I am finally drinking a “real” cup of Guatemalan coffee. I’ve only had instant coffee up until this point in Huehuetenango, even though it’s a major global export region for coffee. Fortunately, not every last cup of Guatemalan grown coffee is exported. I am sitting in Café Museo in Huehuetenango. It is exactly what I needed after my experiences this morning of missing a bus at 4:30 AM. I’ll get back to that. Anyways, this café is beautiful and almost feels a little out of place in Huehuetenango, but then that is Huehue: a place of contradictions, mixtures, opposites that all live in the same place.
The only thing that could make this café experience perfect is if Kenny G weren’t playing. Ugh.
Last night I packed my day pack, laid out my clothes, and charged my camera. I planned to make the three hour trek up to Todos Los Santos Cuchamatan (for the day) to visit this indigenous pueblo and lively Saturday market. I set two alarms and woke up almost every hour last night since I was afraid I’d sleep through my alarms. One alarm didn’t go off but they second one did and I jumped out of bed, threw on my clothes and ran out the door, only to realize it’s PITCH black at 4:30 AM…oh yeah. There was not a soul on the street and I debated whether this was the safest move. I actually hadn’t even been out in Huehue after dark yet! I ran up to the bus stop and waited…and waited. The bus was supposed to drive by a little before 5 AM. I walked down the street just a little away from the bus stop to stand more in the light shining down from the farmacia. Then, I finally heard a noise and saw some signs of human life. Here came a bus flying down the street. I didn’t have my glasses on so as soon as it was close enough, I read the words “TODOS SANTOS” on the front wind shield. I started waiving my hands at the bus like a typical gringa to flag it down only to see it drive away into the distance. My heart sank. My first let down so far in Guatemala. I was all alone, in the dark, in a foreign country. I decided to go back to the terminal and just see if there was another bus going to Todos Santos later. Not till 10 am. Three hour bus ride meant I wouldn’t get there till after the market ended. Oh well, shed a few tears mostly of exhaustion and walked myself back home and kind of felt that feeling like I just lost an important soccer game.
I snuggled back into bed and attempted to fall asleep. I finally decided to get out of bed when I heard the family eating breakfast. I had two cups of instant coffee. Then I decided that today I would get “lost” in Huehue and finally get myself a decent cup of coffee. If there was any day I needed a strong cup, it was today. So I explored Huehue and its own lively Saturday market. I saw once again the two worlds of Guatemala living amongst each other. The Mayan women selling fruit on the street in traditional Mayan attire while young Guatemaltecos strolled through the market in modern clothes you’d see any teenager wearing in the United States. Such contrasts here! So now, I am at Café Museo where they are grinding the coffee beans, steaming real milk (opposed to powder), serving French press coffee and of course, playing Kenny G.
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| Church and park in center of Huehue |
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| Typical transportation |
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| Market Day in Huehue. |
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| Barely could make my through this crowd this morning. |
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| Chicken Bus! |
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| This was interesting. Right in town there was the community fountain and women were doing there laundry by hand. |
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| National Hospital. Closed now and in poor condition but could be really pretty with some new paint. This seemed to be the case with a lot of the buildings. |
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| Cemetery |
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| Such a colorful and beautiful cemetery. |
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| These things were as big as some houses here! Families purchase and enough room for the lineage! |
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