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Published: January 16th 2010
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Mayan Healing Ceremony
Taken Right Outside my Bedroom Christmas was so wonderful. The 2 weeks with Willie here were definately the best 2 weeks of my time in Guatemala. Just before Willie arrived the school sponsored a traditional Mayan healing ceremony in the backyard of the hostel connected to the school (my new home). It was very interesting, powerful, and cleansing. A great experience to have before reconnecting with Willie!
Willie and I met in the very clean, tourist oriented city of Antigua and spent 2 relaxing days there. It was just before Christmas and each night we hung out in central park and people-watched. In Guatemala there is a tradition that starts 9 days before Christmas and continues until just before Christmas Eve. Each night a group of local people walk through the streets in a procession with candles and a statue of the Virgen to reenact the search for a location for the birth of Christ. In this case the group ends up in a different house each night and at the house there is a mini fiesta. Unfortunately my camera doesn´t work for night photos. I gave it a valent effort but sorry, I don´t have any pics of this. While in Antigua we hiked
an active volcano with lots of lava flowing. It was beautiful and powerful. The walk up was a bit of a challenge for me because the hike was about 2 hours uphill and half and hour was walking through ash that felt like walking on a sandy beach with a steep incline. Willie pretty much dragged me up through this part--Gracias a Dios! It was way worth it though and I hope you enjoy the pics.
After Antigua we went to Tikal and saw some Mayan ruins. We spent one night in the park and got up early the next morning for a 4:30 am sunrise hike. We hiked to the top of the highest temple there and waited in silence for the sun to rise and the jungle to awaken. We were looking down on the jungle and could see the tops of some of the temples. When it began to get light, we began to hear the howling monkeys awaken in different parts of the jungle. I had expected howling monkeys to have a more high pitched sound but they sounded to me like deep growls of tigers and jaguars. It was very beautiful and was by
far my favorite part of this trip. Our tour lasted until about 11am. We climbed very steep temples, heard interesting stories, saw toucans flying and spider monkeys swinging through the trees, and our guide offered to let us hold a taranchula (needless to say we passed on this one).
From Antigua we went to Lake Atitlan for Christmas Eve/Day. We had a beautiful room of the lake from our room, ate lots of delicious food with groups of fellow travelers, and met interesting people. It didn´t really feel like Christmas being so far away from family and friends but it was a wonderful time & very romantic!
We then went to Xela & Willie got to experience my life here. He took a week of Spanish classes and I LOVED doing homework and practicing with him. During his time here we also took a trip to a black sand beach with some friends from our hostel. It´s quite lonely here without him now but I am keeping busy. It is such a transient place, this is a bit hard for me (making friends and saying goodbye all of the time). I´m learning the subjunctive in Spanish and will
soon be done learning the foundational grammer. Then it will just be a matter of PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.
Much love to all of you and I will return home before we know it!
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Jim Wing
non-member comment
Guategal and Willie can't be beat!
Dear Tamara, Thanks for the great travel blog edition! You and Willie certainly packed in a lot of site seeing and even Spanish classes during his 2 week stay. Saw Willie this past Sunday and he said it was hard to leave you and Guatemala. Sounds like you'll be back to Los Angeles in a few more weeks. We look forward to having you back with us. Again, many thanks for your wonderful travel notes and pictures. In Master's joy, Mr. Jim Wing