Having now studied all verb tenses in the Spanish Language and taken my final exam, I’ve decided to try to cram a few last minute adventures in to my ultimate days. As such, El Abuelito and I made our way to the Coffee Farm/ Casa K’jom on Thursday afternoon. The “3 museums” are for coffee, Mayan music, and, well, honestly, I don’t know what the third one is because I skipped it. I think it’s Mayan culture or something. I know, I’m horrible. Anyways, all three are located together on the Coffee Farm, which is right outside of Antigua proper in a pueblo called Jocotenango.
The Coffee Museum detailed the process of growing/ making coffee, as well as a bit of local history. It was all very interesting, but it made me pretty bitter to learn that coffee bean pickers earn approximately 30Q (under US$4) a day. I was even more angered to learn that only $0.08 of every $1 earned through coffee sales worldwide goes to the laborers. The importer takes almost 70%. Sometimes capitalism makes me literally feel sick to my stomach…
Speaking of things that make me sick to my stomach, I cannot stand Mayan Music. Ok, I know, I’m applying my own biases and background and all that crap in my analysis, but I don’t care. I can’t stand it. There’s always some sort of beat, but it’s always a bit loose and the rest of the musicians don’t seem to hear it. All I hear is noise. Now, I know it’s an important aspect of the culture, but it’s one of those parts that I will continue to go out of my way to avoid.
Ok, on to another part of the indigenous culture that I can get into: the rum drinking, cigar smoking, renegade saint Maximon, also known as San Simon. Though definitely not recognized by the church as an official saint, many indigenous people believe that Maximon has the power to cure the sick, protect the weak, propagate good luck, and provide for the have-nots. All good things, right? Well, he can also curse your enemies and he usually provides objects of desire to his followers. That is, sex, money, and intoxicating substances. Anyways, Don Juan and I made a journey to visit the local temple on Friday morning. I witnessed a woman burning a large quantity of food as part of a sacrifice, another woman throwing her offering of rum all over Maximon, and a mariachi band. However, I think the “best” part was watching a man having rum spit all over him by one of Maximon’s attendants. The down side to the day was sitting on two damn chicken buses for almost 2 hours to make a 30 minute trip back to Antigua…
Hey All. Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we gove.” In that spirit, I just added a new sidebar titled Give These Organizations Your Money. It contains links to some organizations that do incredible work to fight poverty with education. My sister 
Vaughan volunteered with Safe Passage in Guatemala and I read about the Central Asia Institute in the book Three Cups of Tea (co-written by CAI’s founder). Check them both out and let me know if you can think of any other organizations worthy of a link. 
