We stayed the night in a small hotel near the market and central square between the two churches [the most beautiful church in the photo.] What we didn’t know was that the night of Easter, music and dancing goes on there – very loud - until 3 a.m. This was a live marimba band who played non-stop, but the traditional music was also well-integrated with much more modern trends (my sister described it as similar to Tex-Mex.) The only unfortunate thing was that we didn’t feel quite safe enough to travel through the dark streets to and from the activity….although it was only a few blocks away. In the light of day that seemed silly, but…. If I’d known about the music I would have arranged with the guide to escort us to and from.
The guide, the young artist from whom Suzanne bought some paintings, and the young man who waited our table, all indigines, were so friendly and open and sweet………..these interactions were a high point of our trip. I am happy that my Spanish has mas o menos progressed to the point that this sort of interaction is possible. Tomas told us that his family lives outside of Chichi in the country, neither of his parents were literate, his father died a few years ago so he is head of the family and has to work as a guide, but he is finishing high school at night.
We then went back to Pana and got hustled by two young guys into taking a private boat for 100Q each to the little “resort” we’d reserved for two nights. (Take the public boats for 15-20Q.) Isla Verde was created by a young woman from Spain over the last three years. It has.a lovely common room, kitchen, deck overlooking the lake, meditation platform and yoga space…..and lots of little cabins strung up the hillside also overlooking the whole lake. The little bathroom of our cabin was charming, open-air, with lots of plants growing into the space. The owner/builder used the concrete parts of all structures in a way reminiscent of the Southwest of the US – free-form, curved shapes.
It was a little expensive by my standards ($175 for 2 people 2 nights and all the excellent meals and help from the staff.) She is interested in hosting workshops there – weaving, yoga, or whatever.
We did quite a bit of relaxing there, though the hottub wasn’t functioning, and we didn’t indulge in the massages offered. In the day time we took small public boats (which are a trip in themselves, as the locals shuttle themselves and various goods from one dock to another) to several villages around the lake. There is a very hippie village there – San Marcos – which we didn’t visit, but we went to San Juan (which I am sort of interested in living in, at some point) where we went to a painter’s workplace and talked with him about his wonderful folk-art paintings, and to a weaving coop which uses all natural dyes, where we shopped in their tienda for lovely scarves and walked through their dye process, and talked with a lovely woman weaver. They use the backstrap loom, like all the other weavers I’ve seen in Guatemala
San Juan is one of the cleanest, quietest villages I’ve been to. We met only two gringos on the street, both volunteers (one with the Peace Corps) in various projects in the area, teaching reproductive choices and women’s rights (one) and helping develop small economic projects (P.C.) Lovely people we talked to, and a very nice restaurant there, as well.
We then walked to the next village – San Pedro – where I took a training for 4 days some months ago. We took a winding way thru the village (evidently known locally for its drug culture) and then got another public launch to Santiago, home of Maximon, the local saint. He’s a cigar-smoking, whiskey-drinking saint you can appeal to for curing and other benefits. A tuk tuk took us to his current home (he is passed around the village annually to vs. members of the brotherhood,) and a little boy guided us up the alley and through a curtained doorway to confront Maximon, a few feet from the door. The assembled men quickly pulled it together to receive visitors and for a few quetzals we could take photos, look at the other saints reclining in biers nearby, and see all the plants hanging from the low ceiling, that are used in various parts of the ceremonies (the Curasca among them.) I tried to get more information about the ceremony and Maximon, but there was only one man who spoke Spanish, and that was limited. Suzanne picked up a book about him, though, so I will learn more in the future.
We then backtracked to Antigua the following day, spent a day seeing the sights here, and finished an incredibly lovely 8-day vacation.
It was really lovely to have her here, and to see all these things which I’ve seen before (except for Semana Santa) but from yet another perspective.
The guide, the young artist from whom Suzanne bought some paintings, and the young man who waited our table, all indigines, were so friendly and open and sweet………..these interactions were a high point of our trip. I am happy that my Spanish has mas o menos progressed to the point that this sort of interaction is possible. Tomas told us that his family lives outside of Chichi in the country, neither of his parents were literate, his father died a few years ago so he is head of the family and has to work as a guide, but he is finishing high school at night.
We then went back to Pana and got hustled by two young guys into taking a private boat for 100Q each to the little “resort” we’d reserved for two nights. (Take the public boats for 15-20Q.) Isla Verde was created by a young woman from Spain over the last three years. It has.a lovely common room, kitchen, deck overlooking the lake, meditation platform and yoga space…..and lots of little cabins strung up the hillside also overlooking the whole lake. The little bathroom of our cabin was charming, open-air, with lots of plants growing into the space. The owner/builder used the concrete parts of all structures in a way reminiscent of the Southwest of the US – free-form, curved shapes.
It was a little expensive by my standards ($175 for 2 people 2 nights and all the excellent meals and help from the staff.) She is interested in hosting workshops there – weaving, yoga, or whatever.
We did quite a bit of relaxing there, though the hottub wasn’t functioning, and we didn’t indulge in the massages offered. In the day time we took small public boats (which are a trip in themselves, as the locals shuttle themselves and various goods from one dock to another) to several villages around the lake. There is a very hippie village there – San Marcos – which we didn’t visit, but we went to San Juan (which I am sort of interested in living in, at some point) where we went to a painter’s workplace and talked with him about his wonderful folk-art paintings, and to a weaving coop which uses all natural dyes, where we shopped in their tienda for lovely scarves and walked through their dye process, and talked with a lovely woman weaver. They use the backstrap loom, like all the other weavers I’ve seen in Guatemala
San Juan is one of the cleanest, quietest villages I’ve been to. We met only two gringos on the street, both volunteers (one with the Peace Corps) in various projects in the area, teaching reproductive choices and women’s rights (one) and helping develop small economic projects (P.C.) Lovely people we talked to, and a very nice restaurant there, as well.
We then walked to the next village – San Pedro – where I took a training for 4 days some months ago. We took a winding way thru the village (evidently known locally for its drug culture) and then got another public launch to Santiago, home of Maximon, the local saint. He’s a cigar-smoking, whiskey-drinking saint you can appeal to for curing and other benefits. A tuk tuk took us to his current home (he is passed around the village annually to vs. members of the brotherhood,) and a little boy guided us up the alley and through a curtained doorway to confront Maximon, a few feet from the door. The assembled men quickly pulled it together to receive visitors and for a few quetzals we could take photos, look at the other saints reclining in biers nearby, and see all the plants hanging from the low ceiling, that are used in various parts of the ceremonies (the Curasca among them.) I tried to get more information about the ceremony and Maximon, but there was only one man who spoke Spanish, and that was limited. Suzanne picked up a book about him, though, so I will learn more in the future.
We then backtracked to Antigua the following day, spent a day seeing the sights here, and finished an incredibly lovely 8-day vacation.
It was really lovely to have her here, and to see all these things which I’ve seen before (except for Semana Santa) but from yet another perspective.
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