Guatemala a sirvirle

 On our last Saturday in Guatemala we woke as always before the sun, but this day we were treated to one of the most spectacular sunrises we have seen on the trip.  The day was clearer than what we had come to expect in San Pedro and the mountains surrounding the lake were clearly visible.  We decided to take fully advantage of the day and hiked with the doggies past the end of our usual walk and up into the hills.  The view was amazing and we both understood why so many people who come here for a few days end up staying and putting down roots in this little lake side village.

We have been in Guatemala for 7 weeks and as we prepare to leave I look back on our time here with what I hope is a better understanding of the country than when I arrived.  Guatemala is a beautiful country, with the cool mountain rain forests, the jungle and the pacific coast to entertain any type of visitor, but it is the people who truly make this country worth visiting.

The country struggles with the poverty typical of a third world system and division between the rich and the poor that is difficult for me as a US citizen to understand.  In Guatemala City the tension is palpable, the armed guards at every gas station and on every truck and the electrified security systems that are layered on top of the bobbed wire on every house, it was the only place that I felt unsafe.   In the smaller more touristy city of Antigua the poverty is less noticeable but it is still there in the children begging on the street or who have found employment selling everything from bananas to hand made string bracelets rather than going to school which is neither free nor compulsory. 

Into the countryside where fire wood is collected on a daily basis, if not for heat then for cooking and women wash clothes, their children and themselves in rivers and lakes because their houses don’t have water.  So many people dream of going to the United States to find work and finally be able to save money, something that here they can’t do.  They have examples of how that is possible, like the woman who gave us directions, in perfect English, to a hotel in the middle of nowhere, her family had returned from New Jersey and with the money earned there were able to live in a style different than the average Guatemalan.

Yet with the “American Dream” alive and well in Guatemala so is the Mayan Culture that has disappeared from so many other Central American countries.  For the Indigenas Spanish is not a first language, and for some it isn’t spoken at all.  There are more than 30 Languages spoken in Guatemala, each area has its own.  Each area also has a style of dress that distinguishes it from its neighbor, in the North the women wear full pleated skirts and lace blouses and in Lake Atitlan the style of skirt is tighter and blouses are embroidered with flowers, but both are more colorful than anything worn in the States.

Even with the poverty the people are so friendly and welcoming to visitors.  Walking down the street everyone greets us with a “Buenos Dias” or a “Buenas Tardes”, they ask us our names, where we are from, how long we will be in their country and make us feel welcome.  When we thank the waitress who has brought us our food or the Tuk Tuk driver for dropping us at our house or even the butcher for the meat, the response is always the same A Sivirle… to serve you.