THE ROAD TO GODINES.
We left Antigua on the morning of the 12th January. Just as we were
ready to ride out of the Patio our landlord approached me, carrying in
his hand a hideous toy parrot, sitting in a swing, with staring red
eyes and scanty green feathers glued on its back. This he solemnly
presented to me with many bows and wishes for a "buen viaje." I felt
bound to show my appreciation by hanging the thing to my saddle,
sincerely hoping that it would soon be jolted off; but no such luck
attended me, and there the bird hung dangling against the mule as we
rode through the town. As soon as we were well out of sight I offered
my prize to a group of children playing by the roadside; but they all
fled away, and it was some time before I met a child who could be
tempted to rid me of the gift.
After riding a mile or two along a road bordered by cottages bosomed
in fruit trees we rose to a bleak tableland. It was one of the very
few days of unpleasant weather which we experienced during the whole
of our journey; a fierce wind raised clouds of dust and rustled
through the ugly dry "rastrojos," or stubbles of Indian corn, which
covered the plain. We passed through the little Indian town of
Zaragoza, chiefly noted for the manufacture of "aparejos," the native
pack-saddles. I have been told that the Indians here have such a
liking for dried alligator meat as a lenten fare that the vendors of
that highly-perfumed delicacy have to be locked up in the "cárcel" for
protection and sell the meat through the prison bars. The streets were
full of gaily-dressed people assembled for a fiesta, and dancing was
going on in a shed, to the monotonous sound of a marimba. We were not
tempted to loiter for long, and rode on again over the dull plain to
the ugly and uninteresting town of Chimaltenango, where we proposed to
spend the night. The hotel was dirty and the bedrooms so unpleasant
that we would have none of them, and sent Gorgonio to hunt for an empty
room in which we could put up our own beds. This he found in a "meson,"
or caravanserai, attached to the hotel, where there was a good-sized
room and a rough kitchen opening on a patio in which we could turn the
beasts loose for the night. A sprinkling with water, a good sweeping,
and a free use of Keating's powder, soon made the room habitable. The
supper at the hotel was, however, far above the average, and the only
thing to complain of was the poor forage supplied to the mules.
[Illustration]
The weather next morning was lovely, and we made an early start. A
ride of about five leagues first across the same high tableland, then
through the lovely valley of La Sierra, brought us to Patzun, a town
of some importance, well placed and rather picturesque. The day had
been so charming that we had been tempted to dawdle much on the way
in lazy enjoyment of the beauty of the woodland slopes and the views
of the volcanoes, so that it was about 4 o'clock when we rode up to
the inn. The accommodation offered to us was not attractive, for the
bedrooms were like cupboards, airless and dark, and we were about to
search in the town for an empty room, when the patrona, after much
hesitation, agreed to allow us the use of the "Sala" as a bedroom; so
leaving Gorgonio and the boys to clean the room out, and to try and
get rid of some of the too numerous fleas, we wandered off to see the
sights of the town. Our steps of course gravitated towards the Plaza,
which, however, was not in itself attractive; but the groups of Indian
wayfarers seated around fires, cooking their suppers or settling
themselves for the night, were exceedingly picturesque. The people here
are far better looking than those we had seen at Antigua and Santa
Maria, and they appear to belong to a finer and stronger race, with
faces less grotesque and costumes much more attractive.
The dress of the men is rather Eastern in effect, and consists of a
long loose sleeveless garment woven from the undyed wool of the black
sheep. It is open at the sides, is longer in the back than in front,
and is usually drawn in round the waist with a belt. Loose trousers
of the same material reach to the knee, and below them appear the
embroidered edges of the loose white cotton drawers.
The huipils of the women are woven in stripes and brightly coloured
with native dyes, and the home-made enagua of blue and white striped
cotton is fastened round the waist over the huipil by a beautifully
embroidered belt with hanging ends. Every woman carries over
her arm a small striped cotton shawl to throw over her bare neck and
arms in the cool of the evening, and both men and women wear coloured
handkerchiefs knotted round their heads. We made many efforts to buy
some of the good huipils, but without success, and the women quite
frightened Gorgonio by the vehemence of their indignation at being
asked to sell their garments. This is hardly to be wondered at, for we
learnt that their stock of clothes usually included only one huipil in
the wearing and one in the loom, and it must take a long time to work
the elaborate patterns in cross-stitch with which they are embroidered.
[Illustration: SPECIMENS OF NATIVE TEXTILES AND EMBROIDERY (No. 1)]
[Illustration: SPECIMENS OF NATIVE TEXTILES AND EMBROIDERY (No. 2)]
Whilst we were watching the groups in the Plaza our attention was
attracted by the sound of music, and three shabby-looking fat ladinos
came in sight, playing violin, trombone, and drum, and heralding a
procession of gaily-dressed Indians. Some of the men wearing long gowns
trimmed with red, with turbans wound round their heads, bore on their
shoulders a platform supporting the image of a Saint, which was being
carried round the town on its way to the church, there to be deposited
for the night in readiness for the fiesta on the morrow. Then followed
others who may have been priests or were perhaps only officials of
a "cofradia" or brotherhood, for their costumes were not orthodox
priestly garments, and then a number of women dressed in clean huipils
and enaguas, and wearing long white veils, with the part covering the
head thickly embroidered in white silk. Each woman carried a lighted
candle in her hand, wrapped round with a green canna-leaf to shade it
from the wind. We followed the procession through the streets to the
church, where the image was deposited, and the women (still candle in
hand, but each with the canna-leaf placed on the top of her shawl,
neatly folded by her side) knelt in a circle and sang a hymn before the
procession dispersed.
[Illustration]
We returned to find our room swept but hardly clean, and after a very
bad supper were not sorry to turn into our comfortable camp-beds.
[Illustration: A BARRANCA.]
Early next morning we went on our way to Godines, and soon began the
descent of a great barranca, where the path was so exceedingly steep
and bad that we were glad to dismount and scramble down on foot. It
was a beautiful walk, winding down through thick woods, but, alas!
nearly all the trees by the roadside, within reach, had had their
trunks burnt or scorched by camp-fires or been otherwise maltreated,
and many of them had fallen and lay rotting where they fell. Here and
there a general clearing, or "roza," which spares nothing, was in
progress, preparatory to planting corn, and it seems as though within
a few years all the fine timber will have disappeared from the lake
region unless some better mode of cultivation is introduced. At present
the Indians merely scratch the surface of the ground with a hoe, or, on
the level plains, with a primitive wooden plough, and they abandon a
plantation after a few crops have been taken off of it. In the Altos,
where the population is large, the cultivators have to return to their
fallows after a short interval, but wherever there is woodland near
at hand they attack it recklessly, sacrificing all the timber trees
without scruple. This system of shifting their cornfields has received
the sanction of immemorial usage; and although I am told that the
Government has repeatedly attempted to prohibit the wasteful "rozas,"
the local authorities are too indifferent or too partial to enforce its
commands; and the conservative Indians fail to see that whilst in olden
times the forest was protected by the enormous amount of labour which
had to be expended in felling a tree with a stone axe, nowadays, with
cheap machetes and American axes, the growth of ages disappears in a
few hours.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: A HIGH ROAD.]
We were three hours riding and walking through this beautiful green
barranca, including a halt for breakfast, beside a charmingly clear
stream, from which we gathered the freshest and crispest of watercress.
Then the path made great sweeping turns up the steep side of the
valley, revealing to us as we rose new and lovely views with Agua
and Fuego in the distance; and early in the afternoon we arrived at
Godines, where we were met by Mr. Audley Gosling, the son of the
British Minister, who had ridden from Guatemala to spend a few days
with us at the lake.
The village consists of a small cabildo and half-a-dozen Indian huts,
and stands about two thousand feet above the lake of Atitlan; but
as the rising ground to the west cuts off the view of the lake, it
did not suit us as a camping-ground, so after consultation with the
alcalde, we rode on in search of a more favoured spot by the roadside,
where he assured us there was a good supply of water. On turning the
hill the sight of the lake burst suddenly upon us, and, stopping by
a wayside cross around which the Indians had strewed sweet-smelling
pine-needles and floral offerings, we drank in the marvellous beauty of
the view, which later on we saw in so many changing moods and learned
to love so well. A further climb up the steep path brought us to a
small level patch of ground, where there was room enough to pitch our
tent beside a spring of water slowly oozing up into a natural basin
about two feet across.
The land fell away in front of us in steep slopes and precipices to the
edge of the lake between two and three thousand feet below, and the
view over this beautiful sheet of water, about twenty-two miles long
and twelve miles broad, with its background of grand volcanoes, was
one of surpassing loveliness. The conical peak of San Pedro, wooded
to its summit, rose opposite to us on the far side of the lake, and
to the left stood the double cones of Atitlan, the lower peak rounded
and forest covered, and the higher rising above the vegetation in a
perfect cinder cone. Almost all round the lake the hills rise steeply,
but here and there by the water's edge the Indians have found room
for their villages, and have planted their "milpas" wherever corn
will grow, often on hillsides as steep as the roof of a house. We
rather reluctantly turned our backs on this lovely scene, and gave
our attention to pitching the tents and sweeping and clearing the
ground round the camp. The tiny pool was half full of dead leaves,
rubbish, and mud, and had to be thoroughly cleaned out, when it soon
filled again with an abundance of good clear water. Then the site for
the kitchen was chosen, tables were unfolded, the canteen opened,
and before long a kettle of soup was boiling merrily, and we enjoyed
a good supper sitting out in the clear moonlight. Mr. Gosling slept
in the small tent on the other side of the roadway, and the men made
themselves quite comfortable behind a wall of pack-saddles and boxes,
a covering of waterproof sheets, and a good supply of blankets: for at
nearly eight thousand feet above the sea the nights are cold and the
mornings frosty.
Next day we set to work to build a rough roof over the kitchen as
a shade from the midday sun, to put up tables and shelves made of
straight sticks bound together, and generally to make ourselves
comfortable for a week's stay; and never have I enjoyed a week more
thoroughly.
[Illustration: LAKE AND VOLCANO OF ATITLAN.]