Some Guatemalan Culture

Yesterday Sergio and I went to a coffee farm. At the coffee farm I learned all about how coffee is grown, harvested, and roasted. It takes about 5 tubs of the coffee bean (it starts out as a red berry) to make 40 cups of coffee. The process from ground to cup is quite long! There are about 5 different types of coffee grown in Guatemala. The type depends upon what climate the coffee is grown in. Apparently the shade grown coffee from the mountains is the best although I think the source of my information may have had a little bias. I told several people at first about coffee and its importance to Seattle and how Starbucks was first founded in Seattle. Then I thought about it and really, there are no Starbucks in Guatemala. No wonder no one thought that was interesting! There was also a museum about the houses of the indigenous that grow coffee in different climates. In warm climates the houses are made out of bamboo with palm roofs. In the “colder climates,” which aren’t necessarily cold by our standards, the houses are made out of adobe (clay, mud, and grass). The similarity between all of the houses are that they are usually about the size of one American room with one window and a door. The whole family lives and cooks in that place.

This reminds me; I learned the other day that women here tend to dye early from lung cancer and other related lung diseases because they spend a good majority of their lives cooking food in a poorly ventilated area over a fire. There are quite a few organizations that have been installing stoves for families so that they aren’t inhaling smoke all of the time. Such an easy thing to do that really changes lives… hearing that makes me happier.

There was a section of the museum that was dedicated to music from all around Guatemala (how exactly this relates to coffee I don’t know.) It was really interesting to see the instruments the indigenous have used for centuries and what instruments were introduced into the culture from the Europeans. As I type this, I can hear someone playing the flute from my window. How ironic. Flutes are popular here, but I know now they were introduced by the Spaniards. Most of the indigenous instruments were made from some sort of dried fruit and animal skin such as drums, wooden xylophones, tambourines, and a few others I can’t even begin to describe.

I was so happy that I understood just about everything the tour guides told me. My Spanish is making vast improvements every day. It is so much mental work to speak 4 hours with Sergio in the mornings that I often feel exhausted when I am done. This morning I went with Sergio to a rooftop restaurant for some fresh fruit and coffee. I can literally say that this is the most beautiful place I’ve ever eaten a meal. It was a 360 degree view of volcanoes, church ruins, trees, house tops. I can’t wait to take Scott here when he comes! We talked about more philosophical things today which reminded me that my Spanish is really coming along. I also showed him pictures on my computer of my family and friends. I described the city of Seattle to him and showed him some postcards I purchased at the airport too. He will know me so well when we are done. I think I’ll have made a great friend!

Yesterday I also worked with students at the afterschool learning center. They are so smart and funny. At the end of the day while students are having their snack we now have this ritual where the kids ask me questions in Spanish about my life and I answer in Spanish. I don’t always answer correctly, but it makes for a good laugh sometimes (at least the kids think it’s pretty funny). Then they point to things and ask me how to say them in English. The kids always have “recurso” which is a snack that is healthy and often fortified with protein because they often don’t get enough nutrients at home. Yesterday I walked with Gary to a street where an indigenous women was selling fruit. Moments later I found myself cutting a handful of mangos for “recurso.”