Day 13

Yesterday I went to the volcan Pacaya. Of course the view was amazing- it is an hour and a half away from Antigua and you can see the volcan Agua from another angle. Beautiful with the clouds and the sunset, etc.

At first there are holes in the volcanic rock with gases coming out. For some reason, there was not a strong sulfur smell, which surprised me. But you could see the colors of the rocks around the gases with yellow and white streaks where the minerals had dyed the rocks. And in some of these holes, you could see the molten rocks like a little hole with red-hot coals. And you could put your walking stick in the hole, which was not very deep (the walking stick is something that the local kids sell over and over again- when you are walking down the hill at the end, they are there to collect them from you to sell to the next group! "stick rentals"). And the sticks would catch fire (wooden sticks, of course).

But the most amazing thing was you could see the lava!! A river of lava rolling down the hillside. And you could walk up as close as you wanted, but the closer you got, the hotter it was, of course. I could fee the heat of the rocks near the lava through my shoes, and so you actually could not quite walk up to it. But you could watch it! Spectacular. One of those things you cannot really capture well in a picture, although I will try to post somesoon.

It was a great trip- met lots of people, which was nice. A guy who is half Palestinian! Surprise to meet anyone else from my part of the world! Unfortunately, everyone spoke English the whole time except for our guide (a young local woman who went up twice a day!) and two policemen (for security).

Today is my last day in Antigua. Pretty sad, but I am starting to poop out, too. Off to Tikal tomorrow and back to the US on Monday! I will have more to say when I get back, I'm sure.

Day 11

Lots of stories of disasters:
floods
mudslides
earthquakes
caving in of the ground (there must be a name for this)
civil war

In Vieja, a town nearby that was the old capital, the story goes that the volcano Agua just south of Antigua one day belched up the water that was in its crater and flooded the entire town, resulting in total devastation and pretty much the end of the town. It has reemerged now although it is just a small village with, as far as I could tell, just a nice church to speak for it.

In a town on Lago Atitlan, there is a village that was wiped out by a mudslide. The people were sleeping, and basically ended up buried. It was a town of indigenous people, and the families wanted their dead buried in proper tombs. They wanted the government to unearth the bodies, but the government decided it was not a good ideal because the bodies would basically end up mutilated. Depending on who you talk to, you end up with different opinions on the government's decision. Some people think that the government did not care much because it was a village of indigenous people.

The authorities do evacuate people at times- if you hear unusual moans of the earth or feel something apart from the usual tremors, you can call a number. But people often do not leave. Someone told me that they cannot leave behind their animals, which are considered family members or are their livelihood. So, they stay. There is also a story of robbers who ran through the streets in the middle of the night banging on doors, saying that the water pipes broke and the village was going to be flooded, which turned out to be a total lie and the burglars were caught. 

The people are used to these natural events and talk about disasters in their history with names and dates as though every country constantly had natural disasters waiting to happen.They grew up in this environment, seeing ruins from previous disasters, and for them it is part of life.

Day 10

Arturo, what are you doing to me!!?

Two days of rain!! Make it stop. I had to take my shoes (only pair) to the laundry place to have them dried in the dryer!

The streets are inundated with water. Cobblestone does not absorb water, by the way.

Day 9- Part I

This weekend I went on a trip with a Danish woman I met here. We had a great time! It rained much of the day on Friday (just because I said we have had good weather!- Murphy's law), and we ended up having to buy some rain clothes so we could walk around Panajachel. This cute little town on el lago de Atitlan, which is a beautiful lake (8 x 18km) surrounded by mountains and three volcanos. Gorgeous!!



We quickly found our favorite places to eat and hang out.



And we shopped (low season, rainy weather, end of the day- perfect combination)!! The next morning we woke up early (everything here starts at 6 or 7 or 8- I'm a new person, and because of the 2 hour time difference, I'm awake easily by 6AM!!), had a typical breakfast (scrambled eggs, beans, tortilla, fruits, and a piece of cheese, which I'm not sure is so typical).



Then off to the lake.  

  

 

First, the view was absolutely wonderful. We had clouds, which I think actually added to the beauty of the place because it gave a sense of perspective and distance. I'll try to put up pictures of this.

Day 9- Part II

First stop:  San Pedro de la Laguna.  A hippie town, lots of gringos who have come here and set up shop- massage and natural healing and all that kind of stuff.  We got lost in the town, which was great because we ended up far from the touristy strip of gringo jewelry makers selling woven and beaded bracelets.  Very quiet, slow feel to this place.  I can see why the gringos stay.  

   

 

 

 

Next stop, Santiago Atitlan. A larger village, tucked away in enclave in the lake (a bay?), between two volcanoes (San Pedro and Toliman). This was a little busier of a town, more vendors waiting for visitors, overall not as quaint and not as inviting. We went to the church, walked around, had a cup of coffee and ran into friends (!), but were ready to go.

  

   

On to the final stop- San Antonio Polopo. Precious place. Very small, completely empty of visitors- there was one other boat docked. And the people seemed to be living life there without completely focusing on the tourists. Up a steep hill to the church, which we could see from far off in the lake- bright and shining.

  

 It struck me here that there were people (and especially kids) enjoying themselves. There were people swimming off the dock. There were three little boys on the see-saws. And as we were walking down a steep hill, there were two little boys laughing and playing- they had a plastic banner from a bar (Gallo- the local beer), and one would sit on the banner while the other would pull him down the hill. A makeshift sled on a small hill- the entire trip took 5 seconds. And they would walk back up the hill with the banner. Over and over. And all the while giggling. It made me laugh just to see them enjoy themselves so much!

 

   

I loved this place. In Panajachel, I bought a little something from a girl who was selling handmade crafts. She looked so precious, and she was just 9! She spoke like the ladies- with a slight whine when they are trying to convince you to buy something to help them out. And she was a little mini-adult, telling me how she had worked so hard to make this or that. Anyway, in San Antonio I got to see kids playing! I loved it.

Day 5- las ruinas

More on the ruins. I am excited that I have the afternoon off to go visit more ruins. I was thinking of going to visit el volcan Pacaya, but for the first time, it has been cloudy all day with showers now and then. So, I am free to walk around the old churches and monestaries.

Yesterday I went to Las Capuchinas. Yes, of course, because of the name, I was destined to love it. But I cannot, not even with pictures, explain how stunned I was. It's an old monestary where nuns would live, never leaving the grounds of the monestary. It was a pretty large place to visit, but imagining myself there for more than a day or two is definitely suffocating.





Anyway, they are renovating the cathedral (again, pictures at some point). You can see the nuns' rooms, little cells off of a central, round courtyard (I ran out of batteries at this point.).




One more thing- they do not rebuild all of the things that come down in earthquakes. Just the front facade of La Cathedral de Santiago has been renovated, the back left as ruins that can be visited. Very cool!!

Day 5- things I like

Things I like about Guatemala:

- There are flowers everywhere- in the bathrooms, in the bedrooms, in the streets, in the cracks in the ruins. I see people walking down the street with cut flowers wrapped in newspaper to take home- it doesn't seem to matter what economic class the people are from.





- If people sit down at a table next to you at a restaurant, they greet you with Buenas Tardes or Buenas Dias.
- Because all the streets of Antigua are cobblestone, nobody can drive very fast. So, you aren't really scrambling and trying to get through traffic. Besides the fact that there are relatively few cars around here, people stop for cars and cars stop for people. Novel idea for us Arabs.
- The ruins. I'm not a huge fan of archeology or old ruins, etc., meaning that I like to see them, but I am often not moved by them. These ruins move me. I don't know why exactly. Maybe it's because the architecture is uncovered, the walls are removed, the coats and covers area pulled away, and the bones remain.

Day 4- wedding

Today I ended up a bride in a wedding ceremony during a demonstration in a nearby town named San Antonio de Aguas Calientes. I'll have to put up pictures, but they dressed us up in traditional clothes and explained the different designs on the clothes- all hand woven and embroidered- quite stunning.

      

  
The weather has been really great so far- El Pais de la Eterna Primavera (Land of Eternal Spring). Aside from an afternoon shower on Sunday, it has been sunny and pretty comfortable (even for me!). So far, so good.

Really, the pictures are the way to go here- I'll try to connect at some point and post them.

Had lunch with a new friend- from Denmark. A new buddy- yippee!!

Guatemala- Day 2

I've already settled pretty well into Antigua. I know my way around because it's set up in a grid with a big old volcano at the south, so you can't ever really lose your way!! Love that! And the streets are mostly numbered, so there's no real problem. It's a pretty small town (everything fits pretty much between 7 avenues and 7 streets, I think (some things on the outskirts), but it is very manageable.

Yesterday was Day One, and I was on my own. I am staying with a family, but Sundays are family days, and so they were on their own and I was left to my own

evices. So, I walked around, had breakfast at one garden cafe, had coffee and torta Chilena at another, and dinner at another! In between, I visited lots and lots of handicraft places and sat in Parque Central and just watched people go by.

A few things have struck me so far. One is guards at every store- the more valuable the wares, the bigger the guns. The second is that are a lot more American places here than I'd expected- not necessarily in Antigua, but coming from the airport we passed

hings like Little Caeser (I know everyone has Pizza Hut, but Little Caesar?)! And the electric outlets are not only shaped like those in the US, they are even 120 volts!! More US-influenced than expected.

But the people are definitely Guatemalan! More on that soon....

the media

Yesterday, at a gathering of people, I met someone who was said he was aligned with neither the Republicans nor the Democrats, but that from his unbiased point of view, he thought the media was slanted towards the liberal side! I never thought I'd meet any one of those specimens! I laughed a little, and we talked a bit about it, then agreed to disagree. And then we talked a bit about the moral fabric of society falling apart and what that meant, which was not something I was worried about, we decided to avoid topics like that forever more. More than agreeing to disagree, we figured it was safer to avoid it altogether. He actually thought that the news anchors pushed people to bring up points that worked against the conservatives! Wow.

imans' ramadan

Happy Ramadan for all of you out there! Today was the first day of Ramadan (in the US and the UAE and some other parts). Here is a picture that Iman drew for Ramadan- you see the crescent moon (the symbol of Islam) in the sky and in the window (they have a moon with lights (like Christmas lights) in their window). The only thing I don't know is who the third kid is! The picture was scanned in, which is why it is cut off at the bottom (I think).

First day of fasting. Sunset around here is about 7pm. It was easier in the past years because sunset (when you can break the fast) was earlier due to switching back the clocks. I think this year is the first year in a while where we're in the longer time.

I made stuffed grape leaves and went to a friend's for some hors d'oeuvres. And so I had a lot of nice food, but nothing very Ramadan-specific. I will make some stuff tomorrow, I think, to get into the spirit of Ramadan. Some lentil soup- that's one of the key things. It's no fun though fasting while everyone else is going about their normal routine- then you just feel like it's a test. When everyone else is fasting, you feel like part of the community, and then everyone's in it together. Maybe I need to invite people over for iftar (breakfast).

Here's Iman, looking more grown up. She's modeling an outfit she's wearing to a relative's wedding, and she had all of these poses stored in her. She was modeling, most likely after those girls on tv commercials. Still, rather surprising. She's a beauty.

Rawan

So many cute things to see here. Look at that hair! Just like her aunt's. And then we are playing Pretty Pretty Princess, where as you land on the different squares, you get to put on another piece of jewelry. That's a girls' game if there was ever one! But fear not, these girls will not be too girlie- they are surrounded by women who were not ever girlie girls. So, I'm actually glad they are enjoying being girls without thinking too hard about it. But then again, Rawan's only three. There's plenty of time to come up with personal philosophies about who she wants to be.

On the wall behind her are the picures that Iman, mostly, has drawn And they get taped up all over this room. The family room, as it should be.  

confessions

After reading Confessions of an Economic Hitman, I can't stop bringing it up in all sorts of conversations. I knew of the general things discussed here, knew more about the details of things that happened in the Middle East, but it's still very different to have it validated in a book by someone who was directly involved. How much more evidence can you ask for? I think everyone should read it!! Seriously.

I don't talk a lot about my own life events here, partly because they are not so exciting. But also because there are so many aspects to my life, as there are to most, and all of the sides don't get shared with many people. Just the normal thing- I know people in different settings, we talk about certain things, and not everyone brings out the same side. I remember in grad school, my friend Lucia would ask me what I was doing all weekend on my own- she thought I had a secret life. It wasn't a secret, but that's the way it is.

Anyway, it was also pointed out that I don't have a lot of photos on the blog. So, here are some great niece photos!

gaza and sleeplessness

Last weekend I read in the New York Times a quote by a Palestinian. He was commenting on the "kidnapping" of the Israeli soldier in Gaza, and he said "We are either going to live together in peace or we are going to live together in fear." I'm paraphrasing. How accurate. Some people will argue this on and on, but when you have lived in the horrid conditions in which the Palestinians live and have lived for the past decades, you start to think at a different level. How easy it is to be detached from the situation and judge. And how is a soldier "kidnapped" but Israelis go in and take people from their homes in the middle of the night as "prisoners"?

I'm worried about the situation there escalating, but it's mainly because Israeli action is unchecked- there is nobody to make sure they do not lose control. They do not listen to the UN (have ignored UN resolutions condemning their actions for years). They do not get seriously threatened in any way for their actions. They are allowed to run free, bomb the hell out of places and claim it's in their defense. Sound familiar?

It kills me to see the newspapers. In the New York Times, they had an article about the situation- last weekend there were 8 Palestinians and 1 Israeli killed. And the picture they had was of the Israeli side mourning the death of the Israeli. Shouldn't the 8 win out there? How much sympathy can you rally for the ones who are winning? How shameless. And then in the Express there was a picture of 2 Palestinian men on the doorstep of a morgue awaiting the funeral of their relative (aha, you may think, it is unbiased), but then there was an armed militant in the picture, mentioned in the caption, masked, rifled, and all. Now don't tell me that was there by accident. How dare they portray the Palestinians as these militant people who mourn their dead relatives with guns in the air while the Israelis are the innocent victims. Shameless, shameless, shameless.

I can't sleep, but this time it's because of my 12 hour long sleep last night- I'm pretty saturated with sleep. It feels good- it's been a while since I felt this awake. Those poor Palestinians.