Tajumulco

Since Monday I have been busy with 5 hours of Spanish lessons from 8am until 1pm and activities in the afternoon. The Spanish is coming along OK, and it is encouraging to feel myself improving, if only very slowly. My list of verbs is growing ever longer and when I can’t handle conjugating verbs any more we play games designed for four year olds!!

Monday’s activity was a trip to the nearby village of Zunil. Zunil is slightly famous for the saint it houses, not in the Catholic Church, but in a run down house on the outskirts of the village. The reason Saint Simón does not live in the church is that the Catholic Church does not recognise him and the reason they don’t recognise him is because he is evil, a combination of ancient Mayan beliefs and modern imposed Catholicism. The first impression you get stepping into his chamber is that it is hot and dimly lit. The reason for both of these phenomena is that the chamber is lit mostly by the candles that have been bought by worshippers. San Simón sits in the middle of the room surrounded by candles and about four attendants; he is dressed in an assortment of odd clothes, including a scarf and a cowboy hat.

On our visit we were fortunate enough to experience a man asking San Simón for a favour. This intricate process first involved lighting a candle for San Simón, the colour of which varies according to the type of favour needed, white for the health of a child, yellow for a good harvest, red for love and black to wish ill upon another person (San Simón will not kill people, only incapacitate them). As other Saints are capable of granting at least the first two requests many of the candles are red or black, and in many cases the two are burnt together! We did not get to see which type of candle this particular worshipper had lit, but his next task was to give San Simón a small cigar, which he smokes through a pipe (an attendant is on hand all day to clear his pipe for him, the ash from which is sold to cure insomnia). Having had a smoke, San Simón was next given rum, the attendant tipped San Simón back, and an entire small bottle was poured down his throat. Having pleased San Simón, the man then spent several minutes whispering in San Simón’s ear, giving him detailed instructions I suppose. Having witnessed this unusual ceremony we got back on the bus and headed back to Xela, I would have to say it is one of the strangest things I have ever seen!

Tuesday’s activity was somewhat more normal, a trip to Fuentes Georginas, hot springs which emerge from the mountainside above Zunil. The springs flow into a nice rock pool with a small restaurant on the side. We spent a couple of hours soaking in the hot water (a pleasant relief after a month of lukewarm showers) before returning to Xela.

Wednesday afternoon’s activity was a dance class, most of you will be surprised to know that I attended, and being one of only two males at the school to attend, the girls had no choice but to dance with me despite my general lack of ability. For the record we learnt the Salsa and Marimba, and I wasn’t quite as bad as you all may expect.

On Wednesday night we organised to see the local soccer team, Xelaju play against some other team (the name of which is unimportant because I’ve forgotten). Arriving at the stadium we paid our entrance fee and climbed onto the concrete stand in time to watch the second half of the under 20’s (who won 2-1 if anyone cares). The lesser match having been completed, Xelahu paraded onto the field led by their mascot Supochivo (sp?), literally ‘Super Goat.’ At this point a large portion of the crowd put the paper bags they had been carrying over their heads. After some rather difficult enquiries we managed to ascertain this was because the team was on a rather spectacular loosing streak and the supporters were ashamed and hence did not want to be seen! Meanwhile the spectators who were not so ashamed proceeded to let off a small factory’s worth of fireworks, briefly enveloping us in a cloud of pink smoke. After a rather unspectacular display Xelaju lost once more, though this time in part due to a rather unfair looking penalty awarded to the other team.

Thursday weaving class was cancelled. I wasn’t too disappointed; I had been lured there in the first place by the promise that there was a risk the woman may fall into the loom, which sounded highly amusing.

I spent Friday evening helping Yoshi to cook dinner, which is held at school. On the menu was rice with shrimp and vegetables, it was delicious, probably more due to Yoshi’s cooking skills and the fact it didn’t have beans or eggs or corn, than that the vegetables were chopped and the shrimp peeled by an expert (me)! While everyone else went out, I retired early to prepare for the weekend.

At 4:15am I got out of bed and walked across town to the office of Quetzaltrekkers, from where a group of about 20 of us set off to climb Volcán Tajumulco, whose 4,220 m peak is not only the highest in Guatemala, but the highest in Central America. A crowded chicken bus put us in San Marcos for breakfast and another even more crowded bus put us in the middle of nowhere to begin walking.

Wearing a borrowed pack and carrying the dregs of the shared equipment (a six man tent which was very nearly bigger than the pack) I think I had more stuff hanging on the outside of my pack than I had in it. None the less the walking was not too difficult, though made more strenuous than you may expect by the altitude. After frequent stops we made it to camp at about 5pm under blue skies. Having set up, we walked to the top of the small peak next to Tajumulco proper. Two minutes from the top and 10 minutes before sunset the cloud rolled in and we didn’t see a thing (I have photos, but I’ll spare you them!). After dinner of pasta, followed by marshmallows over the fire we got quickly into bed, it was getting very cold and we had to get up early once more.

This morning’s rising time was a (slightly!) more respectable 4:45am. Tired and still enveloped in darkness (though under a fine display of stars) we walked the final hour to the top of Tajumulco with the sun rising behind us (I stopped to snap some of the pictures on the way up). We arrived at the summit just in time to see the sun peek above the horizon, and we spent quite some time is the freezing wind snapping photos and admiring the view which stretches across three ranges of volcanoes to the south, to Mexico in the north and to the Pacific in the west. Also of special note was the shadow that Tajumulco cast on the plains below, despite not looking very volcano shape from below, it’s shadow forms a near perfect pyramid.

Once everyone was suitable hypothermic we walked around the crater before descending back to camp for breakfast. The trip down was somewhat quicker and after another painful bus ride we arrived back in Xela around 4pm. Needless to say, I had a rather early night.

This afternoon’s activity was to San Andrés Itzapa whose main features are another home of San Simón and the intricately decorated church. We stayed long enough to watch another slightly different version of the same strange ritual and snap a couple of photos of the church before returning to Xela, where I now sit writing my impressions. But know it is dinnertime and I’m hungry so for this week that is all. ¡Adios!