Mennonites, chocolate, and a cemetery

During class on Tuesday afternoon, mi maestro (my teacher) and I walked to the Mennonite bakery he had told me about. Everyone here actually calls it "the bake shop," which is pretty funny. The women working there were in fairly traditional conservative Mennonite attire and the food was all familiar- it felt like home! I bought some galletas de mani (peanut butter cookies) and my teacher helped me explain to the ladies my connection with Mennonites and ask if I could take their photo. I was afraid they would say no, but instead they all four got all giggly and finally let me take the photo. I'm sure I made them feel like celebrities. Here are the photos.

Yesterday I went with a group to visit a fabrica de chocolate (chocolate factory) in Xela. I don't know about you, but when I think of a factory, I picture a fairly large building filled with machines and workers. I was way off. The fabrica was actually one room within a home. It was probably the size of a very large bedroom in the US. It smelled amazing! There was one machine that looked at least 20 years old and one worker, Vicky. What makes this even more interesting is the fact that Vicky and the company seem to be pretty famous. Shes been in several newspapers, on tv shows, and chocolate makers from Europa (Europe) have come to Guatemala to watch her make chocolate! Thats pretty impressive! She has also visited chocolate factories in Europa, but she casually said that she wasnt too impressed since everything is done by machines, rather than by hand. Vicky said her family has been making chocolate since the 1700s, so its quite a tradition.

The chocolate made in Guatemala is only for drinking as hot chocolate. The entire presentation was only in Spanish, so Im sure I missed a lot of it, but she let us watch the whole process of grinding the beans (the only time she used a machine), mixing it with azucar y vainilla (sugar and vanilla), and packing it into a large chunk. Then we all had the great pleasure of enjoying a cup. Holy cow. It was wonderful. I dont think I can ever drink regular hot chocolate again. Of course, I bought some to bring home! Heres some pictures of the fabrica.

The red room is the factory
Vicky grinding the cocoa beans

Enrique, the director of the school, was thrilled when Vicky asked him to hold the chocolate for a minute :)

The hot chocolate and a piece of cake

Me drinking some amazing hot chocolate (Mary, do you know how to flip the photos?)

During class last night, mi maestro took me to the public cemetery in Xela. Honestly, I thought he was a little nuts for wanting to go to the cemetery, but it was actually an amazing experience. Xela has two cemeteries - one is public and one is private. The very rich people buy sections in the private cemetery, but most people use the public one. No one is buried underground, but rather they build small buildings and people are buried inside of them. From a distance it looks like a small village. Each family has one or more buildings, so you are buried with family, just like in the US. The cemetery is set up like the town, too, with "streets" and "avenues." It was quite large and extremely tranquilo (peaceful). Mi maestro showed me the tomb de sus abuelos (of his grandparents) and a memorial to some people involved in a revolution (again, this was all in Spanish, so I didnt understand it all). Then he showed me the most famous tomb in Xela of a "gypsy girl" who fell in love with a man of Spanish royalty, but the mans parents wouldnt let him be with her and they took him back to Spain. When the girl found out he left, she died (presumably of a broken heart). Today when someone in Xela loves someone who doesnt love them back or who they cant be with, they visit the tomb of the girl because she understands what they are feeling. It was very interesting. Heres some photos of the cemetery:

Pedro in front of his familys tomb
The section of the cemetery for young children who have died

This is in the poorer section of the cemetery

The tomb of the gypsy girl (I cant remember her name). Notice the writing all over it from people who visited.
If you know Spanish, this sign will be pretty funny. (It doesnt make any sense.)

Overall, yesterday was the best day so far. I am slowly getting used to the culture here and adapting to it. My stomach, however, is definitely not adapting. I woke up at 1am last night with pretty intense stomach pains and I could actually hear my stomach gurgling. I will spare you any more details. Im pretty disappointed because I could have hiked to a natural sauna on one of the mountains today with the school, but I was worried about being so far away from a bathroom. There will be other opportunities, though....

Have I told you about the weather here yet? Its so cold! Oh my gosh! The sun doesnt shine very often either. Sometimes during the afternoon its warm, but mostly its cold. I definitely did not pack appropriately. It rains every day, too, usually in the afternoon. Its refreshing, but Im looking forward to going to the beach this weekend and hopefully seeing the sun for awhile.

A couple responses to comments:

Mom - plantains are very similar to bananas, but a less sweet

Mary - the plantains are cut diagonally and I think they are fried

Misty - I want to know more about this electric charge!

Other various photos:

My host mom, baby Fatima, Mickey the dog, and Sandra (Fatimas mom)
The orange bag I bought (because my brand new one broke!) and the woman who made it
In case youre wondering what the price of gas is here.....its about $5.50 per gallon
Dave, this is what I was looking at while I talked with you on the phone. Pretty amazing, huh?