Lake Atitlan – Ancient & Colonial Heritage in Latin America: Cultural Treasures of the Maya

A Closer Look at Clothes

Over the weekend we had the pleasure of visiting a weaving cooperative in San Juan La Laguna called Casa Flor Ixcaco. A member of the co-op named Delfina demonstrated the entire weaving process for us. The women not only weave the products sold at the store but are involved in every step leading up to the weaving. They grow the cotton and plants used to dye it, hand spin it into thread, dye it a variety of colors by hand, and then finally weave it into fabric using the traditional Maya backstrap loom.

Delfina also explained the meaning of the traje, or traditional clothing, of San Juan La Laguna. The red huipil (blouse) represents the energy of the Maya and the dark blue or black of the faja (belt) and corte (skirt) represent the energy of Lake Atitlan. During the whole experience I was struck by how connected Delfina and the other weavers were to their clothing. They are involved from the moment the cotton is planted until the garment is complete. Every step is carried out with love, patience, and incredible skill and the clothes are worn with pride.

In contrast to these women, I know nothing about the clothes I wear except what they look like and where I bought them. I decided to take a closer look at one of my shirts, pictured above. It is a black and white striped t shirt I purchased at H&M shortly before coming on this trip.

The tag states it is 95% cotton and 5% spandex and was made in Bangladesh. H&M lists most of their suppliers of garments, fabric, and yarn on their website but, I am unable to tell which specific supplier produced my shirt. I also can’t find information on the chemicals involved in dyeing or treating the yarn and/or fabric. In H&M’s 2017 Sustainability Report they state the company often does not have direct relationships with the suppliers of fabric and yarn, so it’s possible even they don’t know how the thread is dyed. The tags on Casa Flor Ixcaco products however list the dyes used, the weaver who created it, and the time it took to make.

During my time in Guatemala, particularly at Casa Flor Ixcaco, I have come to better understand clothing as both a product and symbol of identity. Before traveling here I rarely thought about the entire process of creating a piece of clothing.

It is so easy to buy a t-shirt without knowing where it came from, how it got to the store, and the materials and labor used to make it. Clothing is such an integral part of our lives (we do wear it everyday!) so I’m glad I am more conscious about how it affects us and our world at large.

A Comedic Look at Week 2 by Kendall and Alan

We have been doing a lot of thinking on how to start this blog post… so …

Guat’s up!

This is Alan and Kendall’s blog post. We had a wild week in Guatemala! We traveled through Maya ruins, lakes and lots and lots of rain.

Lucky for us we brought safety ponchos so we won’t be getting surprised by the rain or run over by cars! Unlike Astrid…

Just kidding she is fine. Although she should really consider getting a safety poncho just to be safe.

Kendall does not like the ash.

“I didn’t like the ash very much” – Kendall

We didn’t let Fuego get us down though. We left for the weekend to go to Lake Atitlan, so we escaped the chaos of Antigua for a bit. The three hour drive to the lake was pretty windy, and our first boat ride from Panajachel to San Juan was pretty bumpy.

In our stay at lake Atitlan, we learned a lot about how traditional Maya products are made. We even got to spin some cotton into thread with the help of Delfina, a local weaver who works at the Casa Flor Ixcaco cooperative in San Juan. The next day, our focus was 100% on ceramics. We went to Maya Ken and learned about their process of making ceramics from making the molds/throwing vessels on the wheel to firing and glazing. We even got to paint our own items! And of course, we did a lot of shopping all along the way.

Overall, it was a pretty crazy weekend. We’re sure it wasn’t easy for Mily, Astrid, and Catherine.

We are sorry Catherine.

We were back in class at the Casa on Monday and got the pleasure to hear David Stuart talk about the San Bartolo murals. It was really interesting hearing about how they documented the murals with a desktop scanner from the early 2000s and then how Heather Hurst recreated the murals as beautiful watercolor paintings. David is such an important figure in Maya archeological history. We got so much out of his lecture, but were left with one last question:

Thanks for reading!

Alan & Kendall

Back to Reality Already?

Goodbyes are hard. Imagine it being a month and you’ve gotten to spend some pretty awesome and some pretty intense moments with the people around you, and right as you’re creating bonds and friendships with the people you’ve met, boom you have to go. Advice time: appreciate every moment on this trip even if it’s difficult to digest. Although I have been on other study abroad programs in the past, this has been the most challenging. I say that because you see things you wouldn’t normally see, experience things you wouldn’t normally experience, and learn things that you wouldn’t really learn if you didn’t experience them there. You have the opportunity to interact with the arts and culture first hand. It’s tangible. It’s alive. It has been mentally and physically challenging, but it has been so rewarding.

Before we left, we were given a reverse culture shock “orientation.” You must be asking yourself what that means, right? We thought the same thing, but it’s real my friends. It means exactly what it sounds like. You really will get a culture shock whenever you go back to the life you had before this trip. There won’t be any more walking through cobble stone streets to go to Casa Herrera to have class, or going on a stroll through the central park, or pushing your way through the most colorful markets you’ll ever see. Point is, you’ll have to prepare yourself to go to Guatemala and Belize, and just as much when you go back home. You have to give yourself time to get used to going back simply because you’re not the same person you initially were.

When leaving Central America each of us was given a quote. Mine was by Henry Miller: “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” That is exactly what I felt all throughout this trip. So, my post is an homage of having the opportunity to experience, see, hear, taste, touch, feel, and most importantly, expose myself to things I hadn’t previously given myself to. Travelling doesn’t have to just be a trip from Point A to Point B, but rather, the growth you experience in between them.

And finally, I just want to say thank you to all the people I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to. I’ve learned so much from each and every one of you. Gracias a todos!

Closing Post

As I think back on my trip, I’m filled with gratitude for the people I’ve encountered, learned from, and befriended. I want to thank Dr. Runggaldier and her husband for sharing their unparalleled amounts of knowledge, Milady for her incessant kindness and unwavering leadership, my class for their company, my host family for their patience with my intermediate Spanish, and all the Mayan people I talked to for their openness in allowing me to understand their culture and traditions.

Go and See

Without a question, this Maymester will NOT be my last trip to Guatemala or Belize. I’ve experienced much more than I thought possible in a four-week period of time, and I’ve met people whose stories and compassion will be with me for the rest of my life. I’d like to thank everyone that made this trip possible for me, and everyone else that made this trip memorable. Without you guys, I would not have been able to walk in the footsteps of the ancient Maya, or alongside the contemporary, much alive, Maya people that inhabit the lands of their ancestors. I’ve been to some of the major Maya sites of the Yucatán Peninsula (Chichén Itzá, Coba, and Tulum), but they didn’t have the same breath of life that Iximché or Tikal still breath.

(Above: Contemporary ritual burning at Iximché)

(Above: A modern stela at Iximché)

(Above: Contemporary ritual burning at Tikal)

Maya people of the Yucatán don’t have the same access to their ancestral lands as the Maya people of Guatemala, who can once again practice their rituals where the Classic Maya did day in and day out. It’s incredible to see Maya women, and occasionally Maya men, wearing their traditional clothing (traje), selling their hand-woven textiles, or cooking in the way their people have for more than a millennium. The way the Maya are talked about in American grade schools would make you think they are all dead and gone, but simply getting off the plane in Guatemala City proves otherwise. Traveling through the Highlands of Guatemala, you wouldn’t even think they went through a conquest, colonization, or a very recent and brutal civil war…at least until you start talking to the people. I heard several people’s life stories while on this trip that would break anyone’s heart. While at the Tz’utujil Maya town, Santiago Atitlán, formerly called Tz’ikin Jaay, I met Dolores Ratzan.

(Above: Prof. Runggaldier with Dolores Ratzan!)

(Above: View of the lake from Santiago Atitlán)

She gave us a tour of the town while stopping at a few key spots, such as the Catholic Church and a few of the Cofradias. Dolores was extremely open and welcoming, she shared her personal struggles as well as those of her people starting at the conquest thru the civil war and up to the present day. The civil war has impacted her life, and the whole of Guatemala, since its conception in the 1960’s. Over a thirty-year period of time, Dolores and tens of thousands of Maya people were targeted by the military as conspirators with the guerillas. Dolores was able to flee to the United States as a refugee shortly after her name appeared on a list of people that the government forces intended to make “go away.” That list was distributed in the plaza outside the Catholic Church in Santiago Atitlán, outside the very same church where Father Aplas, or Stanley Francis Rother, was murdered in the night shortly there after.

(Above: Plaza view from Catholic Church in Santiago Atitlán)

(Above: Dedication to Father Aplas)

Father Aplas, as the locals called him, was a Catholic Pastor from Oklahoma who worked to help the people of Santiago Atitlán out of poverty, he opened a hospital, bought and rented land to the locals so that they could grow food, and allowed the traditional Maya people to perform their rituals. Dolores was a young girl when he first came to the town, and she told us she would not be alive today without him. She was one of the many children Father Aplas helped by providing food to their families when they came up short. I really cannot do justice to Dolores’ ability to recount Father Aplas’ many deeds and untimely death, but I can certainly suggest to anyone to travel to Guatemala and learn. Learn from the people who suffered such a great deal for embracing their traditional heritage, or for helping a population that so desperately needed and still needs a helping hand. See why they fought for their culture, visit the ancient and not so ancient sites, eat what they eat, live how they live, and maybe try to learn a Mayan language. Since traveling across the world of the Maya, I decided to set a few goals for myself: learn Spanish, attempt a Mayan language, learn what I can do to prevent the looting of ancient artifacts, and to volunteer for archaeological digs. I would like to continue to learn as much as I can from the living Maya and those who have since “entered the water.”

“Guatemala Tu Nombre Inmortal”

Deciding to apply to study abroad in Guatemala, my own country, has been the best decision I have ever made! Starting the program in Antigua Guatemala I didn’t know what to expect or what I was about to get myself into. Our first weekend in Guatemala a group of us decided to immerse ourselves into one of the best experiences of our lives, hike the Pacaya volcano! I must admit that it is the most amazing and adventurous thing I have ever done, and no matter how tired or sore I felt, the view and tranquility that I received at the top of the volcano was worth every step of the hike!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/155629884@N04/34978959870/in/dateposted/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/155629884@N04/34523546774/in/dateposted/

But, little did I know that this Maymester program would bring so much insight, knowledge and awareness into my life about my own culture and people. At San Juan La Laguna, a town at the shores of Lake Atitlán, I met the most inspiring woman named Delfina. She taught me that anything that you set your mind to is possible, no matter what language you speak or where you come from, you have the potential to achieve it!

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I will never regret getting myself into this Maymester program because I have met some of the smartest and most amazing people in the world, and this experience is not only making me more prepared for my professional career, but it is making me a better citizen of Guatemala and a better human being in this world!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/155629884@N04/34978927710/in/dateposted/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/155629884@N04/35200028752/in/dateposted/

Kelly D. Martínez

Textiles and Maya identity

The rainy season is definitely upon us, but it didn’t keep us from enjoying a great weekend at Lake Atitlan. We had class in San Juan La Laguna in a women-run textile coop, where weavers grow their own cotton, dye it with local plants, and weave it on a back-strap loom. Read all about this experience on Rebecca‘s blog!

https://www.lostandhangry.com/blog/2017/6/12/delfina-is-my-new-role-model

Guatemala more like GuateBUENA

Gaby, Ali, Lauren, and Frenchfry (dog) here! Volcanyou believe that we are in Guatemala?! This trip rocks and the hike was fire! We all LAVA good hike! Pacayeah we hiked up that! Sorry for the puns, they just keep erupting out of us. But on a more serious note, we’ve had an unbelavable first week here just blowing off steam and going with the flow.

One of the most interesting things we’ve learned about here is Maximón or San Simón. Maximón is a very controversial Maya deity. People visit his shrine and bring offerings, like tobacco and alcohol, in exchange for good health and other favors. Our homestay mom and her boyfriend, like many others, aren’t very fond of him. Many people believe that he is some sort of demon due to rumors that Maximón hurts those who stop bringing him sacrifices. Others see him as a symbol of health and prosperity and have a lot of respect for him.

We were able to visit one of his shrines here in Antigua. Located inside of a shack-like structure tucked behind a local store, there were candles lit all around him, and offerings near and on him. Inside the store they were essentially selling Maximón starter packs (for lack of a better term). These included candles and other little things that one can offer him at the shrine.

Puffin’ a cig

The second shrine we visited was at Santiago Atitlan. This shrine, called a Cofradía, was located inside a house with a shaman, Cofrade, and a Jesus statue. We got to see the actual ritual take place, which is why the shaman was there. There was also a bowl of incense with lots of candles and flowers. This Maximón was also a lot bigger and older than the first one we saw. This specific statue is rotated yearly between the twelve Cofradías of Santiago Atitlan, always accompanied by a parade of dancers and festivities to guide him from location to location.

Guatagood time we’ve had so far!