My not so temporary Peace Corps Guatemala life

8 weeks have passed since I stepped off the plane onto the hot Guatemalan ground. 

My life has taken a complete 360 from my former U.S. nanny life. 

• Long hot showers have been traded in for bucket baths. 
• The days of electric kitchen equipment are no more.  Here my family has no oven, stove, refrigerator, or microwave…but we do have a blender (used mainly for liquefying beans).  




 
• Apples and grapefruits every day in the states have been exchanged for mangoes, papayas, and bananas (which I consume in high quantities). 

• The luxuries of a washer and dryer are long gone.  All of my clothes are washed by hand and then they are hung on the clothes line.  This is a fun task to keep up with my laundry OCD.

• The New Jersey Transit and MTA seem like a dream compared to my daily commute via the “chicken bus”.
• Chicken buses: Yellow school buses that have expired according to US standards, arrive in Guatemala.  They are subsequently pimped out (literally) with a paint job, luggage racks, and added rows of seats (to fit more people and less leg room of course), then stuffed like a can of sardines.  Seats that are normally for two people are packed with three people.  The two people on the end of the seat basically have one cheek on and the other half of their body is resting against the person they’re sharing the aisle with. Some trips are so full that people hang out of the front door and start piling onto the roof of the bus.  Yes this is real life…and after the first few trips, its really not so bad.

 

• Fitness classes at my luxury NJ gym have been replaced with insanity, p90x, and Jillian Michaels workout videos in my bedroom.

• The people at the internet café know me…wifi zones are few and far between.
• Big salads are traded in for beans, eggs, and tortillas. (this will change once I start cooking for myself again in a week!!)

• My former life of chasing my cousins around the house to brush their teeth and wash their hands will soon be a huge part of my full time job as a facilitator of healthy habits in a school setting.

• My days of struggling to learn Spanish are about to be repeated while I attempt to learn the Mayan language Ixil to further communicate with the locals...Ill be living in Nebaj, Quiche!!

Yes, my life indeed has been altered, but I must admit that I feel exceptionally happy here in Guatemala. 

 “Life is too short, don’t just live the length of your life, but live the width.”

Semana Santa en Guatemala (Easter)

 Semana Santa is one of the most celebrated times of the year in Guatemala.  It is a celebration of Holy Week.  The celebration begins at the beginning of Lent with processions that continue throughout the 40 days, with the culminating processions in the final week of Lent.  A procession leaves from the Church of origin (each church has their own procession throughout the month) and travels throughout its town for varying amounts of time and distances.  There are people, known as cargadores, who carry a very large float that has a statue of Jesus carrying a cross on it. 

 This is a picture taken at one of the night processions in Antigua, Guatemala.  Antigua is world renowned for its beautiful processions.

 The people who carry the float are typically dressed in purple robes.  At certain points along the route of the procession, the cargadores exchange positions with another man in a purple robe to take over their load.

There is also another group of men known as the “Romanos” or the Romans to represent who crucified Jesus.  They are typically dressed in Red.

The procession is almost always followed by a band.

Another large part about the Semana Santa are the traditional carpets or “alfombras” that are hand decorated by the locals.  The streets are cleared of all traffic, bus routes are detoured, and road blocks are put up.  Local families decorate a large piece of the roadway with their own unique design to honor the procession.  Many alfombras include fruits and vegetables that are offered to the procession and can also be eaten by those carrying the float as they pass by.

Normally wooden planks are placed to create a rectangle, then filled in with saw dust.  This dust is then dyed and decorated using stencils and more dyed sawdust to fill in the rectangle with lots of colors and designs.

During the procession locals are led down the streets of the town following a crucifix, until they make their way back to the church and wait for the float with Jesus carrying the cross to enter back in.  This process can take many hours.  Some processions last up to 12 hours.

There are also alfombras that are simply made with flower petals.  Notice the watermelon and food offerings made in the alfombras.  These were by far my favorite part about Semana Santa.


Semana Santa in Guatemala was truly a special experience to be a part of.  The best part was watching the families working on their beautiful alfombras and all of the time and effort they put it…all for it to be walked over by the procession and ruined in a short instant.  The time and hard work that goes into the alfombras is a true reflection of the dedication and respect the families have towards the Catholic Church and the holy event of the Semana Santa