June 10, 2017 – Ancient & Colonial Heritage in Latin America: Cultural Treasures of the Maya

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Welcome to my first blog post here in Antigua Guatemala!! I’ll kickoff this chronicle with the moment I got the coveted green light at La Aurora International Airport. It was looking grim as Rebecca, Andrea, Lauren, Cheyenne, and I approached the counter. No less than five people in a row got the red light right before us, and Rebecca had just mentioned that she ALWAYS gets the red light. Naturally, I assumed luck would not be on our side. However, Andrea was the only unlucky one in our group jajaja.

Once Andrea successfully made it through her bag check and we had acquired my soon-to-be homestay sister, Vero, we made our exodus. Little did I know we were saying adiós to one of the last places we’d see air conditioning in Guatemala, but hey, I don’t mind sweating the bulk of the day (wink wink). Don’t get me wrong though, I’m not an AC addict. I’ve discovered the breezes that come with an inbound afternoon shower are a suitable replacement for central air. Thank goodness for Chac, the rain god of the Maya, and his animate lightning axe. I don’t know what I’d do if Chac didn’t strike open the clouds and produce my much-loved/needed midday drizzle!

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Before the rain at Pacaya.

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Chac paying us a visit at Iximché!

Am I dreaming?

Where has the time gone? I swear I can’t believe I’ve been here for a week already. From the butterflies that filled my stomach the day before I left to the moment I was dropped off with my homestay family, it still hadn’t really sunk in that I was going to be in Guatemala and soon to be Belize. Not only that, we hit the ground running with classes and activities planned for our first weekend. While a few braved hiking an overnight volcano, a group of us decided to go on a “shorter” hike at Pacaya and visit the black sands of Monterrico.

The hike, in and of itself, was intense! I hadn’t even made it through five minutes when I decided to take a horse to the top. Turns out I would only use Burrito (horse’s name) half-way up and hike the most difficult part. I can’t even count how many times I had to stop to catch my breath, but the view at the top was so worth it. We also had an amazing tour guide, Kevin, who stuck with me the majority of the time. Special shout out to him and everyone for being patient with me the whole trip.

If I had to pick a favorite or most memorable moment thus far though, I would have to say it was between visiting Iximche and letting indigenous women dress us in traditional clothing. Knowing that I have indigenous blood in my lineage that was somehow lost and being able to partake in such an experience was both humbling and breathtaking.

No doubt, a lot has happened in just one week, so I’m eager to see what else happens in the weeks to come!

Acatenango

Within the first five days of starting my Maymester program in Guatemala, I was able to experience one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen in my life. While I was still adjusting to all the changes that come when studying abroad, I had my eyes set on Acatenango, one of the tallest volcanoes in Guatemala.

Myself, along with my classmates Quinn, Riley, Atlanta, and Gabe signed up for an overnight excursion with a travel agency here in Antigua. If we were going to do it, it had to be our fist weekend here since it was the only free weekend we were going to have. The hike was excruciating. We traveled around 6 hours going mostly uphill carrying around 30-50 pounds of gear each. It rained several times and I got some massive cramps, but we were motivated by our guide who repeated several times “Vamos a la playa!”, or “We are going to the beach!”.

From our camp, we had a beautiful view of Agua and Fuego, two neighboring volcanos. While our guide setup our fire, we setup our tents and fed some mountain dogs we came across. All the while, El Volcan de Fuego was erupting with thunderous explosions a few times every hour. The lava was much more visible at night, and with lightning in the backdrop, the views had me in awe. At one point, one of the eruptions was large enough to wake Rylie and I, and we witnessed lava flowing halfway down the volcano.

We slept through rain and cold in our tents, and at around 4 AM, our guide woke us up with his call “Vamos a la playa!”. He made more hot cocoa for us, and we continued hiking another hour and a half to fully reach the top. This part was very steep and difficult, but most of us continued the hike from camp in order to see the neighboring volcanos at sunrise. The views from the top were amazing and breathtaking. It was a surreal feeling that I am never going to forget. All of us made it, even our new friend Tarzan, one of the mountain dogs we acquainted.

While I still have several weeks of the program to look forward to, I could not have started it on a better note.

I don’t think we’re at UT anymore.

I have never been out of the United States before, so before I even got to Guatemala I had both very little and very high expectations of how my experience would go. My arrival to the airport was quick, it was a literal stamp of my paper and passport and then I got my luggage and was off to Antigua. The car ride was quiet, there were about six of us and we all knew of each other because we had a whole semester worth of classes together, but none of us really knew each other. I arrived to my homestay and I was greeted by Doña Ana. Before arriving I believed I had a very intermediate knowledge of the Spanish language, unfortunately that wasn’t so true. She spoke only in Spanish and I could understand a good amount, but I was also very lost. When I went down for lunch the conversation was very broken and choppy because of the language barrier, but we managed to have a full meals conversation. After lunch I went through the trials and tribulations of finding my way around the city with Ali and JJ. The following few days were filled with consistent new experiences, some were as small as eating three meals a day, every day, which I don’t normally do and some were as large as climbing Pacaya, a volcano.

I would like to highlight some of my favorite so far. My first is that I think I have one of the best homestays. I live with JJ, Vero, and Hayley and I would’ve never guessed we would’ve meshed so well, but living together has been great and we have built good friendships fairly quickly. Another experience was climbing Pacaya, I definitely recommend it, but always remember to eat before you start, bring cash for a horse just in case, and be cautious and prepared if you have asthma because the altitude is different up there! Shout out to Vero for letting me ride her horse half way up and everyone else for taking good care of me and making sure I made it to the top and didn’t pass out! Lastly, I would like to highlight how the way of life here is so different from the United States and it’s evident around every corner. I am so fortunate to be able to have a glimpse of what life in Guatemala is like and I would highly encourage people to go to new places and discover new ways of life!

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