So this week was fairly uneventful but some notable things happened for sure...My week at placement was pretty great. On Tuesday there was a "fiesta de Carnival" (kind of like Fat Tuesday) at school and the children all dressed up in costumes and brought "pica pica" aka bags of colorful confetti with them to school. We all danced and celebrated in the courtyard of school and then had a pica pica fight...the children and teachers attacked each other with the confetti and it was so much fun! Its traditional to put the confetti on each others heads, so of course the kids were rubbing the confetti into my hair...a couple of the teachers dumped it down my shirt and vigorously rubbed it into my scalp so needless to say that was a lot of fun to remove later on in the shower. On Wednesday, we went to church for an Ash Wednesday mass with the school and some of the kids from my class came. It's always so special seeing one particular student because at the end of mass, he was walking out with his dad and spotted me standing on the side...the biggest smile lit up his face and he ran toward me and wrapped his arms around my legs. He can't say words, but the happy noises he makes and his wonderful smile truly brightens my life.Friday night some people from my house decided to go to a cafe because they were craving some poutine. It was not as good as the Canadian poutine but it was still nice to be out with everyone. To our surprise, on the walk back home there was a free jazz concert going on in the park. We all stopped to listen, but only myself and my house mate Mike were actually enjoying it so everyone else left and we stayed to enjoy the live music a little longer. The stage was set up in front of these beautiful ruins of an old church and they set up some wonderful lighting against the church backdrop so it was a really beautiful place to sit and enjoy some great jazz. After the concert, we were walking home and noticed something supe eerie up ahead....
There was creepy music playing and a procession of people walking toward a church with tall candle sticks and crosses. For a moment we were really creeped out because it looked like we were witnessing some KKK guatemala style ritual, but as we got closer we realized it had something to do with lent. It was dark and there were candles everywhere...a bunch of men in suits were carrying a large decorated statue of Jesus kneeling down...I found it quite hilarious that there were about 3 men walking behind the statue pushing a generator that fueled the lights on the statue. It was hysterical because over the speakers of the creepy music all you heard was this loud buzzing generator. The lights went out a few times and the men had to pull start it back up again. We watched this procession approach the church for a few moments and then a priest started talking but we still were a bit creeped out so we headed for home.
On Saturday morning, about 6 of us decided we wanted to check out this place called the Earth Lodge. It was a 20 minute shuttle ride up into the mountains of Antigua so we hopped on and made our ascent. The road was only passable for so long, so we had to hike down a path to the lodge. We found ourselves on a beautiful piece of property on the edge of a mountain overlooking Antigua and the volcanoes. It was a very hippy lodge with hammocks, picnic tables and a cool area to just hang out to get some food and drinks. We ordered vegetarian lunches (I got a roasted eggplant sandwich with pesto and avocado..yum!) and enjoyed the relaxation of the day. Some people went for a hike, some went in the sauna, and I just relaxed in a hammock with my book and a beer, trying to forget about the fact that my phone broke on me earlier that day. We chatted with some cool people from all over the world, played some guitar, and just enjoyed the day in an oasis of relaxation. Oh, and I also got a killer sunburn since the hazy sun had me fooled. Regardless, it was a wonderful thing to occupy a lazy Saturday! After dinner back at home, some of us girls went to get some amazing crepes in town. I got one with nutella, strawberries and bananas and oh my god it was delicious! The best I've ever had! haha
Sunday was spent relaxing and roaming around Antigua. I got my phone situation settled...even though I had to pay more money in addition to the SIM card plan I bought for my iphone...the card wasn't transferable so I had to purchase a new smartphone (crappy droid) as well as a new sim card and data plan. So the first card was pretty much a waste of money since I only was able to use it for about a week, but this time around nothing better break and things will be fine for the next four weeks. The camera on my new phone really sucks though so my pictures will be of minimal quality. Thank goodness for traveling with friends with cameras and tags on facebook!! haha I visited briefly the chocolate museum where we learned a little bit about how chocolate is made, tasted some amazing chocolate and will probably go back to take a class and actually make my own chocolate. I also bought a couple souveniers at the market as well as a pair of handmade sandals with awesome mayan colors...I'm excited to wear them, but I want to save them for America because the cobblestone streets here will surely ruin them fast.
Anyway, sorry for boring you all with this uneventful post, but it's an update! Next weekend we are heading to the beach in Monterrico, Guatemala, so stay tuned for some more adventures! :)
