Tait: Today is graduation day. Kath and I have both completed four weeks of school and our ready to get out and about in Guatemala proper. We have both loved the time here in Xela with our newfound friends and family, but at a certain point the brain is saturated and it needs time to absorb all this new found knowledge. Yesterday I was so frustrated that I asked my teacher to play Spanish scrabble which she readily agreed to. My subsequent win had me once again feeling good about my Spanish skills...until I made my next error.
But to celebrate our last day we decided to take a trip out to the town of Salcaja. La iglesia de Conquistadores (The Church of the Conquistadores) is one of the seven wonders of Guatemala, as defined by Banco Industrial, and it is pretty cool. It is the oldest church in Latin America and dates back to 1524. There are three christs, San Joaquin, the Virgen Mary and other various statues. Most of the interior work including the doors and the pillars dates back to the inception. The key the use to lock the doors must be 8 inches long. However, the walls were mostly rebuilt along with some of the dome. Though the innards were suitably grand the best part of the church had to be the fact that on the outside, instead of angels and gragoyles and the like, there was carved fruit - pinapples, bannas cherries - and looking over it all were two sphinxes with round smiling moon faces. There was also a very knowledgeable woman there who allowed us access to the alcove where the choir sings which was interesting. The best part about the woman who worked there is she was not only able to inform us about the church, but point us in the direction of the local Caldo de Frutas lady (Guatemalan moonshine)
Salcaja is not only the home of the oldest church in Larin America but a thriving moonshine industry - the moonshine here being rum soaked with fruit for about six months. The nice woman at the church pointed us to a pink house where we were summarily ushered inside and offered seats in the pink and blue waiting room. This old woman (who seemed to have been doing this forever) proceeded to bring out a plate of rum soaked fruit and a snifter of this incredible rum that was sweet and delicious and cinamony. There were whole plums, pears, apples, cheeries and moras, which are kind of like blackberries. And yes, it does come in old whiskey bottles but what better way to package your illegal hooch? We bought two bottles and then proceeded to the next liquor store which sold rompopo, a legal yet still local liquor which is akin to eggnog.
After knocking on the door of the cevicheria / rompopo store, we were again ushered in and asked to wait while our lady ran across the way and brought us two nice sized bottles of the stuff. Upon being ushered out we caught the bus as it flew down the street and made our way back to Xela. About half way home my right arm started to go numb - it was either the rum soaked peach I devoured like a hungry dog or the weight of the liquor in my backpack cutting off circulation to my arm...I think I need some more caldo be frutas.
I leave you with two pictures. First is lunch we had today: delish. It is dish of pumpkin seeds and chicken served over rice with picante sauce. It takes the morning to cook. The second is of the cemetary...it is in the process of being cleaned for Dios de los Muertos and I thought the pic was very Guatemala.
Ten bucks if you try to drink some of that Caldo with your feet.
ReplyDeleteAnd photograph it.