9: San Andreas (pt2) - Guatemala

Days 37-40 (19th-22nd Nov): Our Last Days with the Family and the Village Fiesta :)

Written 26/11/12

 

So deciding to stay for the extra few days turned out to be a really good idea, the fiesta was really funny. When it was time to leave San Andreas it was quite sad though as we had been with the family for about 10 days and leant so much, but we felt like it was time to move on :)

Monday (19th) we had our last Spanish lesson, asked the last few questions about things we weren't sure of, and said goodbye to our teachers. We then went off to visit a fruit Finka (Farm). It was totally not what we expected and turned out to be half a reforestation project and half fruit farm. We had to go down a long, bumpy track into the forest to a tiny village settlement of the workers. We were then taken in further by a machete weilding farmer who spoke to us (totally in spanish) about the chewing gum trees around and the different plants and their uses in medicines. The 'farm' is more of a wild forest randomly dotted with fruit trees lol. We basically spent the afternoon wandering around and picking fruit straight off the trees and eating it :) Liam also discovered a new talent for getting oranges off the trees with a long pointy stick haha. It was pretty kwl finding out about what they were doing with conservation in forest there though. The tour ended with several strange animals that they kept, I didn't even know they existed and were a strange mix of a rabbit, skunk, badger, mole thing... very bazzare lol, and ate a Guatemlan christmas speciality called

piloncillo/panela which is a whole pumpkin boiled with sugar and makes something that basically tastes like golden syrup :) We came home with bags full of oranges and grapefriuts which we gave to Martha and she was pretty pleased.

 

 

 



The Tuesday we had our first day off thinking about Spanish lots, yay! We went up to the centro, practiced our spanish, went to the docks and wrote diaries etc. We played games with the children some more, they also showed us their pet Teripine, chatted to the family and basically chilled out all day :) We were also informed that the fiesta started the next morning at 4AM!! and sure enough at 4am that morning we were woken up by a church bell ringing off the hinges and firecrackers booming over head. It was weird! and it basically continued from then on lol. We decided to get up and sit on the terrace and watch the sunrise over the lake. It was totally worth it and so nice to watch the world (and the noisey birds) wake up, though we did cheat and go back to bed afterwards haha!

 

  The fiesta day we went to the church and watch the local folk tale get re-enacted, and then the children all hitting pinatas and the mad rush for the sweets! Its was really cute. The story is about about a woman that went to the mountains to work for the men that lived there as axemen about 200 years ago, and once a year she would come back to the village for a big party and dance all night. One year she didn't come back and so the villagers were all sad. The next year they all made dolls of her and danced all night to remember her, and ever since then the tradition has carried on. That is the really quick version anyway, and most of what we gathered lol.
That afternoon we had our first absolute pissing it down rain. It was torrential and made a river torade down the middle of the street, that we had to jump to get into the house, it was so funny, and all the locals were sweeping out their rubbish so the water would take it away! Luckily it only lasted an hour. After that we did more with the kids and had our traditional dinner of rice, eggs and beans :P

 

 

Then in the evening everyone gathered together in a small square and there was lots of music, and one of the weirdest things I have ever seen... people had made giant 8ft tall dolls that were meant to be the woman from the folk tale, and then they all danced about to chime-y music. It was so funny/great to watch, and apparently they do it every night for 9 nights and at the end someone is named the winner and gets a prize! It is hard to explain, so look at the picture lol, the dancing dolls (soneone is underneath) involved a lot of up and down and arm waving. It was a great atmosphere there, people had really dressed up for the occasion, even in prom type dresses, and there was lots of food etc, we were really glad we stayed for it :) Plus we starting talking to the army drugs and narcotics squad with their massive guns and they ended up asking for our emails?!?! :S

That next morning it was time to leave :( We had to pack everything all up and realised that we had quite liked staying in the same place for one period of time and hated packing the bags back up! It was sad saying goodbye to everyone, particully Martha, and there was lots of hugs all round. We really had loved our week and a bit in San Andres, not just because we are now SO much better at spanish, but for all we learnt about Guatemala and the people we met :) Too soon we were on the bus back to Flores, where we spent the day re-connecting with people and facebook and finally skyping my mum to let her know we were ok (also having a big pizza cos we had kinda had enough of beans and rice and eggs lol :P)

After having some time away from Maya ruins, I actually quite miss them. We have done a lot of them and probs needed a break away but I actually miss seeing them. We are planning to go to Tikal tomorow, the biggest accessible Maya site of them all and one of the Iconic images of the Maya people, so im really excited! :D