activities

The past few days have been uneventful. I’ve just been going to class and enduring the moments. Gabi, my new teacher in the afternoon, is a lot of fun. She laughs a lot and therefore I laugh a lot. It’s been really good. And this week has been really easy with the lessons in the afternoon. I’ve been tired and have sensed the loss of extra freedom, but it’s doable and ok.

Wednesday afternoon we watched a movie for the activity. It’s called, “Cicatrices” (in English that’s Scars). It’s a Mexican made movie about violence in marriage. The entire movie except the last 5 minutes, seriously, is very sad and angry and bad. The guy verbally abuses his wife, horribly, and when he’s not talking down to her he’s beating her. she finally leaves him. Their son falls off a roof and dies. The woman goes crazy and hates everything. The guy finally finds Jesus. The woman finally gets sober and finds a job. And in the last 5 minutes of the movie they get back together, have a happy marriage, and are pregnant with another child. The end. Needless to say, I left not feeling much better than when I went in. oh well. It was something to do outside of the “classroom”.

Yesterday was an important day here. It was Satan’s birthday. And, once again, there were parties to “celebrate,” here in Antigua and in a town nearby. During class, instead of going with the other students to visit the party in the other town, my teacher and I walked to the area where the fiesta was here in Antigua (4 blocks). There was a very large piñata of Satan. Inside the piñata were firecrackers. Along the street were people selling food. And inside the ruins of something along that same street was a pathway lined with grass and candles leading to 3 statues – 2 angels and Mary. It was pretty, but closed off only to viewing. (i didn't have my camera, so i don't have any pics.)

At 6 p.m. they lit the piñata and blew Satan up. I would have liked to have seen that, but I was very tired of people, and firecrackers and just wanted to go home and rest. And so I did. Apparently a lot of people gather, though, to see Satan get blown up. For their protection, firemen were standing by.

Today the activity was to go to San Andres Itzapa, a town about 30 minutes away by chicken bus, to see the “church” where people worship San Simon. Susanne told me that Hugo told her that the guy sold his soul to the devil for special healing powers. He then healed a bunch of people and they worshipped him. He went to prison, but I don’t know why, and died there. Now people go to this area to pray to him asking for help.

Only two students signed up (me being one of them), but they didn’t cancel it this time. So my teacher and I went with another student and two other teachers to this place. Along the way we missed our stop and ended up going farther than expected. But it was ok. We just got to see a town that none of us had seen before (seriously, the teachers hadn’t even been there – in fact, we don’t even know the name of it). once we arrived in San Andres Itzapa, we walked past the very large Catholic church about 2 or 3 blocks to this very out of the way, very dirty party of town and entered the area where the shrine is.

On the street leading up to the building are people selling food, many Guatemalan things in many other places, and candles. You go through the doorway and there is a large empty area where men are scraping ashes from the earlier rituals of burning incense and things. The building itself is very well painted on the outside, almost like it had just been painted yesterday.

I prayed before going in, asking to feel whatever God wanted me to feel, to have an open mind and heart, and to remain protected from evilness. I walked inside and was surprised to see how small it was and that there weren’t any seats. I guess I assumed it would be a regular church but with the alter of San Simon. But instead there were 8 tables, 4 on each side of the middle aisle, set up for candles to burn. At the front of the “church” were some stairs going up from the left and down to the right. In the middle at the top of the stairs was a large idol of San Simon in a case. Inside the case with him was grass, candles (not burning), bottles of liquor, and cigarettes.

There were two women up there praying and several men waiting at the bottom of the stairs to the left for their turn. When the woman finished, they walked down the stairs on the right backwards. Not sure why, but probably for some respect thing. There were several people standing at the different tables burning candles, praying, and talking out loud to San Simon. One lady was drinking beer and one guy was smoking a cigar. Another woman was praying while her candle(s) were burning and when she finished she turned to leave and I could see she was crying.

The walls were lined with the gratitude plaques like I’ve seen in the San Francisco and San Felipe churches. There was also an offering box in the middle aisle at the front.

It was really warm inside the church, but that’s normal for churches here. I didn’t feel too much, just a lot of heartache and sadness for the people who believe in this guy. I remember Susanne telling me she felt oppressed as soon as she walked in. I don’t know if I felt that. I kind of felt a heaviness, but nothing really strong and sickening. I simply felt heartache. While standing there I prayed for the people who believe in San Simone. I pray that someday they will know the truth. It’s really very sad.

We left after about 20 minutes and walked back to the starting place where the Catholic church is. This is the biggest church I’ve seen since being here. It’s the biggest and the most simple. When we walked in the first thing I noticed was the size. The second thing I noticed was there is no gold in the church. There are the normal statue things at the front of the church, but it’s not grand and overdramatic like in other churches, and it’s not surrounded by gold. I didn’t get close enough to know for sure, but it looked silver. On the righthand side near the back was a section for the Jesus on the cross statues and Him lying down in the coffin. When I saw that I started crying. They are in every church, different ones, but the oppression and sadness I’ve been feeling and was feeling in this town had me feeling extra sensitive this time.

After a few moments I went and sat down and prayed. about 5 minutes or so passed and my teacher came and sat down beside me, put her arm around me, and asked if I was ok. We talked for a minute and then she asked me if I was ready to go. I wasn’t, but the group was so I had to comply. “Si, lista.”

Gabi is a very sweet girl. I found out she’s 24, lives with her parents, has a boyfriend, and likes the sweets. She’s very protective and will make a wonderful mother one day. When crossing the street she puts her hand on my arm and “leads” me across. It’s cute because not only am I older than her, but I’m also much taller than her (of course)! So it makes me laugh because it should be the other way around. :-)

After dinner tonight the family invited me to join them in the ritual of the Christmas tree. This morning Anna decorated it, so tonight they did the Catholic ritual of dedicating it. Anna read from a tiny booklet the history of the tree, in Spanish of course. Then Adolfo read some kind of prayer where in two places Anna and the daughters recited something in unison. At the end they all said Amen.

Then Annie and the grandson, Mario, plugged the tree in. Very pretty. Then Adolfo played The Little Drummer Boy on the harmonica, but no one sang. When he was done the girls started singing some song I’ve never heard of, so I assume it’s a Guatemalan song, and Adolfo accompanied. At the end Mario chimed in. it was a cute little song. Then they talked about normal stuff for a while. And then Anna asked me if we have a special day for the tree. And a bit later the daughters and grandson dispersed and Adolfo showed me random pictures of the family.

It was all very entertaining and interesting.

Apparently there was another small tremor today, but I didn’t feel it. it must have been really small. i'm glad i missed it.

here is a picture of little Mario. he's a very cute boy with a TON of energy. :-)