Dec 16

Day 1 - Sunday

Today, we woke up around 8AM to get ready for the day. Dr. Basha and Jenny made breakfast in the hostel's little communal kitchen. The kitchen was less itemized than we expected so we had to make toast in a pot, fry up bacon in its own fat, and then use the bacon grease to cook some eggs.

Around 10AM, we met with Bryna and other volunteering students from Southern Utah University for a tour around Comalapa. We first manuevered through the market in the main plaza (which is open every Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday) and walked to the mural of Comalapan history. Roberto Peren was our tour guide and told us the stories of Comalapa as we walked along the mural. Each painting had a different story, leading us through Comalapa's timeline. The mural started off with how the four corns represent the four kinds of people in the world. He the moved on to talk about the history of Guatemala as in the 1970s, Guatemala was involved in the war, resulting in lots of bloodshed, especially in the places with mixed communities (such as Comalapa). Later on, there was an earthquake which killed a large amount of Comalapans due to the poor infrastructure of the buildings. Unfortunately, Roberto lost his sister in this earthquake and this tragic event inspired him to contribute to safer construction, while also being environmentally conscious. As we reached the end of the mural, there were paintings of a dove flying. Roberto explained how the free-flying dove symbolized the evolution of Guatemala through history and how the quest of the dove was to seek and spread peace among the world. Overall, this mural represented Comalapa's past, present, and what they hope for the future.

We then went to an art gallery with paintings all done by Oscar Peren. Oscar Peren was inspired by Andres Curruchich, who was a famous painter that studied in the United States and made Comalapa famous for it's artists. It was very nice to hear Oscar tell us the stories behind his oil paintings and to ask him questions regarding his art. Oscar focused his paintings more on the traditional view of Comalapa. Roberto Peren, his son, is also an artist and showed us his collection of pieces. Robert is more into painting landscapes and paintings that depict how our trash can taint the beauty of the environment.

After both tours, we went to eat lunch back at the house, which was our first legit cultural meal in Guatemala. For lunch, we were served white rice with carrots, chicken, pico de gallo, and tortillas. After lunch, we relaxed for a bit before leaving to visit a weaving demonstration at 2PM. The weaving artist has a very tedious process of spinning the thread, and then meticulously ordering them in a specific way before weaving. After that, she weaves the thread together, creating beautifully woven fabric. She sends her work to Antigua and other places in Guatemala for sale. The man who was demonstrating looked like he was weaving so effortlessly and we were in awe just watching him. We were even given the chance to weave some fabric and it was a really fun and new experience!

Finally, we were done with activities for the day and we had a few hours until dinner (at 6PM). To pass time, we talked and played a variety of card games. For dinner, we had eggs, black beans, watermelon, and tortillas. After dinner, we went to visit the main plaza to see the festivities, vendors, and try some street food! The plaza was so lively as both churches were decorated with flashing Christmas lights and there were so many people just walking around. We really enjoyed the atmosphere, the hot chocolate, and pupusas. During our time out, we watched parts of a girls basketball and mens soccer game. Then, at about 8PM we returned back to the house to prepare for the next day.