I had no expectations other than going back home with a few shirts. All my fears of safety were misplaced. The people are great. The country is beautiful. I wish I had come here earlier with my family.
As I watched that guy wave us off, I could not help promising myself that I will be back with Sharmila to show her the country.
Most countries I go to, I tend to make at least one everlasting relationship. It is usually the person who takes me around – unless I choose to drive or rely entirely on public transport. I have about 30 such life long friends from all over the world.
Please meet my new friend – William Lopez from Guatemala. He was my friend, philosopher and guide during my entire stay here. A person with an amazing personal journey.
He lived in Italy and married this most beautiful woman he met there. Except, she died at childbirth. To let him put it … “It was difficult to raise my child by myself at first”. But he did. His son is growing up in Italy as an aerospace engineer.
Life dealt the next unkind deal with his mom contracting cancer. He left his son to his in-laws and better education there to take care of his mom (and dad) in Antigua. His two brothers also leave abroad. Thankfully, his mom is a survivor today!!
He said he had never worked this hard before to get out of debt. And then Covid came!! Had to sell all his cars that he used for touring business. But he is building it up again. His parents and he support an orphanage and run a Spanish-learning school. They are finishing up his house to be a four room bed-and-breakfast for foreign students to come and learn Spanish and stay at their place and eat meals cooked by his mom. The current students have to live by strict rules – no smoking inside the property and you cannot bring your boyfriend or girlfriend in unless they are students too.
For all that hard work, I never saw him not smiling. In fact, the remotest of the villages we went to – everybody seemed to know him. The parking lot guy in Panajachel came running to him, every shopkeeper in San Juan gave them updates on their family (from the barebones Spanish I could understand).
It is like he has touched so many lives!!
The kind of guy I want to be some day when I grow up!
In the meanwhile, if you or your friends every want to visit Guatemala – and I can vouch for you that all you hear about insecurity in this country in Western media is just a minuscule representation of this country – I personally felt safer in all places in Cd. Guatemala than I feel even around my office in Atlanta. No homeless person screamed at me here – and I really encourage you to do so, please feel free to reach out to this young gentleman. He really knows a thing or two about how to deal with people.
Most of the times I can get by with my broken Spanish. At the height of my career, I argued with the cab driver in Mira Flores in Peru negotiating the price for a cab ride. And won!
Well, from those days, I certainly have fallen a rung or two.
The menu boasted of a sea bass with a helping of vegetables or mashed potatoes.
I asked the lady in my Spanish that I want both vegetables AND mashed potatoes. And that I wanted big helpings of those. The sea bass part was okay – grilled would be good.
The good news is that I got both the vegetables and mashed potatoes. They were not big helpings. What was instead was the fish.
Forget a piece of sea bass. I got a whole red snapper!!
Me and my Spanish!!
They all look the same – like this! Remember how my friend William had told me how the design of the clothes will tell you where the wearer is from? Well, this is the particular design for men and women in San Juan. The colors might differ. For example, look at the design around the neck for the woman. And the 24 boxes with X below that. This means she is from San Juan. Look at the guy’s shirt and go back to the picture of the huge awning in the street a few posts back. Exactly the same.
In fact, there is a way these things are worn that can tell you whether the woman is married or not. I was so fascinated counting the lines that I did not listen to the explanation William gave. The reason I was counting the lines is that all that design is derived from Mayan calendar. I think they have 19 months – 18 times 20 plus 5 days. Somehow that is where the 24 boxes come. I will have to figure out. And right around the collar you can count 7 days in each design. I think there are 365 of them in all.
Love the history and culture of the Mayans.
For a person sworn to minimalism, I have an unhealthy attraction towards cotton shirts made with some sorts of Mayan design. I first discovered it in a small village called Valladolid in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Next, I saw those shirts in Cabo San Lucas.
Last year in Feb, I saw those in El Salvador. And in Nov, I saw them in the markets in Cancun.
Of course, whenever I say “saw”, I mean “bought”. You will almost always see me with one of those shirts on unless it is winter.
What makes the shopping difficult is that I do not like Guyavera style pocket (bolsillos) and I want a full neck collar. Whenever, I see those, I pick up a few.
I have also learnt that I should be buying one size bigger since after a couple of machine washes the cotton shirts always shrink in size.
Last year, Leo in El Salvador had told me to buy them from Antigua. In fact, many of those shirts I bought in different Central American countries said “Made in Guatemala”.
That is the real reason why I came to Antigua. Or at least the main reason.
Tried out a few markets in Antigua. It was William who said that I should buy from the artisans directly. So, where are those artisans, I had asked him. All around the lake, he said.
And thus, here I am… in San Juan by Atitlan at a weaver’s place. And she is showing me how she does the weaving. The loom part, I understand. I asked her how does she make those bright colors. You can see all those cotton hanging on the wall.
This was the stunning part. All those colors are made using some plant or plant based parts!! Since it is Easter season, she volunteered to show how to make purple cotton. We started with pure white thread and then she showed how she makes the purple color from local plants. And then to bind the color, she used the juices that ooze from plantain trees. I tried to wash off the color after the treatment with water – to no avail.
One thing I forgot to mention – the starting points are either white cotton or brown cotton. Never knew that cotton can be brown in color too.
Now, I am a bit worried that I might have gone overboard. Sharmila might have a thing or two to say once she sees all the shirts I have bought. I do think all the comparisons she is bound to make about me ridiculing her for her trips to Sephora, Black Market White House and all that is not going to be fair. It is not like I can go back to Antigua every weekend like she goes to her places.
That said, I think I could have bought a few less.
