Epiphany
Kevin and I went to Quetzaltenango (Xela) last weekend to experience Dia de los Santos and Dia de los Muertos in a big city. For multiple reasons, namely having moved here from DC, we instantly felt more at home in the hustle and bustle. It was so refreshing to see a different side of Guatemalan culture. Xela has a (albeit completely disorganized and downright odd) natural history museum, as well as a modern art and cultural center.
After the long bus ride, we hiked up a beautiful path high above the city to a natural sauna. Although the space was quite dirty, the steamy heat scented with eucalyptus was a marvelous end to the hike. A nice guy named Juan carelessly showed us into a shower room and served us a beer each (which momentarily pacified my concern about the conditions of shower).
With that reprieve, the hike back down was slow and loose, but we felt wonderful. Then we had a fabulous dinner at an Indian restaurant. Since it was Halloween, there were a lot of bars and clubs hosting big parties- which is not really our thing. So we headed over the parque central to catch the end of the promenade of costume-clad families clinging to each other in the cold. Right- by the way, Xela is freezing. Although the city is nestled in a shallow valley, it is in the heart of the western highlands of Guatemala, and also at a high altitude. Luckily, we had been warned.
The next day we visited cemetery, which was incredible; so many uniquely intricate tombstones, so many flowers, so many kites, so many families, so much laughing and happiness and so unlike a typical visit to a U.S. cemetery.
In an attempt to assimilate, we bought some flowers for our dead people. Daisies are one of my favorite flowers, especially in bunches, because they are so cheerful [insert mockery from “You’ve Got Mail”]. The Spanish word for daisies is inmortales, thus they are very popular on Dia de los Muertos. Obviously, our dead people are not in Xela, so we brought the flowers back to our hostel and kept them alive in a plastic yogurt container we found in the shared kitchen. The hostel staff was moved that I left the flowers on the kitchen table when we left, and they thanked me graciously. How easy it is to share happiness sometimes… I’ll start here with evidence that karma is alive and well.
The past few days have been a whirlwind, to say the least. Until recently, I’m not sure that I had experienced any sort of epiphany or marvel about anything in my life, although I have always loved listening to stories of miraculous encounters, coincidental findings and serendipity in general. Thus, I will contend with anyone that the universe is sending us signs all the time, and it is usually worth your while to be observant of them.
While in Xela, I took some yoga classes at a community house. After the first evening Hatha class, I spoke with the instructor about his passion. I had a sense that he practiced Ashtanga Vinyasa, and I was right. This is a school of yoga that I have been craving to learn more about, and so I was delighted to meet this guy (who’s name happened to be [believe it] Kevin). We talked a little about teaching in Guatemala and what he loves about Vinyasa. He didn’t charge me for the class, and lent me his Iyengar book so I could engross myself in yoga during my visit. The next day I went to his Vinyasa class where he and I practiced the primary and the second series of Ashtanga. Since I lack any background of this practice and its command of strength and stamina, most of the two hours were very difficult. But he was a fantastic teacher; challenging and encouraging, patient and fluid. I learned so much about my own abilities, and also of different aspects to carry into my teaching.
Kevin had been hiking a volcano during this time, and after our individual workouts we set out in search for a fiambre: the traditional meal of Dia de los Muertos. Like a lot of things I’ve experienced here, the fiambre was interesting in a weird way… fine enough for a holiday, but not very satisfying.
Later that day, we wandered into a bookshop and guess who was there: Kevin the yogi.
So he also works at a used bookshop- how neat! And in the bookshop I found “The Celestine Prophecy,” which was recently suggested to me by my yogi neighbor Natasha. Then when we were checking out, I asked Kevin what he was reading and if there was anything in particular that he could recommend. From under a shelf behind his desk he pulled out “Siddhartha.” [are you kidding me?] I’ve always been told that “Siddhartha” is one of those books that will find you at the right time; that will come to you when you’re ready to read it. And here it was- being handed to me by this man who had already rejuvenated my passion for yoga and allowed me to indulge in his property to learn more about it. I still don’t even know where this Kevin is from, but I am certain that he was there to help show me something:
I am in the right place at the right time.
I am here to learn and teach yoga. I have always wanted to do this; to have the time and courage. I could not do this anywhere else. Although my motives for moving to Guatemala were fairly different, I wanted to become more independent, to learn something and to help people. Through yoga, I can do those things here. [Getting to live with my Kevin, improve my Spanish, meet fascinating people and cook and eat wonderful food are superb bonuses that I’m thankful for every day.]
Upon coming to this realization, I have decided to stay in San Pedro. We will be coming home for Christmas for some much-needed family time, but will return to Guatemala in January. I have a wonderful opportunity here with a yoga studio that is growing healthily and that is receptive to my ideas and concerns, and I’m eager to see what we can do for each other.
That being said, please reconsider coming to visit us next year! And don’t ignore coincidental signs- they could save your life J
Below- you’ll find two pictures from the museum. I’m looking for reactions such as: “Why do some birds get to wear bow ties?” and “Why hang a stuffed pelican from the ceiling on display when it has a broken neck? Shouldn’t someone fix it professionally, rather than taping it together with packaging tape?” Questions of this nature are accepted, although, I have no answers.
Next, some really fantastic art in the cultural center. These are a few of my favorite things….
Lastly, some beautiful views of Quetzaltenango.
So, as Stacy said at the end of her last entry, we did finally decide that we’re coming back to Guatemala after heading stateside for Christmas, belated Channukah, and New Years. The idea of trying to cram everything into one month and wrap up the San Pedro experience before the holidays had been an unspoken source of stress for us, and coming back will hopefully let us enjoy our time here a bit more, and allow us to leave with less unfinished business.
Personally, I don’t feel like I’ve seen enough of Guatemala, particularly hiking and on mountain bike (the biking had been seriously hampered up until Wednesday by an exploded left shoe, but more on that in a bit), so the extra time will let me explore a bit more.
But perhaps more importantly, if I left for good in December, I’d feel like I was shortchanging both myself and FEDEPMA. I’ve been roasting and sorting beans, which has been great at times, but there’s only so much to learn from the way FEDEPMA roasts, and we’re just about to get into the thick of the harvest and coffee processing season, which should last to late February/late March. And, where FEDEPMA really needs help is in selling their products. They do a pretty damn good job in their own right with the production.
On Thursday, the director finally found time to sit down and talk about helping FEDEPMA market their coffee and honey. Basically, FEDEPMA has been hoping that business comes to them, not actively seeking it out. There’s a huge market of tourists and businesses catering to them in town, and FEDEPMA currently only sees their money if these tourists magically appear at the FEDEPMA production facility and store, which happens to be 2 miles from town, down a dirt road.
So I’m going to be talking to business owners in the touristy section of town about selling our coffee (you can call me Mr. Ambassador to the White Man), bringing a bit of coffee with me when traveling, and trying to get some samples into the hands of good baristas. I have some other ideas up my sleeves, (editing change from Monday in italics) but first up is CoffeeFest next weekend in Guatemala. I’m going with a couple other reps from FEDEPMA. Let’s be honest, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to only send a gringo to the national coffee festival, particularly when the name of your organization is the Federation of Mayan Communities. I grow a way better beard than any person of Mayan descent that I’ve met so far; that’s what makes me stick out like a sore thumb. So it turns out there wasn´t enough money to go to CoffeeFest. Or for some reason Izaias thought we were going to get in for free, but when that didn´t pan out, we backed out, which I found out today, Monday. Great, the frustration continues. I might just go myself and try to sneak in a few coffee samples myself, since it seems like if I´m going to make anything out of volunteering for FEDEPMA, I´m going to have to do it myself, despite their own unwillingness to do anything good for themselves.
Next goal is to explain the basic concept of wholesale pricing, because currently FEDEPMA thinks it makes sense to mark down only 5 percent from retail. How do you say “keystoning” en español? Dear god this is going to be frustrating…
Relatively quickly, other reasons this week has been good:
1. We went to Xela. Xela, or Quetzaltenango, is Guatemala’s second biggest city, and it’s great to see a thriving, continually developing, modern culture that isn’t solely catered to tourists. Xela had artists who actually create art, not just imitations for souvenir shops. And we saw live music that didn’t include a Guatemalan version of “My Heart Will Go On.” Then again, one of our friends in San Pedro lent us, and insisted we watch, the movie Valentine’s Day. So Celine Dion cover or not, I still almost felt like puking.
2. Dia de los Santos/Dia de los Muertos. Words don’t do it justice, but we went to the (huge) cemetary in Xela, and it’s amazing to see thousands of families visiting their relatives’ graves and celebrating, not just mourning, their ancestors. Flying kites, eating, dancing to marimba music, laying out flowers…
On Dia de los Muertos we went to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant for fiambre, the traditional meal of pickled beats, vegatables, and assorted meats that families leave out for the dead on November 2. It very well could have just been this restaurant’s version, but if I were dead, I’d seriously consider fasting, staying in the grave for the night, or just going to Pollo Campero.
3. Went hiking, fo’ real. On Day 1 in Xela Stacy and I hiked up to los Bahos, a set of volcanic-heated saunas up a mountain from town. More on that in her entry…
And on Tuesday, I finally bucked up and paid for a guide to hike Volcan Santa Maria. I really prefer to pay for maps, but those don’t really exist in this country, so when in Xela, I’d recommend Icaro Tours. I hiked with a 22 year old guide named Ángel (my angel references are not appreciated, jerks), who is guiding while studying business at the Universidad San Marcos. Pretty cool guy, with a lot of conocimiento about Xela and the mountains and wildlife in Guatemala. For better or worse, the other hikers from Israel got travelers’ diarrhea the night before, so I took a solo hike for the price of a group trip. Score.
The Volcan was amazing. At the 3770 meter summit, there were 360 degree views of the active Volcan Santiaguito below, Xela, Volcan Tajamulco – the highest point in Central America – and an unfortunately clowd-obscured Lake Atitlan. It feels great to get outside and get dirty, and experience the mountains from the summit, not just looking up from the road – despite being in the middle of the outdoors, I haven’t been getting enough of that in this country.
4. Got a package! Thanks Mom and Dad. About 3 weeks ago I destroyed my well-loved left cycling shoe on a ride to Jaibalito. While my bunnyhopping-without-clipless skills have drastically improved over the last few weeks, I haven’t been inspired to climb any big mountains with platform pedals. My parents were kind enough to send me a new pair of shoes, and a whole bunch of great food. The shoes are too shiny though, so it’s time to stop writing and go ride
That’s it for now. Off to market some coffee and ride a bike. Any good Halloween stories? Please email the shenanigans.
-Kevin
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