Weaver at the Loom

Hello there! This is Betsy writing on my first full day and everyone else's second day in Antigua. We had a wonderful day off due to a holiday celebrated here in town. Throughout the whole day fireworks could be heard all through town and in the main plaza there was plenty of activities to partake in like a book fair and music.

We split into two groups today. Chris and Sammie left early and drove out the Nueva Esperanza, one of Common Hope's other schools. You will be hearing about their experience a little later.

Ashley, Andrea, Stephanie, Mitch, and I went to the weaving cooperative in Santiago Zamora, a small pueblo about 30 minutes from Antigua. A Common Hope volunteer, Shelly, who happens to be a Minnesota native, picked us up at around 9am to bring us out there. Our driver, Jose, dropped us off at an unmarked door on a small street at the top of a hill and Shelley knocked on the door. We had no idea we were about the enter an incredible place with incredible women inside.

We entered a home made of stone and covered with an aluminum roof. Throughout the whole living area there were tapestries and woven materials scattered and hanging all around. All the women in the room were dressed in traditional clothing like los cortes and los guipiles. The first woman scattered flower petals and lit candles on the floor while she told us an interesting legend/story about the town and the Mayan people.

She told us that a long time ago on today's date, the men in town made alcohol to celebrate the patron saint's day that is celebrated today. Everyone was very happy and fell asleep at the end of the day. In the middle of the night a home caught fire and since their homes were made of corn stalk the whole town burnt down. The people were so sad their homes were destroyed they started to get headaches and nose bleeds. In order to cure the sickness, the people had to give over the deed to their land to the rich man in town to pay for medicine to cure the sickness. The people were cured but since he had the deed to their land he wouldn't let them plant their harvest there anymore. Eventually he allowed them to plant but the people were indebted to work for him for the rest of their lives. Still today the people of Santiago Zamora help the man with his coffee harvest every year.

The coop was started by 35 women 17 years ago in order to send their children to school. The women faught against their disapproving husbands by weaving products to sell in the market. Now the women keep part of the funds for their materials and give part to the community to keep their children in school.

We had such a great time! It felt like we were really getting to know the culture of this people. They showed us all four steps of weaving by hand the traditional shirts, skirts, purses, tablecloths, etc that they sell. Everything was incredibly intricate. We also saw a traditional dance done today on the last day of the festival complete with music and incense. We also all had the chance to try grinding coffee beans by hand grown from the mountain outside. They are ground with a large stone plate and a stone "rolling pin." The stone is from the mountain and was bought by her grandmother a long time ago. Each woman has four different stones. One for grinding coffee beans, black beans, corn for tortillas, and herbal plants.

They made us a delicious meal called pepian which consists of rice with vegetables, a special sauce, and chicken raised right in their home instead of bought at the market. Accompaning the pepian was a juice made of pineapple, canteloupe, honey, and water. Que rico! Another very interesting part was watching the women made tortillas. They had a wood burning stove with a flat top. An older woman, who only spoke Maya, was sitting next to the stove and made perfect torillas. Receiving the ball of dough in her hand, flattening it by throwing it between her hands, and stopping at the perfect consistency, size, and smoothness. Later on we found out this woman was blind and making tortillas by memory and experience! We definitely struggled making them ourselves. We ended up making volcanos, maps, and Mitch was even told that he wasn't allowed to leave until he learned how to make a proper tortilla.

It was an incredible visit where we learned so much about the people, the detailed process of weaving, and the food. Finally we ended our visit by purchasing their beautiful woven goods of so many colors. Ashley and I definitely had a hard time controlling our pocketbooks and bought all our gifts for family and friends in one visit! Totally worth it.

We ate lunch at a beautiful restaurant named Saberico that is made of complete open air gardens. We walked through an incredibly old building with 2 foot thick stone walls into the beautiful garden. On the patio there were pomegranite trees, lime trees, guanava trees, and love birds in cages. We had our own secluded space surrounded by flowers and had incredible food. One part of the garden we discovered had a hammock you could rest in after a large lunch. We ordered a range of food from Guatemalan enchiladas (with cabbage, beets, and chicken), to tacos and bruschetta. For drinks we ordered various mango, strawberry, and wheat grass smoothies. It was great!

After lunch we began planning for our first day of work tomorrow at the schools, got a tour of the Common Hope compound from our guide Lys, and got picked up by our favorite driver, Cheeky, to go to dinner. Dinner was at a great place named La Peña de Sol Latino where we ate incredible food and listened to live music being played in front of us. It is agreed that every place we have eaten at has been very romantic, small, and with great food.

We ended the evening by listening to a full piece band in the main plaza (dressed in white tuxedos) play music and watched a couple dance salsa infront of a large croud. It was a great way to end a full day celebrating the patron saint holiday with the people.

Thank you for reading this whole post to the end! Tomorrow we officially begin our work with contruction and teaching at the two schools, Santa Catarina and San Miguel Escobar.

Gracias!