Iximche

Having fully recovered from my soiree into the less romantic aspect of world travel unscathed - well, perhaps a couple of pounds lighter - I was able to fill out the full compliment of our Vision Team on our trip to the Mayan ruins yesterday. Our team rendezvoused with a couple, Kathy and George Amble, in Antigua. Kathy works as a long-term volunteer in the pharmacy, both while she is staying in Antigua, as well as when she is back home in Minnesota.

The ruins, while impressive, pale in comparison to what Debbie recollects from her trip to Tikal, in the Northern, tropical region of Guatemala. This site consisted of Post-Classic construction (being the time period after the mysterious fall of the first Mayan empire), and were less grandiose than those constructed in the Classic period. Furthermore, they were also reduced to foundations, when the Mayans chose to burn down their cities and flee to the highlands, rather than to face a life of servitude to the Spanish.

While at this location, we were fortunate enough to witness an ancient Mayan ceremony taking place; whether or not it was a sacrifical ceremony I am less certain. It involved a lot of sage-burning, and chanting in one of the over twenty Mayan dialects. I couldn't help but feel I was intruding on something sacred, but we all agreed that it was just the same as attending the mass the day prior. I guess my feeling of having intruded stems from the fact that this ceremony isn't commonplace in my culture.

On our way back to Antigua, we stopped at an upscale Guatemalan restaurant, where we - Carolyn, Debbie, and I in particular - had the pleasure of talking with Kathy about her other work in Guatemala. She works in the Wings program: an effort to provide health-care screening, family planning, and education to women and men in Guatemala. The most profound aspect of this program for me was the focus on educating men about family planning, which I gathered was a fairly new initiative for Wings. It seems to me that breaking down this culture of machismo necessitates the involvement of those who propagate it: the men.

Upon returning to Antigua, we decided to first get some fluids in us - I in particular was looking forward to a cup of coffee, with which I was not the least bit disappointed. After refueling, we headed out in search of the Sunday procession, one of many that herald the coming Holy Week - one of the most important holidays in Guatemala. We stopped first at La Merced, a beautiful church that, while having rather gruesome depictions of the Crucifixion, also had the beautiful sand carpets that Debbie mentioned.

We ended our day with Dominos pizza, of all things, and conversation; it was a good way to end a beautiful weekend.