The collectivo pick-up in Chichicastenango was in a small 4 space parking lot. Being sick and not eating for a few days, combined with the massive number of traveling Guatemalans, we decided to take yet another means of transportation up the windy road to Quiche. Although we attempted to capture the utter chaos of the collective transition of passengers, by the time we turned on the camera, we were too late. I will do my best to describe the scene to you, but I am guessing whatever you are picturing, intensify it. I have never seen anything like this. These vans are equipped to seat 19 passenger. Guess how many people they were carrying? Somewhere in the 30's. Just as the van pulled up and the door began to slide open, people of all ages sprinted to the van and began climbing on before anyone even got off. It is not just people either, they are often carrying large loads that only add to the difficulty. Large cloths wrapped up to hold any type of goods. They sit these colorful bundles in their laps, often along with a child. Anyway, It was total mayhem. We could not even attempt to push our way through the crowd, simply observed from afar with our jaws open in disbelief of the chaos. It was quite a scene.
We eventually found a collectivo with room for our bikes and gear up top. Ryan stood in a small space by the side door as I squashed next to a woman with a baby and a large, round, plastic bin filled with some type of food. The children here are amazing. They stand or sit for hours and barely make a peep. So different from being amonst kids in the US or Australia. They are so tough here and do not seem to expect much. This is another topic altogether.
We unloaded at the collectivo's destination point. Getting off here is nice because we are able to take our time. When we get off along a route, we are rushed and basically pushed out of the vehicle and our gear is dropped from the roof. Not having any food in the day and it already being after 1 in the afternoon, Ryan grabbed a bite at a road side stand while I watched him eat. Such an odd feeling not being hungry for days.
We road the last 15 miles to Panajachel where we stayed for the night before taking a boat across Lago de Atitlan to San Pedro. Lago de Atitlan is a large lake in the middle of Guatemala that is surrounded with volcanoes. It is absolutely bueatiful. Little towns, maybe 7 or 8, are spread around the lake, often tucked under a volcano. It is very calming to be here. We negotiated with the launcheros and eventually found a cheap fare of 70Q ($9) for us and our bikes. The prices ranged from 70-300Q. How is that possible? Early the next morning we were on our way to the tranquil town of San Pedro to start our one on one Spanish classes and live with a local family.
The family we stayed with was a couple in their mid 30's and their 5 year old daughter, Teresita. Along with the family, there were 2 other students in the house that we shared meals with and practiced our Spanish. We were encouraged by our teachers and host family to speak primarily in Spanish, but that often gets tiring when attempting to get a thought across, especially with a small vocabulary. The words, "beautiful", "grande", "amable" are the primarly words in our language. Nonetheless, this was a fantastic way to spend our two weeks in San Pedro. Vicki and Raphael (the host family) were extremely kind, amazing cooks, and Teresita was a lot of fun. We had breakfast waiting for us at 7am before walking the 15 minutes to the school. We learned Spanish from 8-12 and headed back home for lunch. Vicki and Rafael have a unique dynamic because Vicki is a teacher and works outside the house while Rafael stays at home. He takes care of the house, cleans and cooks. This dynamic is unusual in Central America, especially in the Guatemalan Mayan culture. As many know, there is definitely a thing here called "machismo". This is a part of the Mayan culture, somewhat different from typical Mexican machismo. Since even before the Spanish arrived, the Mayan people have divided the labor between the men and woman. The men work in the fields while the women cook the meals, care for the children, make and wash the clothes and serve the men food and drink. Traditionally, the men never cook or even so much as pour themselves a cup of coffee. From what we have learned, the man/woman relationship is slowly changing and becoming more equal. The younger generation is trying to balance preserving their cultural heritage while living in a modern world. It is a nice transition that is being embraced with the growing generations.
Two weeks of one on one Spanish courses definitely helped our ability to communicate. Ryan can carry on conversations pretty well, while I on the other hand still need plenty of work. At least we have enough knowledge to understand and converse with the locals. Too bad we only have two weeks left in Central America to practice all we have learned.
Initially we were planning to depart from Costa Rica at the end of May but recently changed our flights to leave a few weeks early. Although it is tempting to stay and soak up more of the culture, we are both ready to be biking again. Riding here is not as enjoyable as we had anticipated, so we will fly into Minneapolis and ride our way to Buffalo. 1500 miles in the Upper Peninsula, along the Great Lakes over the course of 3 1/2 weeks. I cannot wait to camp, cook, ride and be a little more out there on smooth roads without pollution, intense grades and crazy ass bus drivers. There is no doubt we will travel more in Central America in the future, but maybe next time we will be on motorcycles.
We eventually found a collectivo with room for our bikes and gear up top. Ryan stood in a small space by the side door as I squashed next to a woman with a baby and a large, round, plastic bin filled with some type of food. The children here are amazing. They stand or sit for hours and barely make a peep. So different from being amonst kids in the US or Australia. They are so tough here and do not seem to expect much. This is another topic altogether.
We unloaded at the collectivo's destination point. Getting off here is nice because we are able to take our time. When we get off along a route, we are rushed and basically pushed out of the vehicle and our gear is dropped from the roof. Not having any food in the day and it already being after 1 in the afternoon, Ryan grabbed a bite at a road side stand while I watched him eat. Such an odd feeling not being hungry for days.
We road the last 15 miles to Panajachel where we stayed for the night before taking a boat across Lago de Atitlan to San Pedro. Lago de Atitlan is a large lake in the middle of Guatemala that is surrounded with volcanoes. It is absolutely bueatiful. Little towns, maybe 7 or 8, are spread around the lake, often tucked under a volcano. It is very calming to be here. We negotiated with the launcheros and eventually found a cheap fare of 70Q ($9) for us and our bikes. The prices ranged from 70-300Q. How is that possible? Early the next morning we were on our way to the tranquil town of San Pedro to start our one on one Spanish classes and live with a local family.
The family we stayed with was a couple in their mid 30's and their 5 year old daughter, Teresita. Along with the family, there were 2 other students in the house that we shared meals with and practiced our Spanish. We were encouraged by our teachers and host family to speak primarily in Spanish, but that often gets tiring when attempting to get a thought across, especially with a small vocabulary. The words, "beautiful", "grande", "amable" are the primarly words in our language. Nonetheless, this was a fantastic way to spend our two weeks in San Pedro. Vicki and Raphael (the host family) were extremely kind, amazing cooks, and Teresita was a lot of fun. We had breakfast waiting for us at 7am before walking the 15 minutes to the school. We learned Spanish from 8-12 and headed back home for lunch. Vicki and Rafael have a unique dynamic because Vicki is a teacher and works outside the house while Rafael stays at home. He takes care of the house, cleans and cooks. This dynamic is unusual in Central America, especially in the Guatemalan Mayan culture. As many know, there is definitely a thing here called "machismo". This is a part of the Mayan culture, somewhat different from typical Mexican machismo. Since even before the Spanish arrived, the Mayan people have divided the labor between the men and woman. The men work in the fields while the women cook the meals, care for the children, make and wash the clothes and serve the men food and drink. Traditionally, the men never cook or even so much as pour themselves a cup of coffee. From what we have learned, the man/woman relationship is slowly changing and becoming more equal. The younger generation is trying to balance preserving their cultural heritage while living in a modern world. It is a nice transition that is being embraced with the growing generations.
Two weeks of one on one Spanish courses definitely helped our ability to communicate. Ryan can carry on conversations pretty well, while I on the other hand still need plenty of work. At least we have enough knowledge to understand and converse with the locals. Too bad we only have two weeks left in Central America to practice all we have learned.
Initially we were planning to depart from Costa Rica at the end of May but recently changed our flights to leave a few weeks early. Although it is tempting to stay and soak up more of the culture, we are both ready to be biking again. Riding here is not as enjoyable as we had anticipated, so we will fly into Minneapolis and ride our way to Buffalo. 1500 miles in the Upper Peninsula, along the Great Lakes over the course of 3 1/2 weeks. I cannot wait to camp, cook, ride and be a little more out there on smooth roads without pollution, intense grades and crazy ass bus drivers. There is no doubt we will travel more in Central America in the future, but maybe next time we will be on motorcycles.
No comments:
Post a Comment