Acul: Horseback riding, hiking, and weaving

Today was our day off so we got to plan whatever we wanted to do! We went to the tourism office that and planned to hike to the pueblo of Acul where we would horseback ride and take a weaving lesson.  It was an incredibly planned day and I was so happy we went!

The hike was about an hour up a large mountain and then an hour down. We hired a guide to take us through the mountain. It was definitely a struggle for a lot of the group but we made it! I loved starting the day with good exercise.

Finally reached the top of the hike!

A beautiful church in the center of Acul

The beautiful ranch where the horses were!

When we arrived in Acul it was absolutely beautiful. We were surprised by the random people who could speak English and even more surprised at how beautiful the place was where we were going horseback riding. There were only four horse for 9 people so we split into two groups and I volunteered to share a horse with Whitney. A thirteen year old boy was our guide and led us along a path for an hour an a half. This was the first time I had ever really rode a horse and it was so relaxing and enjoyable. It was a perfect day out and we all got some sun while on the horses. Muoser really was at one with his horse and would constantly gallop ahead of the group. The horse Whitney and I were on was controlled the whole time by the 13 year old Benjamin so we definitely felt the safest.

Whitney and I on our Horse "Pinto" with our guide Benjamin

The first group of us with our horse

Muoser and Ryan loved to gallop alone with their horses

Just us and our horse

After riding horses we had lunch made for us by the ranch. We had salad, pasta, quesadillas, and some weird sausage looking meat that nobody ate. It was quite a feast! An SEC guide led us to his mother's home who was going to show us how to weave. She was making the traje(clothing) that all the indigenous woman wear everyday. It is a really elaborately woven shirt that she said takes a month of work to make. We each got to do a few stitches of the shirt and it was a lot harder than I expected. The traje was extraordinarily beautiful and watching her weave made me really appreciate the hard work that goes into all of their clothing. A normal shirt costs 2,000 Quetzals about equivalent to 400 dollars!  And each indigeinous woman only wears these woven shirts with a woven belt and skirt every day.

All of us at the weaving house

The indigenous lady who taught us how to weave

Learning how to weave!

The beautiful start to what she was weaving- there is a horse where her finger is pointed

By the time we left it was pouring rain and we took a bus back to El Descanso where we had dinner and played cards. Overall it was a very eventful and successful day off! Tomorrow we have stove day in the middle of Nebaj to try to publicize the stoves we are selling. Until tomorrow!