Navidad

One great tradition here is tamales on Christmas Eve and Christmas. They are different than Mexican tamales because they are softer and have a red sauce inside, but still delicious. Tuesday night began the laborious process of making the mixture and stirring it over the stove. We started at 11 pm and finished about 1 am. Then in the morning the following day, the women lug the pot upstairs to cook over fire. Once finished, they wrap them in banana leaves. Rosario sells some too. She made about 150.

Like Bingo, the Guatemalans go all out for Christmas Eve. Saira kept saying how wonderful it is, blah blah blah and I couldn´t see why because we didn´t do anything out of the ordinary. I accompanied her and her man to San Antonio to drop off a gift and saw an elaborate nativity scene at a monastery, but then we returned home to hang out. So I was surprised when the events started happening. First off, at about 5 pm, a character parade of what you might see at Six Flags came to the neighbors house. There were all types, about 30 or so. A truck with maybe five loud speakers strapped to the back, pulled ahead and blared merengue as the costumed people danced in lines up and down the street. Kids came from all over. I couldn´t stop laughing, it was such a wonderful event! Then a band with a nativity set on their shoulders came up the street and played Christmas songs. Neighbors dropped by all night to buy tamales and to rummage through the Mexican clothes Rosario sells or to drop off a basket of treats.

When I thought the festivities were over, I fell asleep at 10, exhausted from the previous night of tamale making and dancing with the characters in the street. I was awakened at 11:40 with booms of fire works and Rosario calling out to me:"Chesly!" I climbed the roof to see in a 180· view fire works in every direction, in every color - one of the most spectacular events I have witnessed. This went on until 12:15 when a layer of smoke covered San Felipe, Guayano and Jocotenango. Then we opened gifts. I got a lovely, lowcut Styles For Less-like dress, a wallet and a scarf. The biggest hit was the Spanish Scrabble game, thanks to Estevan, which we played right away.

The firework noise still continues on...