A home in Guatemala

Friday, 19 February 2010

A home in Guatemala

Friday was upon us, our last full day in Guatemala. We decided to return to Fernando’s Kaffee for breakfast. The sun was shining down strongly already at 9:30. Gordon and I chose a table light by a shaft of sunlight and waited for our parents to meet us there. As much as I had enjoyed eating the Guatemalan breakfast, I had caught the aroma of pancakes cooking when we approached and I simply had to have them! I went with the French version of pancakes: crepes. Mine came with Nutella, granola and fresh fruit. Of course, I had a latte on the side. I watched as a waitress delivered a goey-looking cinnamon roll to the table next to ours. I ordered one too. When my parents finally showed up, my dad again had not one, but two lattes back to back. This was good stuff!

On the way out of the restaurant, we were looking into buying some of their chocolates. My dad struck up a conversation with the man who runs the place and next thing we knew, he had invited us to the back room to see them making chocolate and “moonshine.” Two men were in a small room in the back of the café. On the table in front of them was a mound of cocoa bean shells. I had always pictured cocoa beans being the size of coffee beans, but they actually are larger and come inside of a big pod larger than my hand, which resembles some kind of squash. They had cut the pods in half, long ways, and were scooping out the insides. The inner part of the pod was white and soft with large dark brown beans. It smelled mildly like a pumpkin too.

The man giving us the tour, who I will assume was Fernando, explained the chocolate making process to us. Cocoa means did not grow in this region of Guatemala, rather they came from the lowlands near the ocean. Making chocolate was not much different than making coffee. After obtaining the cocoa beans, they also went through a fermentation process. Then they could be ground using what was essentially a grinding stone a person may have in their basement workshop. This would make for very finely ground chocolate versus what he described as artisan chocolate also produced in Guatemala. Artisan chocolate was really hand made, the beans were ground by rolling a stone over them, much like a rolling pin. He also said that the cocoa beans could be put through a juicer to extract the useful parts. We got to try some of their chocolate. They had white chocolate and two others, one with 56% cocoa and the other with 76% cocoa. He also showed us a vat of their natural cocoa butter which had a tannish hue to it. They were boiling some cocoa beans that morning, this would be their moonshine. I can most definitely say this is the first time I have ever seen chocolate made, and I don’t think the Hershey factory counts. There is nothing like doing it by hand.

At 12:30 that afternoon, we all drove over to the market to meet Frederico and his wife for our prearranged lunch at their home. Frederico was dressed up nicely just for the occasion and he happily bopped out of the market and into his red pick-up truck to lead us to his home in the town of San Antonio de Aguas Caliente, not far outside of Antigua. Along the way, he picked up a few different people and gave them rides in the back of the pick-up. Riding in the back of a pick-up truck seems to be a universal sighting in any and every developing country. In fact in Panajachel the day before, we saw pickup trucks that were used as school buses. The beds were full of a couple dozen school children, standing up and holding onto a rail installed down the middle of the bed.

The town of San Antonio de Aguas Caliente is spread over the side of a mountain and into the underlying valley. Frederico’s house was up on the hillside, which I would imagine is somewhat of a privilege. Frederico and his wife, Iris, proudly led our “special family” up to their home. We were greeted by three dogs, a housekeeper, and their youngest daughter, Paula. They had just built their home recently. It was a grey cinderblock house centered around a courtyard/driveway. Frederico told us that he loved flowers and showed us the different kinds he was growing. The entire home was open air. There were no doors, rather curtains covering the doorways. There were no windows looking outside. The floors were part dirt and cinderblock in other areas. We went up to the second floor, which was still under construction. Eventually he would finish it and put three more rooms here, which he would rent out to friends.

As Frederico was giving us the tour, Iris was dressing Mom up in her very own Mayan outfit. We were not sure Iris just thought it would be fun to dress her up, or if this was part of the celebratory lunch for my mom’s birthday. Iris had Mom all done up in a brightly patterned woven blouse, a skirt just like Iris’, and the belt to go with it. Iris deemed Mom a “Barbie doll” and smiled proudly at her work. They invited their neighbor from across the street, Rosa, to come show us her work. She was working on weaving a pink blouse. She was also eight months pregnant. I was finally able to use my Spanish to speak to someone, as all that I currently know how to say revolves around obstetrics. I tried not to show off my sophisticated medical Spanish by asking if she had any vaginal bleeding or burning when she urinated. Instead, I inquired as to where most Guatemala women give birth. Iris explained that most women have their first child in a hospital with a doctor and then subsequent babies are born either at home or in a clinic with midwives. This was Rosa’s fourth baby so it would be a home birth for her.

We sat down at the family table and Frederico asked us what we’d like to have to drink. We all said that some agua pura was good for us. He called out to a delivery boy to bring up a five-gallon water jug. About ten minutes later, the delivery boy, an albino with white hair and sunburned skin, arrived with the jug. While we sat down, Frederico brought out some photo albums and told us more about his family. He and Iris had gotten married when she was fifteen and he was twenty-one and had their first child, Leslie right away. Iris, now 36 years old was already a grandmother. Their other children are named Analee, Kevin and Paula. Leslie is a teacher and just got married a few years ago. Frederico told us that she was married in September and had her son in December; that’s what we call a shot-gun wedding back home! Frederico showed us photos from her wedding day, he said, “Me not happy that day.” He explained more in depth to Gordon that he was sad to marry off his daughter and felt that so many changes happened so fast and he hadn’t wanted to spend so much money on a big wedding, but it made Leslie happy so it was ok in the end. He said that her husband was really a good man, and we found out he worked in the restaurant at our hotel.

Annalee was still completing school and would be a chef. Kevin was in school to become a mechanic. Frederico said that he studies and works hard all the time and is a good boy. Paula is also still in highschool.

Frederico shared more about himself too. He said that he was Evangelical and had not touched alcohol or cigarettes in 18 years. He told us that he likes talking; we had already realized that. It was clear that he enjoyed meeting people from different cultures. In some of his photos, he showed us pictures of a young Canadian couple he had met when on vacation at Semuc Champey; he said they were “very special friends.” When he found out I was a doctor, he said that he knew a few doctors; one from San Antonio, Texas and another from Washington, DC. He and Leslie had also had some of these people over to their home for a meal too.

After we had exhausted all of Frederico’s photo albums and showed him some ours on our iPhones, we brought out more entertainment…a gun. He pulled out a rifle and a couple bullets. He loaded one bullet into the gun and held the other one in his mouth. He told us to cover our ears, and gleefully aimed the gun at one of the avocados dangling from a tree outside his walls. He fired the two bullets, neither of which hit an avocado. My dad laughed, he said that he can’t even remember how many times he’s been invited to a Chinese person’s home and then man of the house has also pulled out his guns. Another universal thing…boys like playing with guns, and the women cover their ears.

Finally lunch was served! The meal was pepian de pollo, which is a classic Guatemalan/Mayan meal. Frederico explained that this meal was prepared for weddings and special guests and that this was in honor of our special family and my mom’s birthday. We had tried pepian de pollo at the restaurants, but the homemade version was far superior. The chicken was served in a spicy red broth with strong flavors of cilantro and accompanied with vegetable rice on the side. Like every Guatemalan meal, corn tortillas were served along with the food. We all thought that these tortillas were the best and Frederico said that this is because they were cooked over a fire, not a stove. Frederico and Iris watched us eating their food, and kept asking excitedly if we liked it. I think the empty plates spoke for themselves. Frederico turned to my mother and said, “Are you happy, mom?” She confirmed that yes, she was very happy, this was a very special birthday.

After lunch, Frederico and Iris took us on a walk down the main street of town. Frederico explained to us that San Antonio de Aguas Caliente is known for its artisan wooden coffins and weaving. A few houses down, my dad spotted a carved wooden coffin through an open doorway. Frederico motioned for us to enter the house and greeted his neighbors. The man of the house was happy to show is around his small workshop where he had a few other coffins in the works. They had beautiful flowers and patterns embellishing the sides. Seeing the coffin for a baby made us all sad, but I guess they see this quite a bit considering the infant mortality rate in Guatemala is 46 out of 1000 live births. Frederico told us that the beautiful coffin cost under $1000 and the man told us he could make it in one week, “lunes to sabado.”

We walked further into the house of these neighbors. It was not really a house, but a collection of shacks with a central courtyard/garden. They were growing frijoles and coffee beans in their yard and drying them in the sun. They had cages full of rabbits, chickens and other animals that would eventually become dinner. The wife and daughter were sitting outside weaving. The old woman was working on a very detailed blouse with a pattern special to that town, it could take her months to finish it, working eight to ten hours a day. It would be sold, at most, for perhaps $100. Their adult daughter was also working on a few pieces. She showed us one of the belts she was weaving. Frederico said that opposed to what one could see in a market for sale, this was the real deal: a family of artisans, working hard to make an honest living.

Further up the street we heard the sound of the marimba being played. Frederico led us up the stairs of an orange building where about ten young kids were practicing. The marimba is an instrument that is much like a xylophone. This instrument is popular not only in Central America, but also in Africa. The marimba is the national symbol of culture in Guatemala. These adorable little children were practicing for their graduation performance. They played a song especially for us. Besides the marimbas, there was a bike gear that one kid was banging on, and something that looked like a grater that another child was running a metal key against. It was really great to experience this, and see what a real Guatemalan town was like.

We stopped into the town market where women were doing more weaving and selling their wares. I picked up one of the woven belts for a good price, confirmed by Frederico. He said that pattern I had bought was maybe ten or twelve years old and it was a collectable. Across from the market, was a bright white church. Emanating from speakers atop the church was loud depressing religious music. Frederico said that this music would continue for the forty days of lent. He said it began at 5 am and continued to 7 every morning and drove him crazy.

As the afternoon wore on, we realized we couldn’t keep Frederico and Iris from their work all day. Frederico changed into some casual clothes before we left. He walked out of his bedroom wearing a Duke t-shirt. We all found it a funny coincidence since this is Gordon’s alma mater. Frederico said he had gotten the t-shirt from some missionaries. We all drove back to the market in Antigua and did a bit more shopping, buying a few things from their stand and their friends’. Dad went out to get money from the ATM during this, and happened to catch a bit of the lent festivities. Now that the build-up to Easter was upon us, the Catholic churches in town we preparing for the biggest Christian holiday of the year. Antigua is known to be a pilgrimage site in Guatemala and has a huge Semana Santa (Holy Week) celebration every year. Dad got to see them carrying a huge Jesus on the cross statue out of the main church in town with a huge procession following.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye to Frederico and Iris. I could see that Frederico was getting a little choked up as he said goodbye as I watched his bubbly demeanor become subdued. He told Gordon, in Spanish, that he hated saying goodbye and did not like to think that it was possible that he would never see us again. He told us that we were all special friends, especially Gordon “very special.” Gordon had done a good job translating for us all day. In Spanish, he told Gordon that having us over was never about business or having us buy things from his shop. He wanted us to know that now we had a home in Guatemala if we ever returned, and he did hope we would return soon.

For our last dinner in Guatemala, we decided to return to Café Bourbon. My dad had proclaimed it the “best” restaurant in Guatemala, “That British gal does a damn good job!” We had two bottles of Spanish white wine, appetizers including calamari, hummus, tabouleh, and salad followed by some delicious and well-priced main courses and even dessert. The owner told us that if William wanted to move down to Guatemala, she could use him in the kitchen. I think William is seriously considering it!

On the walk back to the hotel, we heard music coming from the church that sits on the main square in town. There was a crowd coming and going from the entrance. The music was very similar to what we had heard from the church in Frederico’s town, but it was live at this church. The music predominantly had a brass sound and was very ominous and depressing. Inside the church there was also a large crowd for the first Friday of Lent. There were statues of different Jesuses in the stages of the cross. They were some of the scariest Jesus statues I have ever seen, very morbid and sad in appearance. The altar was decorated for the season with a scene depicting the crucifixion with smoke machines behind. There was a “carpet” on the aisle of the church made especially for Lent. Sand or sawdust and sometimes flower petals or produce is used to create these “rugs” with Easter symbols and patterns. It was interesting to see how differently Easter is celebrated even within different branches of Christianity. We were all feeling sad to see our week in Guatemala finally coming to a close.