On Tuesday morning, my teacher and I visited a coffee plantation and coffee museum and a Mayan Musical Instrument Museum. $5 gave access to all places with tour guides. The music museum guide played all the instruments she showed us: marimba, goat hide hand drums, gourd shakers, flutes, and, my favorite - animal instruments: a turtle shell played with a deer antler, and a deer jaw played by running a stick along the teeth or by shaking the jawbone so the loose teeth rattled in place.
On the Coffee Tour, I saw baby coffee plants in greenhouses, learned that Guatemala is one of the world's largest importers of coffee after Brazil, Vietnam, Kenya and Ethiopia, and sampled delicious free coffee and chocolate. Both tours were given in Spanish.
On Tuesday afternoon in class, I went to a presentation/demonstration about the making of colored-sawdust carpets "alfombras" for Lent and Easter parades. Workers shake dyed sawdust onto large, intricate stencils made weeks in advance. Each color layer needs a new stencil. Fine sawdust in some parts next to thick, fluffy sawdust of a new color nearby creates some depth. An entire carpet will take a minimum of 7 hours to complete. Then the parade passes over destroying it. In the meantime, people water the sawdust to keep it from blowing away. An extremely beautiful, creative tradition!
On the way back to school from the demonstration, we all stopped at a bakery. 15-25 cents will get you anything from large anise or lemon cookies, cream-filled or chocolate frosted donuts, lemon or strawberry filled pasteries, raisin or vanilla cupcakes, or long, flat cinnamon/sugar-dusted bread. A small, Mayan woman runs the shop, which always has a line during its limited afternoon hours. Its been a dangerous thing knowing the existence of this bakery the rest of my week!
Yesterday in class, I visited both a church ruin and a nunnery ruin. My teacher said that none of the original churches from that time survived the earthquakes. New churches have been erected in their stead, but they in no way carry the charm, majesty or attention to detail of the originals. Entering the old courtyards felt like arriving in another world - one of grass, stone, blue sky, bright flowers draping high above, where the thick, stone walls blocked out the traffic-congested, narrow streets on the other side.
I recently returned from another 2-hour walk up the same mountain road I explored last weekend. Since it was only 9:30, I had the road all to myself. 20 minutes passed before my mind's clutter cleared out. My tummy is growling and I'm looking forward to lunch and talking with Llondee and Marta now.
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