One Week Of Lessons in More Than the Spanish Language

Sunrise view from our apartment

We have survived our first week of lessons.  I know my Spanish skills has improved, as have John’s. We both know , however that at the end of second week here, with a total of 5 weeks, we will have only scratched the surface of the language.

I love the pueblo of San Pedro La Laguna. The people, most of whom are Mayan, are kind and beautiful. Not one time have I worried, or felt threatened, when I was wandering around. Being tall Anglos around the mostly short Mayans, we most definitely do not blend in…we stand out. I find the community warm and accepting, even if we are unable speak with words, hands, smiles and eyes say it all. Easily 50% of the people in San Pedro communicate daily only in Mayan. The younger generations are receiving Spanish in school and, in their homes they speak mostly Mayan…so the language will not be come extinct.

Josefa has put beautifully woven Mayan textiles on the walls

Our apartment is on the third floor of a home owned by Mynor and Josefa Cortez. As chance would have it, Mynor is one of the founders of the Cooperativa Escuela. It is a away from the major hubbub of the pueblo,  in a relatively quiet barrio.  In the mornings we have roosters, dogs and even a turkey voicing their daily complaints. I’m used to dog and roosters, but turkeys?  Gobble gobble gobble. Mynor and Josefa’s home has a shared wall with her brother’s home, the land having been given to them by their father. It is very common here to have a parent give land or part of their home to their children. The apartment we live in will someday be the home of one of Mynor’s sons. After our home stay in Antigua, which was not as enjoyable as we had hoped, we opted for an apartment this time around.

Sometimes it's nice to just have ham and cheese. This eleminates some for a the guess work.

Saturday was market day, in a sprawling area of streets, with vendors on all sides of the roads, selling food, household goods, produce and some beautifully woven Mayan fabric. Most of the food vendors can tell me the name of their produce in Spanish but when I ask how to prepare it, they answer me in Mayan. It’s   a bit of a hit and miss action in our kitchen.

Meal preparation takes a bit of imagination  for me. We  purchased a chicken at the street market on Sunday and decided to bake it. Seasoned with Johnny’s salt (don’t leave the US without it) and stuffed with celery, onion and some lime, Señora Pollo was ready to hop into the oven. We guessed at the temperature, because there are no markings on the oven and  her from the oven 1-1/2 hours later when she was done.  She was one tough chick. This gal is a distant cousin from the plump, juice chickens that grace our table on Kapoho. Another lesson…there is a reason the Mayans stew their chicken.  She turned onto a lovely bean soup for the next day and some of her broth made our paella later in the week.

We attended mass on Sunday in the church of San Pedro…St Peter. I posted pictured of the church and of the statue of San Pedro earlier this year when we visited here. The congregation is so big that there were people spread through the courtyard, as well as squeezed into the pews. The service was spoken mostly in Mayan and I didn’t understand much except for the hallelujahs. The Catholics slightly outnumber the Evangelicals here.  While Mynor and his family are Catholic, their home is situated in a mostly evangelical part of town. Every evening there are services with very loud singing, some preaching and then more singing. We are between two evangelical churches so we have it on both sides. On Monday evening there was a home blessing (we think) on the top floor of a house we are guessing may be the parsonage for the church 3 doors down. Again, just a guess and, again, it’s all in Mayan.

Our school, La Escuela de Cooperativa, offers various events for the students to participate in during the week. Wednesday was a class for making the traditional tomatilito con chiplin. The tomatilito is similar to a tamale, but lighter and smaller. Instead of wrapping in corn husks, the masa is wrapped in sections of a leaf that looks like a heliconia leaf. Mix the masa with a little oil, some salt and a bowl of chipilin. Chipilin is a bush that grows everywhere here.

Maddy and Andrieta stripping the leaves from the chipilin.

Andrieta mixed the leaves into the masa then we all set about wrapping small sections into the leaves. Pop them into a kettle with aromatic sticks, water and more leaves in the bottom, cover it and set it on the fire. After 20 minutes, we feasted on our little tomolitos with Andrieta sauce and some cheese. Totally tasty.

Into the kettle for some cooking

Juan enjoying some of our finished tomalitos

Our studies are progressing well and we are both ready for the weekend. Our fellow students are much younger than us and are from Holland, England, Montreal, Australia and New York. One of the couples had their last day, after three weeks of study, yesterday. Last night was a delicious graduation dinner  at school that the teachers prepared. It was fun to see the other students and our teachers outside of our regular lesson time. 

Dinner for all. Mynor is in the lower right.

Living and learning in God’s grace, we are ready for a weekend and some down time.