Positive Energy Day 2009

This past Saturday was a pretty special day. I woke up early to go on a hike of Chicabal, a dormant volcano about an hour from Xela. Chicabal is said to powerful positive energies within the Mayan culture and it certainly proved to have one of the most unique summits I´ve seen so far.

The hike was pretty difficult at parts. Most hikes here are steep and por lo visto, switchbacks are non-existent in these parts. I´ve yet to master the skill on hiking and talking in guatemala! but, after catching my breath, the view of Laguna Chicabal was well worth the mild pain and embarrassment.

we made the summit before the clouds rolled in and with a group of worshipers chanting away, the positive vibes were definitely flowing. what i found most interesting about the place is that, even though it is no where near the ocean, the water in the laguna is saltwater with a similar mineral make up as ocean water. is it 300 meters deep and is said to have a pretty powerful whirlpool in the middle that gets going when a storm is about 2 days away.

after soaking up laguna chicabal, i had a wonderful opportunity to see a performance of The Vagina Monologues in the rural town on Colomba, about 90 min from Xela. with the most young children and men in the audience that i´ve ever seen at a Monologue show, i witnessed the amazing strength and bravery of some truly inspirational women. they certainly didn´t hold anything back with Hair, The Flood, My Short Skirt, Because He Liked to Look at It, and A Woman Who Likes Other Vaginas all making an appearance in the highly rural/highly Catholic community.

The performance was something special for sure and with an audience of about 200, I was pleasantly surprised to see how well it was received. The youngest performance was 6 years old and the oldest was probably around 70. The play opened with a beautiful matriarch performing a typical guatemala dance and the performance closed with one original monologue written by a female ex-guerilla, entitled ¨Mi Cuerpo es una Revolucion.¨

All in all, it was a powerful day. Check out the link below for pics of both viajes:

http://picasaweb.google.com/clarissa.moore/PositiveEnergyDay2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCMW7k-qMwv3YVw&feat=directlink