Some pictures!

So here as some pictures! I guess if I spent more time I could probably get it so that my words would go with the corresponding picture but as it is I will just give a short description of each picture. Most of these correspond to the things I talked about in my last blog. Also they are not chronological at all.

This first picture is me at the hot springs... It was very warm especially by the rock wall I am at and extremely relaxing.

The second picture is of a Mayan ceremony that we just had demonstrated for us. It was interesting to hear about the beliefs of the Maya and everything. We also go to help lay out all of the things in this circle (they had to be laid out counter clockwise). The man conducting it was dressed in western clothing and is a part of these traditions. he has been charged with educating other people about Mayan beliefs. It was interesting to hear about the emphasis they place on taking care of the earth and the balance between humanity and the environment. Everything we placed in the circle is significant of various parts of nature or various ´protections´against ills. It is also all very flammable whcih made for an exciting finale to the presenation. Also GOOD NEWS the world may not be ending in 2012! but Dec. 2012 is an extremely significant time in the Mayan calendar. Apparently the Mayan calendar is in cycles and the one ending in 2012 is the longest one (the long count) at over 5000 years. Whenever a count ends there is a significant change in the world, which he says is a great danger but also oppurtunity.

There is also a picture of my teacher and I at the zoo. He is super funny and always joking with everyone, especially the ladies, at the language school. This day we took a field trip with another student, teacher pair for the second half of our class.

The next picture is of the church we visited in San Diego near Lake Atitlan. It is interesting because during the long civil war here in Guatemala (whcih lasted from 1960 to 1996) many bodies were thrown in the lake. Also the pastor of this church was killed by government troops inside of the church. Politics here are very interesting and I am glad I did the report last year on the role of the CIA and United Fruit Company in the coup in 1954, but in reality that is only the beginning of US involvement in Guatemala including the supporting of the repressive government before and during the civil war.

Current politics are also interesting. Just today all the newspapers in this city were sold out because everyone wanted to know about this investigation that was just completed. Anyway my host brother told me all about it (in spanish) so more or less this complicated tale boils down to this: about 8 months ago a troubled man from the upper class (the upper and middle classes here do not all like the current president because he has increased taxes to fund social programs, but he does enjoy wide support from the lower classes) hired assasins to kill him and set it up to appear as though the president had ordered it. He left a video before his (alleged) elaborate suicide accusing the president of all sorts of atrocities (like killing a hundred people). Anyway there was a huge international investigation and apparently he was a fraud and was just trying to discredit the president. This is, according to my host brother, illustrative of the class tensions here.

This last picture is of Jordon and I on the way to San Diego across Lake Atitlan. It is beautiful because there are volcanoes all around the lake and little cities nestled between them.