Our next stop was to more of a tourist town on Lake Atitlan, Panajachel. We had two talks that day. The first was really moving, Willie. I've mentioned him already, he was a former guerrilla warrior and political refugee in the US, where he trained to be a sous chef. He shared a lot about his struggles and life. He said he was forced to learn English, but he nows sees it as a weapon of self-defense.
He left the US because, in our guide Delores words, "he wasn't taking his medicine there" or in other words he wasn't doing what he was born to do in the US. He was pursing the American Dream - all about getting stuff - houses, cars, new gadgets. In the US, we want everything right away. We are slaves to the clock. He realized he needed to pursue the Guatemalan dream. He returned to Guatemala to help his people - to fight against the corporations that are polluting the land - to help his people find their medicine.
He started Cafe Red- a place where people can gather and support organic farming and the local economy. He works with Desgua, which works with returned Guatemalans to create economic and educational opportunities. Today there are over 1.5 million Guatemalans living in the US.
Another interesting thing we learned is that the farming in Guatemala was largely organic until companies like Wal-Mart came in and asked (forced?) them to grow foods for export. But in the US, we want our fruit to look perfect, and our tomatoes to be perfectly round, and our bananas to be huge. To do that, the farmers had to resort to using pesticides and other means to make "pretty produce."
Our last talk of the trip was the CCDA, which is somewhat of a union. They fight for labour and land rights. They help people recover their land and provide legal counsel. When people fight for their land, they are jailed or worse- killed! Just the other day, I came across an article: Latin American Environmental Activists are Paying for Protests with Their Lives. The government uses bullying and intimidation to get people to quietly let companies take their land. They violently evict the people from their land - burning down their houses and crops. The leader of the CCDA has even had to go into exile three times.
We then had some free time to explore the town.
I thought these roasted nuts were pretty...granted we couldn't eat them.
Aren't these just the cutest street pups!! Those eyes!!
On our way to to our next stop, Chichicastenango, we stopped at a Widow's Cooperative, which was a group of women who banded together to survive after their husbands were murdered during the genocide. They learned to weave and sell their products to support their families. This was hard. We heard about how her husband was murdered. I imagine it must be awful to tell that story to groups of students, tourists, whenever they come by. I really hope she wanted to tell the story and didn't feel like she had to because she wanted us to buy the weavings. I did buy a lovely blanket here.
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