A Revived Spirit and Renewed Love

I thought it was just going to be a day trip with my man and Jacobo. But I should know by now that living in this country always brings an adventure.

Ever since we moved down here to Jocotenango, Britt’s had the itch to start a business. It’s in his blood. From time to time he comes up with what he might call his latest great business venture idea. It’s almost always related to something that can be made using a sewing machine of some sort. Imagine that.

We’ve had the desire that has been developing since we lived in Buena Vista to help create jobs here. Yes, people need educated. But once they’re educated, in this country, there’s often no place to find work any more than if they had never received an eduction. Thus the ideas swimming in that visionary mind of his.

So when he announces to me that he’s going to go talk to our friend Jacobo (part of the leadership in our ministry here), I was not a bit surprised. Jacobo is a business-minded man as well. He has items made to sell in the tourist markets here in Guatemala and all the way down to Nicaragua. Britt returned from his visit and asked if I wanted to go with Jacobo and him to Chichicastengo, a very large market here about 2 hours away. It sounded like an adventure, so I moved my schedule around to make it work.

These are purses made from the huipils.

An example of a wallet and purse that Jacobo has made.

This is the detailed hand-stitching on a huipil.

Chichi market…all these are used huipils,
and most of these women are wearing huipils.

We left at 5 a.m.…before it’s light here. I never get up at 5 a.m. unless it’s an airport run. I later understood why we left so early. We left Jacobo’s house by 5:30 and arrived at the market by 7:30. There weren’t very many people there when we got there. Well, some people might say there were. We went straight to the used huipils (the fancy embroidered-by-hand tops women make and wear here). Brand new, they sell for $100 or more. Used they sell for $10-15. Jacobo buys the used ones and designs purses, backpacks, wallets, journals and other items using leather and these huipils, and then supplies venders in the artisan markets from here to El Salvador to Nicaragua.
I used to think everyone in Jocotenango and Antigua knew Jacobo. I now believe everyone in Central America knows Jacobo. Everywhere we went they called after him. And it gets even better further into this story. We got a good look at the market and bought one huipil to use as a sample…Britt has other ideas as well that I’ll let him advertise in his own time and way.

In front of the church at the market in Chichi

New huipils for sale along with handmade quilts

We stopped at a little restaurant in the market where I ordered plain eggs and they brought them to me with onions and tomatoes. Apparently, I have a problem communicating or maybe they do, cause the same thing happened at breakfast two days later in Antigua. This little break in our morning was a highlight on our trip. We asked Jacobo all kinds of questions and learned a ton about his past. I think I probably ask very different questions than my man does. Which is just fine.

I must admit, since we’ve lived in Jocotenango, I’ve lost much of my love for the people of this country. I’ve felt guilty about it. I’ve cried out to God over it. I’ve asked Him to revive my love for them once again. I don’t really know all the reasons. I do think I left a piece of my heart back in Buena Vista…they were the people I fell in love with that drew me to desire to leave my old life and start a new one here. Whatever the reasons. God knew this. And He orchestrated this little adventure last week to revive my spirit and renew my love. It started during this talk with Jacobo over breakfast. Just listening to him describe his native home in Nebaj made it all flood back.

We started home by 10:30. However, Jacobo said something about apples for sale at a roadside stand. I got excited and requested we stop at the next place we could find them. You see, my kids love applesauce and my man loves apple pie more than anything. And apples haven’t been in season in the market since December. Funny thing. It became Jacobo’s mission to find me apples. After stopping at a million roadside stands to no avail, Jacobo says he has a friend. It makes me laugh to myself just typing this. Remember above where I mentioned everyone knows Jacobo? It goes vice versa as well. So we took this little jaunt down a steep dirt path/road only to find that his friend was not around. So we headed back and went back to stopping at another million roadside stands. Still nada. Finally, we were almost back to the highway, when Jacobo points across this valley and says, “About 15 minutes over that way is an apple orchard. Do you want to go see if we can find them?” I think Britt was rather tired of stopping at dead ends. So he opted out. Me, in the back seat, well I just said, “It could be fun.” That’s all it took and the man turned the car around and off we went on a little jaunt to find apples on a whim. “If the princess wants apples, she’s gonna get apples,” he said.

Oh my stars. It was gorgeous down there. I really could just move there right now. And I got just a little teary seeing all the apple trees…reminded me of home in September. Twenty minutes later, we see a man walking along the road and we stop to ask him about apples. After a little chatting between Jacobo and him (Thomas), he hops in the car and we head up the hill a ways. And this is where the adventure really began. Three pretty ladies came out to talk to Thomas and man did they start talking. Not even in Spanish nor Cakchiquel, but a dialect I’ve never heard. So he translated to us in Spanish and we, of course, had to translate mentally into English. What fun. One of the ladies said that they didn’t have any apples yet because apple season doesn’t start until June. But then she said if we could wait and she could use our phone to call her husband, we could probably pick some. Thomas informed me that if she sold us apples without calling her husband first, she would get a beating when he got home. I guess that didn’t really surprise me. I’ve heard of women getting a beating for less.

here I am with the three chatterboxes 

one of their daughters…she did not want her picture taken
and she has not learned spanish yet

I think she picked 90 of the 100 pounds. She was fast.

Jacobo was explaining something to me.
I’m sure I don’t remember. 

They will start picking for selling in June.

This was my 3-4 pounds of contribution to the picking effort.
I must add, I’m used to picking apples on flatlands not steep mountainsides. 

One of these ladies was working on this weaving which will
eventually be used to make several huipils. She’s been working
on it for 2 months so far, and plans to work on it for
2 more months before she’s done with it.

He was more shy than the girl above.
I don’t think they see strangers very often.

Thomas carrying our apples down to our Suburban.

With permission from the husband, we walked up this steep hill full of apple trees and started picking apples. A hundred pounds to be exact. Yep. That many. We payed a whole wapping $24 for those apples. And that’s not the end of the adventure.

We drove Thomas back to his place, where we had picked him up and he invited us in to meet his family. Of course. So we met his wife, sister (or sister-in-law) and mom and dad. Or maybe it was his mother and father-in-law. I’m not always fast enough with my Spanish to catch these details. Before we knew it, they invited us to stay for lunch. And that was my first time to ever eat spinach soup and tomalitos. Hmm. Bout that soup. Even Britt ate the soup, in spite of spinach being on the list of foods he shouldn’t eat while taking Coumadin. At least they gave us Pepsi to wash it down with. I’ve heard that you can clean the inside of a carburetor out with Pepsi/Coke. I may or may not be making up that fact.

Britt juggling the balls that Thomas’s wife makes to sell. 
He might have been slightly bored. 

Sister, wife, Thomas, Grandpa and Grandma
Grandma would not move closer to her man. Hmm.

Grandma preparing our lunch. It was so dark in there. 

We left that little excursion with new friends, full bellies, happy hearts and a renewed vision for the people of this land God has brought us to. And, come June, while my mom is here visiting, we are going on another adventure to visit Nebaj, where Jacobo was born and his parents live. I can’t wait for all the unknowns that trip will bring. You just never know in this country.