So, my friend Liz came to visit me last week! It was so great to see her. We actually hadn't seen each other in 2 years! We met when we went to Ecuador together, but she went to Luther College and I went to Augustana.
We stayed at NPH for a few nights. She flew in on a Friday night and the next day was the quinceanera celebration. A quinceanera is a tradition in Latin America to celebrate a girl's 15th birthday - her transition to womanhood. A quinceanera is usually a huge deal - kind of fancy like a wedding. The girl usually wears a fancy (often pouffy) dress and is escorted in by her caballero (gentleman). The NPH way started with a mass (as usual), then the escort, waltz, toast, fancy dinner, and afterward was a "discoteca" in the dining hall. It was super fun. The kids were all over it. There were 11 girls turning 15 this year, and it was a huge party.
On Tuesday, we left for our vacation. We started at a coffee farm in a town called San Miguel Escobar, just outside Antigua. Franklin (my friend Jessica's boyfriend) actually started this business called As Green As it Gets: He helps local farmers to grow and export coffee and fruit to the U.S., as well as make jade jewelry and other things. It's really impressive.
First, the farmer Daniel took us on a tour of the coffee farm. He explained every detail about the coffee beans and plants. It was really interesting. After that, we returned to his house to watch him grind, roast and make the coffee - which was delicious. I don't really drink coffee but we got a free pount to take home anyway.
And, I even got to help his wife make homemade corn tortillas! (Tortillas are eaten with every meal in Guatemala.) It was really hard to get them to the correct shape and thickness, but I enjoyed it.
Afterward, Franklin came and talked to us about the organization. Apparently, they like to have volunteer groups come down and help out with the organization (usually for about 10 days). It sounds really cool because you can do homestays and get a feel for true Guatemalan culture. And, if I organize a group, they will pay my way for FREE! So, it looks like I could come back to visit Guatemala sooner than I thought (which I would like). I'm hoping to organize a group of my speech pathology classmates to come down and we can work with Jessica and come to NPH.
That night, we stayed in Antigua and I walked in my sleep in the hostel room. Haven't done that in at least 13 years. I was on the bottom bunk and had a nightmare that there was a creepy little man staring down at me (hanging facing me from the mattress above). In the dream, I was in the same room that I was actually sleeping in. So, I saw the man, screamed loudly, and ran to the door. Turns out, I did that in real life. I woke up Liz and the random Australian girl who was also in the room. It was crazy.
Wed. we took four different chicken buses to get to Panachel, Lake Atitlan. (There are several little villages but Panachel is the main place.) Thursday, we took a day trip to Chichicastenango, the biggest market in Guatemala.
Friday morning, we went to a nature reserve. We got to do some cool hiking and saw a waterfall and 2 spider monkeys, haha. Then we left for the Lake Atitlan village of Santa Cruz in the afternoon. We stayed at a hostel called La Iguana Perdida, right on the lake. Although very touristy, it was nice and relaxing. We spend a lot of time in hammocks. There was also a lot you could do. On Saturday, we hiked up to the actual village of Santa Cruz (it's up the mountain) and went to a Guatemalan woman's house. She showed us how to do backstrap weaving! I don't really know how to explain it, sorry. You need a visual to understand. But it was super interesting - and very difficult. The idea was that we would each weave our own belt, but I think I did maybe 1/10 of it - it was pretty hard to separate the strings correctly and took a long time. So, the woman ended up finishing the belts for us.
And, we returned to NPH on Sunday! Hooray. I was so happy that Liz came!
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