Momostenango...

gallo

Last Saturday me and 5 other students we went to the village Momostenango or better to a family close to that. A woman picked us up in Xela and we drove with a chickenbus to her family. She is living there with her husband and 5 kids. There is also the whole family of her husband living. I asked her, it is normal that after the marriage the woman move to the family of their husband.

comb

So she showed us how they weave. First they have to comb the fur of the sheeps, then spinning with a spinning wheel to make a thread out of the fur. We all tried it, and it seems to be to much easier as it is!

spinning

After this she told us, how they color the threads, her family does this only with natural things, insects, plants, fruits and barks. The different intensities comes through the different time of cooking, sometimes  they cook the threads 5 hours, sometimes a week. It is very different!

colors

Then her son showed us how to weave and everybody weaved one line with his help. A huge blanket for example need 2 weeks, something more tiny 2 days.

weaving

Then, tortillas with egg, she baked the tortillas over open fire, but after a while the smoke burned in my eyes and I had to leave the kitchen. She has (for us) a very simple life. cookinf with fire and wood, an outhouse only with some plastic around, the kitchen without a door, very simple, and surrounded by nature!

We drove back with such a chickenbus, very cheap, very slow, very crowded. On the way to the woman they played ska music in the bus, yeah!!! On the way back the motor was too loud, I couldn´t hear something. Of course the few in the nature is great, we saw a waterfall. But sometimes we also saw, that the people throw their rubbish in the nature and don´t care about it.

kitchen

                                   

in the prison!!

No, I haven´t been in the prison, not as a prisoner!

My spanish school I.C.A. has a project in the prison for women in Xela and the last Wednesday (23.09.10) me and three other students went with the teacher Edwin to the prison.

We played some games with them, ate cake and drunk Coca Cola together. The first game was with a hoop, we hold each other at our hands and had to climb through the hoop which made a round through all people. When Edwin stopped to clap, the woman who had the hoop in this moment had to response a question like: Do you remember the name of your first boyfriend, or: What color has your underway today? We all laughed a lot!

Second game was not really a game! We made groups and every group had a huge piece of paper. Every group wrote their wishes for their lives on this paper. After this, we students decided which sentence was the best on every paper. So hard! All were really good and emotional (with God)! The woman who won, got a present.

 Another good thing was the Jenga-game, you know, this with the tower. This was so much fun for the women. We made two rounds, or better, the women were crazy to play a second round! And after this, both losers had to dance with each other!!!

Our last presents were cake and Coca Cola!

It was so great that all women participated in our games, my teacher told me, this is not normal! But they, and we of course too, had so much fun this afternoon. Poor thing was, one woman is pregnant and two other are living with their children in the prison. All together are 39 prisoners!

prison from the outside

the marks for showing that we were visitors

I couldn´t take pictures inside, it wasn´t allowed to take the camera inside. But a man made some pictures, I hope I get some of them, then I can post some!

planting trees near Xela

Xela

I´m now in Xela (Quetzaltenango) in the Spanish School ICA. I like it, yesterday I had my first lesson and I know: It is so hard for me to speak., but I can understand well, when the people don´t talk too fast.

way to the Fuentes

Today a group of 4 students (including me) and our director left Xela at 7 am to go first to Zunil, pick Marcelo up and continued to the Fuentes Georginas. That are hot springs close to one volcano. If you want, you can take a bath there in hot water which comes directly from the spring. But the way was very interesting, too. First, I have been in the back of the truck, outside  talking to another student, Andy from England. In Guatemala it is very common that people sit outside in the back of the truck, for me it was new, but I liked it. You can feel every hole of the street in your back and smell the exhaust gases. The good thing is, you have a great view all around!

Erin planting a tree

At the spring we first climbed a hill to plant some trees. I don´t know how high we hiked, but it was so terrible exhausting. The soil was wet and we had to cross a creek first and right after this climb a wall WITH the trees. Then they way was better but very steep. At the end I made more breaks then walking uphill. During we started planting a few trees the fog came and didn´t wanted to go away. We had so dirty fingers and the way downhill was little dangerous because of the wet underground. Every time when somebody slipped we said: No mas cerveza para ti! ;) (No more beer for you)

the fog comes

Fortunately we all made safe and sound over the wall and creek back to the spring. In the end we could enjoy little time the hot water of the spring (I didn´t, I was too lazy to change the clothes). The way back was very foggy, cold and through some rain, suddenly the street was very bad. And the view wasn´t so good as the first drive. But it was funny again to sit in the back, this time with Sandra (Denmark) and Erin (Canada).

one spring with the fog

On the way we have seen a lot of indigenous working in their fields. Marcelo explained  that all the field were forest before. But now there isn´t one tree and the people have problems with landslide, especially in the rainy season. We saw this at the streets, sometimes half of the street or some parts doesn´t exist anymore.

And Elisa, I saw so many people walking around with Pesticide, too bad!

in the back of the car (me making the photo)

bad road

And, check out this: Look at Google pictures for the words ´Hoyo Guatemala City´ This is so crazy and real!

time difference to Germany - 8 hours



map of Guate



Adios Miami

Hola y bienvenidos en Guatemala said a lot of persons at the airport in Guatemala City last Thursday to me. After 9,5 h flight and apprx. 5 h waiting in Miami I finally flew to Guatemala!

Flight to Guatemala

I had little problems in the USA, because of two apples in my hand baggage, I wasn´t allowed to eat them in the USA, but they didn´t care about my carrot and the tomatoes, weird! But now I have a Visa for the USA until the 15th December, but Iam not gonna use this.

So Guatemala City, huge city!!!  I have great CS-host they showed me the city, of course it is different to Germany. The cars drive like crazy and the old busses from the USA (called chickenbusses, because people transport everything in it) are very colourful but they have exhaust gases, terrible! I the olf city centre they´re building at the moment a new shopping street, but all people go through the building lot, unbelievable in Germany. There was also a big market with a lot of good made by the indigenous population (here Mayas). What they produce is very colorful, I love it. Soon I will buy some things!

a Chickenbus in Antigua

a convent

me in a street

Today I have been in Antigua, a city with 40 000 people inhabitants near Guatemala City. In this city are still a lot of buildings from the colonial time. Two earthquakes destroyed a lot if this city, but they tried to reconstruct as good as possible. Before Guatemala City Antigua also was the capital of Guatemala. The city has so much churches and convents, it is unbelivable. I couldn´t see all today. It is also surrounded by volcanoes (Guatemala is a country full of vulcanoes), but today I only could guess the fully impression of the nearest volcane ´Agua´. But I will go back there in my 7 months Guatemala and write then more about this city!



Antigua with the volcano Agua (left)



Last but not least, I will tell you that I bought some jewellery from where my CS-host is working. This jewellery is made of garbage from women who worked before in the biggest dump of Central America. But a woman started a NGO saving the children of a life in the dump and also there mums. She started to give them the opportunity to educate themselves and create jewellery. The organisation ´Camino Seguro´ sell this bracelets, earrings, rings and necklaces. It is made of paper, the roll it together and color it, it is so beautiful! Check out pictures on this site:

´Creamos Futuros´ and ´Camino Seguro´



If somebody want to have some of this, you can write me the colour and shape you want (I think nothing exist twice) and Iam sure I will come back and organise that!

with my CS-hosts Cynthia and Claudia

So, the very last: Picture of the Guatemalan currency...the ´Quetzal´.



Partying in Barcelona!

As I told before,
I spend some days in Barcelona with my sister Jana.
Great time with dancing salsa (CS meeting), guitar music at the beach and concerts at Arc de Triompf.
Here some pictures:

Salsa dancing with many couchsurfers

guapo chico ;)

Ruben (Ecuador), Jana (Germany), Michael (Poland)

Pedro, Jana, Mati

Pedro and me

Anna-Maria and Pepe

Angelito and Lino

Partying for Guatemala!

Ok, now to the main reason for this blog, certainly my most amazing adventure which starts this thursday the 9th of September. I fly first to Spain with my sister and next week to Guatemala City! My first 2 weeks I attend a Spanish school in Quetztaltenango (Xela). Altogether I will stay 7 months in Guatemala, working voluntarily at the coffee farm 'Santa Anita La Union'. Hopefully! Until now they don't know that I come. We (manita e.V.) tried to contact them, without success. But somebody told me this behaviour is typical for Latin America, so, I'm not worried. After my voluntary work I will travel in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil before I fly back next year (2011) in June.

At the 26th August I organized a benefiz party with 3 bands in Dresden: Patu and Thomas with their accordions, 'The Barley Brothers' and the 'Banda Comunale'. The 'wunderBar' mixed delicuous cocktails. I collected some money for the schools of the coffeefarm. We have exactly 98,36€ donations! Later on, I will tell you how we use this money!

Here some pictures from the concert:

last briefing

wunderBar, Thomas and Patu

The Barley Brothers

Banda Comunale

dancers

Banda Comunale

my sister Jana and me