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Published: October 25th 2013
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Lake Atitlan at 10 a.m
This view is from up the path where we met with the women As I've talked about before, Roger and I are volunteering for TRAMA textiles. Well, through this lovely organization, we were able to tag along with a customer on her trip to the nearby community of Solola to watch the women weave, and to meet them. One of the women we work with all the time, Oralia, came with. I believe she is from Solola, but we're not 100% sure. Anyways - we left bright and early to meet the customers at their hotel. Bethany and Jamie work with another wonderful organization, called La Limonada, helping those who live in the biggest slum city area in Guatemala City. They use the fabric made from our women at TRAMA to make shoes (and maybe bags, as well?) to benefit those living in the area (website: http://www.lemonadeinternational.org/). Bethany and Jamie both live in the states (Maryland and North Carolina, respectively) so it was really a great opportunity to meet long-term clients and get to know them as well.
We started off the day with Sam, their tour guide/ translator/ fellow volunteer at La Limonada driving us to Solola. We were very lucky they didn't mind cramming an extra 2 people in their car
😊 Once there, we watched the women weave for a bit, then Bethany and Jamie started interviewing some of the women for information for their website and to share with the people at La Limonada. Roger and I played with the kiddos during this time. The girls were really shy, but the two little boys loved playing BOMBOS with Roger... I'm pretty sure the game really consisted of the boys finding old fireworks and holding them up so Rog would karate chop them ha! When I got into the picture, I just played keep away or catch with them. The boys didn't speak Spanish at all, only the Mayan dialect of their community, so it was a bit difficult at times to convey what we wanted and what they wanted but it all worked out. Everyone (adults, kids, all) loved seeing their pictures after taking them so we took a lot of pictures of the boys to show them. They were such hams! It was really hilarious. They ladies gave us some soda (in a bag -- see pic. of Roger drinking his 😊 ) before we left. **The ladies only drink pop maybe once a week, so it's a
bit of a treat and it was very kind of them to share it with all of us.** **Also, I keep saying "the ladies" in reference to those in Solola, because TRAMA works with women who are the breadwinners of their families because the men have typically been killed in the civil war in the 80s. Very sad.**
After we left Solola, Roger and I thought we'd just be heading on a bus (or 3!) to get home, but Sam, Jamie, and Bethany invited us to go see Lake Atitlan with them. I'm tellin' ya - Rog and I are some of the luckiest travelers I know! By going to see the lake too, we only had to take 1 bus home yay! We drove down to the area around the lake and walked around. It was a very touristy area and there were souvinir stands everywhere! We got lunch down there, then walked to the lake. Aldous Huxley, the author of "Brave New World" once called it the most beautiful lake in the world, saying it was literally too much of a good thing being surrounded by volcanoes. It is truly one of the most beautiful sights I
think I've ever seen. The volcanoes and mountains all around the sky blue water make it seem like you're stepping right into a painting. We were there on a foggy and windy day, but we'll definitely be back, hopefully with still water and a super clear view. We stepped into the lake (just to say we did!) and then sat and enjoyed the sound of the waves hitting the rocks for a while. On our way back to the car some of the world's most friendly street dogs walked with us and I fell in love, just a tiny bit. More accurately, I fell in homesick for the puppy back home!
We got dropped off at a large bus terminal area called Cuatro Caminos and just barely made it onto the bus that would get us to Xela in only one stop. This bus, by the way, is called a chicken bus. We have NO pictures of chicken buses (because they barrel down roads at ridiculously high speeds), but I will try to google image one and throw it up here. Now, a chicken bus is basically an old school bus that's been painted crazy bright colors and usually
says something like "Dios guia mi" or "Todo amor por Dios" (God guides me or All love for God) on the front and back windows. Unlike a normal school bus where there's 2 to a seat, there are 3, or 4 to a seat with the occasional person (Roger in our story) sitting in the aisle... for 2 hours. The bus goes ridiculously fast around tight corners and literally down mountainsides. THE WHOLE TIME. I ended up with a small child sleeping on me while his mother sat on one of my legs. However, we paid 20Q each (less than $3 each), and got there safe. Actually, some incredibly kind passengers let Roger and I know when it was our stop. We would've missed it for sure. And we're still not 100% sure how they knew where we had to get off, but this older gentleman was completely correct and we are forever indebted to him. Who knows where we would've ended up!
We took the bus right from Cuatro Caminos to about 15 blocks from our apartment. It was a little dark, but it was still the safe dark so we had nothing to worry about. We did
have to stop and ask for directions once, because we'd never been in that area but it's pretty easy to navigate down here. The roads remind me of the roads in Duluth. Steets go one way; Avenues the other (if you live in Duluth that should make sense to you).
We got home around 7 completely exhausted from our day. It was a lot more than we were expecting and we didn't eat enough or drink enough water. That was Tuesday, the 22nd and we actually took yesterday off from TRAMA to recuperate some more! I talked Roger into it 😉 I wanted a day where I didn't get out of my pajamas and yesterday was perfect for it.
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kiddo
love thy face lol