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Published: April 9th 2009
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This morning Dr. Iglesias picked us up early and brought his family along so that we could all go to a procession in a town called Izalco near the Immaculate Heart of Mary Orphanage. Since El Salvador is obviously a predominantly Catholic country, during the Holy Week they have processions to celebrate their faith every day. There are men in the town called Nazerenes who wear purple robes and carry the idols in the processions. It is a great honor to be a Nazerene and the privilege is passed on from father to son. We got there before it started and there was a beautiful carpet of flowers and another made from colored sand and what looked like spices. Dr. Iglesias said that this is more of a cultural tradition than Catholic, but that it has some meaning for the Nazerenes to be the first to walk over it. The procession itself was really interesting because the entire town came out to watch and there were people selling ice cream, fruit, candy and drinks. It lasted about 30 minutes and there were statues of Jesus with a cross (that rotated which was a little creepy), John the Baptist, Mary, and Veronica
(who, according to traditional beliefs, wiped Jesus' face with a towel and then his image was on the towel). There is a group of women who have the honor of carrying Mary. Because the tradition of being a Nazerene (and the women who carry Mary) is passed on down generations, some of the Nazerenes were infants and it was so cute to see them dressed up in their little purple robes. After the procession was over we went to see the church which is on the town square just like Mr. Iglesias had told us in Suchitoto. It was very old and pretty and inside they were preparing the church because later in the day the procession would end there after going to different towns in the area. They had smaller versions of the idols in the church because later the children would do a procession through the church.
After the procession we went to the orphanage to see if any kids were sick. We saw a few kids with colds but there was also one girl with severe abdominal pain that was very troubling, so we sent her to the hospital to be evaluated. Dr. Iglesias older son
had fun playing with the other kids and his younger son had run endlessly rearranging the plastic chairs in the room. For lunch they insisted on making food for us, but it took forever so we hung out with Mrs. Iglesias for a while. She told us lots of stories and we were actually able to understand a lot of her Spanish, although we still aren't able to say much in return. They brought us coconuts to drink again, but his sons did not enjoy them. After lunch we saw a nun in training who had abdominal pain and it was a little awkward to have to ask her to lift her shirt to examen her abdomen, especially with men in the room. We also met an American woman who was bringing the girl she had adopted from there a year ago back for a visit. She told us that it had taken over a year for the adoption to be approved and that it had been a very trying time for her. They brought us a snack of fruits called jocotes that are like tiny little mangoes except you can eat the skin. They were pretty awesome. As we
were leaving the Mother Superior came over and gave us each a kiss and with a little bit of difficulty wished us a Happy Easter in English to which we replied Pascua Feliz with equal difficulty. It was very nice. On the drive home the little son was tired from being crazy all day so he fell right asleep but Pablo told us the summary of about 10 different movies and was totally unfazed by the fact that we had no idea what he was saying. Obviously we are totally in love with him because he could not be any cuter.
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dad
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Thursday
I finally got time to check out you're whole blog. What an amazing experience!! I am soo proud of you both!!! If you say it's ok I'd like to forward this address to friends and family, so i can BRAG. Love, Dad