Hello again:) I can't believe it has nearly been 1 month of me living in Guatemala... I feel like I just got here! But here we are with February coming to an end and new adventures beginning. This past week was a nice chill week. Coming back from volcano climbing it was much needed and I felt like I could pour more energy and inspiration into my life here in Cobán.
Monja Blanca
So this week some exciting events were taking place in the city. On the 21st, they celebrated the day of the Guatemalan national flower the monja blanca, or white nun. I joined a couple of friends to go see it at the Palacio de gobernación. At the exposition they had a live dance performance and many important looking people around. I even ran into one of my students who was probably on a field trip... (I´m pretty sure they weren't skipping school at least). It was very cool! And I learned why it is called the monja blanca. If you don't already know why, take a close look and see if you can figure it out!
Monja blanca, zoom in for a little surprise!
A dance performance in the palacio
:)
The view from the back... which I never even knew
existed because I always walk by the other side!
Q'eqchi
Also a new development this week, I joined a class on Q'eqchi that a friend showed me. Q'eqchi is a Mayan language spoken in this region of Guatemala. It is very different from Spanish. I figured since I am living here for a while, I could do is at least try to learn some. I enjoy learning about other languages and how different cultures express themselves so it gives me a little peak into that aspect of Cobán's culture. I have also realized it helps re instill the perspective of a new language learner for me which I think is very important to go back to when you are teaching language. While I can often draw on my experience of learning a second language, in the classroom, it has now been a while since I was in the shoes of some of these students who are starting at 0. Putting myself back in that place reminds me of how intimidated they may be feeling at the prospect of learning English, which I hope can make me a better teacher.
To be honest, sometimes I wasn't sure if the instructor was speaking
to me in Spanish or Q'eqchi... but I walked away learning some new phrases at least!
¿Tayuyo o pupusa?
Apart from the everyday routine of the week, I also went one night with some friends in search of tayuyos and atolitos in the park. I had heard many things about this food and was excited to try. We had some debate if it was a tayuyo or pupusa (more like a Salvadorian or Honduran version I guess?). But whatever we found was delicious. They only had them with queso but it was like a warm thick tortilla type cake thing filled with cheese and yummy flavors and a little picante on top! Then after we drank some atoles which is a warm sweet drink. You can have it made many many different ways so my goal will be to try them all! That night I had atol de platáno because I am Anna banana after all!
Hot off the griddle:)
Plants, markets, processions
A final highlight of this week for me was visiting Parque Nacional Las Victorias. I went with a friend who studies Agronomy so it was extra cool to learn about the different plants of the region, native and introduced. At first when we arrived, the park was not open yet so then we walked around near by and stopped at a place called la Ermita Santo Domingo de Guzmán. There is a place there that honors Santo Domingo de Guzmán and I also learned that other Mayan celebrations take place there as well such as Paabanc.
Inside la Ermita
Once we left, Las Victorias was open and we made our way in. I learned about many different plants and insects. I remember I was very surprised at first because I saw all of these leaves moving on the ground in a line. I asked my friend and he said they are zampopos. They were very large ants carrying the leaves which surprisingly they do not eat, but carry to a fungus to feed the fungus that they then later eat. Such little farmers! Apart from that we saw many other interesting plants like pacaya and some medicinal plants. It was cool and makes me want to learn more about the ecology of this region.
Pacaya- male palm that supposedly has a yummy fruit at the top!
Banana tree!
A medicinal plant to induce lactation
Zampopos going to feed their fungus!
After we got hungry (and maybe a bit lost) we found our way out and headed in search of food. We went to the mercado central which I had not yet visited. I had walked by before but I always thought they were just shops however, once you walk inside it is full of different people selling all kinds of delicious foods. It was very cool. We found some yummy chuchitos to eat and atol de arroz y chocolate (now I've crossed another one off my list!)
Chuchitos- kind of like a tamale with yummy meat inside,
my stomach was very happy after
Finally, on our way home we saw many processions beginning. From maybe noon to 9pm members of the Catholic church were marching around the city. It was very impressive to see and there were many many many people around to watch. Apparently this will start happening more and more as we approach Semana Santa! So get ready for more of these pictures! I'll try to work on my photography skills...
Outside my house at night as the procession came back around... I almost thought I wouldn't be able to get back in my house!
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