The day began as most days in Guatemala do….waiting. We were supposed to all meet at the school at 7 am, on the road to the school at 6:45 I encountered some parents waiting who told me that the teachers had not yet arrived and we would be leaving through this road anyways, so rest and wait here. I did, expecting the teachers to arrive shortly and roughly an hour and a half later they did. When they arrived with 2 Toyota pickups we all piled in the back—the backs of these pickups are equipped with racks allowing everyone to stand up and also fit an extraordinary number people in them—and headed out for the day.
The trip was with an elementary school I work with in canton El Naranjo. They invited me to join them on their field trip for the 14th of September. The 15th is Guatemalan Independence Day and the day before seems to be the day that all of the schools get out to run around and have a good time. Here is how it went:
We leave El Naranjo in the pickups, about 40 of us in two pickups and make the 45 minute trip into Santa Cruz del Quiche. Once in town we head to Comedores Solidarios, a government subsidized nutrition program where you can purchase breakfast for 1Q—about 12 cents. The breakfast consists of beans, plantains, a small roll of French bread and a small “pan dulce” which is sweet bread with a bit of lard and sugar sprinkled on top (“It’s the lard that makes it so delicious”—another nugget of Guatemalan wisdom from the one and only David Castillo, our tech trainer). The one thing they do not provide is tortillas, which can be purchased across the street at 4 tortillas for 1Q and any way you cut it you will not find a cheaper breakfast.
After we finish eating, we load back up and head out to Balneario Pachitac, a small park with swimming pools about 5-10 minutes outside of Quiche. As we drive out to the park, we see many trucks, buses and vans crammed with students heading back to Quiche. As we pass them the kids yell, wave and generally just behave like kids. As we pass one especially large truck they began squirting us with water and suddenly I was hit in the face with a sandwich bag full of water. Everyone in the truck was wet and laughing, thinking of how we could get some water to be able to fight back. Shortly thereafter we arrive at the park and while there was more than one pool, all of them were overrun with kids. Except the deep end of the largest pool which was relatively free of people. In the deep end there is a platform for people to dive off of. I stand watching people dive when I notice that there is a rope hanging from the platform. I soon discover what it is for when one of the divers (not really diving, more jumping I guess) puts the loop around his hand as he prepares to jump in. As soon as he hits the water, he comes back up, pulls the rope tight and uses it to pull himself back to the safety of the side of the pool. There it is, the Guatemalan life preserver for those who cannot swim, which is definitely the majority.
We leave the park and head back to Comedores Solidarios for lunch—3Q. After lunch we go to Gumarcaaj, the Mayan ruins outside of Quiche. As we approach the ruins there are buses, trucks and vans parked along the road for a mile or so. It seems that all of the schools in the area went to the park and then to the ruins. We park and walk into the ruins, briefly exploring them before the main event of the day: the running of the antorchas. This is the same event that took place in an earlier blog for the school anniversary, diesel fueled torches and this time we would be covering a much further distance while running with them. Also, it is not just the group that I was with who take part in this. All of the schools have this event, along with the fireman, police, hospital workers, and what appeared to be almost all Guatemalans within the vicinity. The kids get into groups, light one torch, prepare their banner and take off. We run out of the park and towards Quiche, all of the adults and kids running with the pickups following behind. Once we are near Quiche, we implement a system of having one group of kids run then switching to another once that group was tired. Those who were waiting would follow in the pickup. As we approach Quiche I am in the pickup. Now as we come in from the ruins into the city, there are quite a few students and people lining the roads. As each group of runners and vehicles passes, the onlookers are grabbing cups, buckets, hoses and whatever they could get their hands on to soak them with water. Especially when we get into town, there are people on top of their roofs waiting with buckets of water to soak us. I am wet from head to toe as we come into town. I believe that given that I am a “canche”, have a beard and am about a good 6 inches taller than the average Guatemalan male and was riding in the back of a pickup full of elementary school kids; I was a target. I heard the laughs and cries of satisfaction as they pelted me with water. I like to think that I really made some Guatemalans’ dreams come true when they got a chance to soak the gringo. Just giving back in any way I can.
The objective of the running of the antorchas is to make it back to your canton, running the entire way. Well, in true Guatemalan fashion we are way behind schedule and will be arriving very late if the kids run the whole way. Our driver, thankfully, tells everyone that he is cold from getting soaked during the drive and wants to get home before dark. We load up and resume the running about a half mile outside of Chujuyub, about another 15 minutes of running to Naranjo. As it is getting late, I hop off the pickup, stop by the tienda to buy some eggs and head home for the evening.
It was definitely one of the best times I have had here in Guatemala. The best part was that the parents of the kids who came along seemed to be enjoying it as much if not more than the kids. They stopped and bought bags of water so we could fight back, they were taunting the people were lining the streets and looking for cars with open windows passing by that we could target. As a vehicle approached, one of the parents would alert everyone and tell them to prepare their water. The kids seemed to be having the time of their lives and I was really happy to be able to take part in it.
It was a long day and 12 hours of a Guatemalan elementary school field trip is something that I can now mark off of my list of things to do.
