More Pictures of Day of the Dead

A family decorating a grave.
A monument stating "in memory of the children who were not born; innocent victims of abortion."
An open grave in the wall.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of these two things. On the right is the morgue. It was a small room with a gap between the doors and a chain lock. Outside was this rolling table which is missing a wheel.

In Guatemala, bodies of the deceased are not embalmed, so a person is usually buried within 24 hours of death. Typically, when a person dies, they are layed out that evening in the family's home. Friends and family members come to grieve the loss and show respect -- at times hundreds of people cram into the person's home and the crowd flows out into the street. There is a service the next day and then the casket is carried by friends or family members to the cemetery. Usually, a band of musicians accompanies the funeral procession.

Day of the Dead

Yesterday was the Day of the Dead in Guatemala. It is a national holiday to remember those who have passed away. There are several Guatemalan traditions on this day. First, families go the cemetery to decorate the graves of their loved ones with a fresh coat of paint, flowers, little mementos, etc. Second, children make large and elaborate kites to fly in the cemetery. I think that this has something to do with representing the spirits of the deceased. Finally, families gather together to eat a meal of fiambre (pictured below). This meal is only served on November 1st. It is a dish that seems to be a mixture of everything -- all kinds of vegetables, sardines, cow tongue, several kinds of sausage, ham, fish, etc. Everything is soaked in vinegar and then served cold. I had a few bites... interesting, not too bad, but I certainly didn't ask for seconds!

Daniel and I were curious about the activities at the cemetery so we went to the main cemetery in Antigua around 10 am. We were amazed by how many people were there. It was a strange scene because outside the front gate, vendors had set up booths and were selling things like flowers, food, bubbles, kites, toys, and ice cream. There was loud funeral music playing in the streets but it seemed to be a happy atmosphere within the cemetery as families worked together to decorate the graves.

The more wealthy members of the community have very large, elaborate graves (mausoleums) where all of the family members are buried together. Poorer members of the community are buried in a wall. No one is buried in the ground. I was discussing this with my teacher today and he shivered at the thought of being placed in the ground. He thought that was so strange.


Flowers decorating the graves in the wall. The wall on the right is only for children.

One of the many elaborate mausoleums.

I Love Hot Water!

Most Guatemalans shower in cold water and do not have hot water in their homes. One of the "house mothers" at the children's home said that she does not feel clean unless she takes a shower in really cold water. Yikes! I tried to fit in by showering in cold water... once!... but I just can't handle that; it takes my breath away. Thankfully, our host family does have hot water. There is a neat little device in the shower that heats the water right there. This device does have a few downfalls -- the water temperature is unpredictable and often scalding hot and it is a little scary to look up and see all of the exposed electrical wires right above you as you are standing in water, but at least it works!

The sink does not have hot water. This is not a problem except for when I want to wash my face at night. Cold water just doesn't seem to work as well for removing makeup. So... I stand on the toilet and wash my face with the water from the shower (as shown below -- just in case anyone is curious). November officially begins the dry season in Guatemala. It is nice that it will no longer rain every day, but it also means occasional water shortages. These have already begun. The water is turned off with no warning and no one knows how long it will stay off. It has been happening in the afternoons. However, the other night Daniel was in the shower, covered in soap and the water stopped. It was out for the rest of the night. I couldn't help but laugh because of the irony of the situation. Of course, I wasn't the one covered in soap though! Daniel was much less thrilled.

Learning...

Studying Spanish has been a different experience for both of us. Especially for me, when I think of how different this is from when I had Spanish classes in high school and college- it´s very much another ballgame. When I studied then, I was good at doing enough to get the grade I wanted (most of the time), but the objective was always to get a grade in the class; it never had anything to do with actually learning to communicate in Spanish. It´s the same with other subjects- except those of any former professors who may happen to be reading this- I studied for acceptable grades rather than for competence.

That option just isn´t open to us here. Sure, we could survive a couple more months of language school and have a good time here and possibly even give our teachers the impression that we´re working hard. The difference is that here, we don´t get any grades in our classes and there aren´t any quizzes or tests to pass or fail. All that matters is- when we´re done- will we be able to communicate well with people here or not?

Then thinking about that made me wonder- I´ve lived my entire life in the church, and how have I approached learning there? What about when I come to the scriptures- do I want to take in enough to make sure that I feel good about myself, or do I have the same urgency to learn from the Scriptures as I have in learning Spanish?

In learning Spanish, sure I´ve progressed quite a bit, but I know that I would be a fool to stay at my current level of competence. What about from God´s word? Do I approach the scriptures as if I´m a fool not to learn to live as they describe?

Breakfast with Kendon & Wendy

This morning we had breakfast with Kendon & Wendy (the directors of the children's home), their son Ian, and Patsy (a missionary with New Life) at Santo Domingo. We made an earlier post about Santo Domingo when our school took an excursion there. It is a very beautiful hotel located in an old convent. They had large stone containers of water with rose petals floating on the top and candles everywhere. It was very pretty. They have a lot of parrots that live in the courtyard. They are beautiful but a little too noisy for me! We had a really good breakfast (complete with black beans and plantains) and a nice time of fellowship. We are very thankful to be a part of a wonderful team with New Life.

Hooray Cardinals!!!

I am so excited that my hometown Cardinals won the World Series last night!! Most people in Guatemala are interested in soccer only and know very little about baseball. Daniel tried to teach the youngest two boys in our host family about baseball. One of them became bored and left midway through the game. The youngest stayed until the end and stood up cheering with us when the Cardinals won. I think that will be a very special memory for me of our time here -- bridging the cultural gap with baseball, cheering together, and answering questions about the purpose of the St. Louis arch. That was kind of tough question to answer... especially in Spanish!

Church

We have been attending a church in Antigua called Cordero de Dios ("Lamb of God"). Since everything is Spanish, we don't catch a lot of what is going on. Some days are better than others. Today, we probably understood less than 5%. The congregation is very friendly and welcoming to us though. At one point, the pastor said something and the whole congregation turned around (we were sitting in the last row of pews), looked at us, smiled and waved. We didn't know what was going on. Luckily, a Guatemalan lady sitting near us spoke some English and informed us, "they welcome you." I tried to discreetly take a few pictures during the service. Unfortunately, in my haste not to be noticed, I moved the camera too quickly and the pictures are really blurry. At least it will give you an idea of what the church looks like.