Las Cumbres. Tucked away directly off the side of the carretera on a hill just outside Zunil. Once again, Cesar braved the task of escorting Celas Maya estudiantes through camionetas and other vehicles to enjoy the geothermal warmth and luxury that comes from steam spitting out of the earth.
What a great way to spend an afternoon. The grounds and surrounding landscape were breathtakingly gorgeous, the steam room was intensely hot and—did I mention that it cost 4 bucks. $3.77 to be as exact as I can be without a calculator.
After the sauna, returned to Xela for a bit of dinner and another viewing of Sin Nombre. This is the third time I’ve seen this film and I simply love it. I watched it when I first started taking formal classes in NYC, to help me with Spanish. It’s about a Honduran family that is attempting to migrate to the U.S. and MS13, Mara Salvatrucha, the incredibly violent Central American gang with members all over the Americas that have gotten quite a bit of media coverage in the past few years. Really worth watching, warning, it is a tad disturbingly violent, but I didn’t get the sense that any of it was gratuitous. Definitely not for kids.
The last couple of days have been a little hectic. School, work, studying, class trips, rain, yoga, cooking, answering emails, gmail chatting, empanada eating. Got the green light to go ahead with my design idea so I will try and post a few completed pages this weekend. Today I played hooky from classes to travel with Stef to Mazatenango, which is close to the Pacific Coast, to see the payasos in action and photograph an intervention at an HIV/AIDS clinic at the main hospital with another group they work with, Nueva Esperanza. Hasta ahora, I’ve been experiencing all of this two-dimensionally which was impressive enough, but it was increíble to see them in action.
It seems the clinic in Mazatenango (and other similar facilities throughout Central America) holds platicas (informal conferences/meetings) with HIV and AIDS patients and healthcare providers, to discuss progress (or lack of) in health initiatives and also perhaps to distribute information on access to medication or therapy. Proyecto Payaso and other groups they are affiliated with then infiltrate these meetings to create realistic scenarios that focus on social stigmas and the emotional impact of dealing with living with HIV or AIDS, and preventing its spread. They engage the audience by involving them in what’s happening “on stage” in an extremely sensitive and effective way. It is interactive improv with a purpose. Now I’m going to have to figure out a way to describe today in Spanish. Using past participles…my favorite! Carlos ha estado really accommodating and I was going to have afternoon classes with him instead of morning classes, but we were stuck in a cola (traffic jam) on the way back to Xela and were already running late, and when I called him he seemed okay with re-rescheduling our class for Saturday. Which, por supuesto, gave me a free afternoon to go to the market for food and cook for my house/work mates.
I made lomo de cerdo en limon y ajo con platanos y chili Copán machacado. Yes, prima del sol, I made plaintain-crusted pork loin. With rice and beans too. I can’t tell you how much mileage I am getting out of this dream dish. And it really was FANTASTIC, even at this altitude. Everyone loved it, even Christine, who is a French chef at Stef’s restaurant. She brought me to her butcher in el mercado behind the church so I wouldn’t get ripped off and get relatively fresh meat. Honestly, I don’t know what possessed me to buy hanging meat from an unrefrigerated room where blocks of wooden tables are crammed next to each other in a most unsanitary way. But it certainly was delicious, and it’s been a few hours and I still feel okay. The meat was really tender and seemed to be of high quality, you know, for meat that’s hanging in an unrefrigerated room all day around other meat and organisms it shouldn’t be hanging around with.
And on that note, before I start worrying about all the intestinal illnesses I could have and before I start googling things like “guatemalan market meat” or “deaths in Central America directly related to bad pork”, I’m going to hit the hay. Hasta mañana.
Such lush grounds. Beautiful. More so in person I’m sure.
Most people don’t know when to use “whom”. Myself included. Speaking of grammar, I just learned (from a TV show) that whom should be used after a preposition. (What’s a prep)?
I think when you come home you will have to spend a day cooking all these dishes you talk about and have a party.
I’ll bring the napkins.
LOVE YA
Hmmmm, what’s a preposition? No sé. But don’t tell Carlos. This is a simple definition I found online:
Prepositions are words that show the relationship between a noun or a pronoun and some other word or element in the rest of the sentence.
Whatever that means. That pork dish is delicious, can’t wait to cook it for you…yes, please bring the napkins xoxoxo
Prepositions are words such as: to, among, through, after, with,… used in prepositional phrases such as “with the pork, came an intestinal virus.”
Dear god, Tricia, I hope they have Pepto Bismal down there. But the pork dish does sound tasty. When are you back and able to cook for all of us?! Miss you!
I laughed out loud when I read this…intestines still seem to be in tact even though I buy my meat from the strangest places. There’s a small shop that sells almost every nonedible item you can imagine AND spicy sausages and chorizo. And on Mondays and Tuesday, if you get there early enough, they have queso fresco.
I’ll be back in the beginning of November (decided to extend my trip through October, just have to change my ticket) and I promise to make this for all of you. Miss you too!
omg u r staying with all this rain???? it is a great trip – I can c Y u want to stay!!! miss u!! just caught up on your posts!!! nlove love love them!! your pictures are great!!!
I am…just changed my ticket today. And hopefully the weather will just keep getting better, it didn’t rain a drop yesterday and today was sunny and gorgeous. Was tempted to stay through the end of the year, but I will be a grown up and come back in the beginning of November…right after día de los muertos! How are you, honey? How are Sandro and the kids…and how is your mom, please give her a big big big hug from me. Love u xoxo