Guatemala Field Station Blog

In the grand scheme of things, Patzún and Tecpán are a lot more similar than they are different. They're both relatively small cities (pop: ~20k) in the Guatemalan Highlands separated by only a 40 minute trip on the highway. But after three weeks in Patzún, Tecpán felt like a world apart. On Monday, June 19th Paulina and I took the short trip in the afternoon to reconnect with our host families from last year. Unlike this year, where we spent the entire month of the Field School in Patzún, last year's Field School was split - 2 weeks in Tecpán learning Kaqchikel in the Wuqu' Kawoq offices, followed by 2 weeks in Patzún doing fieldwork. As some of the only returning members from last year's trip, we thought it'd be nice to pay a short visit to our host families in Tecpán. Me with my Tecpán host family (Doña Mercedes and Don Pedro) - June, 2016 The most noticeable differences between Patzún and Tecpán is the population, officially Tecpán is bigger by just 3,00...

Prep Time: 4~ hours (2 hours driving from Patzún, 2 hours hiking, 5 minutes cook time) Equipment 1 accessible heat vent on an active volcano (I used Pacaya) Stick for roasting marshmallows Hiking shoes/boots Spending money for the Lava Store Drinking water (and lots of it!) Ingredients Marshmallows Chocolate chip cookies Instructions Acquire your chocolate chip cookies and marshmallows a day in advance. If you can't make your own, store-bought is fine (Maxi-Despensa in Patzún carries Jet-Puft and Chips-ahoy). Rise at 4am and catch the 4:30 chartered bus from Patzún to Pacaya. Watch the sunrise over the milpas in Patzicia. Upon arrival at Pacaya, avoid the offers of "taxis" (horses)  at the base of the volcano. That's cheating. Take the kids up on the offer of a hiking stick though. Find your guide. He should be wearing a green vest and a Parque Nacional Pacaya badge. Set off up the volcano for 2.6km at 60°F in June, temperature may vary depe...

Last Sunday, I traveled to Sumpango to launch a very exciting project, in collaboration with Yolanda Estrada and a group of Kaqchikel Ajq’ija’ (Spiritual Guides) led by Delfina Solloy and Valerio Toj. The group is called Waqxaqi’ B’atz’ and is comprised of several guides from Sumpango and Santa María de Jesús, who meet every three weeks for a ceremony. Yolanda, who is a professor of history at Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC), has been working with Waqxaqi’ B’atz’ for over a year, documenting their educational practices and life philosophy. This year, we were awarded a grant from the Firebird Foundation to help the guides record their ceremonies from June-August. Camera 1 Recording The primary purpose of the project is to ensure that this special type oral tradition is preserved forever; we will thus provide the guides with a thorough documentation of their ceremonies (audio and video), so they can use the recordings in the future for the training of new guides ...

This weekend we visited the ruins of Iximche’, the former capital of the Kaqchikel people. The city features Post-Classic Maya architecture, and was built in 1470. It was the Kaqchikel capital until the Spanish took over in 1524.  It has four main plazas and two ball courts. A few of the pyramids have been fully excavated, and there are many more which are still partially buried under centuries’ worth of dirt.  Map of Iximche' Locals also come to Iximche’ to perform ceremonies and leave offerings of food. There is one pyramid at the back where ceremonies happen. There is also a small museum, and a stela at the entrance. The stela was built by Kaqchikel artists and historians in 2012 to commemorate the passing of the oxlajuj b’ak’tun (thirteenth unit of 400 years). The glyphs on the stela describe the dates of eight important Kaqchikel historical events that have happened in the past several hundred years.

This morning we convened at 6:30 a.m. and drove to Tecp á n, where we listened to a brief presentation on some of the work that Wuqu’ Kawoq does in the region. From there we boarded a bus that took us up into the mountains to view Wuqu’ Kawoq in action. The bus snaked up narrow, unpaved roads that had us leaning away from the cliffs in an effort to keep the bus on the road. There was a collective gasp when we rounded a curve and caught our first glimpse of blue mountains rolling out into the distance. The clouds above them were active and playful, changing shape by the second, revealing and hiding every new formation of earth.             My ears popped as we ascended. The scenery was simultaneously dazzling and puzzling, with greens and blues softening the tops of the ridges, a seemingly impossible sight at such high altitude. Most mountains I’ve been on have had a tree line somewhere before 6000 feet, and here we were a...

On 26/6, our last Sunday in Guatemala, part of the group went to a hike in the Pacaya volcano .  View from the Pacaya Volcano - starring:  Volcano de Agua. (credit: Omer) Starting the hike We arrived there around 9am and after some negotiation we hired a guide and started our journey. The path was steep, but the group was excited to reach the top of the mountain (especially after the eruption demonstration that we had from one of the volcanoes in the area the week before). Halfway up the mountain Our guide told us about the last eruptions, the last one in 2014. Almost at the top, we halted at the place where one of the last eruptions happened and we were able to prepare some marshmallows in a small crack on the ground, which still emanates heat (no one believes me when I tell this part of the story, but it is true – I swear!). Marshmallows We then went on and had lunch at the highest part of the mountain that tourists are allowed to go. ...

Conexíon Brasil in the bookstore! On Thursday, June 23, Gesoel, Omer, Paulina, Rodrigo, and I took a mini-group trip to Antigua to have dinner with two renowned linguists and Mayanists, Ryan Bennett (Yale) and Robert Henderson (Arizona). We arrived in Antigua in time to have a late lunch at Hector’s Bistro, right across the street from Iglesia La Merced, a gorgeous colonial church. While our dining experience in Patzún was delightful (I’m still craving frijoles!), it was lovely to have a taste of fine dining at Hector’s. We followed up our leisurely lunch with a little bit of gift shopping for our host families at the market and at a lovely little bookshop. Learning about Kaqchikel from the experts! After a brief nap at the hotel, we took off to meet Ryan and Robert in the central park of Antigua. We grabbed drinks and chatted up a storm about all manner of Mayan linguistics–phonology, syntax, and semantics included! The conversations continued at Micho’s, where we enjoyed t...