I remember thinking back in July how excited I was to be able to experience Dia de los Muertos while in Latin America, and thinking how far away it was. Now, its over. Time is flying!
The day was really enjoyable. I got a taste of all the traditional things that Guatemalans do for the holiday. If you don’t know, Dia de los Muertes is when people celebrate the lives of people that have passed. Its not a sad day, but a holiday to remember all the happy memories with loved ones. The tradition of Halloween on October 31st in the US comes from this “day of death” which is always celebrated November 1st.
Monday night, October 31st, we had a little celebration at the school. Everyone was supposed to bring one food item. Most people brought candy and cookies, popcorn and brownies, but Rachel, Harim and I made an awesome fruit salad. It was delicious! A lot of people dressed in costume, but since I didn’t really have time to change between my volunteer work and making the fruit salad before the party, I just wore my scrubs. I thought it could function as a costume, but I was told many times it didn’t count. Oh well! We had a good time dancing and hanging out.
Tuesday morning, Rachel and I ran to the cemetery at 6AM. We did our usual route where we run along the outside and enter from the back, but Tuesday we walked through the cemetery. At 6:30 there were already a ton of people in the cemetery. There was marimba music and everyone had tons of flowers and food to bring to the graves of their loved ones. The colors were beautiful and I really enjoyed watching people decorate the graves. I didn’t take pictures of people decorating graves because I felt that was inappropriate, but I did take a lot of pictures of the cemetery. They do a semi-good job of showing how beautiful it was.
At 8AM, we met to go to Festival de Sumpango (http://www.festivalsumpango.com/). This is a festival of kites… huge and amazingly crafted kites! The tradition of kite flying in Guatemala originates from the idea that people use kites to help the dead leave the living world and enter the heavens in peace. It started as an activity for kids, and it is still really popular among Guatemalan children, but it has also grown into a large tradition for people of all ages.
The trip to the community was long (about 3 hours), BUT we had a private microbus with a TV, so it was a glorious ride. The son of the owner of the micro company was with us, so he watched Smurfs. Most of us listened to music on our ipods and enjoyed having space to spread out and sleep.
When we got to the community, it was packed! We waited in a line for a while until we got into the parking lot. From there, we took a little clown car to the entrance of the fair, which was about a 10 minute ride. It was pretty humorous fitting all 11 of us in the little car (I wanted to take a picture, but was a little squished).
The place was packed! The location is close to Antigua, so there was also a lot of foreigners there speaking English. It was weird to hear it around us and see other tall, white people. You really don’t see it all that much in Xela (especially now because it isn’t tourist time). We felt a little sense of protectiveness, like “this is our Guatemala, all you other tourists shouldn’t be here speaking English.” Because of this, we vowed to only speak Spanish that day.
The place looked a little like the Independence day fair, with tons of people and food and music. But, there were kites… and these kites were HUGE but at the same time really detailed. I learned that some of them take 3-4 months to make. We didn’t get to see any of the large ones fly, but apparently they do, and there is an annual competition to see which one lasts the longest. I’ve posted a ton of pictures below.
After checking out all the kites, we decided it was time to have some lunch. As part of the trip, we were given pan relleno from Artesano bakery in Xela (I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it before). Pan relleno is basically a whole wheat bread stuffed with veggies and cheese. Its pretty delicious. But, we really wanted to try some Elote because it was being sold at every food tent (and I’ve wanted it for a while, but have been afraid to eat street food). Elote is essentially corn on the cob that is grilled until perfection and then served with lime and salt. I’m definitely bringing it back to the US.
We ate our Elote and pan relleno while watching kids fly smaller kites. After lunch, I decided on a whim that I wanted a hair wrap, so we found a woman that was doing them for 20Q. At 2PM, we left to drive home.
For dinner, we had traditional Fiambre. I can’t say I was a huge fan, but I was happy that I got to try the dish. The only problem is that it is a little like Thanksgiving in the sense that so much food is prepared that you have leftovers over and over until it is gone. So, I had Fiambre for dinner, lunch the next day, and lunch the following day. I think it is finally gone now!
The Fiambre plate starts with Romaine lettuce spread on the bottom. Then, a salad of carrots, green beans, cauliflower, peas and red beans, boiled with beets and vinegar and a few other spices, so that every veggie turns red and you can’t tell one from the other (because they all have the same color, texture and taste) is put on top. Then, 4 different types of sausages are put on top (I obviously didn’t eat that part… and was pretty happy I didn’t have to eat black sausage). On top of that, 4 different types of cheese are sprinkled that include queso fresco, parmesan (the non-perishable kind), some cheese that tasted a little like mozzarella, and Kraft American cheese. On the side, there was an onion that was boiled to be a little softer, and a raw radish.
Overall, a great day!
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