This morning was a gong show. I woke up at the same time we were supposed to eat breakfast. Thankfully we were all running behind this morning and everyone appeared to be slightly worse for wear. Definitely a quiet morning for us. Today we also lost three of our temporary family: Clint, Roderick, & Barbara. Although we do have a new arrival as well, so three steps back one step forward.
This morning, the school called to ask if I would be willing to come in from 8-9 am, before heading out on our excursion. My teacher and I originally agreed to meet in the afternoon and I was really looking forward to going back to bed. But I hauled my sorry behind to school with the rest of the students for class at 8. Lorena definitely asks me if I’m tired every morning, so I should probably try to show up at least one day ready to go!
After one hour of classes, we ventured to San Simon to witness a Guatemalan tradition. San Simon is not a place (I don’t think), but rather a ceremony where you can be healed from illness or pray for wealth or love. I think we were actually in San Andres to witness the ceremonies there. When we arrived, we were definitely the only foreigners and we stuck out more than usual. My teacher didn’t accompany me so I also wasn’t entirely sure what was going on.
When we arrived there was a line up to the altar where San Simon is sitting. The people at the altar must have already made their offerings because they were now hitting themselves with the flowers to “cleanse” their bodies. This included a nine month old baby, who was not so impressed with this part of the ceremony. There were also people just milling about (besides us foreigners) as well as those lighting candles. Apparently the different coloured candles signified a different wish or prayer. My personal favourite however were the San Simon candles, sporting a jolly fellow with a hearty mustache.
After watching a few people offer their sacrifice of alcohol and cigarettes then hitting themselves with flowers, we went to watch those ‘performing’ outside. This included a young man who appeared to want San Simon to bring him love. There was also a fairly mischievous dog who had tried to eat some of the burnt food offerings. He subsequently ended up with a burnt paw. Karma, perhaps?
All in all my overall impression of the event was that we were incredibly intrusive. All we really did was stand there observing like scientists watching some experiment. Frankly we probably were not very helpful. Beyond that, it was just really personal what people were after and somehow it just felt very odd to witness it all. In the future I will definitely be avoiding this stuff.
I must admit that is typically my only critique of traveling. In many ways the act of wanting an authentic experience is exactly what makes them inauthentic. For instance, if I was invited to this ceremony by a local who wanted to show me what she was doing it would be a different story. But driving up from Antigua, as outsiders, we were not active participants and therefore it wasn’t really a grand experience.
The best part of the trip, in my opinion, was our visit to the local mercado. You get a glimpse into the life here. Unaltered and totally real. Watching all the locals gathering to eat at the comedor’s place, just felt real somehow. Plus, there is something about markets that makes me incredibly happy. Mostly I just love the random assortment of people interacting and working together. For instance the little kids playing under the fruit vendor’s table and next to that might be these two grandmothers selling some of their handiwork or rice. In this case, we were participants not nonchalant observers.
We could walk up to the fruit vendors and buy bananas (which I certainly did--three for $0.20). Or else we could wander and talk to the locals. Rather than witness them in a moment of prayer. The ride back I was able to ask some questions to the other teachers about San Simon and about religion in Guatemala, which I found totally fascinating. Domingo, Emma’s teacher, told me that the religion in some parts of Guatemala are really just past Mayan beliefs combined with the Catholic notion of Saints. He also said that it was a sort of sorcery and voodoo. So that’s interesting!
On the way back I learned a new phrase in Spanish too. “Amigo con derecha” or essentially “friends with benefits”. Which I must admit came out of a really entertaining conversation.
By the time I went back to class at 2pm, I was in a completely silly mood. Needless to say my Spanish class, although successful was filled with a lot of laughs. In particular I know Lorena, my teacher, loves when I pronounce words in an interesting way. I don’t even remember any juicy examples, but it was almost always when I tried to say English words with Spanish accents...and the wrong emphasis. Whatever it was, the class ended up flying by and I have hundreds of words to memorize this weekend. Including new verbs and food related vocabulary. Woo woo!
To cap off the entire day with a giggle, I ended up watching The Pink Panther Strikes Again. A movie I loved watching as a kid with my Dad. If you haven’t seen that movie, I highly suggest you get on it. Download it, rent it, buy it. Uncontrollable laughter is a fantastic way to end the day.
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