Momostenango and Laguna Chicabal!

           This weekend was quite eventful!  Saturday morning we all went to a town called Momostenango, or Momo for short, which is about an hour outside of Xela.  We went to the house of a family that runs their own business of making chumpas(sweaters), alfombras(rugs), bufandas(scarves) and mantas(blankets) out of wool that they actually shear off of their own sheep.  Luis the father, explained that all of the family members work at every step of turning wool into selling items and has been going on for 5 generations.  He explained the process of making a rug from the very beginning of shearing the sheep, washing the wool, letting it dry in the sun, carding and spinning the wool, dyeing it using natural dyes and then the wool is ready to be woven on gigantic wooden looms.

One of the sons working on a large rug

Another son working on a smaller rug

            The natural dyes are used by soaking the yarn and color source in cold water, letting it dry and then fixing the color with ash or calcium.  The color red is from an insect, yes the blood of an insect found in Mexico.  Yellow is from paloamarillo which is a type of wood.  Bark called Aliso is used to make beige, cinnamon and coffee color.  Anil makes two different blues.  A plant called Chilca makes green.  Berries of Sauko make purple.  Achote makes a rust color and white, grey and black are natural colors from the sheep!  Luis walked us through every step and we all got to try each step.  Boy is it quite the process!  It gave me a lot of respect for what their family and many other families do to make a living.  After the little tour was over, Luis’s wife Thelma made us some delicious tortillas with guacamole and salsa for a snack and some tea.  I really wanted to buy a woven blanket from the family but unfortunately do not have any room left over in my already overstuffed backpack to take it home.  

All the different colors of the wool!

The color sources for the wool; bark, plants, ash and chalk

My turn to try and turn wool into yarn with the help of Luis

Thelma making tortillas!

            Saturday night I went out with some friends to a local soccer game, Xelaju vs. Juventud Retalteca.  It was unbelievable how many people were there supporting Xela!  And only in Guatemala would fireworks, beer, and colored smoke be allowed to be brought in!  Although our team lost 2-0 it was fun to watch the crowd get riled up.  There was one fan section that had people jumping, dancing, yelling, and lighting off fireworks throughout the entire game!  It was also fun to watch some of the Guatemalan’s reactions when our Gringo (American) group started yelling in English when a play went well…or rather not so well.  Typically there are always after parties after the games, but because we had to be up at 5:30am the next morning to go on a hike we went home to get some rest!

On our way to the Xelaju soccer game!

Lucky to find seats!  Lizzy, Neil, Snow, Me, Amish, and Jen on our laps :) 

Soccer stadium

Little kids supporting the team with fireworks

            Sunday morning came WAY to quickly.  I have not been up at 5:30am in a very very long time…but hey I guess its preparing me for PA school!  We all met up at 6am to catch a mircrobus to take to the main bus station to catch another bus that would take us to San Martin Sacatepequez where we would be able to hike up Volcan Chicabal and down into the crater to see the sacred Laguna(Lake) Chicabal.  The very first microbus that picked us up asked us where we were going and said he would take us all the way which was very convenient for us.  However, the police made us stop on the side of the road because apparently he saw all of us gringos and knew that this microbus didn’t have a tourist license to be taking us around so I think the driver just got a “warning.”  We hiked about two hours to get to the entrance of the protected park and then another 40 minutes to El Mirador (the lookout).  This hike was definitely tough!  I have never hiked something so steep for such a long period of time and at such a high elevation, but once we made it to the lookout it was absolutely beautiful.  On one side of the lookout you could see the sacred Laguna Chicabal and on the other side you could see three volcanoes off in the distance. 

Can't really tell how steep it is from the picture but trust me it was REALLY steep!

Entrance into the Volcano and Laguna

The entrance where you can stay in cabins and camp

At the lookout!  The beautiful Laguna Chicabal!

            We then had to hike down a long path of 615 awkwardly placed stairs to the laguna.  The laguna is quite small and only contains a few fish.  However it is forbidden to swim in the lake because it is sacred to the indigenous.  While we were there we saw a group of indigenous doing some type of ceremony with songs and prayer.  There are also several small altars around the lake that people could gather around.  After we rested a bit and ate some yummy red bananas and muffins we hiked back down.  As we started leaving the fog started rolling up over the volcano and into the lake and was absolutely gorgeous.  The hike back down was rather interesting because I almost ate it about 5 times.  It was so steep that I would start to slip a little and then to try and catch myself from falling all the way down I would have to run a little but then I would pick up too much momentum and oh boy it was quite a site to see.  Luckily I didn’t eat it though!  Once we got to the entrance again there was a man with a truck saying he could take us down to where we would have to catch another bus back to Xela.  We were all pretty tired so we hopped in the back of the truck and rode down.  It was so steep even in a truck, that I was a little nervous and was holding on for dear life, hoping that the brakes didn’t burn out.

Lizzy and Cat maneuvering down the awkward stairs

Group of indigenous having a ceremony of some sort

Clouds starting to roll in

View of San Martin on our way down in the back of a pickup truck

            We then had to wait for a bit to catch either a chicken bus or a microbus, and of course the first bus that came was a chicken bus.  It was already pretty crowded when we got on, and we all had to maneuver through people’s legs, children, bags and live animals….yes, one woman was caring a live chicken on her lap.  I was lucky enough to be able to squish into a seat even though my knees got pretty banged up from the seat in front of mine. (Riding buses here in Guate really make me wish I was short and didn’t have long legs).  It’s not uncommon for about 3 to 4 people to squeeze onto each small bench because the drivers are trying to maximize their profits.  Good thing I took some Dramamine!!!

Chicken Bus!

            Overall, it was a great weekend and it’s always nice to get out of Xela for a bit and see the countryside, even if that means having to take a crowded, smelly chicken bus! J