My Introduction to Guatemala

My Introduction to Guatemala":

My introduction to Guatemala was a cold one. I chose the most isolated site in our Peace Corps program, a place called Ixchiguan which was the highest "municipio" or county in Central America at over 10,000 feet. The volcano of "Tajamulco" towered above the clouds at over 13,000 feet. I had been taught that Guatemala was a warm, tropical country so I had a lot of short sleeved shirts. By the time I reached Questzaltenango the Indian capital of the highlands, I realized that something was wrong, so I bought a sweater.I spent the next five days freezing in a small room with no windows, nor any source of heat other than a few candles. Large holes surrounded the only door to let in the freezing air at night. Since all the trees had been cut down years ago, the surrounding area had been reduced to a moonscape, clearly not a habitable place for the next three years.I later found out that the volunteer who supposedly did the "site survey"hadn't even visited Ixchiguan! He just found a place on the map and chose it! The place was so cold I had to break the ice off the water basin "pila"in the morning!

The best known local product is "Ixchbach" which is a local brew in which human feces is utilized in the fermentation process. I avoided this concoction when offered and eventually developed a taste for Guatemalan been, "Gallo" or my personal favorite, "Cabros" which came in letters.By the end of two weeks, I hiked several hours south of Ixchiguan to another community, "Calpate." Calapte was a nice Ladino community (they dress in European style clothes and speak Spanish) with a beautiful flat valley below. I would stay in a windowless room attached to the school house which meant that each afternoon when I opened by door in hopes of getting some sun (a thick mist engulfs the community in the mornings most of the year), my door would immediately be filled with children looking at the maps on my wall.I fell in love with Guatemala after my first week as a volunteer. I borrowed the pickup from one of the supervisors, Alex Newton to haul some furniture into my new home of Calapte. As I left the village I climbed to the summit where I could see the incredible volcano of Tajalmulco which was surrounded by clouds. The high, dry area could only support some scruffy grasses and sheep. On the way down to the South Coast where I needed to return the truck, I passed through several spectacular ecosystems. Within a few hours from Calpate, I was passing by lush, green coffee plantations and would soon be in the warm, banana plantation and sugar cane farms of the South Coast.
Watching the large globe setting over the Pacific Ocean convinced be that this was a place to spend some time in! And I did--over 6 years in total.