Tecpán and Iximche'

The past two days in Tecpán have been remarkably charming. The town itself has a population of around 60,000 people, and it's just outside the archaeological site of Iximche', which was the Kaqchikel capital when the Spanish arrived to Guatemala. (By the way, Iximche', which translates literally as Corn Tree, is breadfruit - for those of you Lusophonites who may know about that. There is a large tree in the center of the city that is THE Iximche').

We have been enjoying the small-town atmosphere here. There is a central plaza, which does lack a certain aesthetic charm, I have to admit, but where everyone congregates in the evening to eat and play basketball at the central basketball courts. So after the first night - and with the help of one of the students who was in the Peace Corps here - we discovered that the food vendors in the plaza are not sketchy and unsanitary, unlike what you would find in most of Guatemala. So we've taken to getting dinner from the various vendors (corn on the cob with lime and salt, tacos, and atol - a drink traditionally made with corn but here also made with rice with or without chocolate... think cream of wheat), which makes dinner come to a grand total of around $3 per person. And the food is some of the best I've had in Guatemala. Then we stand around the non-operational fountain in the center, watch people play basketball, and feed the street dogs as nighttime slowly falls. It reminds me so much of a small town you would see anywhere (like Germantown), and something is so nostalgic about it.

This morning we were divided up into teacher-student groups and were assigned something to buy at the market. Which means I had my first successful Kaqchikel-language market transaction! We bought 18 avocados, not too complicated, but I learned a few things about the quality of different kinds of avocados.

Then we took all the things we'd bought in the market to Iximche', where we prepared the food for a picnic. After touring the area and eating, one of the instructor's wife gave a basket-weaving demonstration. The baskets look like this. Very interesting and highly impressive!

After that it was time for a soccer game, of course! I played and fell in the mud several times, as did Terry. I also learned that field hockey goalie is not equal to soccer goalie. But it was tons of fun, and I was later thanked for sacrificing my body for the good of the team.