Pacaya Volcano

So I've now climbed a volcano!!! This is Pacaya Volcano, one of 4 active volcanoes in Guatemala. This one last erupted in 1992, but there is still molten lava flowing from the crator. Apparently Pacaya hasn't 'erupted' since 1992 because they have built a geothermic power station close by which harnesses the heat and prevents the build up of energy which would normally lead to an eruption (or something like that- but slightly more scientific!). We hiked up the mountain, and then were able to walk across the volcanic rock and get really close to the lava flow. At some points when you walked over a crack in the rocks, there was a huge wave of heat rising from below. An incredible experience!

Easter in Antigua 2 - Processions

Each of the churches in Antigua seems to organise a procession - when the image of Christ is slowly carried around the streets by willing volunteers (in fact they pay to be involved). The images are huge and heavy- this one from the the church of San Francisco took 30 men on each side to carry it, and the carriers swap over after a block or so. Over a 1000 people are involved in each procession. This procession also included a smaller image of Mary, carried by women (some of them wearing stilletos -walking over cobbled streets - and clutching their handbags!) The processions are really important for Catholics, but in Antigua the tradition (and 'show') has probably overtaken the religious or spiritual meaning that only a few still take from it.

Easter in Antigua 1 - Carpets

In the week before Easter , the people of Antigua make 'carpets' in the streets where the Catholic processions will later travel. Several houses or businesses in the same street will club together to create the carpet. Mostly they're made of sawdust, and decorated with coloured sawdust and flowers or fruit. Most have religious images, others geometrical patterns but all are very inticate and take several hours to create, during which time the streets are closed to traffic, and there's a real party atmosphere. The practice originated with Mayans who made the carpets to welcome the spirits and then processed over the carpets to dispell the evil spirits. When the Catholic Spanish arrived, the practice continued but the images changed.

Views of Antigua

So this is Antigua - where I have spanish classes (well the pretty bits anyway). Antigua is about 50mins away from Guatemala city and was once the capital of Guatemala, until almost everything fell down in the earthquake in 1773. It is still full of colonial buildings. It seems to have more than it's fair share of churches (and plenty of ruined churches too). There's also a spanish language school on nearly every corner so there's always lots of foreigners and therefore plenty of touristy places to eat and drink and be entertained. That's not always a good thing - but it does mean I've found some second hand english book shops - which I think I will be visiting frequently.

Weekend Travels - Rio Dulce and Livingston

I then went on to Rio Dulce and took a boat trip down the river to Livingston on the Caribbean Coast. Livingston can only be reached by boat and has quite a Caribbean atmosphere alongside indigenous Mayan culture (and a few rastafarrians and hippy travelers.) And it was very hot! It was also a bit of shock to see men go about their daily lives with a gun at their belt. It's normal in Guatemala and generally in Latin America to see armed guards outside banks and other businesses, but seeing 'normal' people with guns is new to me. I'm not entirely sure that I want to get used to it!

Weekend Travels -Copan Ruins

I've just come back from a weekend of travels - first to the Copan Ruins just over the border in Honduras, which are spectacular. These are ruins from the Classic Mayan period (AD 250 -900)and there are 3450 structures there!!!!. One of the most impressive is the Hieroglyphic Stairway with every stone bearing hierglyphic symbols telling the dynastic story of the royal house of Copan. Unfortunately when it was discovered most of it was in ruins, so only part of the history is understood. The rest has been put back out of order, whilst the archeologists work it all out. There is also the ball court - for the Mayan ball game - apparently it was a great honour to be able to play the game and only those in the higher classes were allowed to play. The captain of the winning team was rewarded by being sacrificed to the gods!!!!! The referees were always twins (one at each end), as they were seen as very special (almost holy), and were the only ones allowed to touch the ball with their hands when it went out of play. (Ohhh, Football would be so different if.........)

Life on (and off) the Buses

Normally I travel to and from Antigua for my Spanish classes by bus. The buses here are very crowded and friendly although not particularly safe. Last week an overcrowded bus crashed over a precipice and killed 55 people, on the route to El Salvador. Ever since, the papers have been full of opinions of what´s to be done about it. My Spanish teacher tells me that on the route that I take, there were several similar accidents a few years ago, which led the authorities to improve the road, and there haven´t been any accidents since.
But then there are other dangers - which has made my journey to classes slightly different this week. On Tuesday a bus driver and his helper (who collects the fares) were shot dead. Apparently it was by a gang who were trying to extort money from the bus drivers (a similar incident happened last week on another route). Ironically it happened at the bus stop that I´d been meaning to take a photo of because it says ´Jesucristo, Esperanza de Guatemala´(Jesus Christ, Hope of Guatemala). As a result the buses on the route have gone on strike until the government can give them some guarentees of safety. The police don´t seem to be able to arrest those responsible (or when they do, they´re not able to charge them for lack of evidence or witnesses willing to testify).
So this week it seems that anyone who owns a pick up truck (in spanish ´picop´!), or minibus (in various states of repair) drive the same route picking up stranded passengers and charging the same price as the buses. The police are also running buses on the route. At my bus stop there are now 2 police man there in the mornings instead of one, but I doubt that these measures will last very long. At some point the bus drivers will need to go back to work - in order to support their families and the level of security may not have changed. This is the daily life in Guatemala.

The cult of Maximon

On Tuesday I went to San Andres Itzapa, where there is a temple shrine to Maximon. In the courtyard outside there were the remains of several small fires where animal sacrifices had been made that morning. The temple itself was a hall with all the walls covered with plaques from devotees expressing their thanks to Maximon for answered prayers. At the end of the hall were steps up to the shrine. A model of a man sat surrounded by flowers, cigars and bottles of alcohol that devotees have brought. Many people come to recieve a ´cleansing´, which I was able to watch. The witch or priestess took the flowers and alcohol that the devotee had brought and they stood in front of Maximon and touched his feet. She said a prayer and then took the flowers and waved them infront of the devotee, then hit him with them over his body (a bit like those swedish massages I´m told!) She then took a mouthfull of the alcohol and spit it out over the devotee and repeated this a few times. This cleansing ritual is supposed to get rid of the mistakes of the past and give protection for the future. Apparently it´s very popular with prostitutes.

I thought that Maximon (or Saint Simon) was a distortion of the catholic veneration of saints (some churches in Antigua have similar walls full of plaques from people giving thanks to a particular saint for miracles or answered prayers) but actually Maximon is not a saint at all, and isn´t part of the Catholic church.

The belief grew during the colonial times when the indigenous people were slaves to the Spanish and cruelly treated. They wanted a protector, and the belief in Maximon, who´s known as the Protector of the Mayans, developed.

The majority of Guatemalans are Catholic (although mostly nominally) but a small number eblieve strongly in the power to Maximon and travel a long way to visit his shrine- both with prayers and with thanks.

Settling In

So I now live in a Condominium in Guatemala. I wasn´t really sure what a Condominium is but it´s basically a gated street, giving an extra level of protection to the residents. To me it´s an odd thing to come to Guatemala as a missionary and then live behind a high wall and solid iron gate, but it seems that Condominiums are the only housing being built here at the moment. As they go, the one I´m in is quite small and unassuming, some have gate houses and security guards. Maybe it´s a sign of a growing middle class or the continuing fear of violence after a long civil war (which ended in the late 90´s) that would explain the ´No Fire Arms´signs outside some of the supermarkets! Whatever the reason for the growth of Condominiums, one of the good things is that people seem to get to know their neighbours well.

It´s been strange buying new furniture for my new house here. I´ve never bought any furniture before, I´ve always had second hand or borrowed stuff. I guess in England there´s so much surplus ´stuff´, that it´s easy to take advantage of it. Here people don´t throw things away quite so easily.

I moved into the house on Thursday night and Rodolfo and Sary came over to pray for me in the house. I suddenly felt very overwhelmed, that the things that God had put in my heart over 20 years ago, are now coming about. I´m so excited about all the posibilities here.