The Surreal Night Before Christmas or How I became a Jew for Jesus

After Tikal and a after a couple more day at Lago de Atitlan, a spectular volcanic lake in Guatemala, I headed back to Antigua to meet Rachel. We spent the evening there and ventured out early the next moring, heading to El Salvador.

We arrived in El Salvador and called up the family Rachel knew. They came and picked us up. On the ride over, we had no idea what we would find next.
The first sign that things wouldn´t be quite as we expected was on their garage door. One of the larger Jewish stars and Menorahs that I´ve seen, made out of metal dominated the entrance. Inside their garage is a mural of the Wailing Wall. Throughout their house are shofars, stars of david, menorahs and pictures of Israel. We felt like we were on an episode of The Twilight Zone. As they explained to us, they were Amigos De Israel, which we can only assume are one and same as the Jews for Jesus who have plastered billboards in NYC. The family we stayed with comprises the musical group Kol Hatikvah and has recorded more than one CD that any of us Jewish families at home would be proud to play. They sing songs about the Torah, in Hebrew! And being Christmas eve they were ready to perform. We had to see this for ourselves. So, we went to church, for the first time ever. Though, Im guessing this is far from the normal church-going experience. We arrived, along with several thousand other people and took our seats. On the stage was a large christmast tree, and behind that were an even larger Menorah and Star of David. Nowhere did I see a cross. The pastor did some pastoring in Spanish and then the family came out to sing and dance. The band consisted of the Father and Uncle and two sons, as well as a few others, and they were a straight up rock band (if only synogauge were this entertaining). The mother and another son led a group of dancers through the aisles. The first song was about the God of Israel and was in Spanish. After the first song there was some more pastoring and then the band returned. This time they started playing and I was pretty sure I recongnized it. As they started building I could here the words in my head, and then they started singing and I was singing along. I don´t think it would be hard for any of you to imagine how surreal it must be to hear Havah Nagilah, being jammed out a la Eric Clapton no less (and they were really good musicians) on Christmas eve in El Salvador. The dancers danced the Horah as we sat there in shock.

At the end of the service everyone had their heads pointed down, and I did the same, personally so I could sleep, being a little sick and very tired. At one point I felt a hand on my shoulder and a woman usher was asking me and Rachel to follow her to the front. At first we resisted not wanting to do anything sacriligous, but then curiosity got the better of me, and we followed her. They took us each, seperately, and sat us down, and began to tell us that Jesus loved us, and that he filled our hearts, and that with God in our lives we could do anything. At least thats as much as I understood of their Spanish. It didn´t end there. After the services were over, we were waiting outside while the post service schmoozing we Jews know as well took place. For a second time that evening I felt a hand on my shoulder. This time I turned around to a young, attractive girl. She spoke first in English

¨I´ll speak in Spanish¨
¨Ok¨
(Now translated)
¨I have present for you¨
At this point Im a bit nervous...
¨Really? What is it?¨
She drops a leather necklace with beads on it into my hand
¨I bought this today, and I really don´t know why but I have to give this to you.
I felt Jesus in my heart, a very strong feeling, and he told, go over to that boy and give him your necklace. Tell him that he´s a very special person and that I love him.¨
¨Well, thank you.¨
Not knowing what else to say, talk about shock and awe.

Now this is weird. She explained that out of the nowhere she had this strong feeling to come over to speak to me. And by the look in here eyes, I believed she really did have that feeling. Whether or not it was Jesus who spoke to her, thats up for debate, but she was a woman touched by something.

So yes, El Salvador on Christmas Eve, not quite what I expected.

Mom, Dad, don´t worry, Im still Jewish. I didn´t get dunked in any pools, I didn´t eat any crackers or drink any wine, I didn´t make any signs of the cross. But I guess there´s no denying now, that Jesus loves me.

Ancient Civilazations

They say that while us white folk over in Europe were eating mud the Mayan were tracking the stars. But then again, they were sacraficing virgins. To each their own.

Tikal is said to be the most cultrually important of the Mayan cities. It was discovered in the 1800s by explorers looking for the ¨chiclet¨ tree, the tree whose sap was originally used to make chewing gum. I can only imagine the shock and awe one must have felt stumbling onto a city such as this. There are several hundred buildings in a 16 square kilometer area, though at this point only some have been excavated. When the Mayan people mysteriously disappeared the jungle took the opportunity to reclaim its proper place. The building were all eventually grown over with tree, and only the tops of the tallest pyramids were left visible. The smaller buildings appear as small hills in the jungle, though quite unnatural looking. Most of the excavation work was completed earlier on by Western Universities, and the US currently pays the Guatemalan govt $14 millon a year to preserve the area. So to all you Americans, here´s something international we can finally feel good about. And down here in Central America, the US really doesn´t have much to feel good about, buts that for another day.
The Maya were an advanced civilization, with many similarities to the Egyptians.

I woke up early and left Flores, which is a town on an island in lake about an hours drive from the park. Sleeping most of the ride, I arrived, and joined a guided tour. The tour guide was Guatemalan, spoke wonderful english and loved his job. He told us that he had grown up in the jungle, and possesed a striking knowledge of the jungle environment as well as knowing the answer to everything we could think of to ask him concerning Mayan life.

We saw and climbed several tall large pyramids, offering views across the treetops and of the neighboring pyramids towering over the canopy. We saw several ball courts, where they played a sport in which only hips and elbows were legal, and the losers (or winners depending on which part of the Mayan empire you were in) were sacrificed.

After the tour several of us explored on our own, and got to see the park nearly empty torwards the end of the day which was extra special.

Having seen their former glory, I had a new apprecation for the many Maya still living in Gautemala today.

So, what have I seen?

Antigua is a beautiful colonial era city. All buildings are a single story, and all are painted in beautiful pastel colors. It has a beautiful central plaza, and is surrounded by several large volcanos. It is also full of tourists. Being so close to the airport, most tourists do as I did. They skip the capital all together and go straight to Antigua. As well, many foreigners come here to study spanish. For this reason, its hard to get a true feeling of the country here. But, its a great place to get settled when first arriving.
I left Antigua early my second morning for a national park called Semuc Champay. To get there I first took a bus to the capital. From there I took a bus to a town called Coban, and then to a smaller town called Lanquin. From Languin I rode in the back of a pickup truck to a small hotel called Las Marias in walking distance of the park. The hotel, along with park, is nestled in a beautiful valley. The mountains all with very steep faces foster feelings of tranquilo. There were several other foreigners staying at the hotel, and several Gautemalans. I went for a swim in the river across the road when I first arrived. The hotel has a wonderful kitchen, and there was a Marimba band of local musicians playing during dinner. Though, the other tourists told me comparably they were pretty bad. I can't say I disagreed.
The next morning we went to visit the caves right outside the park. Here, we descended into the caves, each with our own candels. These caves were created by a river, and the river still flows through them. Our trip took us about an hour into the caves and then back out again. The entire time we saw by candlelight, often swimming through the river, holding the candles above our head. Ive been in caves before, but never like this.
After arriving back in the outside world, we floated down the river back torwards the hotel. Midway, we stopped under a bridge, climbed up, and took a few leaps. I'd say the bridge was about 30 feet high. I was definietly a bit scared, but jumped off twice. Quite a rush. We floated the rest of the way back to the hotel and had some lunch, and rested for a bit before heading off to the park.







The park itself is centered around a series of natural pools, also created by a river, each pool cascading with waterfalls down to the next. The colors of the water are those youd expect in the carribean, and water was refreshing after the sweaty hike in. I would say its one of the most beautiful places Ive been anywhere, and well worth the bumpy crowded journey in and out of the valley.








The following day I visted the Mayan ruins at Tikal. Though, havnt sat here in front of this computer long enough for today, I'll have to write about that next time.

Chicken buses

Back in NYC the Fung Wah bus company, operating routes from chinatown to chinatown across the northeast has often been called a chicken bus. Compared to transport here in Guatemala, Fung Wah is rock star transport. I've been having a fabulous time here in Guatemala so far and have been travelling often, trying to see as much as I can before heading to El Salvador, two days from now. Though, I can say with much confidence I will not miss the buses one bit. Chicken bus takes on a new meaning here. A seat, on a yellow school bus (painted any number of different colors, none the usual yellow, the merry pranksters could fit in driving their famous bus around here), which would normally seat 2 adults, at most 3 small children, often seats upwards of 3 adults at once. On my ride this morning I shared a seat with a mother and her two children, and other man, me in the middle. I guess they never read that article about the woman who died from a blood clot while seated in economy class on an airplane. An economy class seat would seem like a first class, fully reclining bed compared to the seats here. We often travel by mini bus as well, which can be even worse. I spent two nights in a small resort nestled in a beautiful valley. To reach the resort I rode in the back of a pickup truck. To leave two days later I was on a minibus, somewhat. By the time I got there, the bus probably had 30 people with seats for 12 at most, and about 5 people hanging out the door, me inlcluded. When we reached the bottom of a large hill, about 15 of us got out and walked up the hill so the bus would be able continue.

I can say with confidence as well, though, that arriving at each new destination the journey was always worth it. And I'll often have wonderful conversations with Gautemalans as we ride. I've had my first political conversation in spanish.

Antigua and first impressions

I arrived in Antigua after dark, and went straight to the hostel. Checked in, and found a place for dinner. Antigua, being quite the tourist destination, caters well to those missing home. Though I was too fresh to the country to be missing home yet, I heard cafe 2000 made great sandwhiches, and was only 2 blocks away. For me, not wanting to venture too far into unknown territory so late in the evening, it sounded perfect. I sat down to eat and catch the end of Duece Bigalow the second, with several other tourists. The food was delisicios as I had been told, and more than I could eat. After finishing I walked around a bit, went to see the Parque Central, and headed back for bed, wanting to be fresh and full of energy the following day. The bed wasnt particularly comfortable, but I slept well. The next morning I met a friendly, red haired canadian who knew antigua quite well, so he showed me around a bit. We first went to the town market, so I could buy a small hand bag for day use, and a cowboy belt. After that we hiked up a hill to a site with a large cross overlooking the city. The view, with several large volcanoes in the background was spectacular. We walked around a bit more, just wandering, coming across several collapsed churches, preserved as they fell after the large earthquake some time ago. I spent the rest of my day with a french canadian girl I met in the park. We ended up back at cafe 2000 for a movie that night, both wanting to go to sleep early that night as well. I woke up early to head north, and her to climb one of volcanoes.
The next morning, I woke up around 5am and had my first chicken bus experience.

I guess the club isn't just for Admirals anymore...

Im in Miami International, in the ever alluring Admirals Club. I decided to see what happened if I just moseyed on in. I guess theyre either no longer as selective or that I must blend in with the first class crowd. Anyway, it's actually really nice in here, for anyone who's always wondered. And, they have free internet.
My flight for Guatemala City boards in an hour, so I've got a bit of time to soak it up.
See you again soon, somewhere spanish speaking.

Still here in brooklyn...

Leaving soon though.