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<![CDATA[Bright Future Global Tours - Blog]]>Tue, 21 May 2013 19:41:41 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[The Maya* of Lake Atitlán]]>Tue, 21 May 2013 22:19:54 GMThttp://www.brightfutureglobaltours.com/1/post/2013/05/the-maya-of-lake-atitln.html(*Contrary to much popular use, the plural of Maya is Maya not Mayan.)

There are 22 distinct groups of Maya in Guatemala, each with their own indigenous language. The Kachiquel and Tzutujil Maya have lived on the lands surrounding Lake Attitlan for 4, 000 years, where they settled after migrating from Chichen-Itza and Petén in the north. For 2,000 years they fought each other for possession of the lake. And then, like Solomon, they divided it down the middle, so that the Tzutujil live in the south and the Kachiquel in the north.

The Kachiquel and Tzutujil Maya have lived on the lands surrounding Lake Attitlan for 4, 000 years, where they settled after migrating from Chichen-Itza and Petén in the north. For 2,000 years they fought each other for possession of the lake. And then, like Solomon, they divided it down the middle, so that the Tzutujil live in the south and the Kachiquel in the north.

War returned with the vicious conquest of the Spanish and then land theft and labor enslavement as foreign owned plantations helped forge laws that the Maya give 1/3 of their labor for free to the plantations. There the Maya were treated as disposable slaves -- sometimes on the very land their families had lived on for thousands of years. During the Guatemalan government’s more recent US supported campaign of genocide against its majority Maya population, the area around Lake Atitlán was a military target, resulting in many local people disappeared, killed, raped and tortured.

In the years since, tourism has stimulated increased production of local crafts and provided more employment, lifting many Maya in the lake area from extreme poverty. Less extreme poverty still prevails with the Maya struggling against low wages, the high cost of education, the rising cost of food, the loss of farm land to development and the contamination of the lake.

The Maya continue to practice a traditional way of life and are aided in this by the rich land of the Atitlán area. Many Maya grow coffee as well as corn and a rich array of fruits and vegetables. The tortillas are hand made and cooked on wood stoves, while many local residents bathe and wash woven clothes on the same rocks used by generations before them.

The women, young and old, wear colorful traje,traditional handwoven clothing. Metallic threads catch the light. Different types of traje and embroidery are associated with different pueblos on the lake. The ability of the Maya to combine colors – in both the weaving and the coordination of these colors to form a daily outfit of woven and embroidered huipil or blouse, wide woven decorated belt, and multi-colored corte provides a daily delight in the enchantment of color.
The persistence of the Maya in choosing a hand-made life instead of succumbing to the allures of mass made articles is partly due to poverty. People without money don’t buy a lot of stuff. And yet even among the Maya who are making more money, they are not buying a bunch of technology or cars. In fact, hardly anyone has a private automobile, let alone having one person per each one --rather they invest in the education of their children and in the handmade clothing of the women, even though it is much cheaper to buy clothes from PACA, where new and second-hand clothing pours in from the US.

As in Mexico, money is also invested in building a concrete house, often adding additional floors. And yet visiting these houses the Maya are seated on the concrete floor instead of the decaying plastic chairs or rockety wooden ones that are against the wall. There may or may not be a mattress for a bed. There will be a wood fire cook stove even if there is a propane stove and a refrigerator. In fact the rooms seem almost empty with little furniture and lacking the collections of chain stores. I asked a friend of mine, a Maya young man in his 20’s why they didn’t accumulate more possessions. He said “the Maya say that if you buy modern things you will just want more of them.” And so they don’t seem to buy them, relying instead on what has worked for so long.

The absence of machines and the high price of electricity means that things continue to be made by hand, with focus, concentration and creativity. Such skills that are nearly forgetten in the “developed world” where the hand has been reduced to a linearity of poking at the ever shrinking screens of technology.

In fact, the Mayas of Lake Atitlán are extraordinarily skilled at making things by hand. They are also continually innovating and offering products which replace the flimsy wares of WalMart. Shoes made from hand woven huipils and rubber tires are both uncommonly beautiful as footware but longer lasting than any mass made shoes on the market. Backpacks and bags made from sturdy handwoven fabrics tested by lifetimes of being scrubbed on rocks are now often combined with leather, another handwork that Guatemala excels in. Other skills include intricate embroidery, leather goods, bead jewelry, master painters, murals, marimba music, mask and drum making, and the art of carrying a baby always attached to your body while doing the work of being alive.

And then there is the Maya skill at masonry, at putting blocks together first to make pyramids. So that now this skill of heritage is evident in making roads and paving mountain trails with interlocking blocks on the main streets of pueblos as well as in the efficient construction, by hand and sustained physical labor, of houses.

Physically the Maya are short but mighty. They begin carrying laundry or wood or corn up and down the steep slopes of Lake Atitlán before they are five years old. They learn to sustain their labor and to carry heavy things on their heads and their backs. They work until a job is finished, rarely indulging in breaks other than for lunch. The Maya never stop this work of life. And yet so many of their faces are kind and split with genuines smiles. People play with their children instead of parking them in front of the TV or plying them with toys. When a baby is hungry, the breast is only the distance from the being held next to her back to finding the nourishment of the mother’s front body. The children seem less anxious than those I have known.

Each pueblo around the lake, while similar because they are Maya, has a distinct history, organization, attitude and skill.

Santiago, for example, was the capital of the pre-conquest Tz’utujil world and remains the largest pueblo on the lake. In addition to hosting the Maya saint Maximón and the attendant Maya spiritual leaders, Santiago produces exquisite embroidery of birds in every movement and mood. Indeed in Tz’tujil, Santiago is known as the “house of birds.”

San Pedro is the home of painters who record the knowledge of Maya life in detailed paintings. The painters continually evolve and expand their techniques. San Pedro also boasts a number of fine murals. Neighboring San Juan hosts several community based collectives and is the Guatemalan leader in the use of traditional natural dye, producing remarkable colors from local plants and spinning the cotton threads from the cotton plant. They also have export coffee collectives and as well as a collection exquisite Maya themed murals. San Marcos is a healing center which offers both traditional Maya and alternative healing including yoga. Panachel, Atitláns most touristed town, offers a dizzying array and many excellent values on handmade items .

Several months ago I bought a handwoven huipil in Santiago, embroidered with birds in a delightful variety of poses. It is very beautiful and I always receive comments when I wear it. But what I notice, past the thrill of wearing something that shines its beauty onto the wearer, is a unique comfort from having an article next to my skin that was imagined and brought by hand into being.

]]><![CDATA[Lake Atitlán Guatemala]]>Tue, 21 May 2013 02:07:32 GMThttp://www.brightfutureglobaltours.com/1/post/2013/05/lake-atitln-guatemala.html

Eighty-five thousand years ago, the spectacular twin los chocoyos volcanos erupted, a major seismic event which spread ash from Guatemala as far south as Panama and formed the volcanic crater that today holds Lago Atitlán. Renowned as one of the world’s most beautiful lakes, Lago Atitlán is twelve miles long and over a thousand feet deep, held by rising folds of trees, grasses and corn that end in a jagged volcanic rim. Rising above this already spectacular setting are the volcanos San Pedro, Santiago and Toliman. Beneath them are Tz’utzujil pueblos with concrete houses in yellow, pink and blue and stately windows framed with Guatemalan hardwood. These are interspersed with beehives of adobe and tin roofed homes, patches of corn, tumbling bougenvillae, and bananas pregnant with crowded hands of fruit.

On the lake fishermen stand paddling shallow wooden boats in t-shirts, baggy pants and baseball hats. They unfold nets or hand lines rolling their wrists one over the other. Before 1947, the lake held an astonishing variety of fish. But in that year bass was introduced, to stimulate tourism. The bass ate most of the other fish. Today the tourists eat the overfished bass while the locals more frequently eat the smaller, cheap, bone-ridden fish that the bass did not (could not?) eat.

In 1998, an ancient city, Samabaj, was discovered at the bottom of the lake: it is believed to have been underwater since 350 AD. Because of the altitude, diving in the lake is precarious and researchers can only descend two times a day for no more than a half an hour each session to record the remains of this city. Atitlán is rare endorheic lake which means its waters do not flow to the sea. The lake is also a caldera, connected to volcanic vents at its bottom which is believed to be connected to the periods of rise and fall of the lake.

Over the last 10 years, Lake Atitlán has risen more than 20 feet. Coming into San Pedro via the Santiago dock, the launch passes through the colorful skeletons of former restaurants and trees waist high in water. No one is entirely certain what has been causing the water to rise now. Following Guatemala's massive 1976 earthquake which killed 26,000 people, the land receded until it's sudden rise ten years ago. Among the local Maya it is said that this is a predictable 52 year cycle of the lake rising. It is noteworthy that few Maya build their own houses close to the shore even though it means they carry overflowing plastic buckets of handwoven clothes farther down to the lake for washing and back up the steep hills to their homes.

During the day the texture of the lake can change from silk to white caps. There is a special wind the Mayas call Xochimil. It is strong and believed to clean away sin. You might find yourself cleaner than expected when bathed in the splash from the white caps on the lake if you are sitting on a wooden bench of a launch, a public passenger boat which travels between the Maya pueblos along the lake.

Sometimes the moon makes paths of light on on the water. And the stars which the Maya used to plot the ages of time in their calendar seem closer and as if they still whisper secrets.

]]><![CDATA[Amazing Sumpango Giant Kite Tour]]>Tue, 14 May 2013 02:40:56 GMThttp://www.brightfutureglobaltours.com/1/post/2013/05/amazing-sumpango-kite-tour.html

I hope you will check out my interview with kitemaker Julio Asturias http://www.grupoquepasa.com/interview-with-barriletero-julio-roberto-asturias-chiquito/ in Que Pasa magazine. Julio is a wonderful friend and the guide for the Sumpango Day of the Dead Giant Kite Festival part of the Giant Kites and Ancient Temples 2013 cultural tour.

And read my article El Revue magazine about the history and making of the giant kites!
http://issuu.com/revue/docs/revue201210/87

And then take a look at this years Giant Kites & Ancient Temples Tour and come see for yourself these amazing works of sacred art made from tissue paper and glue.

]]><![CDATA[Happy Nuevo Epoca!]]>Sat, 05 Jan 2013 23:26:04 GMThttp://www.brightfutureglobaltours.com/1/post/2013/01/happy-nuevo-epoca.html

]]><![CDATA[Semana santa April 2012]]>Tue, 13 Nov 2012 03:23:34 GMThttp://www.brightfutureglobaltours.com/1/post/2012/11/semana-santa-april-2012.htmlI promised to post some photos of Antigua's Semana Santa, Holy Week celebration. I have already written a blog about this celebration, but it is nearly impossible to imagine without photos. Thousands of Antiguenens participate in this celebration, both walking with the processions and creating alfombras, carpets in the street. Some of the alfombras are shown in the slideshow below. They are made of pine needles and flowers, fruits and vegetables or colored sand applied to stencils. The designs are watered to keep them in place and fresh. The processions carrying Jesus and Mary walk through these beautiful carpets which are then destroyed by their passage.

During the first days of the holy week, children are major participants, with the boys and men wearing purple robes and the girls wearing white. The women mostly wear black. A part of being in the procession involves carrying the elaborate statutes which tell the story of Jesus's last week. The men carry Jesus and the women carry Mary. The heaviest of these floats weighs 2 tons. Moving these enormous scenes, especially around corners, involves tremendous care and coordination of effort. All processions are accompanied by more incense (copal) than I have ever inhaled in my life, partly due to the enthusiastic boys swinging the incense censors.

]]><![CDATA[Spring Equinox in Uaxactun]]>Wed, 03 Oct 2012 23:09:11 GMThttp://www.brightfutureglobaltours.com/1/post/2012/10/spring-equinox-in-uaxactun.html

I promised in the last blog to post my pictures of the spring equinox at Uxactun, a Maya site associated with the completion of the Maya long count calendar. The night before the equinox featured a reenactment of the ancient Maya celebration of the equinox at the observatory of Uaxactun. Note the elaborate feathered headdresses on the actors. For anyone who has ever studied the Maya stelae and wondered what on earth that stuff on top of the leaders' heads was, these wild feather headdresses explain much. The next day many Maya shamen from around Guatemala participated in a traditional Maya shamanic ceremony, chanting and casting seeds, candles and other unknown things into the fire. I was happy to note that there were at least as many Maya women shamen present as there were men. As I alluded to in the last blog, the problem with going to an ancient site to see the alignment of light on these days is the fact that the sun must be shining first thing in the morning. As these sites are located in the jungles of Peten, areas which were deforested when the Mayas actually lived there, the sunlightwhich they tracked is not always available due to the mist rising from the jungle. The sense of being in a sacred and timeless dimension however, is present.

]]><![CDATA[Equinox in Uaxactún; Semana Santa in Antigua]]>Fri, 01 Jun 2012 17:10:24 GMThttp://www.brightfutureglobaltours.com/1/post/2012/06/equinox-in-uaxactn-semana-santa-in-antigua.htmlSO MANY REASONS TO LOVE GUATEMALA

I'm writing from Antigua, Guatemala, where I am continuing to make my way
in Central America. I was fortunate to be in Uaxactun, the oldest and reputedly
most acurate astronomy site in the Maya world, for the spring equinox. It was
very magical to be in the ruins at night for the shamanic rituals and also the
reenactment of a Maya procession. The headdresses were very elaborate with
gorgeous feathers from the jungle birds, the stars beautiful and clear and the
candles on the steps of the observatory made the ancient stones glow. Also
there were about a hundred school kids to carry the Guatemalan flag. It was
quite a crowd for this northernmost town in Guatemala, home to chicle gatherers
a subsistence community living without electricity, and beautiful free horses
who graze in the ruins and the field which run through the middle of town. It
is usually one of the most peaceful places in Guatemala. The openess of the
children there is in incredible contrast to meeting kids who have grown up with
tv and computers. Not surprisingly, the children play together almost all the
time. Unfortunately, on the morn of the equinox the sky was overcast, so it was
not possible to see the path of the sun over the monument to the equinox. There
were however a group of shamans performing the rites of the equinox at the base
of the observatory, so there was plenty of celebration.

I returned to Antigua just before semana santa, the celebration of the week
of Jesus's crucifixion. Antigua has the largest semana santa celebration in
latin america and is justifiably famous for this event.. Literally thousands of
Antigueñens participate in this event. For five days, elaborate carpets of
colored sand, or long pine needles, flowers and fuits are created in the
streets where the daily processions will pass. In minutes these creations are
destroyed by the 60 - 100 people carrying the massive floats (weighing up to
two tons) of Jesus carrying the cross or of Mary. In addition, the men carrying
the floats and the many more men and boys in the processions wear stunning
purple robes for the first four days, so it becomes normal to see purple robed
men and boys around town eating ice cream or reading the paper. The girls wear
white and the women black, with lacy veils. Antigua was awash with tourists,
mostly from Central America. Unlike Mexico, there is no flagellation, weeping,
or walking on knees as a form of sacrifice. While the figures on the floats are
impressively tragic, the people are not. One reason for this lighter approach
may be the belief that if you participate in this procession, you don't really
have to attend church or think about religion for the rest of the year. I found
myself moved by the extensive events -- not because of the religious story, but
because so many people in Antigua devote themselves to working together and
coming together to make it happen. In terms of the religious story, most of the
visitors leave Antigua on the Friday or Sat. before easter in order to go to
the beach before having to be back to work on Monday. And so the resurrection
of Christ is l.ow key, just a small procession on Sunday. Antigua seemed
deserted afterwards, the streets almost bare.

I am having a problem uploading my pics, but check back for an update with photos.

I returned to Antigua because I have been given the opportunity to develop
an intensive course for an English school. The course, "English for Guides,"
will focus both on developing English fluecy in intermediate speakers and to
encourage guides to expand their offerings to include more cultural and
community based tours. I'm really looking forward to it and eventually I hope
to be able to hire some of the guides to give tours for Bright Future Global
Tours. In terms of my tourism business, I am now also focusing on custom tours.
So if you know anyone who is coming to Guatemala and wants someone in country
to make arrangements for them and help arrange their itinerary, I can do this.
And of course I am still offering an incredible array of exciting group tours
this year, Maya 2012. Truly there has never been a better time to visit
Guatemala. www.brightfutureglobaltours.com

For me, it is hard to find more wonderful people than the Guatemalans. This
is a place where people say good morning, good afternoon, good evening and
actually look at you as you pass on the street or when you buy something. When
I'm eating and new people enter the restaurant, they wish me buen provecho, --
good eating, bon apetit!. Many people walk around the parks and sit on the
benches. It is easy to have conversations with strangers. Then there is Antigua
itself, a gorgeous city of painted buildings, colonial architecture, the
occassional unrestored ruins from major earthquakes. The roof line looks almost
middle eastern with moorish domes dotting the skyline. These provide light to
rooms without windows. And then there are the green mountains which hold the
city culminating with the almost perfect cone of mountain Agua Volcan. There
are no strip malls or walmarts or malls at all in Antigua. The streets are
cobblestone, so cars go slow. It's a place where beauty continues to triumph. I
know some of you are wondering if there is a McDonald's here. Yes in fact there
is, it's in the restored family home of a rich Guatemalan who owns the
franchise here. The McDonald's features a beautiful central garden with a
fountain where you can eat as well as a number of other tasteful outdoor and
indoor areas. Also there's a separate coffee bar with pastries. Yes, this is
McDonald's in Antigua.

So for now I am quite happy in Antigua. I also recently bought a used
massage table and am so happy to be using my hands in this way again.

I hope all is well for you. May
the vital life of spring renew and inspire you. Abrazos, Luisa]]><![CDATA[Local Markets in San Cristobal de las Casas]]>Mon, 19 Mar 2012 02:50:39 GMThttp://www.brightfutureglobaltours.com/1/post/2012/03/local-markets-in-san-cristobal-de-las-casas.htmlFood, Beauty, Color, Craft and Etiquette

Visiting the local markets is one of the best parts of travel for me. I love to immerse myself in local markets following their narrow aisles through always a treat in Latin America, like stepping into a kaleidoscope of color, the smell of cooking food, the people wearing traditional and local clothing, the invitations calling me to draw closer to the vendor's avacados, blouses, jewelry. weaving, ice cream. The local market is a place of bustling self-employment and lively exchange. I don't think I'll ever understand why the modern world prefers megastores where the food is all in packages and the salespeople don't know nada about what they're selling. In the local market the experience of exchange is personal, knowledgeable and often negotiable.

Like the city of San Cristóbal itself, the local markets in San Cristóbal are stunning, not only because of the vast diversity of the available items but also because of the artistic arranging of

the food and the artesina. The visual display of many of these temporary stalls, which are as in all markets, unpacked and packed ever day
-- which are renewed daily -- is captivating as the fruits and
vegetables are arranged in pyramids and towers atop small colored buck ets. The
food is then usually sold in this quantity it was displayed in, perhaps 5 avacadoes or ten oranges.
It is fascinating to track the passing of time by noticing the different foods that come in and out of season. When I was there they had many pyramids of large and juicy blackberries and every type of mango.

The food market -- which actually vends anything
you could possibly need from an herbal tea for diabetes to a screwdriver for fixing your
eyeglasses -- is quite large, sprawling across several streets. For handmade
artenesia the place go is the artenisia market which occupies the space all
around the cathedral Santo Domingo is a labrynth of stalls. There you can find
wool hats and socks and jackets as well as hand embroidered cotton blouses,
woven trousers, tableclothes, blankets, amber and jade jewelry as well as colorful jewelry made from corn, beans, orange peelings and apple seeds. I was so enchanted with this these incredibly cheap (35colorful and natural jewelry that I bought one for all of my friends in Guatemala and a few for the friends I haven't made yet. I also bought a wool hat, wool slippers and a woolen scarf the most gorgeous color of purple I have ever seen. And oh yes, a small red guitar, handmade in Mexico and just a little bigger than my ukulele.

The traditional clothing of the Maya people in this area is extremely striking with short purple cloaks coverd with birds and flowers. Under these the women wear colorful silk blouses with lace around the color and the cuffs and fleece skirts which look more comfortable and warmer than the tighter woven cortes of Guatemala. Also dark blue.

The Tzotzil and Tzelzal Maya of this area known for their indepence and they do not suffer being photographed. In fact one woman wanted 10 pesos after I photographed her display of tableclothes from a distance even though I had told her I would not include in the picture. We had a little discussion because I thought it wasn't really fair to charge me after the fact, but I then agreed to pay her later as I didn't have any change. So I went back, weaving through alleyways of hand made clothing and brightly colored placemats embroidered with sunflowers and calla lillies. I don't know if she was surprised to see me and to receive the 10 pesos, but because of this we always greeted each other and talked a little when I passed her stall at the market. After that I always asked the vendor if I could take a picture of theri beautiful stalls. The food vendors were the most agreeable.

Unlike many people I met in Guatemala (or in the US for that matter) , the
population of San Cristóbal de las Casas are much more educated about the
corporate exploitation of their lands and their forests. Support for the
Zapatistas, (EZLN) who led a revolt against NAFTA in this area, is evident in many of
the stalls. There is even a spacious and tasty restaurant, Adentro La Tierra,
whose proceeds help support the EZLN. Poltical documentaries as well as films
about the Maya and 2012 are in abundance and live music spans the spectrum from marimbas, to jazz and folk.

I've always been a big fan of walking streets and San Cris has not one but two connecting to the central zocalo. While there were some children vending, there were more women, carrying voluminous layers of
scarfs and handfuls of belts and bracelets. Each street has teams of blue aproned women wearing orange scarves who sweep the streets and keep them clean as hundreds of local people and visitors wander along them everyday.

The walking streets are dotted with outside cafe tables and brightly painted businesses. The walking streets also host several excellent panaderias. . Besides creating delicious breads, including whole wheat, my favorite panaderia made scrumptious macaroons and also a chocolate covered concoction in the shape of a rat, un ratón de chocolate. It was the best rat I ever I ate. I also encountered the best molé tamales, with plums and olives and tender chicken, que rico! Every day in San Cristóbal is alive and full of color.

]]><![CDATA[Jade and the Most Ancient Peoples]]>Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:18:21 GMThttp://www.brightfutureglobaltours.com/1/post/2012/02/jade-and-the-most-ancient-peoples.htmlThe Jade Museum, San Cristóbal de las Casas

Among the many museums in San Cristóbal, the museum of jade was my favorite. It features fine reproductions of the Jade figures, masks and jewelry as well as ceramic statues found in ancient Maya, Olmec & Mokaya sites as well as a few pieces from the ancient Zapotecs and Mixtecs. The work is exquisite and the power and beauty of the jade as well as the red cinnabar accents makes each piece quite powerful. For the ancient peoples of mesoamerica jade was indeed the most precious of all materials. Jade was believed to facilitate the transition through the underworld after death. Jade also symbolized immortality, eternity, power and love.

This museum also provides a excellent opportunity to understand the chronology of these ancient peoples. work from peoples more ancient than the Mayas, the Olmecs and the Mokaya. It was fascinating to observe the different ways that human figures were portrayed over 3000 years and among different groups.

This was the first I had heard of the Mokaya people, though they are the oldest people of Mesoamerica, living between 1800 & 1200BC and predating the Olmecs. They were the first to use Jade-- the display case held tiny jade carvings -- a hummingbird, a monkey, a turtle/sun. The Mokaya are known as the "people of the corn", the grandmother of all later cultures. Some Maya believe
The Olmecs lived from 1500 BC to 400 BC and left some compelling sculpture, the most well known of which are the collasal heads. These heads were carved in a different location that where they eventually were displayed. It has been estimated that moving a colossal head required the work of 1,500
people for three to four months.

Olmec culture directly influenced the Maya in profound ways and there is some overlap between the dates of last Olmec civilizations and the pre-classic Maya. The Olmec also devised a long-count calendar and there is significant evidence that they first developed the use of the zero in mathmatics as well as initiated the ritual ballgame, which had an important divinitory role in all following mesoamerican civilizations. The Olmecs also first developed writing and maintained ceremonial centeres where large monuments were built and shamans communicated with the heart of the sky.

Perhaps it was the Olmecs collassal heads which inspired the enormous monuments of the Maya. Certainly the Maya continued to develop the systems of writing, mathematics and astronomy which the Olmecs had begun.

]]><![CDATA[Bugs & Hugs in San Cristóbal]]>Wed, 15 Feb 2012 02:50:26 GMThttp://www.brightfutureglobaltours.com/1/post/2012/02/bugs-hugs-in-san-cristbal.html

Museo de los Bichos, The Museum of Insects

I was on my way to the museum of amber when I encountered a comic figure of a preying mantis on the walking street . Next to him a man held a live tarantula in his hand. I had held my first tarantula at Tikal and was eager to repeat the experience. For those of you who are afraid of insects and of enormous spiders in particular, holding a tarantula may seem like something you would never do. I understand this impulse. I met my first tarantula in Australia, in my bedroom, as a 17 year old exchange student. I was scared spitless. I screamed. Despite the reassurance of my hosts that tarantulas were not agressive unless provoked and that they were good at eating insects, the tarantula was killed. In fact I smuggled it home preserved in alcohol and showed all my friends this dead massive spider. Now that I know tarantulas I am sorry I behaved so aggressively towards this gentle creature.

Still it was 35 yaers later before I was given the opportunity to reexperience tarantulas. At Tikal, our guide had enticed a beautiful mahogany, orange and blank tarantuala out of its nest. Luis held the tarantula his hands and told us that tarantulas did not bite, then offered it to us as proof..

The tarantula was SOFT! It resembled a fuzzy stuffed animal, and sat delicately on my hand. I felt no fear, only such tenderness for it. I reluctantly passed her on to the next person in our group.
So I was happy when the man on the street asked if I would like to hold the tarantula.

He told me there were more tarantulas and other insects too at the Museum of Insects just around the corner. of course I went.

This is a private museum and the life work of one man, etymologist Jesus Fuentes. His skill is apparent in his extensive collection of insects, all separated into their families, from bugs so tiny you wonder how he could catch them without obliterating them to some of the largest insects of their kind in the area. Included in this is a beautiful collection of the local butterfly population.

I'm a butterfly!

But the most inspiring part of this museum was the 20 minute passionate presentation by Jesus Fuentes himself. He says, "Without insects, we could not survive. They clean up the world. But what do we do? " he pauses, waiting for the audience to fill in the blanks, "we kill them." He goes on to argue that insects spread disease only because humans do not live very hygenically. And also that we need to appreaciate what they do for us, not just helping nature's necessary decay and detoxification, but also pollinating the plants, providing food to people who eat them for protein, and aerating the soil. He took a large Madagascar cockroach out of a glass case and talked about how efficient they were at cleaning the forest of decaying matter. I was the first of the group to hold it, it was very beautiful and more stout than those in Hawaii. Several people in the group simply shuddered and did not volunteer their hands.

And of course at the end we could hold the tarantula again. Or maybe let her take a little stroll up our chest.

Later in the day I was in the main square, watching the Maya fire dancers perform the drumming and dancing ritual with the mask of the jaguar as the sun was setting. When suddenly up behind me I could hear a group of gigling Mexican adolescents. When I read the signs they were holding I gave them each a hug. They are part of the global free hug movement, in which people stand in a public place with a sign offering a free hug. On Youtube, there are videos of this action by people around the world. I myself had introduced my classes at the University of Hawaii to the free hug movement three years ago. Suddenly the world felt connected by the heart in the most tangible way. Bugs and Hugs, what a day.

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