This next post was written by Mackenzie Timko, and contains sections with graphic descriptions of the atrocities committed during the Guatemalan civil war.
Yesterday was a long travel day, which was good in some ways since it offered an opportunity for the tired (most of us) and sick (many of us) to get some extra rest. We started the day bright and early, packed up and ready to go at 6:50 a.m. We walked to a good old American McDonald's for breakfast, which was basically the same except that you can get beans on your egg mcmuffin, plantains for a side, and cheese pie instead of apple. It was a lot like our McDonald's, except the smell was a little different. The orange juice was amazing (just like home). I accidentally had a bite of Sam's egg mcmuffin with beans and it was so bizarre. Too much American mixed with Guatemalan.
After breakfast, we loaded into the bus and drove toward the war memorial at a church in Zacualpa. This region is far from the major cities and the hills around the town were often used as hiding places by some of the guerrillas during the civil war. As a result, it became an important site for government forces and some of the worst atrocities were committed, not just in Zacualpa but in the very church we were about to visit.
After arriving, we each received several candles and went from room to room to hear about the people who were tortured there, many of whom had no connection to the guerrillas. During the war, the army had no problem taking over the church and using it to destroy lives. We heard stories of torture and violence that were very hard for me to hear. These stories included many details, augmented by the fact that we were in the place where the stories actually happened: we saw things like bloody handprints on one of the walls and old torture ropes hanging from the ceiling.
At the end of the tour/ceremony we were in a little chapel that had a little fire-pit in the centre. We soon learned that the hole used to be much deeper and was used as a place to throw people after being tortured, some dead, some alive, some somewhere in between. We learned that this included at least One woman who was pregnant and one with a child in her arms. We lit the rest of our candles and put them in the now shallow pit. The fire caught quickly, and soon the woman who was guiding us was amazed at the power and energy that the fire had. We only had a few candles in there and yet the fire was growing and swirling like little tornadoes. She gave us the energy of the fire and told us to clean out our bad energy and replace it with this new energy from the fire. It isn't really possible to describe how impactful and emotional this was for all of us.
After the ritual they brought us snacks of melons and papya and after a brief visit to the adjacent church, we were back in the van and on our way to Betty's house. Betty is a sweet, old friend of Doris and she graciously welcomed us into her home. She made us spaghetti and potatoes and bread with apples and peaches in this amazing sweet juice for dessert. We were all so comfortable at her home, she quickly became like a grandma to us. Being at Betty's also showed that we're all starting to really pick up on Spanish; yes or no questions are getting easier to answer for ourselves, which is very exciting for us. After Betty's we loaded back into the bus and headed for Chichicastinango where we'd have time to reflect and get a nice, long, much-needed sleep.