what- the owner of the guesthouse walked past then and i asked her what it was all about. she shrugged her shoulders as if she didnt really approve and said it was the evangelical church members.

i am not sure what that is all about but that kind of praying sing into the pitch black night sharing a song across a village sounds all right to me.

that is one amazing part of central america, there is live music EVERYWHERE all the time from late at night to super early in the morning! and a lot of it is church music but not the kind of church music that i ever heard--you´ve got drumming and horns and singing and all sorts of rowdyness. i love love love it.

ay yi yi!

so i have ever so much to catch up on but whenever i get to a computer my mind goes hazy and the words leak out of my head not to return until some other time usually far less convenient.

right now we are in el salvador. its pretty dang interesting here with all kinds of different sides of it to see. it has the highest population density with the lowest percentage of indigenous people (owing to the horrific genocide of course). its also got the highest rate of deforrestation of all of central america and there are many parts of the country that simply look devastated.

for example we took a bus into san salvador which was the total pits. dirty and busy and evidently dangerous because every gas station, grocery store, and disco had a guy with a machine gun standing outside of it. a few police officers with gigantic guns got on a bus we were riding and i wasnt sure if i should feel greatful or scared. anyhow red and i smart little monkeys and so we only walked around in the daytime, paid far more than normal for a safe hostel, and got the hell out of dodge the next morning. it was a weird place with these huge shopping malls and movie theaters and tons of u.s. corporations and then a huge shantytown right outside of the city.

but then we caught this bus north to a little town called Suchitoto and it was really nothing short of sweet and lovely. cobblestone streets, friendly people, and a beautiful over look of this huge lake with dozens of different species of birds flying about in the canyon. we met a really odd but friendly salvadoran man who bought us a beer each and chatted our ears off about his girlfriend (a white cat with bright blue eyes) and how he can touch cement and see pictures of his former lives. not drunk, merely eccentric!

this morning we traveled on in el salvador still to another little village. up through windy jungly mountain sides where corn and coffee grow. its interesting to note the affects of the war in little things like there are no people wearing traditional costumes since anyone who even looked indian was murdered back then. but i was talking about the beauty of this place and yes there is a lot. the people are really friendly and helpful as well. this little place we are in now gets almost all of their income from these sweet little paintings which are everywhere and on everything. from little tiny seeds and key chains to all over the sides of buildings and lamp posts. the town is really quiet and peaceful.

tomorrow we head on to the mayan ruins of Copan in Honduras. very exciting.

hey DONT FORGET TO LEAVE US COMMENTS- its not toooo hard. we miss you!

todos los dias son alegres

what can i say except exactly that. all of the days here are happy. i havent had a bad day or even a medium bad-ok day in a really long time. guatemala has treated us so well, but we are beginning to think about maybe starting to plan on moving on! maybe. ok. probably we will move on next week. there is one spot in guatemala that is a high possibility, but as we are pointed south i think we will be in El Salvador by next weekend. country #4!

my birthday was perfect! thanks to all of you whom sent me bday love. we spent the day relaxing on our wonderful balcony with the breathtaking view and then made a feast to share. lots of people came by and sand happy birthday to me in either 4 or 5 languages all at the same time which was sweet. i made it pretty clear that even though i am turning 28 and we are in guatemala i still needed birthday candles and red got creative as he is apt to do and made a piece that could sit on the cake with 28 matches on it to blow out! even better!

i got some great gifts including a local made scarf and ring from me love and then a bracelet and handmade zine and wallet too! those last two were from my friend lisa. we met her and her partner alex at the farm in palenque and have had a great reunion months later here! the wallet was homemade with a needle, thread, and former juice box from mexico-heck yeah just what i like!

spanish school was great this week and i am getting better and better at the past tense. red however is a straight drop out! eh thats ok, he still practices quite a bit each day and is definitely making progress.

as i said before all is well down south and i hope it is the same for you, dont forget to send us messages!!

the longest time

i think that this is officially the longest time we have stayed in one place since... well actually 7 months ago in taiwan! we are really enjoying ourselves on this amazing lake in this sweet little town. cheap delicious healthy food, rich organic local coffee, a huge sacred lake to swim in, a culture of people sincerely friendly and amazing to observe and interact with, and lots of good travelers to meet.

we finally found our home that we will live in for the next two weeks. we have been moving around a lot in these last two weeks but basically all in this one neighborhood that is based around 4 guesthouses owned by three brothers. we have finally hit the jackpot thought. our room right now is incredible its on the very top floor with only one other room next to it and this huge balcony with a 360 degree view of this entire area. you can see more than 5 villages as well as all three volcanoes and the indian nose point which is a natural monument and of course lake atitlan! its also been a wonderful vortex for musicians too! every single night we have sat around with at least 3 and sometimes more guiatar players and its amazing because they are not just guitarristas but they are damn good ones! its like having little concerts of our own on our porch every night. and such interesting people too! for example our neighbors in the room next door are on the 11th month of their trip all around the world. the trick to their trip is that they are traveling without EVER getting on a plane! so they have traveled incredibly far distances for weeks on end in cargo ships and trains!

today is my birthday and we are going to have a little fiesta up on the rooftop if you think you can make it! yummy chocolate cake and pan de coco and lots of guitars, sonrisas and conversacion interesante!

needless to say we are doing wonderfully and full of health and all that good jazz!

LOVE!!!!x0x0x0x0

ode to the man in the window

although i have already touched upon this subject. we´ve decided that the man in the window here in san pedro deserves at the very least his own dedication.

the small windy path up the hill to the outdoor fruit and vegetable market is lined with various tiendas and restaurants mostly for locals up in this part of town. the buildings are old and cement and crumbly in places. up this steep path on the left side is the small window with the white scarf hung across it where the infamous face of guatemala does his work.

its hard to tell how old this man really is. red and i are guessing somewhere between 85 and 112 yrs old. he is one of the older Tzutujil (the tribe of mayans around here) men that still don the tradition clothes. this consists of a light button up shirt, a brimmed hat and incredibly intricately embroidered white pants. the pants were fashioned when life was based around standing in canoes and so only come down to mid-calf they are also held up by a long woven scarf of bright colors.

perhaps in your life you have come across a person that has a self appointed job that is of utmost importance if only in their eyes. this is the case with the old man in the window. from very early in the morning to late afternoon, the old man hangs out side of his window which is just higher than my head on the wall. all you can see is his head and two arms that kind of dangle. really the best description for this guy is Muppet-like. dont get me wrong i dont mean that in a bad way, i love muppets. this guy just kind of moves and speaks as though there are invisible marionette strings suspended mid air.

and his job is a worthy one. his job is to greet the world. it would be an interesting experiment to hide somewhere and actually count how many times this guy says ¨buenos dias, buenos tardes¨ and ¨hola¨ in a day. its hard to describe how happy this makes me. he not only says it though, he REALLY means it too! for hours on end. another beautiful thing about it is that he is completely indiscriminate to whom he greets. Tourists get just as hearty of a good morning as his family members. A group of lollygagging school kids will get an Hola just as soon as the guy with 500 lbs of rocks in a bag on his back. we have even seen him greet Tuk Tuks which are the tiny motorized taxi vehicles, despite the fact that they whiz by without even looking in his direction.

the restaurant where we eat our 3 veggie tacos for $1 every day is right above his perch so sometimes we sneakily spy down. its just so cool to see how happy he makes people as he surprises them from his window. and even better yet we have met more than one visitor who was here in san pedro up to 5 years ago and witnessed this same thing back then too. one guy´s girlfriend was lucky or sneaky enough to get a photo of the old man 3 years ago. evidently the picture hangs in the bathroom back in colorado. he said everyday when he goes pee he looks at this old man. he´s actually something of a legend!

as i mentioned before, it has been proven that the man actually speaks no other spanish, similarly to most older Tzutujil people here speaking their native tongue. there was one day that red and i were walking past that we thought he may have even stumbled on the little spanish he knew. it went like this:
us: ¨Hola Senor!!¨
him: ¨Buenos....Buenos..Buenos Tardes, Buenos Tardes!¨
as we walked past we wondered, did he actually forget his favorite thing to say? the answer was clear then we looked at our watch. the time was 12:02. it wasnt that he forgot, he was simply waiting for the change in phrase! is it morning, is it afternoon?