Semana santa and more ovens

April 14, 2012

Let's catch up on Semana Santa. That's Easter week here, and most people (Catholics, that is) go to church multiple times throughout the week, including Friday, Saturday, and Easter Sunday. I'm not a church-going person, but I like to go sometimes here so I can experience it and see what goes on. So on Saturday I walked to a nearby community with local family friends and walked in a procession of the Virgin Mary to the cathedral. It was over an hour walk from my house to the house in the nearby community where about 30 people had gathered to start the procession. Along the way the procession grew as we passed by all the houses on the dusty rocky road towards the church. The statue of the Virgin Mary was placed on a platform with handles so she could be carried. A mariachi-like band (which included various guitars and an accordion) came along and played various songs as we walked to the church. Everyone sang along, except for me of course because I don't know the words. During the procession the Padre came up to me after he noticed I was taking pictures and asked if I could send some to his Facebook page. People love getting pictures here!

Once we got to the church they started a small bonfire with some logs that had been stacked for the purpose. I don't exactly understand what the meaning of that was, I didn't ask enough questions regarding that part of the activity, but the Padre took a branch and dipped it in water and seemed to bless the fire by throwing the water over the fire and over the whole crowd. Then a candle was lit from the bonfire and passed along through the crowd by passing each lit candle to the people around you. It was dark by this time so it all looked really pretty. The crowd took their lit candles and started cramming their way into the church like a big sea of orange light, and at one point the candle from a guy in front of me lit the ponytail of the girl in front of him. Luckily it fizzled out in a few seconds, but it just made me think that this type of thing in the states would require tons of safety release paperwork, or wouldn't happen at all due to the potential fire hazard.

Once in the church Mass started, but it was longer than the normal hour I thought it would be. We were there for about 2 ½ hours, and I got really tired of all the standing up and sitting down and standing up and sitting down and kneeling down and standing up then sitting down again. And again I couldn't sing along to any of the songs because I don't know them (but then again, I don't even know them in English anyway so it's not like it would have been any different in the States). So I get kinda bored in church here, but I go during the big holidays so I can at least experience it. Afterwards we started the hour walk back in the dark, and I took a well needed bucket bath with cold water (which felt great!) to clean all the dirt and dust off my sandaled feet. I never go to bed dirty and dusty if I can help it, even if it's midnight.

Baking is a big deal during Semana Santa, and I was bummed to not have done the ovens before that week so the women could use their new ovens. But getting some of the materials took longer than I'd hoped, so they had to use their old ovens. I baked banana bread with two women, and it was a big hit. I hope to do some baking classes with the women who receive the improved ovens so they can get some good use out of them. Women like to bake various things, but it's always the same with each family. They bake a variety of corn flour and wheat flour breads. I think I like the corn flour varieties the best. I was gifted so much bread during the week that I was going to re-gift some of it out to the neighbors, but I forgot the bag of bread out on the table one day when I was gone and the ants that are pestering my kitchen stormed in and ravaged the bag. So it got fed to some dogs instead. Such a loss!

The other big food item tradition are tamales pisques, which are corn masa tamales cooked in leaves. They use a different type of leaf than the banana leaves that are used for nacatamales. They cook two types, one that's just the masa (which is bland and not my favorite) and the other that they fill with refried beans (which is so good!). I helped make the bean-filled ones with my former host mom, and it was a learning experience. It's hard to roll the masa over the beans without having the beans spill out all over the place. But I got the hang of it and had a good time learning how to make another traditional dish.

Making banana bread

Tamale pisque, filled with refried beans

A big activity that almost everyone does during Semana Santa is going to the nearest river to swim. So a couple days that week I hiked to a nearby community swimming hole with some local kids and we went swimming for the day. This particular swimming hole is like a local tourist attraction. There's a bar (which means there's always some drunks wandering around), a small store that sells snacks, and during busy times, like Semana Santa, they hire a DJ to play some tunes for dancing. I didn't want to dance at that particular place because it would have felt weird in my swimming outfit and sandals in the dirt with all these drunk people watching, so I just watched a bit. By swimming outfit I mean my bathing suit underneath the clothes I hiked there in. Everyone just swims in their clothes here, so stripping down to my white skinned bathing suit body was not an option here. I get stared at enough as it is, so that was not going to happen! So the clothes stayed on, which is best for sunburn purposes anyway. The water there was actually pretty cold, and the place is almost completely covered in shade, so it wasn't as refreshing as I'd hoped after a long hot hike to get there. I was hoping to be able to relax in the water all day, but it was a little too cold for me, so I only went in to swim once and then spent the rest of the time sitting around waiting to dry off so I could rid myself of the goosebumps.

This past week I was invited to go plant malanga with one of the kids in my garden project. He has some land that he's leasing in a nearby community and wanted help planting, so I met him at 5am to start the 45 minute trek over there. On the way there I lost my hat (the floppy-brimmed type that cover the sides of my face and neck), which had been tucked in an open pocket in my bag, and I didn't realize until I was all the way there. I was so pissed at myself for not securing it better, because it's a hat that I've been wearing pretty much daily to protect my face from getting more freckled in this hot Central American sun. I traced my steps for a bit but knew that if it had fallen on a main pathway that someone would have taken it. So I regretfully spent the day working in the hot sun without a hat. I luckily had brought sunscreen and re-applied about every hour, and didn't end up burning my face that day, but it doesn't help the freckling issue I'm having with my face. Luckily there are a ton of used clothing stores that consist purely of American clothing, so this last week I was able to buy another hat. 

April 22, 2012

Happy Earth Day everyone!  Here's a few quick updates from the activities I've been doing lately: 

Making an oven, the first stages

5th oven, done!

Thanks for reading my blog!  Please keep in touch and let me know how you're all doing.  

Love Sarah