Adventures in Aguacatan

A fabulous weekend was spent visiting our friend Callie for her birthday in Aguacatan, Huehuetenango. We took a hike a the town's natural water spring.  It was actually impressively clean!  

This is Callie's house.  Where we hung out and ate amazing food that she cooked for us all weekend long! Thanks Cal for a celebrating your birthday with us!

Kyle and our friend Dirk on a bridge, need I say more?

It was a good hour hike up to the birth place.  Along the way we saw this house built above a stone wall and for a second I felt like I was in Greece, or some other awesome place that I dream of going to. 

After the hike we got back to town and took advantage of the local pool.  Yes, there is actually a great pool in Aguacatan.  (The water at the birth place was too strong to swim in).

Spaghetti & Meatballs!

Lidia and Melissa rolling out the meatballs.

Some of our best times in Guatemala have been a night at home cooking with our host family.  This post is dedicated to Ma/Evelyn Cala, carrying on the Cala tradition of making spaghetti and meatballs! Although this time with Kyle's own secret recipe...

 

Complete with garlic bread!

Even spaghetti needs a little homemade hot sauce!

Like with any great meal, Brian passed out after eating!

The 15th of September...Take 2

Guatemalan Independence day has come and gone once again in Chivarreto. The exciting development this year was that carnies moved into town for 2 weeks prior to the celebrations so we basically had entertainment out of our kitchen window that entire time. The carnie family was made up of 3 generations all living out of a pickup truck until they were able to set up their game booth that doubled as their home. But I digress. Things were very exciting for those two weeks with dances most nights, although the music was so loud across the street that our windows shook and even with my earplugs in I was still unable to cancel out the noise. I thought I might go insane for a while there but now with everything quiet again I almost miss the noise. 

Most nights we would hang out in the family's little tienda and people watch

Here is just one of the cutting edge rides they had in town...we heard that Six Flags is thinking of  buying this one and shipping it stateside.

Here is the carnie family's game/home. Notice all the laundry drying on top.

Here are the typical treats for the event. Baked goods and sugary things with bright colors.

This death trap doubles as a ferris wheel.

This is Rigoberto with his 20 something wife. He once drove through Las Vegas and loved the games so he designed his own. In his version you have to through coins into the dishes to win a drink. I wondered how his 7 month pregnant wife enjoyed the carnie life and living in a truck for weeks at a time but she didn't say.

Here are all the neighbor girls right before they participated in the parade in town.

Our family here in front of the Tuc-Tuc decked out as a train.

Liz with Julia and Adela in the typical dress. Lots of women in our town were wearing new outfits special for the occasion.

We loved this band of older men playing and dancing in the street to start off the parade. It made us think of the bands in New Orleans.

Our friend Micaela marching and dancing in the parade with her other friends.

Our friend Marlon in the middle school band.

Girls in the typical dress of Totonicapan

The most dangerous part of the parade was the stunts that the kids would do on the street . We were both so nervous watching them do this, but no one fell.

More Marching and Shouting.

One of the many floats.

Me and Liz and Cata and Carina.

One of the moms after the parade at the soccer game.

The biggest trophy I have ever seen out on field before the Copa de Independencia.

The Rojos of Chiva played against Chivarratense with Chivarratense winning 3-1.

Toward the end of the game our friend Henry went for a header and collided with another player and split the back of his head open. Almost instantly his shirt and shorts were covered in blood and it wasn't until 30 minutes later that he finally left for the hospital. We were so worried but after a night in the hospital he made it back and was driving a tuc-tuc the next day.

Elections in Guatemala

The elections here have come and gone and the country is waiting for the results of the run off election that will take place in November. Lizzy and I enjoyed relative calm in our town on the day of elections, which took place back on September 11th. The elections were quite exciting this year with more than 12 parties vying for a spot in the run off election, but after all was said and done only two parties with easy to recognize hand gestures made it through. Those parties are the Patriot Party and the Leader Party. I have been trying to think of what I might call my own political party if I were a native Guatemalan and what kind of hand gesture I might choose...and nope, still  nothing, still drawing a blank on both of those. I will miss the vibrantly painted houses, telephone polls, rocks and anything else with a paintable surface that have been a part of everyday life here for the last few months, but I'm pretty sure I won't miss the parades through town with loudspeakers blaring out of the back of pick up trucks. Below is just a taste of the wonderful local art we were treated to in our town.

To vote here people put an X over the party they support.

Election Day on the Basketball Court in town

Voting Line

Our Neighbor Esperanza. She was responsible for handing out money and food to voters after they voted  for the party she worked for...because here you can buy votes.

Our host family and relatives just after voting and showing off their inked fingers as proof.