5501\03-2

uach Pueblo produces a different impression.
At Buchuetenengo, the holidays are marked with order-
ly celebration with people enjoying themselves in
& leisurely fashion . vertain groups serve hot drinks
and special pastry and candies. The City Center is
much like a park on 4 weekday.

at BPotonicapan, which 1 passed thru on a
week day, the streets were packed with mobs of people
-each individual standing or walking about sans em-
-motional expression. These people were from the
mountains and were too primitive to know just what
to do on such an cocasion. again, in some villages
drunkeness is the rule .

On X'mas day, I was camped 2 miles south of
San Juan Ixcay at an alt. of 9,400 ft.. The Village
was several thousand feet below and beyond any casual
visit. However, one family anvneared in camp to pres-
ent me with 2 oranges, 5 small tomatoes, one avocado
and a fruit of some unknown kind, plus 5 pieces of
carmel candy-paper wrapped. ‘This was their Z'mas

present for me. Everything was eaten except the

“tomatoes. The carmel or butterscotch candy was on
the order of some of ay less acceptable maxes of

candy~but good at that.

On X'mas 1 tested my capacity to put up
skins and ended the holiday with 60 skins which is
my record for one day. d&ith each skin, I thot of
my family (barbarious-isn't it ? ) The nearest I came
to the traditional American xA'mas was at the home
of Say Elliott's in Nebaj where was a pine tree
decorated 2 la U.S. style. The Ibarras had a tree
without leaves,: which had been brightened with con-
ventional drapery plus soap fluff, which, to their
sorrow was redristributed about the room by their
3 year old boy. Needless to say, he got much of it
in his eyes.

For me, I think 1 had the most gorgeous X'mas
tree in Guatamala-a canopy of clous-forest trees
with bright flower stars hanging from their branches
-a silence sc profound you gould almost hear the
Bee family some thousand or’miles away. To add to
the environment were temperatures I know you will
question-even to my surprise, were lower than Alaska's
artic. At Chemal at 11,030 ft where i had one of my
camps, the temp. fell to 12° F. or 20° below freez—-
ing. We snow only because it is the dry season-no r
rain that night, The water froze in the cans, the
evaporated milk made good ice-cream and the mice
Which had been collected froze like icesicies.
Fortunately the car had anti-freeze and unfortunately
I did not. Even with my two sleeping bags, a wool
blanket, a canvas tarp., and all my cloths, I was
still cold. Fortunately Varlos had departed for Guat.
City for A'mas or we would have both frozen. For
one week at these high altitudes the nightly temp-