Thursday, January 26, 2012
San Simon
San Simon likes cigarettes, beer, rum, and pictures of sexy women. People bring these to him and light candles for wishes. I'm told people actually "share" booze and cigarettes with him. You'll see in the picture that there is a lit cigarette in his mouth. He looks oddly like Michael Jackson.
Glass blowing
Today we went on an outing with the school to a glass-blowing co-op, followed by a hike to another town. There we saw San Simon, an unusual saint/idol who is worshiped by some Guatemalans in specific town. Supposedly he basically keeps these town safe and prosperous. We'll get to more on him in the next post. After that we went to a natural sauna.
Here are pics from the glass blowing coop. I'm told these men previously worked in a glass blowing factory in Chile but they weren't treated or paid well. So they decided to open a coop in their own town. Now it is entirely owned and run by the artists themselves, who are all indigenous Mayan men who live in the town. They ship their glass all over the world. They use recycled glass to make all of their wares.
Here are pics from the glass blowing coop. I'm told these men previously worked in a glass blowing factory in Chile but they weren't treated or paid well. So they decided to open a coop in their own town. Now it is entirely owned and run by the artists themselves, who are all indigenous Mayan men who live in the town. They ship their glass all over the world. They use recycled glass to make all of their wares.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Fotografias de la clinica mobil
Today we had "mobile clinic," where we actually went and did a clinic out in the community. This one was at the house/clinic of Dona Anna, a local midwife who delivers pretty much every baby in her town of mostly indigenous Mayans.
Unfortunately, the Blogger app that I have right now will only let me post picture en masse (rather than one at a time so I can write a little about each one). If anyone knows of a better one, please let me know! Anyway, the last picture is of a sauna, which Mayan women will traditionally use sometimes when they're pregnant and definitely following delivery to cleanse themselves. I'm told this tradition dates back a very long time. The first picture is of the beautiful, colorful, hand-woven and embroidered clothing that the indigenous women wear. The blouse is called a huipil. The skirt is a large amount of very warm, tightly woven fabric that is tight at the waist with a belt. They often wear a colorful apron over this.
The pieces of cloth on the head are to keep sun out and to pad things that are carried on the head. I found out that the reason for head-carrying is that it allows you to carry things that are too heavy to carry with your arms or back alone. Before placing something on their heads, indigenous women will twist the fabric and coil it on their heads as a padding.
Unfortunately, the Blogger app that I have right now will only let me post picture en masse (rather than one at a time so I can write a little about each one). If anyone knows of a better one, please let me know! Anyway, the last picture is of a sauna, which Mayan women will traditionally use sometimes when they're pregnant and definitely following delivery to cleanse themselves. I'm told this tradition dates back a very long time. The first picture is of the beautiful, colorful, hand-woven and embroidered clothing that the indigenous women wear. The blouse is called a huipil. The skirt is a large amount of very warm, tightly woven fabric that is tight at the waist with a belt. They often wear a colorful apron over this.
The pieces of cloth on the head are to keep sun out and to pad things that are carried on the head. I found out that the reason for head-carrying is that it allows you to carry things that are too heavy to carry with your arms or back alone. Before placing something on their heads, indigenous women will twist the fabric and coil it on their heads as a padding.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Antigua, day 2
You can see one of the volcanoes (the dormant one) in the background of the first picture
El desayuno tipico
The "typical" breakfast of the Guatemala region: huevos (eggs), frijoles (beans), queso (cheese), and plantanos (plantains, not pictured).
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Antigua Day 1
Antigua is famous for numerous beautiful old churches and convents that date back to the days of Spanish conquest. Antigua also has volcanoes nearby and has had several earthquakes in its history, so many of these old buildings are at least partially in ruins.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)