All you need is love: A Mayan immersion in Belize June 22, 2010
Posted by Tracy in : Belize , add a commentMy first day in Belize, I had come in from the dock, hot and confused and dusty. My pack weighed like a grey elephant on my back, and I had to find the bus stop. I stopped in at Gloria’s Restaurant, a big, breezy dining room where I could get directions and maybe grab a bite before heading into the jungle. I wasn’t in a conversation-striking mood.
But then I saw Brenda. She was enjoying a meal by herself on the plastic checkered tablecloth, a faraway smile in her eyes. I sensed a woman with a story to tell – not a tourist, but a traveler. I couldn’t resist, and I asked if I could join her.
She had just come from spending a week in a Mayan village in an experience that she said had changed her life – but then, she had opened her life for the changing some months ago. Like me, she had begun her journey in Mexico with a mission. Hers was a spiritual quest, and she wasn’t sure where or how long it would take her; she was just following her heart.
It’s a heart worth following, as I learned when I read her beautifully written chronology of those seven days – adventures that brought me to the edge of my seat, and reflections that moved me to the verge of tears. I, too, traveled these roads, but not with the depth and intensity of Brenda, and I thank her for slowing me down to see a little deeper.
(more…)
The river will find a way: Voices of the victims June 3, 2010
Posted by Tracy in : Guatemala , add a comment
SAN LUCAS TOLIMAN – I arrived at the home of Rony Lec of the Mesoamerican Permaculture Institute (IMAP) at 9 a.m. and found him meeting with a group of young men from Ajpu, a local youth group. The post-storm response of the government was slow and disorganized, I had heard from various people around town, and the group echoed these concerns.
Emergency food and supplies had arrived from the federal government and had been carried off by whomever happened to be around instead of being distributed in an organized and equitable way; no one had any idea how many people were homeless, and who they were; people who were not in the shelters were not being taken into account; the list of immediate problems went on.
(more…)
First the ashes, then Agatha – then the gifts from heaven June 2, 2010
Posted by Tracy in : Guatemala , 1 comment so far
PANAJACHEL, Guatemala – For three days I’ve been traveling the villages of Lake Atitlan, watching the slow shift from disaster to windfall.
On Saturday, we stood together in Marvilla’s kitchen at Posada Dos Volcanes in San Lucas Toliman, one of the mostly Mayan villages that ring this lake, watching in disbelief as the mountain began shedding its skin right before our eyes. What had once been a smooth green slope was now a great brown gouge.
(more…)
Rain of ashes in Guatemala June 1, 2010
Posted by Tracy in : Guatemala, Uncategorized , add a commentPANAJACHEL, Guatemala – Atitlan, the sparkling lake of legends and lore, glistens a slatey grey today. Clouds drape the mountaintops on all sides; boats are making their way across, one by one, taking their places at the rickety wooden docks where they will soon be ferrying people to villages across the water.
“It’s a sad day in Guatemala,” remarks Juan, manager of Restaurante Lago Azul, where I’ve stopped in my morning walk to enjoy a cup of coffee and a hearty desayuno chapin, a traditional Guatemalan breakfast with eggs, black beans, fresh cheese and corn tortillas and crispy, sweet plantains, fried to perfection.
“Yes, it seems like the rain is going to be here for awhile,” I answered, thinking he was referring to the dreary weather.
But he wasn’t – instead, he was referring to the eruption of Pacaya Volcano yesterday just south of the capital city, which took the life of a journalist and apparently also two children.
The city is still in chaos after a rain of ash fell for miles around, with over a thousand people evacuated to shelters, traffic accidents resulting from streets and highways covered in up to three inches of ash, and air traffic diverted south to El Salvador.
Very strange. I could have very well been climbing that volcano myself this week. I was feeling very compelled to do so – and many tourists do. Instead, I got too busy with work and canceled the trip to catch up on writing assignments.
Lo que sucede, conviene, as a Cuban friend once said. I suppose this is one time where not getting my wish might have been the best thing.
