Saturday before last, April 24th, I hiked up an active volcano called Santa Maria (for those that were confused by the title, Pele was the mythical goddess of fire in Hawaii and was responsible for the formation of the islands through the volcanoes. And for anyone who is still confused why that is relevant, my family and I lived in Hawaii for 4 years). It is one of 20 or so volcanoes in Guatemala, and one of 4 or 5 active volcanoes. The crater where the activity exists isn’t actually at the peak. It is lower down on the back side from where we hiked up. In funny way I was a little disappointed because I was hoping to get to the top and look down over the side into a giant hole, as is the stereotypical image of a volcano. But its probably good it wasn’t like that, since the active crater actually let off a bunch of sulfuric gases while we were there. Yipes! Its good we got to the top when we did. 10 more minutes and all my pictures would have been awful. The sulfuric cloud spread out all around the entire area. It took 4 hours to get up, and about 2 and a half to get down. My body hasn’t been that exhausted in several years. But it was totally worth it! I’m sure nobody is jealous at all. [insert joking maniacal laughter here]. I got back, showered and spent the remainder of the evening at a café with free wireless (as long as you buy food). I had a “milkshake” that was really just strawberry milk. Live and learn I guess.
The other event was just this last Saturday. The previous Wednesday I attended church with my host parents again and was invited by another man at the church to attend a sort of church picnic thing on Saturday. It was at this Sports Complex that includes some open grassy area with a covered pavilion with a barbeque where they ladies made lunch. Most of the males present and also most of the younger females participated in “Indoor” Soccer. Indoor only means fenced in. It’s a very small field compared to a real soccer field. It’s the same as I have been playing on each Thursday with the school, only this one was much nicer. While we were eating the man who invited me asked me, in Spanish, what I believed about what would happen once I died. Since my Spanish is still awful and he didn’t know much English at all, the younger ones at our table, who did know English, picked it up from there. It was not pushy or insulting at all. Though I clearly disagree with a few specific points in their theology (Jehova’s Witness if you didn’t remember) what stood out to me was the ease and confidence with witch these three “jovenes” (young people) were able to communicate and substantiate their beliefs. The primary speaker was the daughter of the man who asked the original question. She is only 16, and goes at least once a week, if not more, to go knock on doors with her entire family and tell people about God. Beyond being hugely impressed at the ability of these jovenes to combine confident articulation with kindness, grace, and maturity, it also made me look at my situation more closely. The honest truth is that even with a Bible degree I would not feel comfortable trying to substantiate my beliefs to a near stranger. I’m not saying I wouldn’t feel comfortable talking about my beliefs. I’m just saying I would find it difficult to point to specific places in the Bible that support my beliefs. A girl of sixteen can present the gospel and defend her beliefs in 3 languages without ever putting me on my guard, and I would hesitate to speak up at all, simply because I know that I DON’T know my bible well enough to objectively defend what I believe. What’s the difference? How much I read and think about the Bible. But what is different about my motivation to do so vs. theirs? In part, depth of belief I think. Depth of my genuine desperation for my Lord and Savior. I don’t feel guilty. For the first period of my life I understand the pure love of God for me, and so I’m not feeling guilty. But certainly convicted and motivated. Can God speak through a Jehova’s Witness? I believe so.
Though it is not a new activity, I was able to play soccer with the group from my school once again on Thursday (a week ago). It is always a blast, and also always very very tiring. This time was a little different because we had enough people for three teams, so whichever team did not score during each 6-8 minute round would then sit out for a round. This allowed me my much sought after breathing! We went to a place called "Pool and Beer" afterwards. I played a round of pool with one of the male teachers that had played soccer with us too. They didn't play ANY salsa, which was weird, but also a decent change. Oh! speaking of music, I forgot that I also went to a little salsa club a couple weeks ago on a Friday night after the graduation dinner. I clearly can't dance, so mostly all I did was participate in this line dance that seemed like some form of "Follow the leader" via salsa steps, except not with a partner. I think it could take Taebo any day of the week! (not quite, but it sounded cooler that way!).
A couple fun little tidbits. My host mom brought a batch of bananas back from the coast several weeks ago, when she went to visit her father, and after seeing that I liked the bananas so mutch, she has been calling me "Mono Blanco" (White monkey) ever since. She also jokes around at me as though this girl from her church (the same one I mentioned above) were my girlfriend. She told me that the local women generallyh tend to like gringo men, so I guess all you need to start a joke like that is the fact that the girl wants to talk to me in English. Its all in good fun. I get a pretty good laugh out of it, especially when I am casually eating my food, not paying much attention while my host parents are talking full speed, and I'll catch the girl's name, look up, and find Elmentina grinning at me. They are great fun in general, joking around and laughing off and on through most every meal. Elmentina even snuck up behind me when I had my headphones in and doing my homework, scared me, and then walked off laughing at how great her prank was. I have, to date, woken up at 5- 5:30 about 5 times to go walk up El Baul, the small "mountain" just on the edge of town, with Jose (host dad) and his friend Rudolfo.
My Spanish is getting better too. I still won't catch more than a random word or two if people are speaking normally, but if they slow down and use siimple grammar I can at least hold a very basic exchange of ideas (I purposefully avoid using the word "conversation" because I don't think I deserve that word yet). My family here hosted another student over the last week in addition to myself. He was from Japan. He and I went up El Baul, just the two of us, one morning, and we only spoke Spanish, partly because his Enlgish isn't much better. He made the comment that he is accustomed to being far inferior in conversation when speaking with Americans or Europeans, but thought it was cool that we were on the same level with our Spanish. I did as well. The last night he was here, Elmentina served the very normal plate of beans and eggs with tortillas. But she also set out a plate with some chili pepper seeds on it. I don't know what kind. Toto (the Japanese guy) ate quite a few. I had alread found that Elmentina's pecante sauce was too hot (pecante) for me, so I was weary. I wasn't going to bother, but when Elmentina started cheering Japan I had to at least try one. And like the genious that I am, I just put it in my mouth straight, instead of eating it with food. I can honestly say that my mouth has never been that hot in my whole life! ONE seed! It took about 10 minutes before I could even enjoy the rest of my food. Fun times!
Well, I'll sign off now. Very likely I won't blog again until I'm in Honduras. I leave here a week from tomorrow night to be in Tegucigalpa Saturday afternoon/evening and then on to Catacamas on Sunday. Hasta proximo vez...
La Gracia y La Paz,
Bryan
My first trip up El Baul, the mountain on the edge of town.
View of sunrise on first trip up El Baul
The active volcano crater, Santa Maria
View from path up Santa Maria
Almost at the very bottom of the trail Up Santa Maria. Santa Maria is the cliff in the background. I was on the very top 2 1/2 hours prior to this photo.
Me on top of Santa Maria volcano with mountain ranges in the background, including 3 other volcanoes
View from the top of Santa Maria
View from the trail up Santa Maria
View from the trail up Santa Maria
View looking back down the way we came, soon after starting the hike up Santa Maria. The fog cover is a normal thing here. It rises and disperses through the morning. This shot is at about 6:30 AM or so. This is also the background on my computer.
