December 25, 2014

Antigua, Guatemala

Today has been the start of the Guatemala adventure, the first 10 days to be spent with Nueva Generacion in Guatemala. Nine of the ten of us joining the trip from Los Angeles connected with each other on Christmas Eve at the LAX Delta terminal. We departed on time and had an uneventful flight. The airplane was cold and the snack we were provided was dry bread 2 x 2 inch sandwich with a semblance of ham and cheese and inside and a package of mayonnaise and a piece of fruit (I think since mine fell on the floor). Prior to going to the airport I got Sophie and Emma to their favorite doggie camp in Castaic and drove to my father's house where I left my car and then took a cab. I had planned to eat dinner at the airport, but I was early and shared soup and gefilte fish with my father and spent some time with him before leaving.

No problems collecting baggage or clearing immigration and our driver with a van for us and one for the luggage was there at the airport. There was almost no one on the road at 7 AM Christmas Day as we headed out of Guatemala City to Antigua. We noted that we passed at least one, if not more, Taco Bell, Burger King, McDonalds, and Pizza Hut. We made good time to Antigua and arrived around 8 AM at the Aurora Hotel. Our rooms would not be ready until around 2, but we were invited to have breakfast if we wanted (and most of us did). A few other hotel guests emerged who it turned out were some of the North Carolina contingent we were joining. Introductions were made and we started to get to know each other. After breakfast I walked the two or so blocks to the main square with Rabbi Lucy Dinner from N. Carolina, her husband, and Elaine, also from N. Carolina, to find an ATM. Almost all shops were closed. She pointed out some choice spots - great bakery, for example.

Antigua is an old Mayan settlement. The Antigua we saw has cobblestoned streets and pastel colored Spanish colonial buildings reminiscent of some of the towns I was in when I was in the Yucatan. There are a number of old colonial churches scattered throughout, mostly in ruins, I believe from earthquakes. We saw the main church which sits on one side of the Central Parque or central town plaza. I walked a bit on my own to get back to the hotel and found the jade museum, a store with some educational exhibits.I was impressed to see a mosaic jade mask from Calukmal, one of the more recently excavated Mayan ruins in the Yucatan and somewhat remote in location that I had visited on my trip there a few years ago. I walked by the back of the church and passed the open door to a small chapel were a Christmas Day service was occurring with "O Come All Ye Faithful" being sung in Spanish. We got back to the hotel and hung around for a bit waiting for a Canadian couple that work closely with Cindy Schneider, the founder of Nueva Generacion, to show up. We walked back to the center of town looking for a restaurant for lunch. The planned one was closed as were most others. We finally found a restaurant with sandwiches, crepes, omelets. I was amazed at how complicated and prolonged a process the ordering process at the counter became. However, we all eventually got our food and ate in the upstairs dining area. I had a ham and cheese and spinach crepe and horchata to drink. While we were placing orders, we heard a loud boom which was the beginning of a series of firecrackers being set off mid-day in the central square. After a few minutes smoke filled the restaurant. - Every fiesta, procession, or celebration of any kind in Guatemala involves fireworks.

I got to know Cindy better and have learned more from talking with her and Soraya, the liaison for the village, about conditions here. The program started to help with elementary education. Like other developing nations the challenges are big. Parents who are generally undeducated often do not understand the value of education. There is a high incidence here of child labor and parents see children spending time in school as a detraction from their ability to help support the family.(I shared with Soraya the recent Los Angeles Times series on the conditions of farmers in Mexico that addressed in part and in graphic detail the horrific conditions child must endure as farm workers. For most children, this program may only provide a year or two of education, but that is more than they would have had otherwise. There are no resources or services for children with special needs. Soraya's home has turned into a sort of community center with after school tutoring and family support. She is studying sociology and serves as the village social worker, but has worked teaching kindergarten. Teachers up until very recently have not required a university education, but sort of a secondary school vocational education-type career path. That is changing now. I had also asked Soraya about domestic violence and child abuse. She stated that she thinks there is a fair amount of domestic violence, less so of child abuse. However, women typically do not report for fear of recrimination or shame. She stated that if reported there are legal processes to address this, but how effective or accessible they are is unclear. I have shared with both how I have become involved with American Jewish World Service, and that I know they support some NGOs here in Guatamela. I will get that information to Soraya in case any organizations can be of help to her village.

So after lunch, we walked back to the hotel. About two doors down is the Choco Museo, a chocolate shop that sells chocolate, truffles, mollinillos (the Mayan wooden chocolate mixing device), and various other cups and chocolate paraphernalia. Three times a day there are chocolate workshops. I was able to get the last place for the 1:30 workshop. One other family from North Carolina, Sheila, Kevin and their 9th grade twins Jessica and Jonathan were also part of the class as were some other Americans including a 7 and 9 year old, an Australian, a physical therapist from the UK, and a young woman from Germany. We had this amazing 22 year old instructor, Alejandro, who spoke great English, was funny, and engaging with all the participants. We learned the history of chocolate, how the Mayans processed and used chocolate, the steps required to make chocolate, dark and milk, and white chocolate, and then how the Europeans added automation, developed hot chocolate, and brought chocolate cultivation to Asia and Africa, closer to Europe. The country now producing the most chocolate is the Ivory Coast. We learned the average number of cups of hot chocolate consumed per person in various countries (54 in U.S., 97 in U.K.). The rest of the class was interactive and we made and/or consumed chocolate tea made from the husks of cocoa beans, Mayan chocolate, European hot chocolate, and finally, got to make our own chocolate candies with either dark or milk chocolate and an assortment of additives such as almonds, macadamia nuts, coconuts, coffee beans, Oreos, cinnamon, cardamom, sea salt, ginger, etc. The chocolates had to be refrigerated for at least an hour, and we could pick them up later.

I came back to the hotel and got my room and my luggage placed there. I then headed off to the Hotel Santo Domingo. The group was supposed to go together after the chocolate class, but I guess those who wanted to go had already left. I got directions from the woman at the hotel and walked the two blocks to get there. I couldn't find the entrance and ended up walking all the way around this huge complex, at least another half to three-quarters miles. The Hotel Casa Santo Domingo is a noted 5 star hotel and museum in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala. It is located in the grounds of the Santo Domingo Monastery, which was once a stronghold of one of the most grand convents in the Americas. The whole complex is behind a wall. After walking through the hotel, the rear has the ruins of the convent including an underground burial crypt and niches built in a brick wall in which bodies have been found. The museums are small but very well done featuring pre-Columbian art and one which has an integrated exhibit of pre-Columbian art and contemporary glass sculpture There was a lovely pool. There were scattered parrots perched in trees. I was taking pictures of one when the man who collected them for the evening came by with a long stick to get them off their perches. He kindly told me their names (I only remember Princessa) and agreed to let me take his picture with the birds.

I then walked back to the hotel and went to pick up my candy. As I walked out of the chocolate store, a parade was coming down the street. There were a few sellers of multi-colored cotton candy and then the Virgin Mary atop a platform on a truck followed by some nuns and a small band. I had seen a similar parade in Merida in the Yucatan at night with the Virgin Mary, but in that parade there were cars with giant loud speakers attracting a lot of attention.

Back to the hotel for some down time (and to work on this). Dinner was at Frida's, a Mexican restaurant. There were many pictures around the restaurant of Frida Kahlo and of some of her works. I ordered Frida's Special to drink with rum, tequila, pineapple juice, and whatever else and chicken with mango. It was a good dinner. I spent time talking with David, a Kol Ami member I have not known who is a psychiatrist, and learned from him and have gotten to know him better. As we walked out of the restaurant, fireworks were being shot up into the sky. We watched them for a few minutes and walked on. I connected with Cindy who had her little dog, Jody, a Shih Tzu, that she had brought along. She was holding Jody who was shaking because of the noise of the fireworks. I shared with her the story of our little dog Buttercup, a cockapoo, of many years ago who was traumatized by the sound of fireworks and then she heard thunder in the back yard took off between the bars of the wrought iron fence only to return three and a half weeks later smelling like maple syrup, odor that she kept despite many baths for the next six or so months. We walked past the central square. The trees were all decorated with white lights and the square had many people in it. There were some Mayan women selling textiles on the promenade in front of the shops across the street from the square where we were walking. As I entered the hotel, my hotel neighbors and chocolate partners were sitting outside the room looking up information about Frida Kahlo with whom they were unfamiliar. We talked for a few minutes, Sheila gave me some dulces tipicas that she had bought, I said "good night" and came in my room to finish writing this. So "good night."