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Published: April 19th 2019
Its been over a week since my last post and much has happened! Between medical Spanish lessons weekday afternoons and working in the medical clinic 3 mornings per week, I have been staying busy. The first two weekends here in Guatemala have been a blast and I want to share a little about what I have been doing with my free time.
I think the landscape here in Guatemala rivals that of anywhere in the world. Between the often hectic cities, overflowing with crazy drivers, honking horns, barking dogs, the smell of car exhaust from poorly maintained vehicles, and way too much trash in the streets, there are lakes and volcanoes. The nature here is incredible once you get a little outside the city.
My first weekend here, I stayed in Xela, the city where I am living but took a day hike up the Santa Maria Volcano which towers over the city. Me and seven others in my program sat out at 7am to climb the 12,400 ft monster. The base of the volcano starts at at 7,500 ft above sea level, consistent with the town of Xela. The nearly 4,000 ft hike took 4.5 hours and was
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Santa Maria Volcano as seen from roof of Pop Wuj school nearing sunsetdefinitely the most strenuous hike I had ever done. This certainly was not like the rolling hills of the Appalachian Mountains I am used to. Halfway up (10,000 ft), It became harder to breathe due to diminished oxygen. Our group took frequent breaks every 15 minutes or so to catch our breath. The terrain of the volcano was very rocky and at times the trail had us scaling up rocks at greater than a 45 degree incline. Most of the climb, the temperature was very comfortable. It was a cloudy and misty morning, so we were actually in the clouds for much of the hike. Finally we made it to the top of the volcano and were amazed to find so many people there already. There were several other small groups of tourist hikers at the top similar to ours, but we were far outnumbered by local indigenous populations who had made the 4000 ft climb in order to worship. There was a circle of at least 50 singing songs and chants in native Mayan languages. At times Spanish was intermingled but the majority I could not understand. I later asked my teacher about this and she explained it was
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View from near top of a hike up "El Nariz del Indio" or "The Indian Nose" common. Different indigenous groups make the hike weekly or monthly to complete their worship at the top of the volcano, which is considered a sacred location. Unfortunately, the clouds remained the entire day. Although at the top of the volcano, we were above the clouds and could see the tips of other massive volcanoes poking through the clouds in the distance, It was impossible to see down to the city of Xela, or to see the calm trickling lava of another smaller nearby active volcano which is touted as the highlight of the view atop Santa Maria.
This past weekend, the same group of 8 students took a trip to Lake Atitlan, about 2 hours away from Xela. It must be one of the most beautiful places on earth! We stayed in an Airbnb positioned on the hillside overlooking the small lake town of San Pedro with a fantastic view of the entire lake. The entire top floor was a rooftop terrace where we sat out to enjoy the sunrise, night sky, and company of friends. Our weekend at the lake was a ton of fun! I spent 2 hours kayaking out on the lake, got to cliff jump
off a 33 ft platform into the crystal clear waters, explored several of the quaint lakeside towns by taking water shuttles across the lake, and even meet up with an old acquaintance, Dave Burns, who runs a mission organization called Mission Guatemala - based in one of the lakeside towns called Panajachel. My first trip out of the country was a mission trip organized through Bluegrass church in Evansville, IN where my dad and I traveled here to Lake Atitlan and the surrounding communities with Mission Guatemala. Much has changed in the 8 years since this trip. Dave toured me around the fully functioning medical clinic, computer laboratory for school children, and several of the buildings that the mission has funded and constructed since I was last here as a senior in high school. Mission Guatemala has done amazing work in this region with the help of many people and church groups from the United States. I am hopeful I will be able to return in the future to be a part of this work again.
There is so much to do at the lake, I could easily spend an entire week of vacation there, but alas, we had
to return on Monday to continue with Spanish instruction. I am posting many pictures here - way more than are shown within this area of text - feel free to click on "photos" and see the beauty of Guatemala for yourself! We are now in the "Semana Santa" or "Holy Week" here in Guatemala. It is an entire week of Christian celebration leading up to Good Friday. Many Guatemalans are off work and spending time with family this week. I have a light schedule myself at the Pop Wuj school for Spanish and will have most of Thursday and Friday off to enjoy the festivals and multiple Catholic processions that will be going on in the streets of the city.
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