Guatemala 8/22/2017

Wednesday 8/2/2017 - Lago Cuicocha

For breakfast this morning, we enjoyed hearty scrambled eggs with onions and peppers, along with ham, cheese, and patacones (fried mashed plantain slices), coffee, and fresh juice.Antonio's uncle Juan Pedro arrived this morning, and Rosa fed him breakfast.

While I was working, Eddy brought me a bouquet of wildflowers with a heart-shaped note which said "I love you because you give me toys." Out of the mouths of babes! Sisa and Yupanqui wanted to write me notes in English too, so they dictated to him in Spanish, and he wrote the English for them.

Paulina did some laundry in the outdoor sink. She only had a couple of things to wash, and didn't bother with the washing machine. Eddy and Yupanqui gathered walnuts and broke them open to eat them.

For lunch, we had soup, steak, corn, red cabbage, and rice. The kids got dressed up in the new outfits that we had brought for them, and Rosa did their hair.

After lunch, we all (Rosa, Antonio, Paulina, Sisa, Yupanqui, Shina, Eddy, Rolando, Craig, and myself) went to Lago Cuicocha, a lake which is sacred to the Kichwa people. Cuicocha is a crater lake which was formed by a volcanic eruption over 3000 years ago.

We took a local camioneta (pickup truck) to Cuicocha, whose name translates to "Guinea Pig Lake." The lake contains two small islands, one of which resembles cuy (guinea pig, sacred ceremonial food of the Andes). That island is said to be the namesake of the lake. There is another theory that the name is a corruption of the Kichwa word "Kuychikucha" or "rainbow lake."

The lake water is very blue, and the surrounding terrain is quite green and punctuated with beautiful flowers. Antonio led us up a trail called the Ruta Sagrada where he showed us three sacred Kichwa sites: a solar calendar, a lunar calendar, and a place where offerings are made. Each featured a flat stone patio. The solar and lunar calendars consist of stone obelisks which cast shadows which indicate the position of the sun and the phase of the moon.

The place of offerings overlooked the lake, and its patio was covered with small smooth stones interspersed with small rectangular blocks of what appeared to be granite arranged in a spiral pattern. There was a large offering bowl made out of stone. All four kids fit inside!

The sun was so bright that we could barely see, and we could feel its equatorial heat on our skin. It was hot, and we clung to the shade whenever possible.

We walked back down the trail to a small museum building. We looked through exhibits explaining the lake's geological formation (Shina mistook a cross-section diagram of a volcano's core for a cross-section of a piece of candy), as well as the cultural traditions of the Kichwa people. We didn't spend much time here, as the kids were eager to take a boat ride, and they live this cultural heritage every day. They don't need to study it in a museum.

We then walked a short distance down a dirt road to the boat launch. We bought our tickets along with some drinks and snacks, and browsed at some items which were for sale.

Eagle-eyed Eddy noticed an emoji pillow. He has wanted one since his sisters returned with them from their visit to Ecuador last summer. We knew this, and we had sure hoped that we could find one somewhere. He told me that he had seen one with sunglasses. I was grateful that we wouldn't have to search far and wide for one. While the family waited for the boat, I walked back up to the market area and bought Eddy his emoji pillow.

Soon we could see a boat approaching. We donned life jackets and boarded the boat after the previous passengers disembarked. We had done this boat ride with Aracely, Vanesa, Antonio, and the kids last year. Rosa had not ridden the boat here since she was a child, and Rolando has never had the opportunity. So it was a very nice experience for all of us as an extended family.

Eddy and Paulina are used to their lake at home, which is larger and much more developed. Lake Atitlan encompasses 50 square miles and has many villages on its shores, whereas Cuicocha is under 1.5 square miles and is undeveloped apart from the visitor's center.

As soon as the boat got up to speed, we noticed how chilly the air really was. The sun had been counteracting it, but now it was quite apparent. The kids shrieked when splashed by cold lake water.

The sun was still incredibly bright and blinding. Puffy white clouds clung to the surrounding peaks. We went around the two islands: Yerovi and Teodoro Wolf. There were reeds growing at the shore. The kids enjoyed seeing the ducks swimming and diving. The shore itself was made up of layers of volcanic rock. Above this, the rock was coated with green vegetation.

When the boat ride was over, we each got a cup of canelazo, a hot cinnamon drink (without the alcohol that often infuses it). The moon was visible in the bright blue sky as we walked back toward the parking lot, where our driver had returned to pick us up.

On the way out, the family bought the kids each a small musical instrument. Sisa, Yupanqui, and Shina chose small pellet drums (the kind that you spin between your palms a la Karate Kid). Eddy chose a slide whistle. Obviously, the purchaser doesn't know Eddy very well, and he proceeded to play it at ear-splitting volume on the entire ride home. Yupanqui dropped his drum from the truck, so Rolando went with him to retrieve it. Boys!

It was quite an enjoyable outing, and a chance for Paulina and Eddy to experience volcanic crater lake which is at the same time similar and quite different from Lago Atitlan where they live.

When we arrived home, we spent some time visiting 84-year-old Abuelita in her fire shed. She prefers to live without modern conveniences, and insists on cooking for herself outside over a fire. She also refuses to sleep on a mattress, preferring to sleep on a tortora reed mat on the floor in Antonio and Rosa's bedroom. However, due to the unseasonably cold weather and the slab floor of the house, she has recently begun to sleep upstairs in the room where I work.

For dinner, we had soup and crispy fried chicken, pasta with veggies, and rice. After dinner, we all went to bed after a satisfying day of sightseeing.