I'm home now, but it would feel quite incomplete not to reflect on the last days of Guatemala (this year).

Arriving in an American airport after being abroad is always an experience. I don't know that I'd call it culture shock per say, but just the recognition of a number of things that you lived with out, without realizing. Things like Homeland Security. Football games and college sweatshirts. The mid-western accent. PDA. Then there's the language adjustment. This is the first travel I've done where I actually spoke the host language, so at first I walked around sort of assuming that the people walking past didn't speak English. I bought TCBY from an Asian woman in Salt Lake City and for a split second didn't know how to ask for what I wanted, trying to find the words in Spanish, and then realized that she didn't look like someone with a reason to know it. The Chocolate or Vanilla question brought me to my senses.

It was not as depressing as I feared it would be to leave Guatemala, I was ready to be home. Ready, but still shocked to find out my brain was deceiving me to believe that my flight home was a whole day later than it actually was. With the sudden realization that I had less that 24 hours left, I began counting my blessings that I left San Pedro the week before. The last 2 days there of wrapping up my lessons and saying goodbye to my teachers and host family left me with the feelings of mi corazón en el estómago. I have learned incredible amounts about the Mayan culture, about San Pedro, and about these peoples’ lives. In some ways I feel guilty that I can just go somewhere and start a life and just leave, but for me that’s the most important part of travel, is to dig in deep enough to see the humanity in other people. As different as Tacoma is to a pueblo in the highlands, I believe we are all the same with consequences that inform how I live my life in the States. I truly have a family in San Pedro and need to return, and knowing that a year from now it’s possible satiates me for now.

When I left San P I headed straight for Santa Cruz del Quiche to meet my friend Melissa from Spanish School. Sorry to anyone who’s been and enjoyed it, but Quiche isn’t worth mentioning in a travel blog. We went together to Chichicastenango on market day. The guidebook makes the market out to be an absolute must do for tourists, and underemphasizes the spiritual significance of the city. Go if you like to shop, the market is very cool, but the town itself is the charm. The former monastery of ChiChi is where the Popul Vuh was discovered, a written version of the QuicheMaya cosmology that survived the Spanish conquest and most if not all other renditions of the tradition. All throughout the highlands people embody a mix of traditional spiritual practice and Catholicism, but in ChiChi the mix is more obvious, with Mayan rituals occurring inside the Catholic temple. I wish I could have been there on a non-market day as well, just to get a less polluted feel for the place, but not this trip. This trip I shopped.

From Chichicastenango I left my friend and went up into the Cuchumatanes Mountains for 3 days, staying in the pueblo of Nebaj. Of course I would arrive at night in the rain, totally turned around, and of course the only other gringo on the bus was a Peace Corps guy from Kansas. Trust the world, people. The hostel I stayed at and the company I hiked with were both projects started by the Peace Corps to provide job opportunities for young adults in Nebaj. If you ever go, look up El Descanso, because they got it going on.

I primarily went to Nebaj for the hiking, which was excellent, but the most interesting aspect of the Ixel region is its recent history. The “Ixel Triangle” refers to the three major villages (and some 180 other small villages, most without road access) associated with one of the smaller Maya ethnic groups which were nearly obliterated during the Guatemalan civil war (henceforth, La Violencia). According to Nicolas, my 60+ year old hiking guide, during La Violencia the population of Nebaj swelled as people fled more remote mountain communities. The Guerrilla forces (ultimately seeking land redistribution and civil care for the Mayan peoples of Guatemala) were very strong in this neglected, isolated region, and the army response was correspondingly deadly. The army razed some 20 villages to the ground in attempt to route out support for the Guerrillas, going to the lengths of arming locals and forcing them to participate in “civil patrols” to kill Guerrillas and local sympathizers. I asked how many people of Nebaj died in the conflict, and received only the answer “bastante” (enough). Nebaj was removed from maps of Guatemala until after the war. Ironically, the post-war reconstruction effort has dramatically improved life in Nebaj, according to my guide. Pre-war there was no paved road out of town, but now the government has paved in between the three principle villages of the region, and connected then to the main highway, dramatically increasing job prospects and educational opportunities. The UN came in and built tons of “model villages” in the mountains to resettle the highlanders. I hiked to one, Acul. There really isn’t anything “model” about it- there is zero infrastructure. Sort of like developing a suburb on a Sim game and letting it get populated. I don’t think the people living there now are necessarily who lived on that land before. Sadly, many people who fled on to Nebaj, but into the mountains as single people and families have never returned to their communities. For me, it’s fascinating how strong Nebaj seems 14 years later. Next to San Antontio, it was the most traditional (larger) village I visited, and the community there felt very strong. I really enjoyed exploring down random paths past houses and through corn fields (because “private road” just isn’t a concept in a village).

I forwent traveling to Coban in favor of an extra day in Antigua with Melissa (turned out to be a good choice, I was ready to relax by then, and otherwise it would have been much harder to make that flight I nearly missed by 24 hours). Antigua is very pleasant, and very clean. I heard someone describe it as “middle class” for Guatemalans, but I don’t really know if that’s correct or not. Let’s just say that I didn’t see much traditional anything, but that the people didn’t seem “Guatemala City” either. The town has an eerie feeling of fakeness- it’s like Levenworth, WA, where no business signs can protrude from the edifice and Burger King and Pollo Compero (Guatemalan KFC) have nice carved wooden signs without neon. That said, it’s a very pretty place in the valley next to a volcano (photos forthcoming). I think a lot of people come to “Guatemala,” but really just come to Antigua and arrange 1 or 2 day trips. More expensive, but more comfortable for sure. As the former Spanish capital of Central America, the place is full of intact and ruined churches to explore, fantastic food, and museums. A description would not be complete without mentioning the central park fountain, modeled after an Italian one. I’ll let it speak for itself:

I had a fantastic time in Guatemala, and literally can’t find anything to complain about. I know that a return trip is in my future, but for further Spanish study, and to explore the many other parts of the country that I did not see on this trip, which was high on culture and happiness, and low on sightseeing. A perfect 6 weeks.