Day 2 May 24
The Parish Center
The arrival of our shiny red car from the capital drew many surprised
and a few puzzled stares from the townsfolk. There were hardly any passenger
vehicles in Sacapulas, if one does not count the occasional army jeep or truck that rumbled by.
Apparently, there were no hotels in town. We found lodging at the local parish center where Teresa (the young girl in the picture), Alvaro's former classmate, now worked as a social worker. Alvaro was mainly responsible for placing Sacapulas in our itinerary. While his avowed purpose was to chat about old times with Teresa, all of us suspected that something deeper-- and sweeter --lay at the heart of the matter. We are grateful for the warm hospitality lavished on us by the padre, Teresa and one of the sisters. On our first night, they treated us to a home-cooked chicken dinner, considered quite a luxury in these parts. For a few years, the Guatemalan military had taken control of the parish center and used it as a barracks and, according to many accounts, an "interrogation center" where locals suspected of guerilla activities were tortured or executed. Recently, it had passed back to the right hands. It was now being restored to its former appearance. Rumors of "disappeared" people buried in the backyard (shown above) persist, and I could tell that our hosts were still uneasy about staying. But there was a stronger reason for anxiety. Exchanges of gunfire between guerillas and the military could still be heard from the nearby hills. The civil war was far from over. We felt a deep admiration for frail-looking Teresa who had left a comfortable life in the capital to help, at great personal risk, the needy of this remote indígena town.
After dropping off our baggage in our rooms, Madjid and I decided to take
a walk around town while our Guatemalan friends held conversation in rapid Spanish.
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We strolled along the banks of the Chixoy river, a mere trickle compared to the mighty Usumacinta into which it flows. Sacapulas is located in a dry region of the country: the hills in the background are the barest we saw in Guatemala. |
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