Wednesday night the crew all went to a soccer game in the Xela stadium! We saw the local Xela club play a rival town (whose name unfortunately escapes me). It was an awesome environment and one I've been anxiously waiting for on this trip. (im sure this comes as a big surprise to everyone:) Xela stadium is a modest one with and oval shape ring of stands around it. Behind either Goal the concrete general admission stands are probably about 50 rows high and behind the side lines probably 10. The stands directly behind each goal hosts a group of avid Xela fans (all in Xela's colors of red, white and blue)singing and jumping up and down in unison and each time Xela scored about 10 to 20 would run to the fence separating the fans from the field and climb to the very top, take off their shirts and swing them around their heads cheering. It was a really exciting game the ended in a tie. This was not satisfactory for either team and a vicious fight immediately ensued. Riot police rushed the field, escorting the refs off under the coverage of huge shields and attempting to separate the two teams and fans that had made their way onto the field. As the atmosphere in the stands looked like it might heat up a bit, we gringos decided it was about time for us to leave:) All was ok and I got a Xela club flag out of the deal!!
This weekend the group got a little break from studying and presentations with a trip to Chichicastenango. This is a mountain town about 2 and a half hours from Xela and it is famous for its outdoor market. One Thursdays and Sundays the streets fill, literally from end to end with vendors selling hand woven clothes,a bags, blankets, jewelry, carved masks, fresh fruit, andything else you could possibly want. First on saturday we got the oportunity to go to a small village about 45min outside Chichi were a special group of women welcomed us into their community. After driving we walked for another 20min through corn and bean fields to get to their remote location. These women were all widowed from the armed conflict. In small communities all over the country sides of Guatemala the millitary masacared whole villages of men in an effort to stop uprisings agains the goverment or to warn those in the surrounding areas what could happen to them should they deside to join forces with the guerrillas. The women of this community were left with no one to help them tend the fields while they looked after their children and grandchildren. Around the same time other masacres in the are took place one including the bombing of a methodist church that killed 40 people. The women of this community reached out to the methodist church for help becuase they had to food to feel themselves or what was left of their families. The church helped them get threads and materials to weave items for sale. Fidel and one of our other guides Iche, along with the methodist paster of their newly rebuilt church, took us to their village and a couple of the women shared their stories wth us. One woman told about finding her husband with his head split open with an axe because he refused to take up arms with the military in what they called The Civil Defense Patrol. These patrols were basically forced service by the army to "protect" the villages from the guerrillas or any outsider that might come into their village. In truth the army was forceing these people to shot at or kill their fellow civil country men. Many of these women lost their husbands because they refused to take up arms with the military. They showed us their beautiful works of weaving (which we were happy to support obviously:) and then we shared a meal with them. These women are first generation indigenous Mayans and therefore speak only Quiche, one of the native Mayan languages. Fidel is and indigenous mayan and speaks Quiche so he was able to translate and even teach us a few words like thankyou, good morning and how are you. It was an wonderful experience getting a glipse into a very personal experience of the effects of the armed conflict.
One sunday we got some time to spend in the bustling market of Chichi but first some of us visited a site that holds historically religious significance for two seperate groups of people. Although Chichi is modernly well know by tourists and locals for its amazing market this fact has been true long before the term tourist existed. Chichi was has been a meeting place for Mayan farmers and artisens for hundreds of years. In the center of the town there is a catholic church that was built at the time of the origianl conquest in the early 1800s. However catholisism was not the first religious sect to claim it as a site of signifigance. Some ledgens say that this site was the place were the ancient mayan religious text was first discovered or written and there was once a great Mayan temple. However just as they did all over the country at the time of the conquest, catholic priests ordered the destruction of the temple and the construction of a catholic church right on top of the ruins. The front steps are the original steps of the mayan temple and on many days of the week but particularly sundays mayan priests and priesteses can be seen performing fire ceremonies while catholic mass is held simultaneously on the inside of the church. We went in a little after the mass was over and down the center isle of the church there are mayan priest and priesteses performing small candle rituals. Its a beautiful thing that a country with so much tourmoil in its past and where so much tension still exists because of diversity in blood lines and beliefts, at least here these two groups of people live amongst each other in peace. It brought a whole new meaning to term coexist for me and this is one of my most favorite words.
Maybe one of my favorite parts of this little mini journey was the drive to and from Chichi. The moutains or guatemala are a truely spectacular site in my opinion and very different from any mountains I'm use to seeing. Moutains of green with cascading farm lands spoting through the trees. Deep valleys with large towns and small comunities that, from afar, seem to defy gravity as they slink along the hillsides. Every 5 or 10 minutes an empty rectangle of dirt appears with two sets of naked goal posts at either end:) At times your so high us that your litterally driving through the clouds and off in the distance there are ranges that acend even higher into the heavens with a plane of clouds sitting at eye level or below and off in the distance El Volcan Santa Maria looks even more majestic then she did from her base. Although the native guatemalans may not agree with me, I am very much appreciative of the underdevelpment along the roads we take through the mountains.
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