Illegal Border Crossings & Mid-morning Tequila

This is Almolonga; 4.6 kilometers down the road from Xela. My teacher and I took a field trip there today. We were originally supposed to go to another town so that I could participate in a class of teachers learning how to teach K'iché to children. The idea was that I would benefit from the group learning environment. But, the teachers went on strike and the classes got cancelled. So instead, teach offered up this trip to Almolonga. Tuesdays are market day in Almolonga and thus are a lot like Sundays. 

Much like Zunil, Almolonga is another farming town. You can see many of the fields in the first pic. Here, we are headed through little doorway in the bushes entering a field of cauliflower bordered by a field of watercress. 

This is a group of farmers bundling up all the onions they picked. About half of the produce from this community is consumed within Guatemala. The other half is exported to El Salvador and Honduras.

The idea was to go to market and practice K'iché because it is widely spoken in this community.  I told my teacher that to speak K'iché freely I would need some social lubricant. He initially acted as though I was nuts, but very soon after, happily joined me for a shot of tequila at a hole-in-the-wall bar at 10am. The only other people in the bar were the owner, and her already very drunk husband.  Husband proceeded to tell us about his daughter who has cancer, and his dead Cuban friend who would've loved me.  After that, we indeed made our way to the market where I did, in fact, speak K'iché with the woman who made the above pictured most delicious empanada ever, and her daughter. That empanada is made with cornmeal, and tasted like a Long John Silver's hush puppy, stuffed with ground pork and topped with amazing fresh vegetables.  I also ate what Guatemalans call an enchilada, but we know as a tostada. It was covered in sauce, dipped in ground pork, and topped with more delicious vegetables.  I would call the field trip a success!

And now, on to my illegal border crossing. So, first you need to know that there is no postal service in Guatemala. I actually knew this before I came here due to my work. I had gone to the Douglas county jail not long before my trip to interpret for an attorney and his client. The client was telling the attorney that he didn't have a way to let his wife in Guatemala know that he was in jail. The attorney said, "Can't you send her a letter?" Nope. No mail. I of course immediately googled this, and it's true. Guatemalan Congress voted not to renew the contract with the company who was providing mail service because the local shipping companies lobbied them not to. Awesome. 

I ran out of allergy medicine a couple weeks ago, so my mom mailed some to the nearest post office in Mexico. On Friday, I attempted to travel to said post office to retrieve my package. I got halfway there and realized I didn't have my passport.

 My host family was surprised to return home Friday night and find me in my room. When I explained what happened, host mom told me I should've just crossed the river on a raft. Okay, what?! Even though she has a border crossing card, she once tried to cross with one of her sons and they gave her a hard time because she didn't have his immunization records. They wouldn't let her in legally, so she did it illegally.  

Maybe I should back up here and tell you that Mexico is a much wealthier country than Guatemala and has the benefit of being a part of more trade deals and thus has much cheaper products. It is common for Guatemalans to cross the border either to shop for their personal needs, or to buy bulk goods to sell in their own stores. 

On Sunday, I began my trip to Mexico again, passport in hand. On the last leg of my trip, I shared a seat on the micro bus with a woman who kindly pointed out that my money was about to fall out of my pocket. We ended up sharing a tricycle in Tecun Uman, and she helped me find a Casa de Cambio to trade my quetzales for pesos. She asked me if I was going to cross the river on a raft. I told her I didn't see the need since I have a passport. She said, "yeah, but, it's a lot quicker to just cross the river."  I asked her a million questions to make sure I wouldn't get thrown in jail and she assured me that hundreds of people do it every day, it's totally safe, and no one cares. 

She was absolutely correct. The pic above is of the rafts. You pay the oarsman 75 cents, hop on, and he pushes you across with a long piece of bamboo against the river bottom. It was very quick.  Immigration is a stone's throw away from all of this. When I returned the next day, there were so many people crossing with large loads of merchandise. It was unbelievable. 

You can see a time-lapse video of my crossing here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BidOBdRARZj/

Even though USPS international priority is only supposed to take ten days, my package wasn't there so all of this was for naught.

Look at this insane mansion I stumbled upon in Xela!

These are the statues in the front yard.

Look at this insane castle in the back yard! No one knows anything about this house.

I went back to the yoga studio to try the beginner class. It was cool. More stretchy than strength building, which is what I was hoping for. It was taught in Spanish, by a Guatemalan man. We did moon salutations, and stood in goddess pose and made figure-8 movements with our arms. First overhead, then toward the ground, to the right, and to the left. Even though it was a cool class, I just can't get into the room. It's so dark, damp and grimy. Also, it has a really bad echo and I can rarely hear what the instructor is saying. 

TTFN!