EC-Rider Travels

Today we met the wonderful Fito who is to be our guide for the remainder of our time in Guatemala. We headed off with Lottie’s friend Jonnie, who had collected her from the airport, who first drove us up to the top of the hill to get a panoramic view of Antigua but unfortunately the cloud had other ideas and our view was somewhat marred! We then drove on to a rather amazing town called San Juan Comalapa, sometimes called the “Florence of America”, because of the many Kaqchikel painters living there.

We first viewed the most incredible mural, painted along the wall of a cemetery. Spanning more than 180 meters it has 62 panels depicting events from the foundation of Comalapa by Mayan gods to the horrors of the civil war. These are followed by panels showing Guatemala today and then their fears for the future with such threats as global warming.

We then visited one of the towns most celebrated artists Oscar Peren, who was the most enchanting man in his 70s who proudly introduced us to his wife to whom he had been married for 52 years.

He explained how he used to sneak into the studio of the pioneering naïve painter Andrés Curruchich, to learn his trade. Curruchich’s is credited with why Comalapa becoming the centre for Maya naïve art and today it is home to some 500 artists, many of whom were trained by Curruchich.

Oscar explained that although he had not been taught by Curruchich, he had allowed him to sit and watch him at work. Oscar had become famous and suddenly had a lot of money and only needed to work half a day. He then went drinking in the afternoon and became an alcoholic. Luckily his wife returned him to the straight and narrow and there is a wonderful painting of him with an asses head which he painted in recognition of this time. Many of his paintings were fabulous and Lottie and I were sorely tempted.

The town is also full of music and was the home of the composer of the Guatemalan National Anthem, Rafael Alvarez Ovalle, who was born and raised in Comalapa.

We left Comalapa and Fito explained more about the people of Guatemala. Of the 15 million population almost half are Maya. Within the Maya culture there are 25 different ethnic groups and languages and four distinct cultures the Maya, Ladina, Xinca and Garífuna. They have their own courts of justice but few of them reach any significant level of authority in Government. Although they all have a vote, and it is compulsory for them to do so, there is little way to control this.

The school year is from Jan-Nov so the children are about to break up for the holidays. It is not compulsory to go to school and country children often quit as their teachers teach in Spanish. There is consequently only a 35% illiteracy rate within the indigenous Maya communities. Internet is available everywhere and despite the extreme poverty level, nearly everyone has a mobile phone.

It really is very much more advanced and sophisticated than I imagined and certainly on a different level to the countries I visited in South America. The North American influence is more apparent but the local charm still dominates. They really are the most attractive and charming people, everyone smiles all the time and seems genuinely pleased to meet you and not just sell you something.

We stopped for lunch and had one of the Guatemalan signature dishes – chicken soup! I was concerned that this might not be enough for Fito and Jonnie, not realising it came with a quarter of a chicken, rice, tortillas and a mass of vegetables. Delicious.

After lunch we visited an archaeological site, Iximche which was the capital of the Kaqchikel Maya kingdom from 1470 until it was abandoned in 1524. It was a kingdom for the elite and included a number of pyramid temples, palaces and two ball courts – though no one seems to know what game it was they played. Excavators uncovered a number of household items and evidence of human sacrifice! At one of the temples, at the end of the site ,was a lovely lady presenting offerings to her Maya God.

We left Iximche mid afternoon and reached Lake Atitlán in the early evening. Lake Atitlán is a body of fresh water in a massive volcanic crater ringed by steep hills and volcanos. It is 120Sq km and at over 300m deep it is the deepest lake in Central America.

Our hotel, Casa Palopo in Santa Catalina, is completely lovely and Lottie and I have a wonderful room with a balcony overlooking the lake. We had quite a good dinner in the restaurant and collapsed into bed.