January 1, 2015

Happy New Year! Everyone was up and ready to go, even those who stayed out and watched the fireworks and celebrated New Year's Eve Guatemala style. We boarded the vans after breakfast and headed to San Antonio Aguas Calientes. Today was to be one of activities in the park with the children and lots of work for the builders. As usual, we met the children in the town square and then walked to the park. We started the day with the usual parachute games including mushroom and ostrich. El Grupo Sin Nombre went out to the back field and, separately, the boys and girls played their version of baseball. Both got the idea of what to do in general, but thought once a fielder got the ball, he/she should throw it at the runner and try to hit him/her. I tried to show the girls how to tag the runner, but they never really caught on. Lucy was setting up some T-balls for the littler children, so they played with those for a while as well.

For arts and crafts we made dreamcatchers from paper plates, yarn, beads, and feathers. I explained to Dulce and Belinda, the two volunteers with our group, that these came from the Native Americans, the indigenous people of the United States. All of those done by our group were really good, but there were several children whose meticulous attention to detail stood out and creativity stood out - Jose and Kathelyn. (I later commented on this to Cindy, and she told me that after we leave the children interested in art will be able to make a portfolio and that there is an artist that will pick the top three. I think they will be able to have some special instruction from him.) We then joined Diego for songs around the campfire and roasted marshmallows and made Some-mores, a real camp experience. Then back to the parachute for more songs with Diego, especially learning the song for the final event for the last day. The children collected their dreamcatchers around 1 PM and left to walk home.

We cleaned up the site and had everything ready to go back to Soraya's house with the tuk-tuks and then walked back to her house to meet the builders for lunch. I took a brief detour and walked through the cemetery which was on the road back. The cemetery was filled with above-ground family crypts of various sizes, mostly painted in pastel colors. It was somehow uplifting to be there rather than sobering, and also connected me in its own way with my mother and brother whose Yahrzeits are this month. We had another wonderful lunch prepared by Soraya's mother and the her culinary com-madres. Soraya had another home visit planned, particularly for Sheila and Mark, but I wanted to go along as well. As we were walking there, we went through the main square and saw men and women preparing a carpet of flowers around the square. The carpet was beautiful with great attention paid to each little sections. There were some musicians sitting in the square.

This was to visit a young man of about 17 who had an electrocution accident 15 years ago and lost one arm and the lower part of both legs. Soraya said he is very depressed. He had leg prostheses that are now broken and nine years old and can no longer ambulate. I spoke with him and his family a bit, took some photos and then left him to Sheila and Mark. They spent a fair amount of time with him and assessing his abilities and making some suggestions for home modifications. The family is very poor, lives in a home with a dirt floor, chickens in the front entryway. This young man spends just about all of his time lying on a mattress and watching television.

Walking back from the home visit we could see in the distance a parade at the square which, I believe, was a parade of the virgin. I know the builders got to leave the work site and see the actual parade. By the time we walked the few blocks downhill to the square, the beautiful carpet of flowers was just about all cleaned up. We saw a group of priests standing outside the church, all dressed in white - I imagine the end of the parade. We then went over to the construction site and were amazed at the progress that had been made in a day. The walls were completed and a layer of stucco was being applied to the exterior. The framing for the window and door had been completed. The corrugated tin roof had been delivered and was propped up outside.

Those of us remaining got in the van to take us back to Antigua. They guys wanted to take a detour to Pastores , a town that is known for its leather goods. So off we went, on a new road. As it was New Year's Day and late in the afternoon, many of the shops were closed, but some were open. Everyone walked in and out. I know Joel S. tried on some boots (cost $50!!), but wasn't quite sure they really fit well. It was amazing to see how many shops, open and closed, there were. As we were walking up the street, a miniature parade of the virgin appeared - a small group of people with a drummer and one man carrying a small box. I was able to look at its contents - there was the head of the virgin on a sort of satin pillow. We passed the public laundry, a series of sinks with a sort of fountain with running water. No purchases were made, back in the van, and off to Antigua.