A Trip to the Forbidden City: Guatemala City that is

One thing that I have noticed about Guatemalans is that they confusingly refer to the capital, Guatemala City as just Guate. So when asking a Guatemalan where they are from and they say Guate, they don't mean that they are Guatemalan, they mean that they are from the capital. Also the buses that I see that go from Antigua to Guatemala City say Guate on them. Ok so this isn't really that confusing.

To put things lightly: we have a lot of rules and regulations as Peace Corps Volunteers in Guatemala. I have heard that we have more restrictions than any other PC country. This may just be chisme (gossip), but I'm pretty sure it's true. The travel restrictions we have are for our safety. Not all of Guatemala is safe for a tourist to be in. However, have no fear, there are many wonderful and safe places to visit here such as the beautiful Antigua and Lake Atitlán. One of the many places that we as Peace Corps Volunteers are not allowed to go to is Guatemala City, which is the capital of Guatemala and its largest city. Guatemala City is about an hours drive outside of Antigua. We can fly in and out of the airport in Guatemala City, but that's it. If you are planning on traveling to Guatemala - make your own decisions - don't let me scare you off. I know foreigners who happily work in Guatemala City.

Since we aren't allowed to visit Guatemala City, the Peace Corps planned a one day optional trip where we could experience a little bit of the city in a highly structured and chaperoned trip. I jumped at the opportunity. On this trip we visited: Popol Vuh Museums at the Francisco Marroquín University, the central square and government building, and an outdoor shopping center.

"Warriors" figurine 

Street art

One of our stops was the main Government building which is located on the central park. We were lucky enough to get a tour of the building.

Government building on the central plaza

Guatemalan flag in the central plaza as seen through open doors of the building.

Peace Statue with a fresh Rose

Who knew that there is a bare-bones Eiffel Tower in Guatemala?

We also took a trip to Cayalá which is one of the nicest open-air shopping malls that I have ever seen. It was like nothing else I have ever seen in Guatemala. It was like being back in America. It has Starbucks (which doesn't exist outside of Guatemala City), fancy restaurants, and good burger/beer joints. After being out of America for so long we were all pretty much in heaven. Don't get me wrong, I love Guatemala, but sometimes when you are away for that long a little taste of home is much appreciated. 

"Welcome to Starbucks Cayalá"

Cool sculpture

Chocolate Class at the Choco Museo in Antigua

We ground beans the old-fashioned way

A recommendation for anyone who is spending time in Antigua and likes chocolate! I took this two hour chocolate making workshop twice (once when my friends came to visit and then again when my aunts were here). It's pretty cool and super informative. It starts out with some information about the history of chocolate around the world and the process of making chocolate from the tree to the table. Here is an explanation of the workshop from the website:

"You learn all the steps from the harvest of the cacao in a plantation to the obtention of a chocolate bar. From the cacao beans you will roast them, peel them, and grind them into a paste. This cacao paste is used to prepare the first known cacao drink (invented by the Mayas). the traditional chocolate. In the end, from refined chocolate you will prepare your own chocolate that you can take back home." http://www.chocomuseo.com/

In the class we got to make two different kinds of hot chocolate: traditional mayan style and the old English style. Neither included milk or sugar. The way they traditionally made it here in Guatemala was a more bitter drink and often included blood (the recipe has since changed don't worry).

I also learned more about the differences between chocolates: dark, milk, and white. Dark chocolate is just ground up cacao beans mixed with sugar and the amount of sugar determines the percentage of the chocolate. For example: a 70% dark chocolate has 7lbs of chocolate to 3lbs sugar. Milk chocolate is the cacao mixed with both milk and sugar.

One fun fact that I learned in the workshop was about how expensive chocolate and cacao beans used to be. Cacao seeds were used as currency in the Aztec society and hot chocolate was so expensive that it was only drank by kings. For example: an avocado was worth 3 seeds, 30 seeds for a small rabbit, and 200 for a male turkey. A fun fact about chocolate in the U.S.: M&Ms were developed by the army as a chocolate that the soldiers could take with them without melting. Hence the candy coating. Brilliant.

Our enthusiastic instructor

Molding chocolate with my aunts

Molding chocolate with my friends

Skydrone Pictures of Antigua

One of my Guatemalan friends has a skydrone with a good camera. I accompanied him one weekend to take some pictures of Antigua and San Felipe de Jesus (a small town 2km outside of Antigua). It was a fun trip and we got some good pictures from a little-seen viewpoint. Once again I love the lack of enforced rules here in Guatemala. In the U.S. I'm pretty sure that it is illegal to fly things over national monuments. But not here. Luckily for us this allowed for some great shots. 

San Felipe de Jesus Church

La Merced Church

La Merced Church I love this view because you can see the attached courtyard and fountain which is my favorite
peaceful spot in Antigua

Arch Street

Arch Street Volcano "Agua" in the background

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Salcajá: A Cute Little Town Outside of Xela

About 15 minutes outside of Xela is the town of Salcajá (pronounced sal-ka-ha). It is a nice little town with huge market days that fill the narrow streets. As I was looking through my Lonely Planet guidebook one last time to see if there were many important sights that I missed I came across the Church of Saint Jacinto in Salcajá. One of my friends from my training group lives and works in Salcajá so I am familiar with the town, but I have never been to this church which is the first Christian Church in Central America and is still used for services to this day.

First Christian Church in Central America

I have always liked this flag pole

Center of town

Traditional Blankets and Rugs from Momostenango, Totonicapán

The town of Momostenango (Momos for short) is in the department of Totonicapán in the Western Highlands of Guatemala and is known for their wool blankets and rugs. This is a cold area of the country and the blankets are very warm. I often mention how cold I am in my site to my family and friends in the Boston-area. If you have ever spent a winter in New England or have been following the news about the near record-breaking snowfall in Massachusetts this winter you can imagine that they have very little patience for me in this weather that never goes below freezing. In my defense there are a lot of things that help deal with with cold: indoor heating, non-concrete houses that don't hold in the cold, and running hot water. Sadly, indoor heating has not made it to rural Guatemala. I don't know of a single house in my town with heating. The same goes for hot water coming out of the sinks: unheard of outside of fancy hotels in touristy areas. This is fine but just means that I NEVER wash my dishes after dark because the pila (like a sink) is covered, but outside and it gets chilly with the cold water.

I don't currently own a Momos blanket, but I do have four thick blankets on my bed. Every singe one of them is necessary. I have also taken to covering my head (down to my nose) at night with a fleece blanket so that only my nose is exposed.

Mid-day nap

InstaGUATE Update

Below are more of my Instagram photos from Guatemala. My username is: m3ganrose9

My aunts who came to visit me in Guatemala

Statue in Xela

Trash dump in the Xela bus terminal

Wood burning stove

Selling pillows

Vendor napping in Panajachel

Vendor napping in Momostenango

My host parents

After the Xela 1/2 marathon

My host family's cat

Lake Atitlan

Carrying wood

Kayaking on Lake Atitlan

Sewing machines

Leather smith in Pastores 

Jocotes (fruit) in front of a fountain in La Merced church, Antigua

Vendors in Antigua

Drying clothes on the roof, Lake Atitlan

Fuentes Georginas: The Natural Hot Springs Outside of Xela

If you are visiting Xela I recommend visiting the Fuentes Georginas. These are natural hot water springs that people swim in. There are three different main pools that, depending on the time of year and amount of rain, range from scalding hot to hot to warm. I usually hang out in the second pool (which is really more like a hot tub) with occasional trips to the hotter pool. It's located in a pretty area and it's generally foggy which gives the area a mystical feel.

These hot springs are located about an hour outside of Xela. You can take a public Chicken bus to Zunil where you barter with a pickup truck driver on how much he will charge to take you the rest of the way in the back of his truck. OR you could take the private shuttle through Adrenalina tour for about the same price and none of the haggling.