My money experiment
So it happened that I lost my credit card on my first week in Xela. This brought up a chain of interesting events and a living experiement on myself because I didn`t have any money except a little cash. The situation was not so bad because after a day or two of worry I found a traveller`s cheque that I saved for emergencies, and the school in which I studied Spanish at for a week allowed me to keep living with a local family and get a bed and all my meals, and only pay afterwards. So I was OK. I didn`t want to continue my studying for reasons of general budget so I had two weeks to spend in Xela without access to my bank account and with much time on my hands and I decided, as an experiment, to NOT use my travellers cheque and try to live off making jewelry and selling my paintings. I had craft material and 6 paintings left to sell, so I went to meet the local artists. It was fun to sit with them in the street all day, make bracelets (and sell some), learn from them about the business and talk to bypassers. I am fascinated by their way of life - travelling and living by selling jewelry on the street - and leaving very cheaply, for that matter, meeting new friends all the time and living very calmly. Yes, I could not afford going to any restoraunts that week or treat myself to anything or buy stuff on a whim, but I learned, like Flor taught me in San Cristobal de las Casas, that if you have no money, you`re better off if you have a talent than if you don`t. I am still learning about making jewelry from every artesan I meet, but now I am sure that if I was left without money, I would know how to invest it in jewelry that I can sell. I see people doing it around me all the time, all over Cental America, and it pleases me to be learning and improving at this through my journey. I do not depend on it completely, now that I have a new credit card and access to the money I saved with hard work before - but if I had to, I could definitely make a modest living off of it.
I did go to try to sell my paintings, too. I went to an art school to look for clients and met a paintor who gave me a drawing class for free. He introduced me to the only Jewish family in Xela which immediately invited me for dinner and bought all the paintings I had left - I didn`t make much profit, because they were so nice and they wanted to help so much so I couldn`t ask for much. But they gave me enough cash to last me until my new card arrived and more. They were great, and even invited me for passover, but so far I haven`t heard from them, so we`ll see how that goes.
So now I am in Lake Atitlàn, with clear water and a great weather for swimming, which I did for several days. The lake is sarrounded by volcanos and coffee plantations and there are many tourists - much like Goa in India, if I remember correctly. Relaxed with a great mix of local Mayans in beautiful dress and foreigners, the relations of which with one another depens on the specific village. I talk to the locals when I can to learn about their life and how it changed with the tourism. There are many Canadians and northern Americans here which escaped USA and Canada to live cheaply and more calmly outside - many old hippies and interesting people, which is nice. I`ve been spending my time with artists from Honduras, Spain, Uruguay and Finland. After tomorrow I hope to go with my Finnish friend, Karoline, to Antigua and from there to the Carribean (still in Guate).
I did go to try to sell my paintings, too. I went to an art school to look for clients and met a paintor who gave me a drawing class for free. He introduced me to the only Jewish family in Xela which immediately invited me for dinner and bought all the paintings I had left - I didn`t make much profit, because they were so nice and they wanted to help so much so I couldn`t ask for much. But they gave me enough cash to last me until my new card arrived and more. They were great, and even invited me for passover, but so far I haven`t heard from them, so we`ll see how that goes.
So now I am in Lake Atitlàn, with clear water and a great weather for swimming, which I did for several days. The lake is sarrounded by volcanos and coffee plantations and there are many tourists - much like Goa in India, if I remember correctly. Relaxed with a great mix of local Mayans in beautiful dress and foreigners, the relations of which with one another depens on the specific village. I talk to the locals when I can to learn about their life and how it changed with the tourism. There are many Canadians and northern Americans here which escaped USA and Canada to live cheaply and more calmly outside - many old hippies and interesting people, which is nice. I`ve been spending my time with artists from Honduras, Spain, Uruguay and Finland. After tomorrow I hope to go with my Finnish friend, Karoline, to Antigua and from there to the Carribean (still in Guate).