Chichicastenango

This past weekend our group spent a weekend trip in Chichicastenango, a city about 3 1/2 hrs from Guatemala City. It felt so good to get out of the big city and traffic and enjoy some nice bumpy, dusty, curvy mountain roads on an old school bus! HA! No really though, it was a good trip. Friday night we visited a cooperative of women whose husbands were killed in the 80´s due to violence against the Guatemalan church. The women started a weaving cooperative to sell their products and earn money to support their families. They fed us and shared their story and then we had time to SHOP! I bought quite a few things. Everything is so colorful here, I love the fabrics. Then we went on to stay at the ´dorm´ type place that was created for the children of these women to come and learn how to tailor their fabrics. There was a room with 6 bunkbeds for 12 of us girls.

Friday night, about half an hour after we had fallen asleep, one of the girls woke us up with screams and shouting she saw a snake on the wall and then it fell onto the floor. The lights came on and people (braver than myself) started searching under beds for it with flashlights. I´m pretty sure I froze. After the girl decided she probably had hallucinated the snake (from malaria pills perhaps?) everyone went back to bed.. except me. I was paranoid. I didn´t believe she had hallucinated.. though I hadn´t had any proof for a snake being there either. At any rate, I kept myself awake by scaring myself for the next couple hours. I do know I slept for at least 2 hours because when I checked the time once it was 130am and I had been sleeping. HOWEVER, the next scare was when I felt something run across my mouth, twice. And I knew I wasn´t imagining this. I´m still not sure what it was, but it kept me awake for another few hours. And then I was sure that there were lice in my pajamas and crawling all over my body. How horrible! The next night, Amy slept with me.. we stayed warmer and I wasn´t as scared. I actually slept the whole night through which felt wonderful.

Saturday we got to hike around some Mayan ruins and walk through an underground tunnel. My flashlight from Eric and Lindsay came in handy and was brighter than anyone elses! We had a picnic lunch there and got to use squatty potties. It was a nice relaxing day. Saturday we had free time in the city of Chichi and Amy and I walked around with our friends Giles and Andrew. We ate at a Guatemalan restaurant but got pizza, so good!

Sunday our group went to the Catholic mass and I had another interesting shoe experience. This time it was with heels and cobblestone streets. Not my best move ever. I didn´t complain though, and I didn´t get any blisters. After the mass we had a few hours to spend in the market. It was HUGE and crowded. We had to barter which I loved doing. I mastered the ´gasp, ask if they´re serious for that price, scowl, say you don´t want it and walk away´ it seemed to work pretty well. I bought lots more colorful stuff! We then got to ride back in the same uncomfortable school bus on the same bumpy, windy, dusty roads! Coming back ´home´ felt good.

The only other exciting story I have from this week is that last night I was in my bedroom journaling when I encountered my first spanish spider. It was kind of hard to understand him. He kept crawling around in the folds of my sweatshirt and boy was he fast! Finally he stopped long enough to catch his breath and his life ended in that moment. Pobrecito(poor spider).. but not really.

I´m about to go get ice cream with Amy as is becoming our tradition on our free afternoons. It´s cheaper here and nice on a hot day.. so who can resist? Hope everyone back home is staying warm under their blankets at home! : )

With love!
Lindsey