Weekend Update Live with Anna Kanter

I had one of the greatest weekends I think I have ever had. So many amazing things happened and my love for Antigua and Guatemala and the world for that matter has been renewed.

Friday, instead of class, a group of students including myself went to the Corn Festival in San Antitenango. It is a town about 30 minutes from Guatemala and is just a little larger. At first I had thought we were going to the city. Guate has a celebration but the original cultural celebration is in San Antitenango. The festival started out with a play done by the school in town. Each graade level performed a different traditional dance. In between the dances a narator read the history of corn in Guatemala. The Mayans believed that God created corn on the same day we believe God created plants. The difference is that they believe instead of the dust of the ground, God created them out of corn. So, obviously, corn is very important to them. The narator also explained the various changes of corn throughout the centuries. One of my favorite parts was when he explained how every man, woman, and child is tied to the corn. It was really fascinating. I love learning about the culture, the history, etc. so this was defiantely a treat for me. My favorite dance was performed by children who were probably 11 or 12. They performed an interperative dance showing bullfighting in the country. Bullfighting in Guatemala was and still is more of a sensible need for food than a form of entertainment. The really cool part about it was that the had a kid dressed up in a cardboard bull costume and he was running around the stage with a toreador, or as people in the states know it, a matador. As the bull was running around, kids from the class were following him with candles trying to light firecrackers that were attached to his costume. This would never fly at schools in the US, I have no idea why. It really did create a very powerful effect of this raging bull being slowly brought down by the toreador. However, his cardboard costume did start on fire, but he kept dancing through till the end. It was really cool. After the play we went out into the streets for all kinds of food made with corn for really cheap prices. I am really glad that I have a strong stomach because I got to try everything. Things cost Q2 or less. That is around a fourth of a penny.

On Friday night a group of 5 of my closer friends here and myself went to 80s night at the Hotel Antigua. It is a gourgeous hotel. They had a man there who travels all over central America performing. It was supposed to be sort of a sit and listen cocktail event, but we wanted to dance, so we made it a dance party. It was so super fun. The DJ got into the dancing and started taking requests, we 2-stepped, salsa danced, rocked out, and grooved for several hours. We got the whole lounge into it. Then we found out that the DJ had 4000 karaoke songs on his computer. W had such a good time. The manager of the hotel and the DJ asked us to come back the next Friday. He offered us half price drinks and a good table. Unfortunately a bunch of people are going to Copan next weekend so there would only be 2 of us, but the week after, we will be there.

Saturday was the big Guatemala v. Trinidad and Tobego game. We went to Mono Loco to watch. I love watching soccer and the rest of the group likes it to but the really fun part is watching people, watch the game. It gets really crazy and fun. The game ended in a tie, 0-0, both teams are really good. That was a lot of fun as well.

Oh, Saturday afternoon I was invited to go to the opening of an art show in Antigua. This was such an incredible honor. It was invitation only. I was one of only 2 Americans there. Dr. Lopez translated and annotated the only Mayan text uninfluenced by any outside source. It is a huge history of a Mayan town and the wars, struggles, and good things they go through. It is unknown for certain in the text is a true story or not, but because of its descriptiveness and sometimes extremely mundane daily life sort of reports, most believe it is true. The text is in poetic form much like the Odyssey or the Iliad. It is beautiful. Anyhow, he was reading from the book at this opening and I was invited by the family to attend. Dr. Lopez read wonerfully. He was very involving. I understood most of what he was saying and I was just glued. The art exhibit is a collection of paintings by an artist from each of the countries in Central Americans. These artists are master sculpturists and painters. It was so amazing to get to meet them and hear them talk about their work in their native language. The director came over and introduced himself to me before the show opening. This is also apparently a great honor. It was such an amzazing experience and every time I think about it I just feel so honored to have been able to attend. I am so glad that my wonderful Mother takes me to museums so that I could enjoy seeing the differences between modern artists in Central America and modern artists in the US and Europe. Also, there was free food and wine, but that is somewhat beside the point.

Just a couple hours ago I had lunch with a huge group of people at Cafe Gringos. Gringo means Yankee in Spanish. The Cafe is run by an American man who generally markets for students. It is a very different dining experience. You dont order any food. You sit down and they give you Jamaica, a tea like drink, and set out place settings. Then they serve you whatever they have made for the day. Today it was roast chicken, yellow rice, cucumbers, and tomatoes. They also, of course, give you tortillas. This whole meal costs only Q25 which is about $4. It was really good. The group we had was also very diverse.

I have gotten to meet so many interesting people. Last night we met to men from Israel who are traveling the world to find themselves. Today I talked to the owner of Gringos, a new friend from Texas, a girl from England, a couple of guys from Australia, and a couple from Greece. Often if it is meal time and if you see someone on the street looking for a restuarant, you invite them to come along. That is how we end up with groups of 20-30 people for cheap lunch.

It was an all around fabulous weekend and I still have Sunday night dinner to go to.

However, the truly worst part of this entire trip is that I have run out of money. It is so frustrating to really realize that money can and does hold me back from the things I really want to do. It is hard to have to ask new friends to spot me for lunch or breakfast until I can come up with more money. I was hoping to find a job here but businesses only hire people who are staying at least 12 weeks. I love being here, and I will hopefully figure something out soon, but it really has been a wake up call. I cant predict some expenses that come up. I cant control my health or the weather. I am finding out the hard way that the only thing I can control is how I react to the setbacks. I really didnt realize that I was going to be learning things like that in the few months that I am here.

I am missing you all and I hope everyone is doing well.