Alfombras Galore

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I learned a new meaning of tradition and dedication this past week during Semana Santa. Families unite and enjoy special meals at home, while outside a carnival ambiance awaits complete with street food and antique dodgy carnival kid rides which fill the streets, live music heard all through town and decorations around the cities. This overall experience truly brought a sense of the holiday season as I walked down the streets of San Cristobal and enjoyed a loco elote, or two. It is simple yet delicious... corn on the cob with ketchup, mustard, mayo if you swing that way, green picante sauce, and cheese, perhaps lime and salt if you’re lucky, yet you learn quickly everything depends on the specific food vendor itself whether you will receive a quality item or a gastro-illness.

Yet the food vendors are what help made my Semana Santa experience the amazing week that is was. Semana Santa, or The Holy Week, celebrated here in Guatemala is full of grand, extravagant processions, colorful hand made alfombras, specialty bread at all the bakeries, green palm leaves strung like christmas lights around houses and tiendas, as the streets are decorated with purple and black flags. Another volunteer here, Jesse, who is a rather good friend I must say, invited a group of volunteers as well as a couple couch-surfers from Switzerland to his town to help make an Alfombra, which literally means rug.

The Alfombras are made of finely shredded bark chips, perhaps comparable to the size of thick dirt or sand, which are placed in artistic patterns in honor for the passing over of the processions. These solemn parades leave from the Catholic church and pass through the main streets of town where the flags and palm leaf arches create a path for the people of the procession to pass. They walk dressed in various gowns or typical authentic traje/suits, carrying candles and strong inscense, with a walking band playing to the pace of the steps. Many choose to be a part of the crew carrying very large, heavy platforms on their shoulders, where above stand elaborate statues of religious catholic figures and designs. For some reason what caught my eye during the procession that begun after the sun has set, a person pushes a cart with a generator allowing various lights on the platform so all can be seen at night. It really was quite the experience...

We arrived on thursday to start dying the bark chips various bright colors... orange. red. blue. purple. yellow. fuscia, turquoise. First we had to sift several pounds of the bark chips through a strainer box before the dying process. We started a fire to boil a big pot of water, several times, for heaps of buckets with hot water were needed for dying the bark chips. Along with the dye powder, we had to “knead” the bark chips as if it were a giant ball dough for baking, being sure to mix in the colors to all the chips, turning them over in several circular motions in the pile mixing thoroughly by hand. This was very physically demanding, especially for ones’ arms; however, I very much enjoyed this entire process. Well, minus the fact we had to stay up till 5am, and even later others stayed up to carry the huge bags of bark chips to the street where they were to be laid out in specific designs later that morning.

The next step in this process was placing down ropes which were tied off to create a pattern, as if it looks like a giant colorful rug. Straight lines along the sides of bright blue with orange and green flower designs, these are made with giant stencils for filling in the various colored bark chips. These alternating with other symbols along with real flowers and leaves were added lying on top for an ornamental look. You sift the bark chips between two wooden planks which were for the person sifting to slowly and carefully walk and bend down to make sure the bark chips were being sifted into the right spot. They take their work very seriously, with much pride and honor for the tradition thus things were done very specifically, each with order and reason.

However ‘twas not an easy task... Lying down pieces of wood planks and broken cardboard pieces to prevent colors from mixing, plastic tarps to protect from the continuous violent rain falls, a few failed attempts to keep chuchos (street dogs) from trampling all over the bark chip designs we so carefully placed in specific order, and the lack of sleep and weak arms were not adding positively to the situation. Yet with special semana santa bread and coffee we had a great experience sitting and talking with the family, and the head guy in charge Jose. He is a photographer and artist who has been making these alfombras every year out of tradition and dedication with his family since he was 7 years old. I felt honored to be a part of their alfombra family this year!

Hours later after we finished the alfombra, Jesse played the flute as I played the drums for a couple hours as people from town came by to look at the various alfombras through out San Cristobal... quick side note we just made 2 drums thanks to good ol’ Ricardo Grande who brought me a drum making kit!!! best gift ever, thanks dad... We even played as the procession came by and stopped as Jose announced and presented the alfombra and the team who made it. The band stopped their music as we played Amazing Grace along with some other tunes in honor for the alfombra we had made, and we even made it on San Cris Vision, local tv station! What a day... Ended with more semana santa bread and cinnamon tea, good street food and good company. Beautiful.

As far as life in the campo, things have been slow with the corn planting season just finishing, as the families had been out in the corn fields sun up to sun down planting the individual kernals by hand, hundreds of them. Now after a few weeks of been planting, I am seeing small green corn plants everywhere. I forgot last November when I moved into a different house in my village I found it between the cornfields down a dirt road. Yet now as the rains have started already, my dirt road walking up to my house has become a river with mud, and there is still 6 more months of rain. Perhaps I go find some rain boots and an umbrella, pronto.

The schools have been very unsteady and cancelled for a while due to the teachers going to the city to protest since they have not been receiving adequate salary. Sadly this is also happening with the health workers, who also have not been getting paid regularly, thus it has been difficult to work with the counterparts as often as we would like, nor have I been in the schools as much since it has been very irregular. We have a few things happening with the schools such as building the bottle kitchen in one of the smaller schools in the village, teaching reproductive and sexual health in the middle school, teaching english and giving health talks. Things should be picking up again after the holiday of Semana Santa, so I am anxious to see how things shall come together.

A group of jovenes, kids and I started painting the world map on the wall outside the health post and school in the center of town. It has been a long, slow process, as are most things here in Guatemala I am finally accepting and adapting to. We have South America, Part of Africa, Australia, India and some islands done but still have the rest of the world to go! It is a fun process, but now will be more difficult that the rains have started, but it is typical there is sun in the morning so we can take advantage, and for washing clothes, too!

As far as One Laptop Per Child, I will be translating the already designed health programs about water sanitation into Spanish with the help from the Peace Corps Language Department here in Guatemala. Then with the 2 starter kit computers, these will be used for demonstration and teaching with teachers in the central primary and middle school. They just sent an additional 10 spanish keyboard computers for use of field testing here in the schools where I live. I will first instruct the teachers how to use the computers and the programs, then together we will present them to the class to test the health sanitation programs. These computers will help the kids learn to type, basic uses of a computer as well as health lessons, writing activities and math. I had a skype session with Caryl, from One Laptop Per Child, and she is helping with all the logistics, as we have been and are keeping in touch as far as downloading the programs, translating, and overall computer use. I am excited to start using them in the classrooms, it is only a matter of time...

Well given this blog is almost a novel, I think that is all for now. This thursday (April 28th) marks one year in Guatemala that I have been here! Crazy to think it has been a year already, and now just another one, or more, to go here in this beautiful country! Until next time, I send you Peace and Blessings! Abrazos, Alyssa

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