Viajes: April 2011

Wow what a week. It started with last weekend with our trip to Tikal, the capital of the Mayan world. What a work of art! It is definitely a "thin place" in the words of Dr. Becknell. The experience was worth getting up at 4 a.m. and sitting in the last row of the plane - row 11! It was a tiny plane.

Plane :)


My fellow row 11ers. Beauties!

The architecture the Mayans were capable of was incredible to see. I feel honored to have been able to climb their pyramids.

At the bottom looking up

At the top looking down

hugeness

See those little grave stone looking things at the foot of the stairs? That's where the sacrifices took place, not at the top like most think. Yeah.


mask!


bird's nests

A beautiful end to a beautiful weekend :)

And now, spring break! With my lovely Mom, Sister, and Grandma! woooo!

Friday was market day. I got a few things but mostly just looked at all the beautiful merchandise and walked and talked with friends.

     Friday night I went somewhere I usually wouldn’t go to – McDonalds! I wasn’t feeling homesick. I didn’t want a greasy U.S. dinner. I wanted to see the sight! The McDonalds here is quite nice actually. And so was the ice cream and fries :)

     Saturday was ruins and futbol day with Greta, Laura, and Sydney. The Cathedral and La Merced were thoroughly explored and photographed. At the Cathedral, there was a bit of commotion ahead and lo and behold, a wedding! We sat right down and took part. It was a bit awkward so we snuck out early.

After lunch we walked to the stadium for a futbol game. It was fun to cheer the Panza Verde on to a 6-2 victory! The game was packed as this is now the tournament portion of the season – you lose, you’re done. The team is nicknamed the Panza Verde or Green Bellies because of their white and green striped uniforms and their Avocado mascot!

Saturday night. This almost deserves it’s own post. Can I file a complaint? After walking around seeing ruins all morning and sitting in the heat at the soccer game all afternoon, hunger was fierce upon me by dinner. I was excited to eat and was hoping for tostadas, rice, and beans. No such luck. Instead, sandwiches. Don’t get me wrong, I was grateful to eat, but man those are some bad sandwiches! One piece of ham, one piece of cheese, ketchup, and mayonnaise with chips on the side. I put my chips inside the sandwich so as not to taste the rest of it. Dinner conquered, I went to use the internet and buy some banana bread to make up for the sandwiches. I had just decided not to let dinner bother me too much when I walked into our house to see our host Elvira and her extended family having a lovely family dinner with plenty of great food. So she didn’t want to cook for us because her family was coming...I can try to understand…I won’t hold it against them. Off to bed I went.

I was in bed, yes, but I sure wasn’t sleeping. The problem was that someone down the street was having a fiesta complete with strobe lights, spotlights (see above photo), and music so loud I could feel the boots with the fur! I did fall asleep eventually. For a while. Our host family decided to have their own little fiesta. They weren’t getting low, but they were once again around the kitchen table (separated from our room by two windows – both of which were open) doing what families do – all talking as loud as possible at once, debating, and laughing boisterously…at 2 a.m. Why!? Who has a family reunion at 2 a.m.? The Neumanns are night owls, but we are usually wrapping up, not starting, at 2 a.m.!! Not only were they raising quite a ruckus, they were tramping up and down the stairs next to our window using our bathroom so as not to wake Elvira on the ‘family side’ of the house. Groan…roll over…complain to Greta…doze in and out of dream like conscious in which I cut my sister Hannah’s hair as short as my Dad’s… At 4:30 a.m. things quieted down and Greta and I got some much needed rest.

Sunday! I love Sunday mornings. Left over banana bread with peanut butter and a pastry from the bakery was my lovely breakfast. I used the internet at the SI office for a bit then went off to church. It was great as usual. Being at a bilingual church is always interesting and a lot of fun. The whole day was great but the evening was the most exciting part. I got to help make an alfombra for the procession that came down our street! And then watch the procession from our tiny balcony! It was awesome! I feel very Guatemalan now ;)