San Andrés Itzapa

Women smoking cigars two at a time, children walking around through clouds of smoke carrying liters of beer, bandana clad men spitting alcohol on others and hitting them with bushes… did I somehow find the Guatemalan equivalent of the Little Falls Dam Festival?  Apparently so! 

Ritual burning area outside of temple

I spent my Sunday searching for the town of San Andres Itzapa which is known for its unique celebrations in honor of a local patron saint, San Simón or Maximón as he is also known, and boy did I find it.  I took a couple of chicken buses to traverse the 20 or so kilometers up to the town, and arrived at the strange scene well before noon.  The grounds were not necessarily a church, but rather a building hosting the shrine to Maximón facing an open lot which was used as space to perform the ritual burnings.  There were well over one hundred people at the grounds (of which I am fairly certain I was the only gringo) and around a two hour line to get directly in front of the statue.  I decided after a half hour wait that my time would be better spent not waiting to present offerings at the shrine; especially since I had no idea who San Simón actually was.  So I spent my time talking to people about the rituals and trying to make sense of why men were throwing everything from alcohol to Cheetos over their fires. 

An incredible selection of candles, liquor, and mini Maximon dolls at a little shop outside.

My efforts to were largely a failure as no one I talked to could explain to me the significance of San Simón or the fires outside of the practice being a ritual.  From here I decided actually taking part was the only way I could figure out what was going on around me.  I went back to the entrance of the compound, bought some bundles of flowers, and proceeded to ask some of the women that were practicing a ritual burning there if they could perform one of the ritual cleansings on me, which they gladly accepted. 

Women who performed the cleansing ritual on me

The ritual started with a woman lighting a cigar, telling me to close my eyes, and blowing the smoke all over my body.  Now this was a bit different from what I had in mind for a cleansing ritual.  Next, she sat beside me and proceeded to read my future as shown by the way the cigar was burning.  She would probably be quite disappointed in me if I shared what she told me on the internet, so I’ll have to leave that as a cliffhanger.  Sorry.  Moving on, the last step of the ritual was to wipe (beat) my body down with flowers after dipping them in some sort of liquid.  This wasn’t the alcohol spitting method that I saw applied to nearly everyone else, but I think I’m okay with missing out on that detail. 

Maximón shrine, with neon lights and all.  Also, hazy from the smoke.

All in all, I can safely say that this little Sunday excursion ended up being one of the most bizarre experiences of my life, and can leave satisfied having at least accomplished this, even if I did miss out on the aguardiente liquor shower.    

Highly reliable information on Maximón if anyone is interested: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim%C3%B3n

Day to day life so far

I realize a few people might be wondering exactly what I am doing down in Guatemala this year, so I'll go ahead and explain myself.  I am down here as a Vision Team Coordinator with the organization, Common Hope, or Fundacion Familias de Esperanza as it is called here.  This basically means that I organize and manage the trips for groups that want to come down to see what the organization is all about.  As part of these trips we organize social work visits, time to help in construction, sponsorship visits for those who already are sponsoring a student, perhaps a cultural tour (a visit to the kite ceremony in Sumpango on All Saints Day for the coming group), and whatever other activities the visitors might be interested in. 

I am officially a long-term volunteer which entitles me to a living stipend.  This covers my room and board at a house in a town near the project site, Santa Ana.  From my house, it is about a 15 minute walk to work, a 10 to 15 minute walk into Antigua to the market or supermarket, and probably a full day's hike to summit any of the nearby volcanoes which are all above 12,000 ft.   

The view of Acatenango volcano from my house. 

and the view from my house in the other direction.

This being said, I would suggest against hiking Volcan de Fuego as it is still active.  I actually saw it erupting last night on my way home which is pretty rare; not just the plumes of ash or smoke which happen daily, but actually a eruption of lava.  Sorry though, no picture of the eruption!  

Also, the above photos were taken on a semi-clear day, which honestly has been quite rare so far.  The rainy season was supposed to end a few weeks ago, but heavy rains persisted due to the presence of a few hurricanes and tropical storms up near Mexico.  The first road I take into work is called Calle del Agua (Water Street), which, either ironically or accurately, has been host to a decent sized river a majority of the days since my arrival.  A Guatemalan news station said that somewhere around 60% of the roads in Guatemala had been damaged or destroyed  from landslides that occurred as a result of the rains.  This being said, thankfully the sun has been shining again here the past few days and things are drying out.  Hopefully more drier days to come!      

First Post!

Hello family, friends, and whoever else may be interested in hearing what I will be doing for the next year or so!  I'm sorry for my delay in creating this blog, but I've finally committed a Saturday afternoon to making it a reality.  Anyway, it's about time I let you all know what I've been up to for the past month!

I think I really need to start at the very beginning as my flight down to Guatemala from Minneapolis was by far the most bizarre experience I have ever had in an airport.  I was all set to get on the 5:30 a.m. flight heading for my layover in Atlanta, but the employees at the gate decided that I couldn't get on the plane as I only had a one-way ticket and no Guatemalan visa (which I was told before I could get it upon arrival).  So, sure enough, my ride to Guatemala left without me.  Perhaps not the greatest start to the year...  

As it was still far too early for any sensible person to be awake, I decided to go to the special services desk and make my plea as to why they should help me out and cover the cost of the next day's flight.  Thankfully, the woman working the early morning shift at the desk had a kind heart and decided to comp the next ticket.  However, this still meant that I had 23 hours to burn before attempting to board again.  I waited a few hours for the sun to rise, and then made the surprise phone call to my great aunt, Dr. Sheila, in the Twin Cities to tell her that I hadn't actually gone to Guatemala.  For the record, she was incredibly hospitable and made it the most comfortable day-long layover I have ever had.  

Moving on, I showed up to the airport the following morning and, aside from an awkward interaction with the same Delta employees that rejected me the previous day, everything went fine.  I was out of the Guatemala City airport with bags in hand and a stamp in my passport within 20 minutes of touching down.  On to Antigua!