Chadwick Wood

Yesterday morning, a group of us from PLQ went to La Calera, some natural hot springs between Xela and the Pacific. The springs are in the mountains, where there is also a geothermal electricity company. Our guide Amaro told us that La Calera used to be a mine for limestone, but it has been completely excavated, and was then sold to this company that now produces electricity, but only sells to outside countries. So basically the company is of little to no benefit to the people of Guatemala. They were promised that the company would bring lots of new jobs to the community, but apparently the jobs pay squat.

We rode back to Xela in the back of a pickup truck, since the chicken buses weren't coming very often for some reason. The ride was amazing! The 7 of us stood in the back, surrounded by a steel cage that went about waist-high. I saw lots of farming of all kinds of crops (broccoli, garlic, cabbage, onions, etc.) and a couple of small towns along the way too. In one of them (I forget the name), traffic was stopped for a little bit because of a funeral. There was a large procession on foot through the streets to a graveyard, which we passed, that was somewhat eclectic and ornate. There was a kid of maybe 15 years or so in the back of the pickup that I ended up talking with a lot (mostly in English). He lived in Seattle for a year, where his father lives with his stepmother (who is from Texas!). His english was really good... he said he had to learn quickly so that he could talk with his stepbrother and stepmother while he was there.

The day before yesterday we went to Sacaja (I'm almost positive that's not the way you spell it, but I've googled to no avail), which is where most of the textiles in Guatemala are made, before being sent to the other areas of the country. The first steps of the process involve a field that's maybe 30 meters long, with metal stakes every 5 meters or so, where the threads are strung to be cleaned (I think). There are something like 18 steps to the entire process of making the textiles. We also got to see the last steps, which involve a foot-powered weaving machine that weavers have in their homes. I'm really not describing this very well.

While there, we also tasted Rompopo, a liqueur made from eggs (and rum?) that tastes a bit like egg nog, but is very orange-yellow. We also tasted la calda de fruta, a liqueur made from fermented berries. It's only made in Sacaja. It was really strong (I had a buzz off of a couple sips), and tastes extremely sweet.

I DO have some photos, but haven't yet figured out a way to get them from my camera to a computer at the school (Windoze errorz). But I'll get some posted when I can.