6 March, 2019
My teacher, Rosa, took me on a field trip today to a nearby town called San Felipe. It is the Lent season, and in Guatemala, that means processions. (Disclaimer: most of the information is filtered through my very limited understanding of Spanish, so if you want factual details, please look them up.)
Here we are setting off on the bus (camioneta). Not a get photo, but you get the idea. Inside, it's a refurbished school bus.
This celebration was taking place at the church of San Felipe de Jesus. Most are on weekends, but it is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of the processions.
Prior to and during a procession, artistic offerings are made, and candles (velas) are lit. A typical example is the carpet (alfombra) of flowers or other colored materials. It is surrounded by artistically arranged offerings of fruits and vegetables. (And bread alligators. And pizza.)
It was around 8:30 in the morning and things were just beginning. The candles around the sides of the alfombra were lit. Them the congregation, which had been trickling into the poured at the back of the sanctuary, began to sing.
At the side of the church (the apse?) was a display of finery from prior years.
I was told the name of this flowering part of a plant, but forgot it. It it used to make the flower carpets, or, if not available, sawdust is substituted.
Nearby was a very small market (mercado), where I bought a pretty Guatemalan woven fabric shoulder bag to carry my schoolbooks.
After that, we walked down the road a ways. We passed a coffee plantation (finca), but we didn't enter for a tour. I hope to visit coffee and cocoa plantations at some point.
Heading onward down the road toward the next town, Jocotenango.
I entered a tiny wood shop called The Apple Factory (Fabrica de Manzanas), and at the back was the store area, a little room chock fill flour to ceiling with all kinds of carved wooden items, from apples to puzzle boxes, crosses to serving platters. My favorites were some platters and bowls that still had the shape of the branches they were carved from.
We came to another church in Jocotenango, the Templo de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, which was built in the 1600's, replacing an older one.
Interestingly, if I understood the docent right, the new church was never finished due to lack of funds, so the far end of the church, which never got a roof, has fallen to ruin.
Here is the chapel on the other side of the church.
In front was an open paved area where a lit odd kids were playing, and beyond that, trees and a very old fountain.
Beyond the fountain you can see our ride home, a plain Blue Bird school bus with little embellishment.
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