Rabin Ajau...

Greetings from Antigua, Guatemala. I just arrived this afternoon from Coban, where I spent 4 days, even though I had not initially intended to stay there at all. The town of Coban itself is not particularly exciting, but it is located in a region called the Alta verapaz, which is full of natural beauty. Most people pass through Coban only to reach Semuc Champay, and I would have done the same, except that I stumbled upon a little blurb in my guidebook that mentioned that the last weekend of July, Coban hosts a national indigenous folklore festival that includes the election of the Rabin Ajau, the Maya beauty queen. The contest was held on Saturday night, and I went to it with a Guatemalan guy who was also staying at the hotel. It was useful to go with him because he was able to give me some information about the different traditional outfits, the symbols that are sewn onto them, and what they mean. He himself was a Ladino, a group that he said makes up about 15% of the population of Guatemala, and he teaches at the University in Guatemala City. He is interested in indigenous rights, and talked a lot about culture clashes between the different cultural groups in Guatemala. He says he is often asked by Guatemalans where he is from, because he doesn´t look like he is from Guatemala.

We arrived at the Gimnasio where the event was held a little before 7. The event was to begin at 7. Of course, running on Latin American time music began at 8 and the contest began at almost 9pm. There were 74 contestants who had come from all over Guatemala. Each wore the traditional clothing from her village and carried the power objects from her village as well. Some wore brightly embroidered huipiles. Some wore very simple white tops over woven skirts. Some wore outfits that looked like a nun´s habit. Many had their hair braided and woven with colorful threads, hats, scarves, or carried pottery filled with smoking incense on their heads. Many carried large candles, shields or even crosses. Each girl was introduced separately, by her name, profession, family and then a description of the village she was from. This process alone took almost 4 hours. Intermitently they would have breaks with music and dance performances from around the country. My favorite was the performance of the Garifunas, the people from the Carribbean coast. After the introductions, the 13 semifinalists were chosen. Each girl was asked to answer a question addressing social, political and cultural issues faced by the modern Maya. Each had to answer the question in her own native language and then in Spanish. Then the group was narrowed to 5 and these five had to answer a 2nd question. They were really powerful young women, who obviously felt very strongly about the preservation of their cultural identity, language and traditions. The young woman who one was from a place near Guatemala City called Santiago. By the time it was all over I was struggling to stay awake because I had been sitting there for 9 hours! Despite the claim in the book that this is an event that draws a lot of tourists, I didn´t see very many. Many of there´s who came at the beginning didn´t make it to the end.

Yesterday I had a very serendipitous meeting. I was in the hotel and started talking to two people who were from the States. The girl was from Boulder, the first one I have met. The guy was from Seattle, has my same birthday, is exactly the same age as me and is named Eddie! It was one of those things that seemed very exciting. It was like meeting a long lost twin.

Tomorrow I am hiking a live volcano. Rumor has it that you can actually see a river of lava, so I´ll let you know.

Ciao for now