Necro Tour

last night I went on the Xela Cemetery Necro Tour. As you can probably tell from the pictures below it was a night tour of a Xela Cemetery, which is the oldest in the country. It was founded about forty years before Guatemala's independence so a lot of the history of the country is tied up in the cemetery. It was really interesting to see some of the burial sites of Guatemala's most famous artists and politicians but what was best about the tour was the art within the cemetery. Below are just a few examples of that art. The first picture is of an angel who had its head removed by an art thief.  

Tikal

A few days ago I went on a trip to Tikal National Park. I have wanted to do this for a long time so actually going was a little surreal. In addition to being a beautiful tropical forrest, Tikal contains some of the largest ruins of the Mayan Empire. It was incredible to walk through these ruins and imagine what it must have been like all those years ago. Many of these buildings took hundreds or even thousands of years to build. It is amazing to think that something like that could be possible or that an group of people could exist long enough to see the construction to its end. 

Lake Atitlan

The pictures below were taken this past weekend at Lake Atitlan. Atitlan is a beautiful place, although the pictures here don't do it justice. The lake itself formed inside of a crater which was left when a giant volcano exploded...which I found pretty cool. The whole area is supposed to be sacred to Mayans and many artifacts have been found in and around the lake since its "rediscovery" by Spanish explorers. Atitlan, like many things I have seen during my trip, seamlessly mixes history and natural beauty.  

Local Oddities

Below are just a few of the unusual and interesting things I have found while walking around Xela during my time off. The horrifying taxidermic animals were found in Xela's own museum of natural history and the various murals were found on various building around town. I think the pictures mostly speak for themselves so this post will probably not be very long. The only thing I do have to say is that I have had a really good time exploring the city on my own. More fun then I ever thought I would doing something on my own. One of the things this trip has taught me is the pleasure in doing things by myself. Of course when I have the opportunity I still often choose to do something with a friend but I definitely get something else out of an experience when I do it alone. Noticing strange things like those below are evidence of that. 

The Comeback

Its been a while since my last post, a couple of weeks actually. Mostly the reason I have not posted anything is because my routine has not changed much since the last time I posted. Everyday I go to the station digitalize some cassettes from the civil war, hang out with some kids, go back to my hostel, and if people are around spend time with friends. I guess I'm mostly making this post to prove both that I'm still alive and that the project which I came here to do is well underway. Everything is going rather smoothly in fact. I have been able to explore Xela more since my last post and I've started to understand the city a lot more. Ive done all the tourist things available in the city (museums, historical landmarks, etc) and now I've started to branch out to some other parts of the city. I think I may have rediscovered an appreciation for exploration. This may sound corny but sometimes I walk around the city just looking around trying my best not to get lost.

Fuentes Georginas

On one of my days off me and some friends from the hostel went to Fuentes Georginas, a hot spring situated high up on an active volcano. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The water towards the face of the rock was SUPER hot. As we swam away from it however, it was really nice. We went on a Saturday so it was pretty packed, which turned out to be part of the fun. Well, I guess these pictures speak for themselves. 

Mujb'ab'l Yol Association

I started work with the station about a weeks ago and so far it has been great! Below are just a few pictures I took of the station. The last is a photo of the view from the station... so beautiful. The second to last picture is of the tapes that I have been working on digitalizing, preserving and categorizing. There are about two more full boxes the same size so I estimate there are around 300-500 tapes that still need to be sorted out. The information on them is all very interesting. They were all made during the civil war here in the 1980s so it is important to a lot of people in the community that they be made accessible. After all many of them fought during the civil war and they want their children to understand their struggle. 

Xela!!

I arrived in Xela a few days ago and it is a really cool city. It is a lot bigger and more modern than Antigua. For some reason there are a lot of spanish schools in this city and therefore a lot of different types of people. Yesterday I met a few people from Spain, France, England, and of course Guatemala. All of them are staying in my hostel and they are all very nice. I'm glad to have met people that I can spend my time with outside of the radio station. It was getting a little bit lonely here without people to casually talk to. Right now I am in the middle of digitalizing some historical tapes for the radio station. The information in these tapes is very interesting and I have been listening to them for about an hour. Tonight there is going to be a class here for people who work in radio all over the region. I am going to be able to sit in on it and get some ideas for how my own classes might run. I have a lot of pictures to share but unfortunately the chord I need for uploading them is back in my hostel. I will post those as soon as I can, or remember to.

Antigua (Part 2)

These are just a few of the highlights from my exploration of Antigua. It is definitely the most beautiful city I have ever been to...and the oldest. The beginnings of city were built in the early 17th century and it used to be the capital of the spanish colonies in the "new world". Most of the buildings in the center of town are still standing from when they were built between two and four hundred years ago. Okay, here is the history nerd in me coming out. The arch in the first picture below was built so that nuns in the 18th century could pass from one side of the street to the other without being seen. Pretty cool eh! Because of its beauty and history Antigua is now a major tourist destination in Guatemala. This certainly helped to ease my transition into the country. a lot of the city was designed to help tourists get around, some of the signs were even in English. I'm glad I went but I'm also glad to be on my way to a larger city where I can fully immerse myself in the culture and language of this country.  

Antigua (Part 1)

I arrived in Antigua Guatemala today for the first leg of my trip. I will be staying in the Casa Sito Volunteer House tonight and tomorrow while I get settled in the country. Casa Sito is an organization which works closely with the local community through teaching computer skills among many other things. As you probably already figured out Casa Sito also has some cheap housing for international volunteers. Although I am not working directly with Casa Sito they have agreed to allow me to stay in one of their rooms for a few days before my hostal in Xela is ready for me. In the mean time I have put some credits on my new Guatemalan cell phone, scheduled a ride to Xela on Wednesday, and started to explore. I was worried that I might be lonely being here all by myself. I thought it might be hard to make friends at first but it looks like I already have. I didn't catch his name but we both agreed that my backpack was great for soothing the teething pains. 

Getting Started

This is my first blog posting for my project in Guatemala. Over the next few weeks, before my departure, I will be finishing up my project details. Several months ago I received the Wallenberg Grant in order to work on a cultural exchange project with a series of Guatemalan radio stations. The last few weeks has been a struggle to figure out exactly how that will take place. Once I have completed the plans I will post them to this blog but right now here is a little sneak peek. I will be leading a series of workshops devoted to story telling and cultural preservation specifically with regards to radio production. Each of these workshops will build on the last and by the end participants in the workshop should be able to demonstrate a their skills through small story production assignments. Although I will be administering these workshops I fully expect to learn as much from the experience as my own students. Stay tuned for more information regarding my project details.