I was talking to my old friend Russell today, and he told me that I need to update my blog more. Of course I already knew this, but I've been less than motivated to do anything about it until today. Last Tuesday, a tropical depression moved in, and brought with it 5 days (and counting) of near-constant rain and clouds. I've found time to go running during the small breaks in the torrential rain, but for the most part, I've been sitting in my house doing a whole lot of nothing. Something about being trapped in your house on a rainy day makes it very hard to get work done. I could have been preparing lessons, planning summer activities (classes ended this week at three of my four schools), or, I dunno, writing a new blog post. Instead, I did absolutely nothing. My grandpa passed away this week as well, which has only lessened my motivation to do anything. Anyway, thanks to Russell, I'm being productive for the first time in days. Because it's been about 6 weeks since I last posted, I've decided to turn this post into a photo journal of sorts, as I don't want to write about 6 whole weeks.
1. Tuilelen Waterfall Hike
On September 14th, Tina, Emelye, Jacob, and I went on a day hike with the staff of the cultural center. We headed out to Tina's aldea, Tuilelen, to see some waterfalls.
What started as a nice path quickly turned into a near-vertical descent down the side of a ravine. The best part about this experience was that the four gringos - decked out in our hiking boots - were slipping and falling all over the place, while the women in traje and high heels had no trouble whatsoever.
Many of the sights reminded me of the Pacific Northwest.
Regardless of the steep trail and a bit of rock-hopping, the first waterfall was relatively easy to reach.
Success!
As we headed off to find the second waterfall, we got to this point, where the ravine became so steep that there was no room for a trail on either side. It looked like our quest would stop there.
Yonatón had another idea.
So Tina and I joined the guys, hiked up our pants and left our shoes behind, and began rock-hopping our way up the river.
Until we got to this point, at which we had to climb up the face of a small waterfall. There were about four more of these to follow.
All the hard work paid off. The waterfall was spectacular!
2. Independence Day Festivities in Comitancillo
After we got back from Tuilelen, we cleaned up and headed to the central park to watch the Independence Day performances. Here are some girls dancing in traditional Comitancillo traje.
This girl did a dance while holding a fake quetzal (Guatemalan national bird). We assumed the quetzal was stuffed or made out of papier-mâché.
On closer inspection, it turned out that it was a live pigeon, painted green and red, with long feathers glued onto its head and tail. Oh, Guatemala...
Here's a girl in traditional Comi traje.
The park was so packed with people, many went to sit on the roof of the municipal building just to be able to see the show.
Boys in traditional traje having a good time.
This darling little child and her mom were sitting next to me. She is six years old, and just finishing first grade.
...she got up on stage and sang in front of the entire community!
Today was a great day for candids. This child wins the award for best cheeks.
A little girl and her younger brother.
Another candid.
Boys in Comi traje getting ready for their performance.
When it started getting dark out, we were invited to sit on the stage. Best seats in the house!
Some older students doing a traditional dance.
3. Independence Day Festivities in Chixal
On September 15th (the actual date of Guatemalan Independence Day), I talked Emelye into hiking over to Chixal with me to participate in their activities. When we got there, the skies opened up, and the torrential rain forced us to move the entire community into the salon. Because of this, the staff of the school (who were hosting the event) had to quickly think of some indoor-friendly activities. First, we had a potato sack (well, corn sack) race.
...then there was a one-footed race. Here is Eduardo, the director of the school, showing the kids what to do.
This woman successfully caught the greased pig, then carried it around by its tail for over a minute.
Then everyone thought it would be fun to pit Emelye and I off against each other in a dance-off.
...in front of the entire community of Chixal.
4. Beauty Pageants Are Fun (Kind of)!
In Guatemala, all the schools have an anniversary celebration every year. It's kind of like homecoming, but not really. During the week of celebrations (reason #383,239 to cancel classes), they hold a beauty pageant to elect the señorita del instituto, basically the homecoming queen. This super fun activity takes anywhere from 4-6 hours. Here are the contestants from the school in Comitancillo doing their opening number. Keep in mind that these girls normally dress in traje, which is only slightly sexier and more revealing than a burqa.
Swimwear competition. Remember what I said about the traje?
This girl did a surfing performance.
Lip-synching competition.
We had a special lip-synching performance by this 7-YEAR-OLD.
The girls then put their traje back on for the awards presentation. Here is the winner of this year's pageant, Sheny.
5. Gringos Come to Comi!
Twice a year, a group of Canadian and American dentists called Dentistry for All comes to Comitancillo. I had the good fortune of being able to spend some of my free time hanging out with this great group of people. I also got to play with all the kids that were waiting, and give lessons on how to brush your teeth. Also, when the dentists left town, they left me in charge of their fridge and microwave, which basically means that 11 months out of the year I'll have a fully outfitted kitchen!
I had lots of opportunities for good candids when the dentists were here.
The kids in this country are so ridiculously photogenic.
One more candid at the dental clinic.
6. Waterfalls and Hot Springs, Oh My!
Last weekend, about 30 volunteers headed down to the boca costa in San Marcos to visit the site of Mike, an ecotourism volunteer. We arrived in La Igualdad, then hiked for an hour through the cloud forest to get to some hot springs and waterfalls. We spent all of Saturday soaking in the hot springs and swimming under this little waterfall. Then we hiked up the river to see the (newly measured) tallest waterfall in Central America. It was absolutely breathtaking. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of it, due to the mist.
Hiking through the cloud forest.
There were a million of these cool butterflies.
Adorable kids in La Igualdad.
7. Random Photos
Apparently it's caterpillar season. These little buggers are beautiful, but I've heard that I need to keep my distance.
Comitancillo at 6AM. Beautiful.
Birds sunning themselves on a cold morning.
This is pretty much what the view from my window has been for the past 5 days. I'm ready for some sun.
More posts to come. I promise.
