Researchers from the University of Portsmouth report that the
Amondowa people of the Amazon jungle have no concept of time except day/night
and wet season/dry season. The day isn’t
broken up into hours and they seemingly have no way to mark dates on a
calendar. A person from this tribe could
not tell you their age. Seems like the
perfect place for our friend John Evans, who is permanently on island time.
Through our observations, we believe that Guatemalans also
lack a concept familiar to us. The
concept I refer to is, “Too full.”
Strangely, they have a very strong sense of, “Not full enough.” What evidence leads us to our
conclusion? On the way to Lake Atitlan, we took a chicken
bus, and no matter how many people were riding, the bus was not full. It was impossible to fill the bus. Today, we had the same experience on a water
taxi to Santiago Atitlan. The water taxi
was a bit over capacity by our standards, but still more people could fit. At a point, we felt that we were dangerously
full and in danger of capsizing, but still more could fit. Thoughts of ferries in third world countries
capsizing and drowning all came to mind.
Then we remembered that we were on a ferry in a third world country… Finally, we disembarked; riding so low that
water was splashing into the boat.
Luckily, they didn’t take up space with life jackets or we may have
actually been full.
After getting about 100 yards out on the lake, the motor on
the boat stalled. Kathy had comforting flashbacks
from her teenage years. “The boat’s fine
Kathy Lynn.” That’s what her father used
to tell her about the car she could drive.
She was just about to crawl back the where the boat motor was located to
stick a screwdriver in the carburetor when the boat motor roared back to life. We went another half mile, and the motor
stalled again. As we drifted, we
contemplated what our losses would be if we had to swim to shore. We’d definitely loose the camera and video
camera. The girls would be able to swim
to shore easily. Kathy and I probably
would make it...
The motor fired up again and off we went. I guess the motor just needed to warm up. On a serious note, all of you Republicans and
Libertarians who want to minimize the role of government should move to
Guatemala. They have very little of
that, so they can fit as many people on a boat as they want, and not waste
money on life jackets. Also, they are
free to dump raw sewage into one of the world’s most beautiful lakes. Doesn’t that sound like utopia? As for me, I’m more thankful for OSHA and the
EPA than ever.
We pulled into the dock at Santiago Atitlan and were once
again accosted by tour operators. We
hired a tuk-tuk driver who took us to the main sites. Our first stop of note was to see Maximom,
the Mayan deity that I spoke of in an earlier post. Without our driver, we never would have found
Maximom; who changes homes each year. We
were surprised, and a bit suspicious, when the driver stopped because the
location was only marked with spray paint on the side of the building. I guess Maximom really does go from house to
house! We went inside the room where
Maximom was seated. It was surrounded by
a dozen Mayans who were drinking and standing vigil. Maximom, true to form, had a cigarette in his
mouth. Each of us made an offering and
prayed for safe return to home and left.
The story of Maximom is very interesting, and is best told here.
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| The approach to Maximom's temporary home. |
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| Maximom |
Next, our driver took us to the Peace Park. During the Guatemalan civil war, Santiago was
caught in the middle of the conflict between guerilla fighters and the Guatemalan
army. Thousands of people from Santiago
were killed and most of the families of this small, remote town lost
someone. This park marks the spot of the
army’s ‘temporary’ base. For ten years,
the army was stationed here and fought the guerillas, who were located in the
surrounding mountains. On December 2,
1990 thousands of residents gathered at the base to demand justice for a crime
committed by the base commander. The
army responded with gunfire, killing a dozen men, women and children. As a result of this, the entire town banded
together, and with one voice made it known that they did not want either the
army or the guerillas in their town.
Their efforts were successful, and the president removed the
soldiers. To this day, the Guatemalan
army is not allowed in Santiago Atitlan.
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| The Peace Park with our driver Pedro. |
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| Mural at the Peace Park |
Our last stop was the Catholic church and town market. The church was built in 1571. Inside was a memorial to Father Stanley Francis Rother, who was murdered by
a right-wing death squad in 1981 for trying to help the people of
Santiago. His body was buried in his
native Oklahoma, but at the request of the local Tz'utujil people, his heart
was interred at this church. He is
considered a martyr of the Catholic Church and has been declared a Servant of
God; one step on the path to sainthood.
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| Catholic church, est. 1571. |
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| Memorial to Father Rother |
By this time, we
were tuckered out, so we wound our way through the crowded marketplace, boarded
the mostly seaworthy San Juan, and
headed back to San Pedro.
No worries...no more water taxis are required. The temperatures vary a lot in Guatemala. It is actually their winter, but we are so close to the equator that it doesn't matter much. At Tikal, we were in jungle so it was 100% humidity and in the 80s. It is very pleasant at Lake Atitlan because we are at 5,000 feet in elevation. The temperature is in the 60s at night and 70s-80 in the day, with a much lower humidity. The village is small, but can be noisy in the early evening. Fireworks are common, and are associated with some of the celebrations at the Catholic church. There are several evangelical churches near our house, and every night we hear them playing music. It's a really cool environment. I guess what I am saying is that the religious folks are pretty rowdy!
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