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June 19, 2007
El Lago Atitlan
This past Saturday morning we packed 15 people and a driver in a microbus to drive through the mountains to the beautiful lake Atitlan. Like the black sands of Chamerico, Atitlan is a product of volcanic history and the lake contained by amazing inactive volcanos around its shores. Some have said that the lake never looks the same twice, and it was true for us that Saturday and Sunday morning gave us unique looks at the lake with different clouds, time of day, etc.
When we arrived on Saturday, our group checked our things into a nice little hotel in Panajachel and then jumped in a small boat that took us across to our second lake town of Santiago Atitlan. We got the feeling pretty quickly about the strength of the tourist industry here and the number of stores and vendors that cater to people like us. It was a lot of fun to see the unique crafts, including many colorful paintings replicating the style of Juan Sisay, a famous painter from this town. We visited the town's very old cathedral, which had a sobering memorial commorating the building's role as a refuge for people during the war and the lives of the martyrs, including some priests, who died in their efforts to protect the people from the violence. Our last stop before lunch was to visit the town's image of San Simón, which represents a fellow who apparently had a gift of curing people in this region many years ago. He was never given sainthood by the Catholic church, but folks still honor him and pray for help and healings and whatever else. In each village around the lake, our guide from ICA pointed out and discussed the persisting syncretism in between Catholic and Mayan traditions.
As we rode in the boat to our next town, it started to rain and our next visits were cut a little short. Nevertheless, we really enjoyed seeing a women's cooperative where they weave their work. We took a picture with two little girls weaving bracelets and bought some of their work. Santa Catarina was the last town we visited, where we looked at the mixing of religious traditions within the Catholic church there and local art gallery. Back in Panajachel in the evening we had some tasty supper at a restaurant along the lakeside.
On Sunday morning we explored the town a while and stumbled upon and stayed around for a baptismal service in the lake. They sang some choruses that were familiar to us and around a half dozen people made public confessions of faith and were baptised. It was refreshing to see something more authentically of the people beyond the street vendors for tourists.
From there, we took our microbus to the city of Chichicastenango, which has a famous market on Sundays and Thursdays. It was certainly some of the things we had seen before, and much more as well. It was also interesting to observe where the market targeted tourists and where it met the needs of local folks. The most eventful thing of the afternoon was when Rebekah's shoe sole fell/peeled about halfway off. It was probably the best place for this to happen and she flopped around until we found one of the many shoe repair stands where they could glue it back together.
Back in Xela around 7:00 in the evening, we ate supper and rested for another week of classes, trees and other activities.
Posted by Derrick at June 19, 2007 10:43 PM