Guatemala Day 7- Yellow like the sun

A big switch yesterday night from Coban to Antigua. The seven hour bus ride was filled with tears and many emotions as the team debriefed yesterdays events. Shortly after everyone had said their piece and we still had about five or six hours in the bus left, everyone fell asleep sweating as we drove through the winding mountain roads and through the dense jungle valleys. We stopped again for ice cream (I got mango and coconut) which was a nice, sweet refresher. Everyone now in a more peaceful and positive mood, we began to sing songs with the windows down, trying anything to distract from how extremely hot we were on the bus. Once again Logan, Binh, Giselle and I sang the loudest and continued our pattern of falling asleep for increments and then waking up and singing and laughing and talking. By the time we reached the hotel in Antigua it was about 8:30pm, we quickly dropped our stuff off and walked down the lite cobble stone streets to the restaurant and bar. There we ate delicious nachos, empanadas, and drank yummy drinks while laughing with everyone playing games and talking. We also got to meet and talk to the CDC representative for all of latin America. Dr. Emily has a PH D in vector borne disease and had recently returned for Guinea in West Africa. She and her family told us stories about their travels and let us ask multitudes of questions.

The next morning we slept in till about eight and enjoyed a delicious rooftop breakfast overlooking the orange shingled rooftop of the old city. We then walked around Antigua through the busy cobble stone streets and between the brightly colored orange, green, blue, pink and purple buildings to the market. Romy and I bargained with each vendor until we got the price we wanted on souvenirs for us and our families. We met up with the whole group and took touristy pictures under the iconic yellow arches and headed back to the hotel.

From there we got to go to a private, traditional Mayan ceremony. We walked behind the large metal gates (of a different hotel) and found a beautiful garden and gathering area laid with gravel around a iron fire pit. We sat on chairs in the shade of the rooftop that surrounded the outdoor inclosure. The Mayan priestess walked in wearing beautiful traditional, colorful vestments. She had a large green scarf around her head and beads around her neck, ankles, and wrists. We each individually got a turn to practice in the ritual after the fire was lit. She lit the fire with two women on her right and two men on her left, each person holding different color candles representing a different cardinal direction. The white candle lit the fire first meaning that our intentions were going towards the north in a positive direction. Each person went up to the priestess intimately, holding two thin green and two blue candles that represented our prayers. We would then tell her our petition and she would pray over us and she would simultaneously throw corn and coco beans as we threw our candles over the fire. She would then tell us our Mayan protectors, mine was specifically four deer called Kej, pronounced K’iché. She also told me to look to the sun to find balance and clarity in my life. It was a beautiful ceremony and many people in our group cried over the prophetic things she said.

Dinner was at a nice brewery further into the mountains, the rooftop tables we sat overlooked the three volcanos. We watched as the farthest one spurted smoke and small bits of lava while a band played beautiful hispanic music. We all danced, ate, drank and laughed together as the yellow sun set orange and pink behind the active volcanos.