mom&dad and what have you.

Ok so this is the long overdue entry about my amazing week with my parents and some other stuff that’s been going on down here in the Guat. My mom and dad came to visit the week before Easter and I could not have asked for a more fantastic visit with them. I’m pretty sure I wore them out trying to squeeze every activity possible into a week’s time and they just about wore me out with all of their questions. There are just so many exciting things to experience here that I wanted them to see and do everything! In Coban we went to Semuc Chamey, a really cool river that goes underground and then comes back up and has a lookout point that you have to hike to get to. We also went zip-lining at a coffee farm, went on a walking tour of Coban, and went to Chamelco so they could see where I work. I had a great time showing them around but my favorite part of being in Coban with them was having them meet and spend time with my host family and everyone else that is special to me here. We spent the last part of the week in Guatemala City in a really posh hotel. Thursday, one of my host mom’s cousins took us on a tour of the historic district and then we spent the majority of the morning with my mom and I shopping in the central market and my dad and our kind tour guide patiently observing. We went to Antigua that Friday to see all of the celebrated Semana Santa festivities. The week before Easter in Latin America is called Semana Santa, or Holy Week, and is very regally observed with extravagant decorations of sawdust rugs, called alfombras, and purple banners, candles, and flowers. Enormous floats of Jesus carrying his cross, called andas, are carried by hundreds of people and paraded over the rugs and around the entire city. These processions take place several times a day during the entire week in cities and communities all over Guatemala. We saw a few processions during the week but the celebration in Antigua is particularly renowned for its beautiful alfombras and solemn processions. People come from all over the world to take part in the festivities and the town was packed! One of the processions that we saw was complete with Roman soldiers on horseback! It was a very interesting to see and I’m glad my parents got to experience that side of Guatemalan culture with me. Easter is by far my favorite holiday and they really know how to do it up right here! Plus, my mom brought me jelly beans!

So after a week of gallivanting around Guat. with the folks, we said our goodbyes and I headed back to Antigua to spend a couple days before our next retreat in Santiago Atitlan. After a few days of hanging out with the gang, I went back to Coban and realized how much I missed my parents! I had had so much fun with them and really enjoyed being able to catch up that Coban seemed really lonely and boring and I was pretty homesick for a couple of days. It sounds horrible, but I had become so caught up with all of the new people and happenings of my life here that I’d kind of gotten out of touch with how incredible the people in my life at home are. I slowly got out of that funk once I got back to work. Compassion is still going well, as are my English classes. April was nutrition month and we are going to talk about the environment in May and are going to plant trees. I’m pretty excited. Other than work, I’ve been teaching Sunday school and running a whole whole lot. The half marathon is May 18 and I’m stoked! Tons of people from everywhere are coming in for it and I’ve even heard it might be on ESPN. Apparently, the Kenyans always win but that’s ok with me, I just want to finish with a somewhat respectable time and get my race t-shirt. The group I run with and I have ordered bright yellow tank tops with our names on the back to wear for the race which is just really fun in itself. I helped translate a Cedepca workshop on “integral health” a few weekends ago which was pretty interesting; a lot of talk about balancing body energies and stress management. I won’t be traveling again for a couple more weeks so now I’m just doin’ my thang here in Coban.

One last thought: It is impossible for me to sit peacefully in the park and read or talk to a friend or what have you. It appears that having light skin and blue eyes is an invitation for random people to approach me and ask for help with their English, profess their love for me, or want to chit chat about politics, war, or other heavy world issues. A recent example of this being the other day, when Sarah and I were talking in the park, this ridiculous drunk or stoned or I don’t know what guy came up to us and started talking. He asked if we wanted to meet his friends but then said we couldn’t because they were in his head. He then proceeded to tell me that he wasn’t a lion but he wanted to eat me. He said this while holding his “claws” up and holding his mouth open entirely too close to my arm. I told him that just as he was not a lion, I was not food, and he was not permitted to eat me. Very humorous, very random, very obnoxious because I really like going to the park.