Cerro de Oro

This morning we decided to take a trip to Cerro de Oro, literally "hill of gold." This is a baby volcano located between our town, San Lucas Toliman, and the nearest larger town, Santiago Atitlan. Cerro is a green volcano covered in cafetal, coffee plantations, and natural flowers. It sits between Volcan Toliman (a real volcano) and the lake. The whole area is like a volcano family, since behind Toliman is Volcan Atitlan, the big daddy of the group standing 11.5K feet tall. In stepwise fashion, these lead down to our baby, el Cerro, which stands on the edge of the volcanic Lago de Atitlan.

Geographically speaking, Cerro is a mini-volcano formed when Toliman erupted thousands of years ago, with lava finding a path of least resistance to emerge not out of Toliman itself but at its feet closer to the lake. Within the local culture, however, Cerro has other foundations. Some say that Cerro is the head of Toliman (which itself is a little flat and headless) that was beheaded and dropped in its new place by an angry god. People also say that Cerro is filled with gold on the inside, giving it its' name. However it was formed, Cerro is a place of worship within the Mayan religion. On top of the mountain is an old altar where incense is burned and offerings given to the local gods. It is a holy place but also frequently visited by tourists for its great views of the lake and the surrounding villages.

Despite the fact that Angel lives practically next to Cerro, he has never visited it. Before I get too critical, I have to point out that Angel has climbed Volcan Atitlan dozens of times, which I certainly have not (and may never, depending on whether I can find someone to carry me up 8 hours to the top). That being said, Cerro, being small, less scary, and conveniently situated, was a worthy weekend morning pursuit. So Angel, Flor (his youngest daughter, also a medical student) and I decided to give it a try.

Prepared with water, energy bars (from the US) and a camera, we were dropped off in the family car at the base of the path up to Cerro. We had been told that we could find a local guide at the path's entrance, but when we arrived no one was there to greet us. We decided to go up ourselves. Given that none of us have ever been here, this may not have been the wisest decision.

Initially, the path is well maintained with cleared stones and even wooden railings, leading straight up the hill. At this altitude, and in our poor level of physical shape, Flor and I were huffing and puffing pretty much from the first minute. The going is steep and you have to scramble up most of the time, not leaving much opportunity to look around. Along with making me pretty embarrassed about how out of shape I am, this trek up reminded me why I have not yet gone up our city's largest volcano.

After about 45 minutes (but seamed a lot longer), we arrived at the altar, a large vertical stone colored black from decades (centuries?) of burning incense. It's a quiet place and I can understand why the local people consider it to be holy. We looked around and decided to continue up to look for the mirador, the view over the lake we had heard about. This is where things got a little more delicate. The previously well maintained path ran into multiple working paths going into the surrounding cafetal. Every path we took seemed to lead to some dead end, and certainly not to any mirador. Finally, Angel heard some kids chattering, and the sound took us to the viewpoint--the top of the mountain facing the lake. The local children, out collecting firewood, scampered away from us down another path. From our vista, the view expands over the whole lake, showing its multiple villages and the rim of its volcanic crater container. This is Lago Atitlan, one of the most beautiful areas in Guatemala. Definitely worth the trip!

After a good look around and our snack of Trio bars (which Angel, uncharacteristically, enjoyed), we began to make our way down. Having wandered around so much before, we had a difficult time finding the main path. By the time we realized we were heading down the wrong way, we were too far down Cerro to climb back up. No worries--we were going to end up in the town at the bottom of Cerro, named after its prominent landmark.

Cerro de Oro, the town, is smaller than San Lucas but still big enough to have brick houses, paved streets and many stores. The main Catholic church is fairly new (built in 1991), but looks over the lake and has a wonderful view of its own. Inside the large but scantily outfitted church, we found a group of local women arranging flower vases for the upcoming holiday, Dia de los Santos. The locals here speak a different Mayan language than my family, making it particularly difficult for any of us to communicate with them. Still, we found our way around and finally caught a pick-up truck heading back to San Lucas.

Despite getting lost, we found our mirador and even got to see the town. Overall, a successful trip! Flor and I decided that Angel had earned his keep as a tour guide and now could embark on a new profession!

Feliz Cumpleaños, Reina!

During my previous visits to San Lucas, I spent a lot of time learning how to do traditional Mayan weaving with my teacher, Goya. She lives with the family of her husband, Israel, and has a daughter, Reina. Reina is an only child because Goya could not have children of her own. Reina is also adopted, which is incredibly rare in my area of Guatemala. As an only child, she gets everything she wants and is pretty spoiled. She also likes to play at being the baby, and will sometimes refuse to walk without being carried or demand help with things she definitely knows how to do. That being said, she's a pretty awesome, very cute little girl. When I visited the family yesterday, I found out that Reina was turning four and Goya was throwing a big birthday party for her extended family. The grandfather of the family also had a birthday--81 years old. I was invited for birthday lunch!

Reina lives with her two parents, two of Israel's brothers, their families, and their grandfather. The whole family, however, is much bigger. Israel's family has 10 children, each of which is now an adult and has many children of their own. In total, there are about 100 members of the immediate family, and this is only on Reina's fathers' side. So when I was invited to a "family birthday party," it wasn't as intimate as one would imagine.

First, we began almuerzo with a traditional dish, caldo de pollo or chicken stew. The chickens were their own, grown in the house and killed the day before in preparation. There are also local vegetables, pasta and herbs. The soup is served with tamalitos, little maize patties. Its one of my favorite traditional Mayan foods, so I was really excited about being invited. I also got a lecture on the difference between pollo de granja, grown on a farm, and pollo grown in the house. Apparently they are a totally different species of chicken and people argue about which is better. House chicken meat is darker and they survive easier in the "wild" by eating whatever is around. Farm chicken is more what we are used to in the US and apparently is very difficult to grow at home because they are picky eaters and die easily. Pretty much, this is the chicken version of gringos and Guatemalans. Personally, I can't tell the difference, but everyone here swears by one or the other and refuses to eat the competitor.

After lunch, the family whipped out a piñata. I have to be honest--I have never seen a party with one in the States, but I'm pretty sure this is very different. The adults constructed a complex pulley system with the piñata in the middle, so that two people could pull it around and keep it out of reach of the children. One child at a time gets to beat at it with a stick. Little kids get a big stick and can go without a blindfold, the larger kids aren't so lucky. I've never seen two-year-olds be so violent! They chase the prised object around, sometimes coming dangerously close to the spectators who are busy yelling out instructions. Eventually someone, usually a 10-year-old boy, really rams the thing and it begins to explode. At this point, everyone dives to the ground for the candy, the adults pushing the kids out of the way or simply rolling on top of them. How no one got hurt is amazing. After the candy was all grabbed up, they pulled out another piñata the size of the birthday girl and in the shape of her favorite cartoon character. The next victim lasted a little longer in battle, and has to lose a few appendages before being torn to shreds by the candy-hungry crowd. All in all, it was pretty amusing.

After torturing the piñata, two huge cakes (blue for abuelo and pink for Reina) were brought out. Everyone sang happy birthday (in English) to grandpa, but Reina, who decided this was a good time for a tantrum, locked herself in her room and refused to come out for her moment in the spotlight. After blowing out the candles, grandpa took a bight of the cake and someone (per ceremony) pushed his face in to everyone's amusement. Cake was served with sweet tea and corn tostadas covered in beans and salsa. Way too much food, but yum!
I gave Reina a pair of new leather shoes (per her parent's request) and gave abuelo some money. I was so full after the day that I couldn't eat dinner! Reina, who used to be afraid of me and all other gringos, now decided I was her best friend and wanted to be hugged the whole day. This made her four-year-old cousin, Erica, very jealous, and I had the two of them glued to me the whole time. All in all it was a pretty awesome birthday!

Welcome!

First, I would like to talk about the miracle that lets me attempt this blog. I am currently sitting in a rural village in Guatemala, in a house with a mix of cement and dirt floors, a tin roof and an outdoor sink. I also happened to have wireless. In fact, my wireless runs through the cell phone lines, which means I could wonder anywhere in Guatemala, even on top of a mountain, and still have service. I can also Skype, download music (slowly), and do whatever normal people do outside of this country. Guatemala, with some of the highest rates of child malnutrition in the world, has a cellphone for every person and apparently infinite wireless. Imagine that.

I have to admit that I am not a blogger by nature, and so this will probably be a little difficult. I am, however, away from home for a while, and with the hopes of maintaining some communication with my friends and family I will try to relate something of my life here. This is obviously not my first time in San Lucas, but my first time with wireless, so now I have no excuse.

For those of you who don't know, I'm here doing research on child malnutrition, working with local promoters in the rural Mayan villages of highland Guatemala. We hope to set up a permanent nutritional surveillance program that is self-sustainable. It is the beginning of my third year working in these communities, and I have about four months to help create something permanent and useful (wish me luck)!

I live with my family, the Julajuj's, with my "dad," Angel, his six children (all my age and mostly out of the house), his three sisters and all of their multiple young children. We also have two dogs (Chiquita and Escrapy). Angel is a carpenter by trade, owns a small store, and hosts gringos from Stanford. It's a comfortable life here with my own room, hot water, yummy food and now, wireless!