I am really enjoying staying with my family. I can already tell that my Spanish is getting better, having to speak in Spanish from the moment I wake up, to the minute I go to sleep. I´ve started writing in my journal in Spanish as well, and am currently reading El Principito, the Little Prince in translation!
Yesterday, a classmate, named Lauren, and I went across the lake to Panajachel to check out the market and by some gifts for her family and friends, since she is heading back to DC on Sunday. It was a weird vibe...there´s a huge high rise hotel near the water, and palm trees that didn´t seem indigenous to the area. It felt like it was trying to be a resort, which is not an impression I have gotten from any other areas of Lake Atitlan so far. But we eventually found the market, I don´t know how it happened but I ended up with three scarves in four minutes. I kept being offered lower prices by everyone coming up to me and it was a big blur. I learned my lesson and kept my cool, haha. I got a nice skirt and a purse, which is nice because I feel kind of out of place wearing pants all the time when all the local women are in their traditional dress, and always in skirts.
We got back from Panajachel just in time to catch a movie at our Spanish school. It was an Antonia Bandaras film, that was in English, but dubbed over in Spanish, with English subtitles for us, haha. It was still pretty interesting, a story about the desaparecidos in Argentina...leaving most of us in a heavy mood afterwards..
This morning was pretty heavy for me as well... Wilson (my spanish teacher) and I spent the first two hours of the four hour school day talking about the political history of Guatemala, and San Pedro in particular. I have been trying to read about the history, but it gets very complicated very fast, and I find myself lost amidst the acronyms and names of political leaders. The changeover seems to have taken place far too often to keep it all straight...
This morning, Wilson brought in a narrative overview of the 1996 Peace Accords,in Spanish of course, and I got up the courage to ask him if he wouldn´t mind telling me what he knew or remembered about the civil war and its consequences. The stories are pretty dark. Families were split along political lines...for example, his own uncle was kidnapped by the guerillas, after being monitored by his cousin in the early 70s. Each family became known for either supporting or opposing the guerrillas, and eventually, families which had members taken by the guerillas formed a group and asked for the governments help. Guerrilla-supporting families were rounded up, and eventually the capturing and imprisonment of these people diminished the violence in the area. I was given some more details, but I really would rather not recall them. After 1976, when the war and violence was continually subsiding, guerilla supporters either were threatened, or willingly left, most to the coastal areas of the country, splitting many towns along political histories. Apparently, not many guerrilla supporters remain in San Pedro. Less than 6 years ago, one family, of which the grandfather is known to have been an active member, had a terrible incident, in which the grandson was hung, by a couple of young men who sought reparations against the grandfather. It was very hard to hear...harder to keep myself composed during the storeis, and Wilson, as well, was having a hard time staying calm..
It is crazy walking around the town and remembering that everyone over 30 here has a vivid memory of the war and violence...even my host family, its...incredible...
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