Guatemala to El Salvador

Hello again.

I'm now writing from El Salvador. I finished up my language school and felt an immense amount of gratitude for the opportunity to study Spanish and particularly for the wonderful people I met while in Antigua.  Some of my fellow students really inspired me to continue following my own dreams. A wonderful British couple who are retired and sailing around the world reminded me of the many, many amazing places left to see in the world. They along with a new found Seattle friend that I manage to meet in Antigua not in Seattle helped encourage me on this path of dissertation writing. It is a long and tough road to the PhD and there are so many people who help to keep me going. I was surprised to find in a language school in Antigua some added support to keep going on my dissertation. I am ever so grateful for these friendships and inspiration.

It is amazing how much you learn and experience when you leave the comfort of your own culture and your home.  Antigua was a wonderful experience and I hope to return. I was able to go out with friends the night before I left for El Salvador and celebrate such a great experience.  Then at 4am I was picked up by a mini bus and taken to my main bus terminal in Guatemala city. When my mini bus driver learned I was headed to El Salvador he told me to be careful of Salvadorans. I told him that there are people in El Salvador that I consider my family- he was quiet after that. I am still surprised by the racism and stereotypes that exist around the world.

Anyhow, I road from Guatemala City to San Salvador on a nice bus. I left so early in the morning to make sure that I crossed the border at a decent hour and wasn't on the roads after dark. Just a little extra safety, especially as a woman traveling solo.  The only moment of slight incident was at the border when a group of men wanted us to change our money. The waited outside the passport office to surround people as they walked out. As a solo traveler I made sure to wait until someone else on my bus was ready to walk out and then quickly followed that person out so as not to be all alone in a circle of money exchangers. There was no incident but I try to be smart about my travels.

In any event, I arrived in San Salvador and met up with my advisor and one of his masters graduate students. We  have been getting our research underway so stay tuned and I'll fill you in on what we are up to and how the research goes.

Looking back at Guatemala from El Salvador 

Chris

A Blending of Religious Beliefs and Culture

A quick blog to share with you my experience visiting Santiago Atitlan's Catholic Church.
When walking through the church it is striking the evidence both for traditional Catholicism but also traditional Maya believes and religion.  The altar is by far the clearest and most direct evidence of this merging of faiths.  Throughout the new world the contact between European religions and those of Native Americans (First Nations Peoples) has resulted in complex merging of different cosmologies and world views.















Maya groups were subject to vicious attaches and abuses from the European clergy throughout the colonial period. Sacred Maya texts were burned and their authors' or practitioners' as heretics. A systemic ethnocide was undertaken throughout the Americas and the result was a great amount of suffering and cultural loss for indigenous groups. The result has been that while many indigenous groups practice the religion of the conquers (in this Catholicism), in this case the traditional ideas of Maya religions are still found interwoven throughout the Catholic church and the religious practices of its followers.

The central altar at Santiago Atitlan's Catholic Church was a deliberate attempt to recognize the integration of these religious and cultural traditions. In 1976 the altar was begun to be renovated by Diego Chavez Petzey and Nicolas Chaves Sojuel unde rthe direciton of Father Francisco Rother. The altar incorporates both traditional Catholic and Maya symbolism that was meant to show the unity of these traditions in the lives of the people of the church.  According to some at the church, the priest that succeeded Father Rother had tried to remove the Maya influence from the church but the community would not allow it.  Please enjoy the photos of this amazing blend of religious and cultural symbolism.
https://www.wingsofpeaceinternational.org/pdf/Altarpiece_Santiago_Atitlan.pdf

A trip to Lake Atitlan

Hi again,

I finally have a minute to catch you up on my trip to Lake Atitlan. The lake is actually a volcanic crater that is 10 miles across in some sections and known to be the deepest lake in Central America. Imagine what the explosion would have been like to create such a crater. Ash from this eruption has been found in places such a Florida and Ecuador!  True to life in Central America, three newer volcanoes have formed around the lake.

View of Lake Atitlan

The lake water level has change through the years. It used to be much smaller of a lake, but over the years geological events have changed the its drainage, so that it is currently much deeper than in previous years. There are a number of towns surrounding the lake, some more traditional, older towns, others now immersed firmly in the land of foreigners and tourists. There are deep and rich histories both geologically and culturally to this area, but alas only so much I can write here.  One other historical note, unfortunately in October 2005 the lake region was heavily impacted by Hurricane Stan. The major damage to the area was done by flooding and deadly landslides.

View of Lake Atitlan from San Marcos la Laguna

So on a Saturday morning at 5:30am I was picked up by a mini bus for my adventure. In true Central American style, I was originally told 6am by the man who arranged my trip and fortunately stopped back by his office the day before my trip to just make sure the trip was still a go. He said that I would actually need to be ready by 5:30am- so it was a good thing I stopped by his office! When the drive showed up I showed him my ticket and he told me the ticket was only for a tour. Fortunately having dealt with these types of incidents before, I was able to point out that my ticket clearly had transportation also included. Having a little extra Spanish helped a great deal in that regard.  So off we went on a 2.5 hour trek from Antigua to Lake Atitlan.

Image From: http://gocentralamerica.about.com/od/topattractions/ig/Atitlan-Gallery/Lake-Atitlan-Map.htm

Upon arriving Panajachel we met up with our tour guide and hoped in our boat off across the lake to visit the towns of San Marcos la Laguna, Santa Clara la Laguana, San Pedro la Laguna, and finally to Santiago Atitlan. It was wonderful to see the diversity of these towns. For example San Marcos has become a New Age town where there are many yoga studios, meditation areas, and hotels for those wanting to take yoga and meditation retreats. These areas are mostly run by and used by foreigners, though some Guatemalans live and work there as well.  The towns of Santa Clara and San Pedro and Santiago were more traditional Guatemalan towns, though clearly influenced by the large tourism industry coming through Lake Atitlan. For example, in the town of Santa Clara there are huge artisan coops for textiles, paintings, and ceramic crafts.

San Marcos Meditation Pyramids

Another very interesting cultural item was going to see Maximon ("mashy-mon") (name and person in the Maya culture) and San Simon (the Christian figure) in Santiago Atitlan.  The color of the candle you get and burn for Maximon will help you with particular problem. So depending on your religious affiliation you either think of or refer to him as a saint or a ancestor that is a portal to the supernatural. Each year a new family is chosen to care for Maximon. He (his wooden stature) is attended to each day and he is given rum and continuously smokes each day. This is a wonderful example of religious syncretism, where two religious ideologies and practices have merged. The small home was filled with smoke from the chain-smoking statue and he (the statue) was also fed regular rum. This is also an example of the way in which religion and tourism can also mix. I asked various people about how they felt about bringing tourists to see a religious figure and was told that this was a way to support financially the practice of taking care of 'grandfather' as the figure is called in a local Mayan language. 

Sorry there is not time for more details on all of this! There was so many wonderful experiences in my time at Lake Atitlan.

A very interesting trip...

Chris

Thinking through time...language and tenses

Hi again,

There is much to update you on, including my trip to Lake Atitlan this past weekend, but that will have to wait for an Internet signal strong enough to post photos!  For now, I am reflecting on tenses and time as they relate to language.  As posted previously, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is often on my mind as I work my way through language school here in Antigua, Guatemala. This concept is all about if and how much language influences or determines the way in which humans think. While most anthropologists have moved far away from the linguistic determinism side of the spectrum (ling. determ. is the idea that our language absolutely determines our thoughts), there is still little doubt that our construction of language does influence the way we see the world around us.

This is very apparent to me as I've worked my way through so many tenses (times) in the Spanish language in the last couple of weeks. Most striking are the types of time or tenses that exist in Spanish that do not exist in English. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the existence of two different words for the concept "to be" in Spanish (and their uses in different instances, including those that are more or less permanent) is a different way of marking the permanence of a state of being. For example, in the case of health or feelings the way of saying this in Spanish shows the impermanence of this condition, while in English it does not.

Similarly, there are various tenses (times) that do not exist in the English language. Spanish is filled with tenses that are used to indicate if something is securely going to happen or is only an idea. Using the same verb and conjugating it in a different tense changes the meaning completely. In one instance you might indicate you will be doing something tomorrow and in another your tense choice will suggest that you hope to do it someday but it is in doubt. 

These constructions influence you to think about the nature of what you are saying in its relationship to time- not just past, present, or future, but if this is a continuous act or a specific moment in time, if this is something that is just an idea or actual did or will occur. 

Initially it just seems like a lot to remember when learning a new language, but the more I employ it the more I realize how much the structure of the language influences the way I am thinking about the world.  I 'm not asked by the English language to address how likely something is to happen when I select which tense tense to use when conjugating verbs. I might use words such as probably, likely, or will in either language, but the additional step of purposefully selecting which tense to use in Spanish has really pushed me to think differently about the issues of timing and likelihood of occurrence in a different way than I would in English. 

As I think through time and tenses, I am thinking anew about the relationship between thought and language. I am also struck that it is only in studying another language that I can see how my native language constructs time in its own way.



More soon!
Chris

Museo Casa de Tejido

Hi all. (this was written yesterday July 10 but not able to be posted until tonight)

I had another great day of conjugating verbs and struggling through various tenses. After the morning's adventure of having abuela (grandma of the house) beside herself with worry about why I am yet to have children, I returned to school for more work!  Luckily it was only an hour and a half more after lunch of sitting at my desk working... then we were off. My teacher and I walked over to the Museo Casa de Tejido.

 

This museum is dedicated to the craft of weaving in Guatemala. There are a variety of Maya groups throughout Guatemala (approximately 22 Mayan linguistic dialects) and each community expresses their identity through a variety of designs and colors in their weaving.  We were given a private tour of the museum and I was allowed to both practice my Spanish and learn a bit about these beautiful textiles.  This woman is using a traditional back-strap loom. We spent a lot of time discussing weaving and she told me that she began learning to weave when she was 5 years old. She learned from her mother and her grandmother. We talked about how each village has their own distinctive colors and designs and that it is easy to identify (once you know all of the colors and designs that is- in other words easy for HER to identify) where a person is from by the designs and colors in their clothing. I was given a private tour of the museum and at the end was asked to put on the traditional dress from her village San Antonio Agua Caliente (see photos below for a good laugh!).  

Below you will find pictures of traditional Guatemalan huipils.  The clothing also says a lot about the climate where the group lives. A few are made of wool and lots of extra fabric for those who live at higher altitudes in the mountains, where the weather is much colder.  The garments are beautiful and a traditional huipil take approximately 4-6 months to make (if worked on for at least 5 hours a day)! Some designs are used for special ceremonies only. others are worn daily. Also, in some communities the size of the belt of the presence of a head dress signify if a woman is married or single.The traditional dress is very expensive, much more so than a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, so many of the women in these areas cannot afford to wear their own traditional dress as easily. Although, everyone was sure to explain to me that these textiles are well worth the money for many people given how much more durable they are and how much longer they last than cheap t-shirts.

Anyhow, enjoy the photos- I've got to run back to class! 

Chris 

When specifically asked to please wear the traditional dress of one of the weaver's home villages, San Antonio Agua Caliente, I had to oblige. Feel free to giggle at the tall gringa lady! :) 

A time to study...

Hi again all.

Well an update is in order. I'm not actually staying at a retirement home, though it seriously appeared that way when I first arrived this weekend.  All of the very old people in wheel chairs, etc. were either family members or had been staying here over the weekend while their children or gradchildren had other obligations.  Rather than a true 'retirement' home, which goes against a culture with such a strong ethos of family, this is a place where many friends or families bring a relative to stay when there are other obligation/ trips they are taking.

Anyhow, it turns out to be a great place to stay with multiple people coming and going regularly and lots of opportunities to speak Spanish. Not exactly the "traditional family" experience expected but great all the same.

School is going well. This week I have a new teacher. One practice of the school where I am studying is to change teachers each week. This way students are exposed to a variety of teaching styles and accents. Anyhow, this week my teacher is very intense and demanding. It seems impossible to learn as quickly as she would like, but she's pushing me as much as she can. She's a great teacher, but a tough one- she even wants to work with me over the weekend to make sure I progress as far as possible.

One interesting cultural aspect today... this morning the grandmother who lives in the house here asked me if I'm married and have children. I answered simply that I am married and no, I don't have children yet. She then asked how old I was and upon learning that I'm 32 (gasp) with no children, she became insistent that I must have children immediately. She asked how long I've been married and when I answered we are coming up on 4 years, she thought it even stranger I have yet to have children. I explained that upon finishing my doctorate I will begin trying to have children. Truth be told, it is even more intimidating than usual to come out to an older person here because of combined cultural and generation gap.

Anyhow, I didn't have the heart to explain the whole situation to her but laughed at how intense the pressures are for a person, particularly a woman, to get married and have children in this culture. I have seen similar types of this response throughout Central America.  I'll never forget when on one project, the doctorate student I was assisting was 28 years old at the time and unmarried, so the woman taking care of the house where we stayed insisted she needed to find a husband and then proceeded to bring by eligible bachelors whenever possible!

That's all for now. I must get back to class!

Chris

Just roll with it! (updated)

Hi all,

Well as mentioned this morning today was the day for my switch from my hotel into living with a family. My ride showed up on time (which was impressive) and drove me over to the house since I didn't want to lug my suitcases down the beautiful cobble stone streets of Antigua!

In any event, imagine my surprise when I realized that I'm not actually staying at the traditional family home that I thought I'd be staying at. It is not totally clear (no one has said it and I don't feel comfortable asking yet) but on first glance it appeared that I'm staying in a retirement/ old folks home. :-D So it turns out that one of the elderly people is the woman who own's the house's father and she apparently has students and older people with no family live with her. Since it is Sunday there is a large gathering of family that has been coming and going all day. It is not yet clear who lives here and who does not but appears to be a mix of family, older people in need of assistance, and the occasional student/traveler. We'll see how this goes!

Life is rich and one thing about traveling / doing fieldwork is that you learn very quickly to roll with whatever comes your way. No matter what I imagine, nothing ever turns out exactly as I thought it might.  As a friend of mine was quick to point out when I updated my facebook status about my new location, I should be able to learn some great stories and as I reminded her, it is actually probably perfect for me if there are a bunch of older people here since I often have to speak Spanish with old farmers, some of whom also lack teeth!

Just thought you might appreciate the humor and richness of this adventure. Not even close to what I thought I was in for, but I'm sure it will work out for the best.

Chris