Hiking and Weaving and Espanol, oh my!
Trip Start
Dec 03, 2007
1
5
29
Trip End
Mar 29, 2008
San Pedro La Laguna,
Guatemala
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Each day during the past week has been very full. We continued to take Spanish lessons at the Coopertiva School for 4 hours a day and we presently have a very good working knowledge of all the verb tenses and expressions. Now, we have to practice these tenses in order to remember them! Written homework followed every class and would take about an hour to do. Four hours of one on one instruction in a foreign language is great, but tiring.
Arrangements for performing a puppet play with the local children were made by Chris´ teacher, in her home
Puppet show 1
. We had a lot of fun with the kids and let them play with the puppets. The parents laughed and we ´practiced´ our spanish... You have to remember that the people here speak a mayan language and spanish is their second language, so who knows if they really understand us. Oh well, it was fun.I had the wonderful opportunity to learn how to backstrap weave in the home of a master weaver in the neighbouring town of San Juan. Each day we took a Tuk Tuk ride on a curvy road to Rosa´s house. This woman is known for her work using natural dyes made from bark, flowers, roots and berries to colour her cotton threads. I certainly appreciate the work that goes into the making of the bedspreads, napkins and tableclothes that we see everywhere that are being sold for almost nothing. I spent 9 hours weaving a cotton belt that was about 6 inches wide and 36 inches long and was not able to finish it. My back hurt and so did my thighs and rear end, from sitting on a tiny wooden stool for 3 hours at a time. While I am complaining, my arms and fingers also hurt from the pulling and pushing required to do the weaving. I loved doing it though and was able to keep all the wooden pieces required to finish the belt. I worked under her direction for 3 days and she only charged me $20. I gave her a little more for the materials, which she gladly took, but did not expect. One day she spent time showing me how she made her hand made tortillas on the wood stove in her kitchen
Connie weaving
. Sadly to say, no matter how hard I tried, I could not form the perfectly round shape that tortillas are in. Rosa gave me a dozen, all wrapped up in a little hand woven napkin. While I sat and wove, Chris hiked. One day, Rosa´s 11 year old son, Juan, guided Chris up to the ´´Indian´s Nose¨. From where we live in San Pedro, we can see this volcanic formation that resembles the face of a sleeping Indian with a prominent nose. The boy was very knowledgeable about the fauna and flora and the views of the lake from the top were incredible.
On Saturday, Chris hiked to the top of the giant dormant San Pedro volcano that is directly behind the town. It is at least 10,000 feet high. Chris went with a young man from Quebec who has been studying spanish at our school and several young people from our neighbourhood. This was the first time for everyone. Going with a group is a good idea, for security and for fun. The group left at 5 in the morning as the walk gets very hot as the day goes on, due to the reflection from the lake. It took 4 and a half hours of relentless uphill walking to get to the top. Chris was hoping that there was going to be a flat area to rest but there wasn't one until they walked through the clouds and got to the top. Due to the clouds, the view wasn't the best as you can see in the photo. Then there was the walk down, the most gruelling part of the trip for Chris. I think that that the whole hike was quite an achievement. 11 hours of sleep helped his body recover and he was good to go next day.
Today is our last day in San Pedro, so laundry has been done and we are going to spend the rest of the day on the lake
