Guatemala 2007 Updates

Guatemala Term 2007 is in full swing.

Photos

Photos can be seen here.

Updates

Missed a week? Need to catch up? Read the past weekly updates.

Week 9 by Madeleine Smith

This week we started up Spanish classes again. After a few changes in courses, I think everyone seems pretty satisfied with their class and their teacher. We reached our halfway point this week, and everyone seems to be hit with spring fever. We are very excited for the upcoming break during holy week in which many of us will be traveling or receiving visitors. Please keep in your prayers the health or our group as many of us are feeling under the weather. We continue to learn a lot and are looking forward to what God has in store for us during the second half of our trip.

By Becky Juarez

This week was our first week back at language school, after our two week break for ministry sites. A number of students were nervous because the new session meant that we would all be changing teachers, changing classes, and changing our routines. The time we spent at ministry sites is very different, and we had to get back in the swing of 4 hours of language school and homework. The only encouragement we had besides this was that we had already done it once before, so we at least knew it was possible. Also, following this first week of language school started our spring break, so we also had that to look forward to. So we did. We struggled through the first week, and that weekend, a number of students from our group went on vacation (mostly to the Pacific Coast or Rio Dulce) but there were a few of us (like myself) who stayed home.

Week 10 by Becky Juarez

Semana Santa = Holy Week = Spring Break

Our Spring Break was officially from Palm Sunday until Easter Sunday. This week, known as Semana Santa, is one of the most important holidays celebrated here in Guatemala and especially in Antigua. Almost the entire city devotes itself to Semana Santa. Visitors from all over the world come to watch the traditions that are still carried out today. Palm Sunday, my aunt, uncle and sister were here visiting, so we took advantage of a cultural experience, going to mass on Palm Sunday, and we got our palm branches blessed with holy water.

Throughout holy week, there are processions that go on, sponsored by different churches. The processions include a large wooden frame with a life sized scene from the Bible (usually) depicted with mannequins, flowers, and sometimes Bible verses. These are called “andas” and they are carried on the shoulder of Guatemalans who have signed up to carry. There is an anda for men usually carrying a depiction of Jesus, followed by a band. And soon after that passes, there is an anda for women carrying Mary followed closely by another band. The men, called cucuruchus, are dressed in purple tunics. The women dress in black and white, but mostly black. Each person has a number and carries for a block at a time, rotating through their turns through the predetermined path around the city. Families can participate without carrying by constructing “alfombras” or carpets. These alfombras are usually made out of either flowers or colored saw dust and they are constructed in the streets. It is not required of any family, but it tends to be tradition. My host family invited my sister and me to help with the building of their alfombra on Thursday night.

Thursday night, it is tradition for almost every family in Antigua to stay up all night and make an alfombra. So after a certain point in the night (probably around 10pm) it is impossible for cars to go anywhere in the city. The streets are packed with tourists taking pictures, families making alfombras, and thousands of people walking around admiring everyone else’s work. My family took a few days to custom make their own design, cut out all the molds for the different patters for the sawdust, dye their own sawdust to the colors they wanted, and they started making the alfombra around 9pm Thursday night.. At 3am, a group dressed as Roman Soldiers came out of La Merced, the cathedral near my house, giving the sentencing of Jesus to die. We were still working on the alfombra. The procession left the church at about 5am, but it took until 6:30 or 7am to get to my house. I didn’t sleep at all that night, but my roommate did. We all had breakfast together after the processional passed, and then everyone went to bed. Again, tradition.

Friday afternoon, my family asked me if I wanted to make another alfombra. The men from my house were off carrying a procession that was going to pass by our house at about 7pm, and we had about 5 hours to make another alfombra. I thought they were kidding, but when I realized they weren’t, I agreed and invited a few more Bethel students to come help. I figured we needed as much help as we could get.

The rest of the week was spent on more processions, trying to catch up on my sleep, and trying out new cafes and restaurants with my sister who was visiting through all of Semana Santa.

Easter Sunday, some students went swimming. Semana Santa, which is usually claimed to be the hottest week of the year here in Antigua, was surprisingly cool, (that is not a complaint) but Easter Sunday was a littler warmer, so we took advantage of the weather and went swimming. That night, we had dinner, almost as an entire group, at a sweet new restaurant called “Capitan Tortuga” to regroup before school the next day and meet up with people me might not have spent much time with during the week of vacation.