Thursday, July 06, 2006

pushing up daisies... and other graves

i meant to post this yesterday, but the internet died, so i couldn't.
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so, this afternoon sonja and i went to the local cemetary to have a look around, and it was really interesting.
playground equipment, guatemala-style

cemetary, guatemala-style (which is where i think most people would end up after playing on that play structure). this is the section for the not as rich people.

everyone has their own little cubby, and they don't appear to be arranged in any sort of order... also, notice how some of them have professional looking "headstones", while others are just written on.

this is one of the higher class family plots. however, sonja told me that her spanish teacher told her that a favorite gang pastime is to break the heads off of statues in the graveyard, hence the headless angel thing. it's all very spooky to me.

a mid price family plot, still cubby style but not in the giant lineup with all the others... however, this one has been tagged by ms13 (see it on the side?), and either there are still spaces or the bodies have been taken from two of the cubbies... since it's tagged, i have a feeling it's the latter option.

a mid price family plot, still cubby style but not in the giant lineup with all the others... however, this one has been tagged by ms13 (see it on the side?), and either there are still spaces or the bodies have been taken from two of the cubbies... since it's tagged, i have a feeling it's the latter option.

there were also a couple like this, which freaked me out a lot- they're like wine cellars, but for your great grandmother. some of them were unlocked, but sonja and i opted not to give ourselves the self-guided tour.

and then there was this one... this family had way too much money, if you ask me. i mean, really, a pyramid?

now for something different, this is liza, the real smart one.

this is pati, the smallest in the class... she's literally like up to my hip, and she's really cute.

here's me and part of liza... i gave my camera to ana again, she really likes taking photos, especially of me.

another one of me taken by ana... today we learned emotions, and i was demonstrating sad.

the yarn i bought yesterday, with my water bottle for size comparison.

another yarn shot... i really should be a professional yarn photographer, don't you think?

the armed guard outside the yarn store... see, i told you!

so, aside from all that... today was josta's last day with the kids, she and everyone else i know are going with the school to copan at 4:00 tomorrow morning. we brought bite sized chocolates, like snickers and twix and milky ways (the variety pack from costco) for the kids, which was a big hit, except for that i brought enough with me for everyone to have two, but i ended up 3 short. ana volunteered to get her second one tomorrow, but the other two girls who didn't get another chocolated didn't really volunteer, and one of them was whiny michelle. i explained to her that i would bring another for her tomorrow, but that didn't stop her from sobbing hysterically into my shoulder for a good 8 minutes. that child is so dramatic. also, ana is a really big help, because although she is a student in the class, the rest of the kids look up to her and do what she says, because she's a good 5 years older than the majority of them. she helped me pass out the second round of chocolates, which was a really big help because she knows everyone a lot better than i do and remembers who's had one and who hasn't. she's also really smart, like liza, and i feel bad for her that she's only in first grade - dulce explained to me that a lot of kids don't start school when they should, and that's why there's such a range of ages in the classroom, but i feel bad for ana that she got started so late.

here's another thing. i want to know how people decide whether or not to wear traditional mayan dress. i have a feeling that it has to do with their ancestry and how mayan they are, but like for example dulce's mom, argentina, wears the traditional mayan getup, but she and her dad don't. also, i've noticed that a lot of the moms of the kids at the school wear the traditional outfits, and i want to know if the girls do too, when they're not wearing their school uniforms. there are a lot of people around here who wear the mayan clothing, i'd say it's probably about 50/50, although i've seen maybe 3 men in tradtional garb, it's definitely way more prevalent for women, and older women at that. so, really what i mean is that about 50% of the women wear traditional clothing. maybe i should be an anthropologist and determine the scientific formula about who wears what down here.

today i discovered xela pan, which is a bakery chain in town. i've seen them frequently, but never went in. however, now that i have a day and a half left in xela, i have seen the light. everything is so inexpensive and delicious there! i bought two sweet rolls for .4 q total, which is a whopping 3 cents each, and something that looks like a downtowner with sugar but without the cinnamon (they're from gayle's bakery in capitola) for .8 q, which comes out to about 12 cents. as sonja would say, "woaw". it's probably better that i've discoverd the magic that is xela pan so late, or i'd be coming home 25 pounds heavier than i started.

tonight a group of us are going out to dinner to celebrate a lot of people's last night together in xela (tear). i'm going to miss everyone a lot, and i wish i could stay longer so that i could hang out with everyone more, but i do miss my family and friends from the u.s. and i'll be glad to see them too. really, i'd like to go home for like a week and then come back. but i can't. oh well, at least now i have friends to stay with in holland, germany, new york, and chicago.

Posted by Sarah @ 2:05 PM