Harvests

New Year's Eve is as good a time as any to look back on the harvests of last year (in Suchitoto, a great year for corn and beans) and forward to the harvests of next year.  The coffee harvest has begun - and on our way back from a trip to Lago Atitlán we saw coffee trees loaded with ripening berries.  Cutting the berries is just the first step in a very long process that ends in my morning cup of strong coffee, but it's the part of that process that brings a welcome bit of money to highlands communities.  Here's a tree ready for cutting:

Further down the road we saw a man who'd been collecting the berries and paying the workers:

I imagine that some of those earnings turned into the firecrackers and fireworks that are about to brighten the skies here and terrify all the dogs, but surely some also will become tortillas and beans and rice, food for the new year.

Just for the joy of it, here's another kind of 2012 harvest, Sheila McShane with a 3-month old baby.  She helped this little girl's disabled mother through her pregnancy and now gets to cuddle this small charmer - part of the rhythm of life in the Clinica Maxeña, Santo Tomas la Union.

In Santo Tomas la Union

This week Maria del Carmen and I are guests of CSJP Associate Sheila McShane, who runs the Clinica Maxeña (that's pronounced mashenya, more or less, and is the Quiche version of Thomas) in Santo Tomas la Union, Suchitepequez, Guatemala.  It's been great to connect with Sheila (working away on her laptop here, in the common dining room) and to see the good work this clinic has been doing for almost fifty years now. 

The Clinica Maxeña is a mission of the Diocese of Helena, Montana and Sheila has been part of it almost from the beginning, though she had to leave for many years during Guatemala's Civil War. Along with Father Kevin, who joined the mission this year, and BVM Sisters Mary and Anna (alas, I don't have their last names!) Sheila forms a small North American community in this very Quiche Mayan community.  Unlike Suchitoto, this is a town where you don't see any foreigners outside the Clinica group and visitors like Maria del Carmen and me. 

Today I toured a very beautiful and very special part of the Clinica Maxeña, the natural medicine garden.  There were some familiar plants - oregano, mint, marigold - but others that seemed fantastic, like this plant with long leaf blades and tiny flowers along the sides of the blades.  It's good for taming parasites, I was told.

Another plant with broad, flat leaves thrust up a group of delicate bell flowers (I didn't learn its purpose):

and the trees hosted their own communities of parasites and collaborators, including a white orchid in bloom:

It's no surprise that the garden was full of butterflies of many different colors, sizes and shapes.  Here's one that was kind enough to pause for a photo:

Indeed, an enchanted garden.  I hope those who work with the traditional medicines made from these plants will be able to keep the knowledge and interest alive among the people of Santo Tomas.

The streets of Antigua

Pat and I took the bus to Antigua, Guatemala, and have been walking up and down and up and over the cobblestone streets. We´re staying with Thelma, my hostess for June, when I studied Spanish here, and sharing her house with Sachiko, who is with a Japanese program like the Peace Corps and will be working as a nurse in a clinic here for the next two years.

Pat is taking photos and I hope she´ll let me post a couple when we get back to Suchitoto. Meanwhile, thanks to all who sent me birthday wishes - this is a splendid place to begin a new year of life! We return on Friday, on the great King Quality bus - food, videos, coffee and over-active air conditioning, a fine way to travel in Central America.

Rain

This is the rainy season in El Salvador, or it's supposed to be, but we haven't had rain for about four days, which is a very serious matter for the crops on which most of the rural economy depends. The situation is worse in Guatemala - read Sheila McShane's blog to understand some of the devastation that this weather is creating there. And please - pray for regular rains to return to the countries of Central America.

Beautiful Antigua

It would be hard to find a place more blessed in setting, climate, and sheer beauty than Antigua, Guatemala. Doorways like the one this this photo open into patios full of flowers and perhaps a fountain - there's even a small fountain with koi at the center of Doña Thelma's patio, where I'm living for the month. The straight streets and houses that start at the sidewalk are interrupted by frequent ruins of historic churches and monasteries. They're set against the stunning background of volcanoes and steep green hills.

In many ways this city reminds me of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Like Santa Fe, it's supported by tourism and is self-protective of its looks (there are four permitted colors for houses, which is about three more than in Santa Fe, but the same requirement to get approvals for any exterior changes). And Antigua, like Santa Fe, offers the artesania of its indigenous culture - Mayan here, Pueblo there. Yesterday I went on a school excursion to a coffee beneficio complete with a coffee museum and museum of Mayan muscial instruments. It's very close to Antigua, but as we drove the 2 kilometers the houses and little stores suddenly began to look like the rest of Centroamerica - and I have to say that was refreshing!

Speaking of coffee, you'd think a place famous for its coffee would have coffee presses and coffee cones in the stores. No. You can get a 12-cup electric drip or a pot to boil the coffee in, and mostly Antigueños seem to drink instant coffee, as does Doña Thelma. I came without my little Melitta cone, because it's the one treasured thing that seems to have disappeared in the moving process (or is lurking in the bottom of some box). Today I bought a funnel and some Melitta filters (those are available) and I hope to have real coffee with breakfast tomorrow morning.

Walking Antigua

Antigua is a perfect city for walkers, with beautiful scenes and moments everywhere. I walked out with my camera yesterday, and hope to have images to show someday, but not until I can figure out how and where to download. Meanwhile, a promise of photos to come!

Saturday I went to the market, at Rosa Maria's suggestion - not the Artesania market, which is always open, but the fruit and vegetable (and egg and poultry and cheese and old clothing and...) market which peaks on Saturdays. It's an astonishing place, a city of vendors, pile after pile of tomatoes, cherries, mangoes, huisquil (somewhat like a squash in flavor and use). I went in mid-afternoon and must have walked at least a mile just walking through the market and there were still a city's worth of vegetables waiting to be chosen. What happens to the leftovers? It's a glorious and overwhelming sight.

The really important thing

The really important thing that happened on June 1st in El Salvador - and that I didn't blog about because I ran out of time - was the inauguration of President Mauricio Funes, the first President from the left-wing FMLN. This is also, I believe, the first peaceful and democratic transition of government from one party to an opposing one in El Salvador's history. A wonderful and memorable day!

At the start of the day, Funes and his wife went to the crypt of the Cathedral to pray at Monseñor Romero's tomb, and to pledge themselves to carry on his preferential option for the poor - a moment of deep resonance throughout El Salvador.

Marta and I watched it all on television from Suchitoto - an event filled with pomp and ceremony, and with deep meaning. I rejoiced in Hillary Clinton's presence - wearing a red pantsuit, the FMLN color - as a sign of U.S. Government support for this democratic transition and for Funes. And we rejoiced in Funes' inaugural address, where he called for a focus on the needs of the poorest people in El Salvador, for new homes, a better healthcare system, better education. Funding all of this and carrying it out will not be easy, it never is, but Funes begins his term with a 72% approval rating, which will surely help. For more details on his speech and the first steps of the new government, go to Tim's El Salvador blog, always an excellent source of evenhanded information. By the way, Funes named Obama and Brazil's President Lula da Silva as his inspirations in choosing the path ahead.

Now I find myself in Guatemala, which is having its own political troubles. But in the beautiful city of Antigua, all seems very calm and peaceful (and full of U.S. tourists - you hear as much English as Spanish in the streets). I'm spending four hours a day with my splendid teacher, Rosa Maria, and let me tell you, it is exhausting to have one-to-one instruction for four hours. Home is about eight blocks from the school, with Thelma Molina, who has a great family and a pleasant house - and is a good cook as well. Between times, I'm reading novels in Spanish, going to Mass at the historic churches here, and wandering happily in Antigua. Oh, and going to sleep at 8:30 pm because I can't keep my eyes open any longer.

Antigua

I'm in Antigua, Guatemala tonight - Peggy drove me into San Salvador very early this morning (we started at 4 am) to catch the bus to the Ciudad de Guatemala, where I found a friendly and chatty taxi driver to take me to Antigua, about an hour further on. This ancient, beautiful city is full of English-speaking tourists and language schools. Tonight I'm staying at a hotel, but tomorrow I head for the Escuela Maya and a family home...

Views of Suchitoto

So much is going on right now - on the national level, tomorrow is the inauguration of Mauricio Funes, the first FMLN President of El Salvador, and it's going to be a very big day, and a very big celebration in the capital and in Suchitoto, which has long had FMLN Mayors. On the personal level, early Tuesday morning I'll be turning my back on the unpacking and arranging that still needs doing in this house and heading to Antigua, Guatemala for a month of Spanish studies.

There's so much I'd like to talk about, but I'm short on time, so I was delighted when my friend Patti said she'd like to see more photos of Suchitoto and I walked out with the camera. It's Sunday night, and people are relaxing, sitting in their doorways or getting ice cream down at the plaza or sitting around the fountain which wasn't playing tonight. My next door neighbors are in the bottom photo. This is a friendly place where everybody seems connected to everybody else. I've only been here a week, but I'll miss Suchitoto when I'm in Antigua. I'll be here blogging when I can, but probably not very often.

Photos from Guatemala

Three photos from Guatemala: Above, a mural in the garden of the Franciscan church in Antigua shows a Mayan woman and child, Santo Hermano Pedro, Saint Francis and a Mayan man around a painted cascade that leads to the real fountain. The legend says, "Mother Earth is a gift of God for all: take care of her and share here as brothers. Below, on the left the Directora of the Clinica Maya, the indigenous medicine clinic at Clinica Maxeña, shows us the tres puntas plant, which has worked very well to bring down high blood sugar levels for diabetics. On the right - not a very good photo, but it shows all four of us, Susan, Andrea, Sheila and Beth, under the big Ceiba tree that was planted as a stick forty years ago at Sheila's Clinica Maxeña in Santo Tomas.

Relaxing in Antigua

Andrea, Beth and I wandered through the beautiful and confusing streets of Antigua yesterday - beautiful in the repeated simple patterns of adobe walls and ornate doors, confusing because for the newcomer one street looks much like another, and all of them somehow lead to the Cathedral, Plaza and Palacio of ancient Guatemala. We wandered and wandered in search of the restaurant we had liked so much the night before, one with bountiful vegetarian choices for Beth and a delightful courtyard setting, and we finally found it, but found it closed, alas.

Along the way we visited the tomb of Santo Hermano Pedro de San Jose Betancur, open for the holiday. Brother Peter, born a poor man in Tenerife in 1626, made his way to Guatemala and, destitute, joined the Franciscan breadline. Later he tried to study for the priesthood in the local Jesuit college, but couldn't master the subjects. Instead he became a 3rd Order Franciscan and gave the rest of his life to caring for those in great need, opening a hospital and school for the poor, a shelter for the homeless, and a religious order for women teachers, the Bethlehemites. No wonder his tomb and the Franciscan church were full of people praying. In the church, a mural of Franciscan life included portraits of four Franciscan brothers martyred during the civil wars of the 1980s, one in Salvador, one in Nicaragua, two in Guatemala: a potent reminder that the call to give all for Christ continues to be a dangerous invitation.

As we came back to the Plaza we saw a great crowd gathered and heard firecrackers going off in a storm of noise and smoke, young men running through the area of explosions, and then, majestically, a procession with the Holy Sacrament carried reverently around the plaza under a canopy - preceded by firecrackers and followed by devout candlebearers. A very latino combination!

Prospero Año Nuevo

And a happy new year to all! New Year's Eve in Antigua is an amazing experience - the streets full of families and friends, a joyful community celebration. I'm annoyed that I left my camera in the hotel, but the link above will give you a taste. We delighted in Las Abuelitas, a group dressed as old women with an amazing variety of masks (including three ancient nuns in full habit), in Los Gigantes, dancing on stilts as the New Year came in, and in the fireworks. Fireworks in the sky, but also dancers wearing bull's bodies or wings of fireworks, the fireworks exploding as they danced. Definitely would not be allowed in the USA for all those valid concerns about safety, but what a wonderful sight. We went to Mass at 10 PM with the fireworks booming outside, then continued celebrating with the crowd until it became so crowded that we had to very slowly worm our way out, hoping that no-one panicked. Luckily we arrived safely back at our hotel, happy to be in 2009.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from Antigua, Guatemala, one of the most beautiful small cities in the world. It sounds like there's going to be quite a celebration tonight, with dances and fireworks and who-knows-what (haven't yet figured out "toritos," featured in our program for the evening, but I have a feeling that everything will be noisy and happy).

May this new year, 2009, truly be a time of deep changes toward the greater health of our world, toward greater justice for all, toward peace among peoples. I wish this every year, this year with more hope than I've had for a long time.