Feliz Navidad! (Warning: picture heavy!)

It is Christmas Eve and the celebrations have begun in Guatemala. I believe most people here have their Christmas dinner, exchange gifts and visit with family and friends today as opposed to tomorrow. I have two more weeks until I return to chilly Victoria, British Columbia. Two weeks to finish my internship video, observe a few (five!) more births and experience a Guatemalan Christmas. I must call upon my mediocre organizational skills to fit it all in! It seems in the last few weeks that I have done a lot more tourist type activities than the rest of my trip, so the majority of this post will not be baby related. Sorry to disappoint!

I went to the macadamia farm called Valhalla (www.exvalhalla.net) which means “hall of the slain” in Norse mythology. This sounds much more sinister than it is! it was the majestic hall in Asgard built by Odin where select warriors that die in battle experience their heaven or paradise. I could easily be lead to believe that macadamia farm is my paradise! The macadamia pancakes made with organic macadamia nuts and macadamia flour are topped with macadamia butter (much like peanut butter) and organic blueberry preserve. They also make macadamia honey from the flowers of all the different trees on the farm. The trees produce nuts all year round and they had more than 1600 varieties of trees on the property! I was told that their main goals are to create sustainable farms, support indigenous people and save the planet one delicious nut at a time. Way to go finca Valhalla!

Valhalla macadamia farm (notice the awesome viking helmet on the sign!)

Macadamia nuts in the shell

Left to right: Mature macadamia fruit, baby macadamia fruits and macadamia shell opened by a bird

Macadamia fruits on the tree!

Machine Lorenzo (co-owner) invented using a flat tire to gently remove macadamia fruit from the shell

Another machine invented to sort macadamia nuts in the shell according to size

The "Macadamia dog"! She is an old gal but you can't tell :)

Best breakfast ever! Macadamia pancakes with Jamaica ("ha-my-ca") tea

Monterrico…best place on earth by my standards! We rode a barge-type boat with the car through the mangroves to access the docks of Monterrico and I managed to take dozens of pictures along the way! My top three favorite moments of the weekend; liberating baby sea turtles, watching the sunrise from a tiny canoe during a tour of the mangroves and walking along the black sand beach at sunset. The hotel we stayed in was Q40 ($5) per person so our room cost about $15 a night for the three of us. The days were filled with dozing on the beach, relaxing in hammocks, napping in an old canoe filled with pillows and eating delicious food with a one-eyed cranky parrot and several friendly dogs. At night there are several beach parties going on, too bad I had to get up at 5am for the mangrove tour, I would have loved to go dancing! Overall the weekend cost me about Q260 ($32.50), peanuts compared to a weekend at a hotel in Victoria that honestly wouldn’t hold a candle to this tropical paradise!

View of Pacaya volcano on our way to Monterrico

Boat to take us to Monterrico

Termite nest!

Waiting patiently for the boat to depart while sipping coconut water

Red mangroves

Mangrove tour at 6am

Boat ride through the mangroves

Monterrico!

Cozy hammocks on the beach

One of the many beach hotels

Liberating baby sea turtles with the tortugario (turtle conservatory)

My little sea turtle!

Relaxing on the beach of Monterrico

I napped there. It was nice.

Sunset on turtle beach

Sunset on turtle beach

Sunrise in the mangroves. 1....

2...

3!

I went to visit San Simon or Maximon, he is a pre-Columbian god of the underworld worshipped by many Guatemalans as he is said to bring good luck with offerings of alcohol, coca-cola, cigars, flowers, cigarettes and (of course) cash. He is a symbol of male sexual power and sometimes called the god of gamblers and drunkards. I bought a few candles to burn as an offering and burned them at one of the metal tables in front of the altar. There were plaques all over the walls from people that had obtained wealth, happiness, success, etc from hermanos San Simon along with pictures of their cars and family. You are not permitted to take pictures inside but I will remember that trip without the help of photographs for a long time.

Sign that describes the meanings of each candle to light for San Simon

A good laugh!

Sign in front of San Simon

Men performing a ritual for San Simon

Temple of San Simon

I was fortunate to have a friend show me a few museos, one of which was in Miraflores mall and displayed artifacts from Kamilajuya (half buried city under and above the mall). Later he took us to a large map/model of Guatemala that also showed part of Belize, Mexico, El Salvador and the surrounding area. When I say large, I mean it covered half of the park! The map was in very good shape for being 110 years old and it was made partly to scale but five times taller to emphasize the elevations of the volcanoes. My friends grandfather (Claudio Urrutia) was a famous cartographer/engineer/smarty pants/inventor that devised mathematical equations to chart out maps like the mapa en relieve and designed the Mira Urrutia and Autometro (calculator).

Volcano at sunset

One of the exotic animals on display at Miraflores Mall Museo. Eek!

Explanation of the tomb on display below ground and behind glass

Tomb

You can see pieces of jade left in the tomb as payment to ensure safe passage for the dead as well as food

Female sculptures

Amazing detail!

Baby jaguar

Incredible detail on a jade mask

Nahuales are animals that are actually manifestations of a "guardian"

A mother monkey with her baby on her back

A sculpture showing how Claudio Urrutia used equiptment to chart out the mapa en relieve

Sign showing true scale of map

Two of the volcanoes close to Antigua and Ciudad Vieja

A small part of the map

Overview of part of the map. I look photoshopped but I assure you I am not!

View of Guatemala city

With regards to babies and births, I am waiting (not so) patiently for the onslaught of deliveries that is supposed to happen between now and the second week of January. The clinic has been busy as usual and I have observed dozens of ultrasounds, assisted in some procedures, observed dozens of prenatal visits and helped turn a baby! Well, the baby was stubborn and quite happy head up, but the client was given exercises and positions to try at home to convince baby that turning around is a good idea. There was a false alarm for a water birth at the birth center in the city and another false alarm for a birth at the clinic in the city. My hope is that the lunar cycle and the beautiful lunar eclipse will have an effect on all these expecting mothers and cause their labour to start in the next few days! Can you imagine five women in labour all at once at two different clinics? That would definitely make for the best Christmas EVER!

In closing, the babies will come when they are ready…however I would prefer sooner rather than later!

Relaxing at the Christmas party

Christmas punch with coconut, pear, apple, pineapple, raisins, prunes, cinnamon and sugar. Yum!

Sunset over the mountains