kiss the ground you walk on

¡Feliz Dia de Brujas! otherwise known as Halloween.

Last week, for the first time, I travelled all by myself! Yay!!! I took the camioneta to Chimaltenango (ok my host mom came with me but just that far) then caught another to get to Antigua. There I went to Marcia´s, so that the next morning we, incuding two other YAVs, could head to Guatemala City for a two day conference. This conference is held every year by a woman´s empowerment group in Guatemala. And this year´s theme was Ecofeminism. The conference was full of liberated women of varying ages, and some men, from as far away as Peru, Chile, and Domincan Republic.

After a couple of days of feeling a little down, the second morning of the conference we began by participating in a traditional Mayan prayer. In a circle, we all got on our knees and faced each cardinal direction, including center, and thanked God for the earth and for our ancestors and for our lives. After each of the 5 short prayers, we kissed the earth. I felt really connected to life at that moment and truly felt thankful. Then we stood up and covered our heads with shawl (I only had my jacket) and walked slowly to the beat of a drum as we were asked to picture and think about our ancestors, starting with our mothers, heading as far back as 500 years. I realized how disconnected I am from my ancestors, only picturing some vague woman in Germany shooing her many kids out the door with a broom. I must have seen that on TV somewhere. But up until 1910 or so, my family did not live in the Americas. They lived in the ¨old country¨. And they had to leave their families and lives behind to start new in the United States. Really, my small little year away from home is nothing compared to that journey by boat! As I kept going back in time, I began to feel the human population shrink and shrink until I was at the beginning of humanity. And I felt full of love as I imagined that every single person in that circle, including myself, comes from just a small group of common ancestors. How beautiful that really is! We are all related...maybe I´m not so strange after all amongst my new Mayan landscape. Finally, to finish the morning, we practiced a Navajo dance that focuses on the past, present, and the future. I couldn´t help but begin to think about the past, present, and future of our country as I moved my body. And with that, I was ready to head to the U.S. Embassy to vote! (my absentee ballot envelope showed up with not ballot inside..hmmmm......)

Entering the embassy was a jarring experience. Outside the building was full of Guatemalans who have travelled from all over the country waiting for their interview, to see whether or not they will be accepted for a VISA. About 50 percent are accepted. But first they have to pay a nonrefundable $130 fee to just get an interview. At the interview they are asked to prove why they would want to return to Guatemala. Basically they have to have a good job and property. But those Guatemalans I saw waiting did not look like they had good jobs and property. But they were going to try anyway. Me? I could just walk right in, scoot through a metal detector and not be asked anymore questions. There was another American man behind us that seemed to think that he had all the priviledge in the world because of his citizenship. He voice raised to an uncomfortable decibal as he swore at the lady scanning us through. I felt embarassed to be from the same place as him, representing the same people. Once I got into the right room, I was given my ballot. The ballot made no sense. It was made to be confusing, I think. Purposely. And under the excitement and the intensity of the experience (I´d been waiting almost 2 years to cast this vote), I accidently wrote the wrong name down!!!! And I didn´t realize it until I got in the car! But, don´t worry, I got it all straightened out. I just hope my vote is counted, for the sake of all those people waiting for their interviews outside the embassy...

Returning to Comalapa didn´t quite feel like returning home quite yet, but I´ll give it time. Last Friday was National Hymn Day and the person who wrote the music for the hymn was from Comalapa. Apparently this was the first time the town went all out to celebrate since the begging of the Civil War in the 50´s. That´s a long time. There were parades and musical contests in the plaza. The next day was dedicated to preparing for Fatima, my youngest sisters, kindergarten graduation. We cooked all morning. The graduation was really quite nice, but not many stuck around to clean up (some things are the same everywhere you go) so we had to stay to was the dishes. This was a full 12 hour affair! Kindergarten graduation. 12 hours. wow.

This past week has been full of ups and downs. I am trying to get a schedule together. I want to take painting lessons. And I have a couple of people who want me to teach them English weekly. With all of that, as well as my teaching at CEFORMA, I should be able to have a fairly full week. Not toooooo full, hopefully! I want to be able to live daily life with my family, go to the market, attend meetings with my host mom, and whatever else my come up. But, I don´t want my days to pass tooo slowly.

Yesterday we went on a big adventure! We woke up and got lunch ready, bought some meat and some candles at the market, and started walking. We walked to the edge of town, then we kept walking, walking up the mountain. I thought, we are going up, it wil be cold, so I was wore two pairs of paints, two shirts, two coats, and my shawl (I bought a shawl to fit in alittle more with the women here...first step toward traje. tal vez). To my suprise, it was warm! We gathered herbs and plants growing that we could use for lunch along the way. stopped to steal some corn from a pasture and eat some bananas. Then stopped to steal corn stalks that had been blown over from the wind (terrible for the farmer...that is their source of income) and sucked the sweetness out of the stalk. Then we got lost a little bit and I fell several times. Boy was I dirty. We finally made it to this sacred rock where many Mayan families go to pray and reenergize. We lit candles and placed them in the 5 coordinal spots. NSEW and central. We thanked the earth and my host father kissed the ground. Then we were ready to continue our festivities and we found wood to build a fire. We coooked the corn, meat, and tortillas. Then we ate like I´ve never eaten before, ash and all. We left a piece of meat and a tortilla for the earth, gathered our things. We made our way back, getting lost again, falling more, and gathing pinecones to use as decorations for the Thanksgiving Dinner I plan on attempting at the end of this month! I didn´t say much that day. But it was really a beautiful experience that I am still processing. But you know, the Earth really is a sacred place. And kissing the ground is a good reminder of what is important in life.

Top 3:

1. Using plants and herbs we find outside to eat and cook with! How natural can you get? I seriously have never eaten so little preservatives.


2. Watching TV dubbed in Spanish = great way to practice Spanish while escaping a bit from life.


3. Carving pumpkins with my host sisters! Two days in a row! We were lucky to find pumpkins in the market...they aren´t really common here. But, I was even luckier to find them twice, after one of our pumpkins fell of the table and broke.


4. Rainy season is OVER OVER OVER.

Bottom 3:

1. Not being able to express myself like I want to. I find myself just not saying anything sometimes because Í don´t even know how to begin what I want to say.


2. The cold season has begun!!! WIND LIKE YOU WOULDN´T BELIEVE.


3. Of course, missing home, family, Drew, friends...comforts.