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by Yasmin & Fran Antmann
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IR
emem
berth
eSm
ellof
Guatem
ala
I Remember theSmell of Guatemala
ByY
asmin
&Fran
Antm
ann By Yasmin & Fran Antmann
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I Remember theSmell of Guatemala
BByy YYaassmmiinn && FFrraann AAnnttmmaannnn
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We started packing on Saturdayto go to Guatemala.
I was going with my Mom. Her friend,Janie was going to meet us there. My Mom was going to Guatemala to take pictures. But that wasn’t the only reason we were going.
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Before I tell you about my adventures in Guatemala, let me tell you more
about myself.
My name is Yasmin Edith and I’m sevenyears old. I live in Park Slope, Brooklynwith my Mom and Dad, Skipperdee andthree goldfish whom I haven’t named yet.
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My best friends are Musa Matiwane (which means grace in Zulu),
and Christina Feng. Christina and I met at Union Temple Preschool when we were just three years old. Our teacher said that we were as thick as thieves. Now we even dream the same dreams.
I love jumping in the air, dancing,climbing trees like koala bears, drawing and making sculptures and collages.
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This is Christina
This is Musa
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Mommy
Daddy
My Daddy is a lawyer who wishes he were a sailor. My Mommy is a photographer and
writer. She likes to travel because she is curious and wants to know how different people live. Once she lived with the Inuit people near the North Pole. I hope she goes to the South Pole so I can go with her and meet the Emperor penguins.
I borrowed Mommy’scamera to take thesepictures.
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Animals are thebest. I wish mymother was azookeeper sothat we couldvisit the animalswhenever wewanted, even at night. Koalas
are my very favorite animals and I have a bigcollection of them. When I grow up, I’m going to Australia to live with the koalas and protectthe eucalyptus trees for them.
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Now here is the real reason we weregoing to Guatemala.
And that’s the beginning of my story.
My Mommybrought me fromGuatemala when I was four monthsold. And for thefirst time ever, I was going back to where I wasborn.
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Yasmin and Musa
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So come with me to the placewhere I come from....
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Ha! Ha! I tricked you, he’s a turtle. There, I got you.
When I thought I could bring Skiperdee –remember him? He lives with me and
my Mom and Dad and my 3 goldfish back in Brooklyn.
Well, I thought I needed a ticket for him and of course, Skiperdee needed a suitcase. So I got him a suitcase that was all greenwith little spots on it.
Turtle in an egg.
Turtles are like art
And like floating air in the waterAnd the designs on the shellAre like a leaf on the groundBut a turtle is in the water
Waiting for you!!!
When you feed himYou see his shell
And a shell is not on youBut behind you
A shell as big as you!
But you knowYou will sign your name
Like it is on the shell.
Turtles are like a piece of scotchtape
Taping the legs and head to the shell
But the shell has to be green.
Has a shell ever had a piece of paper?
A turtle shell is like a swirling starWhen you see his shell.
But when you set him freeBut not so many people let
turtles free.
The turtles are like a quilt.But a turtle is not on you.
But a turtle scared you!No, a little turtle wouldn’t
scare you.
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Our plane landed around 10 o’clockin the evening.
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Can you smell Guatelama in my drawing?
As soon as I got off the airplane, Iremembered the smell of Guatemala.
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We stayed in Guatemala City the first night and then took a car all the
way to Lake Atitlan. Janie, my Mom’s friend and Lidia, a Mayan woman, were waiting there for us. We all took the lanchaacross the lake to San Pedro which is oneof the 12 villages that surround the lake.They are all named after the 12 apostles.
This painting reminds me of Lake Atitlan.
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As soon as we got to San Pedro, I met our neighbor, Juan Manuel. He looked at me and the first thing he said was “Do you know that in the Maya calendar, it says that this is the year that all Maya will return?
So welcome Yasmin!”
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Isaw children walking by themselves. was amazed because I don’t walk alone in the streets.
Do you?
-----------------------------------------------
Write your answer up there where you see the dotted line.
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NNooww lleett’’ss mmeeeett mmyy ffrriieennddss
ffrroomm GGuuaatteemmaallaa..
Now let’s meet my friends
from Guatemala.
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My friends and I all played together, every single day. And I spoke Spanish
with them. We played hide and seek all the time. There were so many secret places to hide,behind the house, the wood piles, the trees. It was my favorite game.
Do you know what it’s called in Spanish?
---------------------------------
Write your answer on the dotted line.
I do! Escondite!
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Here are my friends Ezekias, Chusita, Clarita,Miguel, and Luki.
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Can you believe it? All the kids in San Pedroliked to play basketball,even the girls. Ezekias was great at basketball.Now I play basketball too.
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Most of the timeChusita wears a cortebut now she’s wearingmy bluejean shorts.
I wore a corte all thetime because all thegirls did. I even wore a corte when I climbedtrees. But when it wasvery hot, I took it off and I had shorts underneath.
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Luki took me allover San Pedro.
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Yasmin and Luki
I saw a girl at the table.I saw a dish at the table.I saw a leaf at the table.I saw a petal at the table.I saw the world at the table.And I saw you, you and YOU!
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We lived in a smallhouse in San Pedro. I wished it were bigger because therewas no living room.And I was sad. Wedidn’t have a TV but I had a Game Boy.Everyone wanted to play it, even when we climbed trees. Especially Ezekias.
Lencho, Ezekias’ older brother, was lying when he said that he had slippery hands. He just didn’t know how to play my Game Boy.
I was winning at Game Boy and Lencho said that he could win. But he couldn’t.
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Iclimbed the same tree all the time.
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Yasmin
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These are the fruits I ate in Guatemala.
And I ate jocote. It grew all over San Pedro, but especially in Clarita’s backyard.
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Crayons, crayons everywhereDo you see them in my hair?Upside down, in the treeLook at meThey’re on my knee
They’re even on your shoulder too.And the horses have them, tooOn their tails, oh yes, they do.
Because the whole world is one big crayon, tooo!
A big crayon.
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The Big Earth is Dying
The big Earth is cryingCrying as much as can beBecause it laid an eggYes, it laid an egg.Then as it diesThe new one risesTransferring the people Over to the new Earth.For the people who were living
in the 1860’s till now
The graveyards are switchingThe houses are switchingEverything’s switching to the New WorldNow the New World is here
The trees are growingSeeds are sproutingFlowers are bloomingPerhaps koalas are now in AmericaAnd tigers in AustraliaAnd monkeys in ParisAnd the marsupials came to America
And all the dinosaurs are back in their cavesThe dinosaurs are allowed here just like you and meWe were both allowed to go back.
God made us stayGod’s not as mean as thatGod had to make up his mindGo back to the Old World and dieLike God who goes into the new sky.
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Yasmin
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Yasmin and Ezekias
Ezekias and me were having a horserace. I cheated because I said I won.
But I really didn’t win. Then the man with the horses said. “Everyone, start running.”“Hoorah!” I said to myself. We rode past the house where we lived.We rode all the way down to the beach.
Did you ever go up a hill when you’re racing with someone else? Did you ever go down a hill racing against someoneelse? If you did, were you scared?
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When Miguel was saying whoa!, thehorse started running. Faster and
faster until the man said to Miguel, “Waitfor me.” But the horse kept running. He said it again, “Wait for me!” And the horse stopped at that moment. Luki got scared and started crying.
Whaa! Whaa! Luki could not stop crying.So the man said “STOP, everyone!”
When my horse got scared, he just startedto pee. Luki got wet from the horse’spee. Then all the horses looked at myhorse and started to pee, too.
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When the full moon came, I knew they reallydidn’t believe me...
Once I said to my friends, “When a blue mooncomes, a cat will be in your face.” But no one believed me.Then I shouted it again. “When a blue moon comes, a cat will be in your face.”I shouted it three times. And still no one believed me. Then I shouted so loud that they had to run away.They said, “Oh, yes, yes! Now we believe you.”
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When I went to Guatemala City, I was my silly old self and hid in the night table.
Remember, my favorite game is escondite. Do you think Ezekias could find me?
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You see that picture up there. That’s Lidiateaching me how to do beadwork. Shehelped me make my first bracelet whichis at the bottom of this page. Lidia makessashes, beadwork and sewing, knittingand things like that. That’s how she earnsa living. But many of you out there makea living being a teacher, a lawyer, anartist, a scientist, anything but not withbeadworking. I’m sure of that.
A sash is called a faja. Lidia made me a beautiful faja all made out of beads. It took more than a month to make. It’s used to hold upthe long skirts called cortesthat all the women and girlsin San Pedro wear.Otherwise your corte wouldfall down and everyonewould see your underwear.Would you like that to happen?
Yasmin’s first bracelet.
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I went with Lidia to the lake to watch the fishermen catch fish. San Pedro is right
on the lake, surrounded by volcanoes. Their boats are called cayucos and they were old and made of wood. The paint was coming off. The boats didn’t have any keels.
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The women went down to the lake towash their clothes. They even washed
their hair.
I’m sure you’d rather wash clothes in the lake than in a washing machine. And wouldn’t you like to bathe in the lake instead of the shower? Then you could look up at the sky.
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My Daddy came to visit us in San Pedro.Then we all went to Tikal to see the Mayanruins. Those are my ancestors.
Daddy and me on topof the Temple.
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Now I build Mayan temples at home.
In Guatemala, the colors are like little dropsof rain falling from the sky. I see all thosecolors shining off the lake. The people makeweavings and designs that are amazing.Sometimes, I think, everyone here is an artist.
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Diego Isaias Hernandez Mendez
LukiLuki EzekiasEzekias
MiguelMiguel Clarita
We all liked to draw together, either inmy house when it rained or otherwise,
outside. We used the crayons and markersI brought in my purple pencil case. Once,we all worked on the same drawing and justpassed it around and around. Everyoneadded something to the picture.
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Paintings by: Pedro Raphael Gonzalez Chavajay
Most of the time, we went to an artist’shouse to eat lunch and dinner. While
we ate, I always looked at the paintings onthe wall. They were all made by Mayan artists.
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Once I watched Pedro Raphaelpaint. I saw him dip the brush
in oil paint just as softly as youwould touch a baby. But once hepressed very hard. He said it tookhim a month to do just one painting.
I want to be an artist, too.
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“Somos de mais. We are made of corn.”That’s what the Maya say.
Every grain of corn is sacred. If a little kidsteps on just one kernel, they’re punished.
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Tortillas are made of corn. The womengrind the corn and then make tortillas.So they taught me to make tortillas, too.Just like Luki, Clarita and Chusita.
If Ezekias comes to Brooklyn, he’ll say“Where are the tortillas?’
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You see that flame on the stoveJust as you left it hundredsof years ago
You sit thereOh, yes you doIn the stove, just waiting for youIs your heart, your shadow,The music that you play for you, your
family,Oh yes, you doNot a word comes out of itWe will be waiting in the pianoIn the something, whatever you play,You will see me.
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On the way back Mommy tripped on the rocksand could almost not walk. Diego came backthat night to fix her leg because he’s a curandero.
Diego took Mommy through the mountains tosee the men at work on their milpas where theygrow corn and coffee. Only the men work there.Mommy had to get up at five in the morningbecause that’s when the men start working.
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Diego wrapped Mommy’s bad leg inrags soaked in a special vinegar thatLidia heated up. He pressed very hardand I heard Mommy yell. But the nextday she walked fine and had no pain.That’s why Diego’s a curandero.
That means a healer. You have to be bornwith that special gift. Diego’s father was acurandero, too. He taught Diego everythinghe knows.
Antonio Coche Mendoza
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Iwas born with special gifts, too. That’s whatthe Maya calendar reader told me. Since my
symbol is the sun, I attract people to me. That’swhy I have many friends. If you look up in thesky, you might see two big clouds trying to hidethe sun. But the sun pushes through the clouds.That’s just like me. And that’s also why my bugbites are very hot.
Also, I can see things before they happen.Sometimes in dreams. I told Mommy a longtime ago that I have a television in my mindand I can turn it on and see all kinds of things.
Everybody has gifts they were born with.
What are yours?
What color do you think these Mayan hyroglyphsshould be? You can color them in yourself.
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The second night back home fromGuatemala, I dreamt that my friends,
Ezekias, Luki, Clarita and Chusita cameto Brooklyn to play with me and they allcould speak English.
I was so happy that I had that dream.
In Brooklyn, once, I saw a girl in the parkwho looked just like me. But in San Pedro
everyone looked like me. They even calledme a Pedrana because I wore a corte all thetime. The people in San Pedro speakZu’tuhil. But they also speak Spanish.So do I. Sometimes when I would speakto my Mommy or Janie in English,everyone would stop to listen. “Hey,”they would say. “This little Pedranaspeaks English. Come and listen.You won’t believe it.”
Where I live, everyone looks differentand they even speak different languages.I like that. I have Chinese friends andAfrican-American friends. Daddy wasborn in Romania and Grandpa comesfrom Germany. That’s why I call him Opi.It’s like candy madeup of all different kindsof things.
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Iwas sad to leave my friends inGuatemala. But Mommy promised
that we could come back next summer.
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Bye Bye! Adios ! Jat k’a!
Yasmin and Lidia.
