TRAVEL IN TIME

by Abraham Valle (Mexico)

A leap into the unknown Guatemala

Going from the ancestral Mayan traditions in a small town in Guatemala to the cutting edge modernity of Tokyo in Japan. As a child I’ve always had the dream of traveling in time, just to be able to see and experience how antique civilizations used lived; to see them from a contemporary perspective and be seen from their very own. In a trip between Guatemala and Japan, I found myself in this very particular situation, yes, I found out you cannot actually travel just in space but also in time, and not only put yourself back in the past but also taste a bit of the future, all of it in this world and at the same period of time. In Guatemala I was volunteering with a Mayan cooperative of weavers women in the lovely and bustle town of Chichicastenango, helping them to develop the promotional materials of their beautiful products made with colorful textiles. Chichicastenango is a place that takes you back on time as soon as you step a foot out of the ‘not fancy ‘ but yes ‘extremely fun’ chicken bus from Guatemala City, literally a packed bus race thorough the Guatemalan cliffs that feels like roller coaster! Chichicastenango is well known for having the largest indigenous market in Central America, that has been a trading point for thousands of years for Mayan people. Outside of the main church you can actually experience the religious syncretism and see how the Mayan people do their rituals just at the stairs of this Catholic Church. It’s cemetery it’s a one of a kind! Located in the mountains with the most colorful and lively graves, prove us how brave and playful the Mayans used to face the death. Guatemalan people are so far the warmest people I’ve ever met. They are so humble and kind; it’s even common they say “thanks” to people sitting around them in a restaurant or in the market after a meal. The first time I experienced that, I was like: Thanks? Why? For them, sharing a meal no matter if is with a total stranger not sitting at the same table; that’s something to be grateful for. So, being in contact with this throbbing culture you assume as death just because is what you see while you visit some of the Mayan ruins or you see a documentary of their ancestors leaves you speechless. Japan was my port of entrance to a South East Asia trip after traveling thorough Mexico and Central America. Arriving straight to Tokyo after leaving Chichicastenango it was shocking. I found myself in a completely different world surrounded by high-speed trains and endless vendor machines of any sort of mind-blowing products. First, I was bowled over by the toilets at Narita’s airport; toilets that wash you over, where you can control the temperature of the water and the seat, and even play some nice music! My first contact with the city was the subway -at a rush hour- I was astonished of seen probably thousands of people walking fast and dressing all formal in dark suits and white shirts -everyone in order, obviously-. Everything is so organized that just by going out on the streets with no knowledge of the culture you feel like are violating hundreds of rules that make that city work perfectly. Trains are on time, people make lines, they wait for their turn and things don’t get lost or stolen. It so clean, it’s even difficult to find trash on the streets! Same as Guatemalans; Japanese people are extremely nice; they will always offer you a big smile at every restaurant or store you walk in. But they are also very solitary and shy and some of them avoid human contact at it’s most; the best example of it is being attended by machines instead of people. It’s well known to be difficult to make friends in Japan for foreigners or sometimes just to hold a have a conversation even you are supposed to ’be attractive’ for being different. I found Japan as one of the most civilized cultures; everyone is highly educated and everywhere is so clean. A very individualistic society driven by the newest technologies.