a visit to sakrahal

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we visited sakrahal this week. here is the first church to be built in central america via the spanish. also we saw the process of the textiles that are made for the traditional mayan dress. (the dye, the coloring, the drying and weaving) i thought you crafty ladies would appreciate the handy work, all by hand... and a lot of work. they also took us to this place with this specialty alcohol which was gross)
later in the day we had a lecture in spanish regarding the differences in the criminal justice systems in guatemala. in the constitution it states that the mayan people can maintain and protect their cultural traditions. so they can have a different justice system within their small pueblo towns. it is very different with communal decisions, reparations, and sometimes corporal punishment, but also the worse punishment is banishment from the town. the modern system that counters it is much like ours, but probably more corrupt and slower. my studies end today and we have a celebration dinner.tomorrow i leave on a 7am shuttle to antigua, a city named for its ancient-ness, or antiquity? it used to be the capitol, until it was wiped out by am earthquake.