Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Today the school organized an outing which took up most of the day, and although I still had to pay for classes, I was quite happy to get out of the classroom.

We headed to the town of Salcaja, about 15 minutes outside of Xela. The main attractions of this town include the oldest church in Central America, and a small house that makes a local liquor from fermented fruits. Quite the combination. The church itself was quite interesting, although we didn't get much of a history behind it, but for those interested please refer to Google.







Next, we made our way to a house in the middle of town which had aboslutely no indication of being a distillery. It soon became obvious that this is a fly-by-night operation, as the liquor, known as Caldo de Fruta and only produced in Salcaja, is bottled in various recycled liquor bottles, from Johnny Walker to no-name tequila. The drink itself is made from a mix of fruits that ferment for 5 months before they are ready to be drained from the juice, leaving behind a ruby-colored liquid of almost syruppy consistency. It's about the same strength as vodka, in the low-to-mid 20% range, but it tastes so sweet and goes down so smooth that it's easy to get wasted off of. To make things even better, a small bottle of this stuff goes for 20Q, or the equivalent of $2.50. Boys, when I get home we will hold a tasting session. Jared, get your pirate face ready.


Aside from getting to taste the liquor (as they obviously wanted us to buy it), we also got to taste the fruit that they take out of the vats after fermenting for 5 months. Believe it or not, they were quite tasty, albeit quite strong as well. A few handfuls of these things and your head would certainly be spinning.




After our tasting session and subsequent purchase of bottles, we headed upstairs. Apparently, whoever runs this place is quite the entrepreneur, because its pretty much a conglomerate. In the upper-levels is a weaving workshop where this man makes traditional material used for indigneous skirts and dresses throughout Guatemala.



About 1500 individual threads run through this machine, on a roll that will last for 6 months, and take 12 hours to replace once it is finished, since each thread runs through a specific part of the machine. It takes about a day to complete 6 meters of this stuff, so if you consider its price of 200Q (under $30 - more expensive in other parts of the country), it's quite affordable. These guys start working in the family business at 5 years old (child labor laws anyone?) and usually do it for the rest of their lives, according to what we were told. It's really quite the art, as the weaver uses both his hands to thread the twine back and forth, while also operating mechanisms with his feet, and keeping track of his thread count at the same time. Needless to say, he generally doesn't drink Caldo de Fruta as he works, although I sure would.


Tomorrow is my last day of Spanish classes, and this weekend I will probably visit Antigua. Tuesday, I leave for my 5-day trek to Todos Santos, hiking about 7 hours everyday. That should be interesting. After that it's back to Xela, only to sleep for a night and leave early that Monday for Livingston, home to rastas and reggae, so I am told. Next up are the ruins of Tikal, and off into Belize followed by Mexico. As school is now finished, I should have more adventures and blog entries to post, so I'll try to keep things updated as often as possible. Until then, as my little friend Carlitos would say, suave