Day of the Dead/Kite Festival!

November 1st marks Day of the Dead and in the city of Sumpango they have a huge celebration to honor the deceased. Like most areas of Guatemala, families go to the cemetery the night before and place flowers and foods around the family tombs. It is also common for people to fly kites in the cemeteries as a way of carrying messages to loved ones in the world beyond. The difference is that in Sumpango they have a contest to see who can make the biggest and most elaborate kites, which are then flown in the soccer field above the city cemetery. In the pictures above you can see the kids from the host family I lived with for 3 months in Sumpango. Their great grandma had recently passed away and they wanted a picture of themselves in front of her decorated tomb.



Here is one of the mid-sized kites taking off. As the kites start to barrel back down to the ground the crowd would sway and run in different directions. It was really exciting...and dusty. It was a lot of fun to see the family again and the kids each wrote cards for Lizzy and me.


It takes an average of 3 months to make each of the larger kites at a cost of up to 5,000 dollars. Which is quite significant when you take into account the fact that the average daily wage is about 6 dollars.

It was a really exciting day, the streets were packed with vendors of all sorts and we sampled the traditional dish Fiambre as well (which is basically a bowl full of cold cuts, sausages and pickled vegetables). We both really like the kite tradition and the idea that kites somehow communicate with deceased loved ones. Oh, we also learned that the tails on the kites are there to keep the bad spirits at bay so that the good spirits can enjoy the messages on the kites. So that is how Day of the Dead is celebrated in just one town. Next year we are hoping to go to Huehue where they have the drunken horse race...stay tuned.

First Family Visit!!!

My parents and brother recently came to visit, which of course led to pictures in front of volcanoes and cross dressing. The pictures are in no way sequential, but I will do my best to explain them all... This first picture is when they arrived and we stayed at the Earthlodge overlooking Antigua.

We stayed a few nights at Lake Atitlan and were there for Halloween. Hence the display of man thigh and farmer tans. We even were brave enough to jump in the water. Liz was the first followed by Travis and finally by me...it was short lived buy very refreshing. One day we went to a nature reserve and went zip lining. These were our guides, very happy that we didn't do anything stupid (aside from almost getting bitten by a deadly tree snake that can fly...true story).

This is liz mid flight. I later took Dad for a ride in a Tuk Tuk. We also crossed some swinging bridges. Mom made friends with the local wildlife. We also had to take boat taxis all around the lake. This was one such taxi.

My parents fell in love with the kids in our town. We also threw a big halloween party at one of my schools complete with face painting, cookie decorating, jack o lantern design (you can't get pumpkins here, so paper was the next best thing), bobbing for apples, a spook alley and Walt explaining the origins of Halloween (which we made up shortly before he told the kids.). It was a miracle we didn't lose anyone during bobbing for apples because the kids were very committed to bobbing and less to breathing. We did have to walk the 4 kms up and back with all the stuff for the party and it was more than a little taxing. But it was all worth it in the end.

Mom and Dad also learned how to make their own tortillas, which is a part of daily life here. Below was our dance class with Mom and Dad demonstrating what it looks like when a man holds hands with a woman...a very rare sight here, much rarer is when they dance together...we did get them to do the Macarena though.

We had a fun first night in our village complete with a photo shoot with our favorite kids followed up by some basketball.

Only in Guatemala could the Price brothers be considered "really good" at basketball.

We did pass through the highest point of the Interamerican Highway, named Alaska.

It was hard to relax on this vacation, but everyone did their best.

We went to the macadamia plantation and sorted nuts (of course Walt made a new business partner here as well). We walked around Antigua and the Parents bought some of the local handicrafts. Again, Walt agreed on a price for something and then couldn't help but pay her much more because "its so beautiful, I just have to give her more." We also had to ride in trucks quite a bit. All in all it was a great time. Can't wait for the next round of visitors!