Streets of San Pedro

We now have an idea of the Mayans in San Pedro, so lets give them a setting.

San Pedro is built on a volcano, not like on the top of the volcano, but on the shores of Lago de Atitlán. It is something of a dramatic setting. San Pedro is, as aforementioned, a Mayan town, but has also developed something of a backpacker/tourist scene. So there´s two parts to San Pedro, by the lake and up the hill.

By the lake is where the bulk of the touristy stuff is. But certainly do not get a grand vision of what "touristy" means. All it means, is basic hotels, restaurants and cafés, tables with handmade jewelry, Mayan ladies selling bread from baskets on their heads, and travel agencies selling tours to the San Pedro Volcano, kayaks and shuttles to different areas of Guatemala. Oh and a dock for the arriving and departing transportation lanchas(boats). This basically describes by the lake.

Up the hill is a whole different world. Imagine cobblestone streets filled with street vendors, tuk-tuks, Mayan children and enough street dogs for four towns. Up the hill is the real San Pedro. Up the hill is where the Mayans are concentrated. There are certainly plenty of Mayans by the lake, this is their town however, but its more of a mix with expats and tourists. The "centro" is up the hill and is marked by a rather huge mercado(market) and a Catholic church. The "centro" is where the chicken buses come and go, and is in close proximity of some of the best tortillerias in town. God bless the corn eatin´ Mayans.

Nearly all of the buildings here are a basic concrete structure with rebar sticking out of the top. There is the occasional thached roof building, but concrete rules the roost here. Most of the concrete is painted, either with script or just a basic color. I am sure that all of these buildings could never come close to passing any sort of code for the horrendous earthquakes that have been known to rattle Guatemala. But I´d rather die under a warm pile of concrete than a cold one somewhere else in the world.

Everything is open air. For example, there are no hallways in my house, all bedrooms open to terraces and balconies. I wash my clothes in a sink that is outdoors but still in the house. Everywhere one looks, it is possible see hanging laundry. On the rooftops sit huge containers for water used for toilets, bathing and washing. Water comes three days a week for 2 hours in the morning, and us residents of San Pedro fill these tanks and use from the them. No central plumbing here for getting water to places, only to take the poo and pee away(likely just to the lake unfortunately).

The lake is also a part of the town as it is where the vast majority of San Pedro´s dirty clothes are washed by Mayan ladies. The lake also qualifies as a rather large bathtub as it is also where the vast majority of San Pedro´s residents bathe, men and women, boys and girls. Nothing like watching a topless Mayan lady soap up her laundry, then herself. At the end of the day, around 5 or 6pm, its like a mass exodus of Mayans walking down the hill through town to the lake to bathe after a hard days work. Impressive, I can not stand the cold water. However, it´s all they have every known.

I could describe this place forever, but to close, I will write of one of the most awesome things that is in San Pedro. Everything here is connected by pathways/footpaths. Between every building, every farm field, every school or church and even between houses there is a way to pass on foot. To the lake, away from the lake, up the volcano, down the volcano . . . Yes there is streets here for cars and motorcycles and tuk-tuks, but there is an intricate series of pathways that connect this whole town, even onto beyond the volcano. I have been told that to look at the Mayan highlands of Guatemala on Google Earth is to view the pathways that criss-cross this entire region. On foot is how the Mayans have done it all these years, and nothing is stopping them now. They use footpaths to transport everything. Amazing, so cool, and so different from the car culture that is the United States. I walk everywhere I go, every single day.

San Pedro, Foremost

The wind blew for four days in a row last week and that means the weather was "bad" and "cold". Today, the temperature is something like 77F, and no wind, lots of sun, a normal day in San Pedro.

Now I have mentioned upon my arrival in Guatemala that I came here for a lake. This lake has many towns on the shores, each one very, very unique. "So why did you choose San Pedro Sarah?". Good question, I will answer.

San Pedro is certainly like no other place on Earth and today we will scratch the surface of its unique features.

San Pedro is first and foremost a Mayan town. The Tzu´tuhil Maya that are here have been here for generations before the tourists ever showed up. The modern Maya culture is totally in effect here in Guatemala, one of the last places on the planet that has an indegenous stronghold. The Maya make up about 60% of the entire population of Guatemala, a staggering number compared to any other place.

The Maya in San Pedro, and a couple other towns on the lake, are Tzu´tuhil Maya. This means that they speak Tzu´tuhil language and that everybody is cousins. Spanish is the second language here in the highlands of Guatemala, so I´m not the only one! Yay! Really though, the Mayan languages(numbering nearly 24 in all in Guatemala)are NOTHING like Spanish or English or any other language for that matter. I know four words in Tzu´tuhil and I struggle to know those.

The Tzu´tuhil Mayans are tough as nails, I have never seen people work so hard in my life. They carry loads of firewood on their backs as large as they are. And they carry them down the volcano, on hundreds year old path ways, back home to make fire for tortillas, not just down the street. The women carry huge baskets of laundry on their heads all the way down to the lake, wash it all by hand, and carry the wet laundry back up the hill on their heads to hang dry at home. The Tzu´tuhil are also some of the first tribes to hold off the Guatemalan military during this country´s 35 year long, very bloody civil war that ended in 1996.

Walking around San Pedro, one cannot ignore the children running the streets everywhere. I swear it´s the children that actually own this town. So needless to say the Tzu´tuhil are fertile folks as well. Mayan babies I think qualify as the cutest and best behaved in the world as I have never seen one actually cry. I have heard, but not seen. It´s amazing. And nothing is cuter than a 1.5 year old little Mayan girl dressed in the traditional clothes the females wear from the time they can walk. Tiny little blouse and tiny little skirt with a tiny little belt. OH! It is too much.

Funny I should mention the word tiny. The Mayan are not known for their stature, unless its speaking of very small stature. But their low center of gravity has its benefits. I´m convinced that they can carry huge loads on their heads and backs because it doesn´t necessarily make them top heavy. How can they be top heavy when they are so close to the ground? I am a freaking giant here, and there is a lot of comedy to be enjoyed by seeing me in a market surrounded by 4´6" Mayans.

For today, this is all. Ponder and begin to paint the picture of San Pedro in your head, it´s a colorful one!

4th of July Jr.

This is my new name for SuperBowl Sunday as it is a coming together of all things American, minus the fireworks, but they set those off every day here in Guatemala. Even if the SuperBowl is in Mexican spanish broadcast, the pork tenderloin and baked beans make up for it. And as an understander of the holy game of American football, Spanish or English, I was in the game. What about that interception for a 100yd return for a TD by the Steelers! I am fighting the tears of joy like I´ve actually paid attention to the NFL this season.

I "partied"(translation: watched the game and ate)at la Piscina, the local swimming pool, but please don´t have visions of a Guatemalan swimming pool(shivers of grossness). This pool is owned by a Quebequois and is immaculately maintained. My roommate Gary set up his projector and we watched the Spanish SuperBowl on a big screen!!! As aforementioned, I also enjoyed pork tenderloin BBQ with many delicious sides to properly gorge myself like the American I am. I even spoke Americanese with other gringos, a welcome change to my slow choppy English I speak with all the second language English speakers I encounter daily. Life is good!

Not to mention the Mexican SuperBowl commercials. Yeah, America really is a lot better at some things. But being that the SuperBowl is American, we rule the school on commercials too. BO$$, as my brother and I say.

Either way, 4th of July Jr. this year was really good and a fine reminder of how delicious pork tenderloin is.

The time has come that I am settling in for real in San Pedro. I am here to stay after a bit of traveling. I know I have not yet mentioned, but I am living in a house. I moved in about a month and a half ago, with a Canadian, an Israeli, and tomorrow my friend Lesley from Colorado moves in for two months. I call it "The Real World, San Pedro".

The time to write all things San Pedro has come as well, I know I promised this many postings ago. This town is one crazy combination of everything hilarious. I mean if watching the SuperBowl in Spanish at a Guatemalan pool owned by a Canadian and calling it 4th of July Jr. isn´t enough, then, well, just tune in soon and your cravings will be satisfied . . . . . . .