Well it’s been a while since I last posted. It’s been an interesting couple of weeks. Amy and I continue our explorations of Lake Atitlan, and especially the San Marcos area. Josh is on his way to points south, and another friend arrives today for a week, staying in town.
We traveled to Guatemala City last Friday to spend our
second Shabbat with the Casa Hillel community.
They are so wonderful, and we have established a mutual love
affair. This time we stayed with a
family that moved to Guatemala from Colombia five years ago, and began the
conversion process to Judaism while here.
Yakov is a dentist, and he has become quite knowledgeable, to the point
of being the main prayer leader. Raudith
is an esthetician, who has set up shop in their home. They have three teenage children, two girls
19 and 17 and a boy 15. They insisted on
vacating the “master bedroom” so Amy and I could sleep there. They speak little English, so we got to
practice our limited Spanish a lot! It
is coming along, though it can be a struggle sometimes. Actually it turns out that all three kids are
learning English in school, so they were holding out on us! Nevertheless, it’s important for us to be
forced to speak Spanish.
I helped lead services, brought my guitar to share some
songs and prayers. Some they already
knew, though not well, so I was able to enhance their knowledge of those. Others were brand new, and we learned and
then sang them together. I was also able
to chant some of the Torah portion from the scroll, which they are not used to
doing, so that was a nice addition to their ritual experience. After services, we shared lunch together, and
then Amy went to work with the “kids” teaching them basic Hebrew reading
skills, and beginning to prepare Ardany for his becoming Bar Mitzvah next
November. The teenagers are very
enthusiastic and appreciative, as Amy weaved her magic with them. I took a nap in the back room on an air
mattress (well it was Shabbat after all!).
Life in Guatemala is complicated. There is so much joy, and yet it is usually
fraught with challenges and difficulties.
The day before our arrival, thieves ripped the water metre off the
outside wall of the Casa Hillel house, so there was no running water or toilet
available for the weekend. We brought in
big bottles of purified water, but we were limited in our water use. So in the afternoon, Amy suggested we go for
ice cream (and to use the Baños!). We ended up at a large mall nearby. It was packed with people! This is life and entertainment for many in
the big city. Kind of crazy!
We returned to the Lake on Sunday with our friends Clayton
and Rosalie (Maalaa) from Gabriola.
Rosalie arrived early Sunday morning, so we shared a ride with them and
the wonderful driver Chema. When I got
back, I crashed! Maybe I picked up
something in the city, maybe I was exhausted, but I really had no energy and
didn’t feel well. Whatever it was passed
through me over the next three days or so, and I felt myself gradually
improving each day. I feel much better
now, though I have started taking some remedies to help keep my system free of
unwanted “guests”. So far so good…
When we are here, we have a wonderful routine of waking up
around 7:30, making coffee and taking it slowly till about 9. Then Yoga, meditation, then breakfast. We have Internet here, so there is
correspondence and computer “work” that we generally do in the morning. My current activities include sending out
applications to perform at music festivals in B.C. this summer, recording some
songs and prayers to send to Casa Hillel so they can practice when we’re not
there. There are also “giglets” and
other musical events happening here that I get involved with. We are planning some hikes building up to the
big one, climbing Volcano San Pedro. We
are also planning some trips to other villages around the lake, time in
Antigua, and other explorations in this area.
We are busy and productive, with enough time to just be. It’s a good balance for us, and I highly
recommend it to anyone who can manage it!
We have been enjoying some of the local music scene over the
past few days. On Friday night we went
to Ganesh, a nice restaurant performance space in town, and saw two Norwegian
young women who sang sweet harmonies together, accompanied by Meaghan on violin.
They accompanied a magican who did a climbing show on sheets tied to the high
ceiling, followed by a magic/comedy set.
They ended early (around 9) so we headed to another spot in town called
Blind Lemon’s, where Carlos, an American who has been connected to San Marcos
for many years, held forth with his wonderful blues guitar and singing with
vintage instruments including a National Steel Guitar, a parlour acoustic and
another slide guitar. Then last night
(Saturday) we went to another musical show with Sativo, a local hip-hop artist
who sings mostly in Spanish accompanied by acoustic guitar and beats using his
mouth. He incorporated others into his
performance, including another rapper from Cuba, a young woman rapper/singer
from Costa Rica and local man who rapped in the indigenous Kaqchikel language –
that was a first! Then he invited some of
the local boys to breakdance. It was an
international hip-hop fest, and though I couldn’t understand many of the lyrics
(which of course is the key to hip-hop/rap music), it was still very enjoyable
and energetic, with lots of people dancing and partying. A good night!
 |
| Sativo at Ganesh |
I notice that time is flying by. We will have been here on the lake for a
month on Sunday, which seems incredible to me.
We are loving being here, and there’s lots to do before our time comes
to depart. So I’d better get busy now!
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