Aid & Abet

Antigua from the 3rd floor of the hostel I was staying at

So, i just spent the last few weeks in Guatemala. It was my first experience traveling outside of the United States and it was a big experience for me. I went there to learn Spanish at a language school because it seems like the right thing to do in this day and age. Especially since I live in California, but really, it’s important everywhere.

The school that I went to, the Projecto Lingüistico Quetzalteco de Español in Quetzaltenango (also called Xéla), was amazing. The school has a city location and a partner rural school about an hour away by bus. I chose the school because I know dozens of radicals who have gone there over the school’s 20-year history, and I wanted to be in a place with a political consciousness with which I could identify. The school is set up to have five hours of one on one instruction every day, with a lot of other activities throughout the week, like lectures, films, and trips to neighboring areas (like the trip to Nuevo Amanacer that I posted about previously). All of these are designed to give you access to the country’s history and current political and social situation, from people who are living it every day, or who actually experienced the historical events. It was fascinating, well organized, and an exercise in consciousness raising for me and many of the students.

Some of the lectures I went to included a talk from a comadrona, a midwife from a Mayan community, who talked about their birthing practices and also their relationship with doctors and hospitals (not always good). Another was about a radio station that started in the town of Colomba to spread Christianity and literacy, and later helped the Guerrillas during the war. Another was about the Civil Patrols that were instituted by the government during the war that forced men to participate, and sometime meant they participated in crimes and human rights violations. Another was about CAFTA and the devastating effect it and other trade agreements have had on Guatemala and other Latin American countries.

The students were from all over. A lot from the U.S., but also Australia and Denmark and Sweden and Canada and other European countries. Interacting with the other students was equally fascinating. One of the first weeks I was there, I was out to dinner with two people from Denmark and two others from the U.S. Liz, from the U.S., is active with the group Critical Resistance, and the conversation that evening was a lot about prisons. While I knew that most (all?) European do not have the death penalty, I was shocked to find out that the longest prison term in Denmark is like 20 years. I asked if people in Europe think the U.S. is barbaric, and they said, well, yes.

I had a lot of thoughts while I was there about community, and community that is created instead of formed naturally. I felt that at both the schools there was a real sense of community among the students and I think that helped me be comfortable there and to create a better environment for learning. I don’t think that this sense of community came primarily from being with English speakers, I think it came from shared time and experience. When it came time to leave, I was sorry to let that part go, but happy for the connections I had made.

And yes, my Spanish is much improved. I learned a ton in three weeks (Thanks to my teachers Lili, Rosario, and Eduardo!), and have a good grasp of grammar, can read and write pretty easily, but am still a bit cautious with the speaking. I will be trying to find a way to keep studying here, and there are a lot of opportunities to speak the language at home.

Here are a few photos of my experience at the school (though of course I have loads more):

Here I am with Eduardo, the teacher I had for my last week of class.

When we went on school trip, we traveled around in a micro bus driven by Oscar. When Guatemalans travel in micro buses, they are really crowded and not like this at all.

Lounging on the front porch of the rural school, called the Mountain School.