3.23.08 Semana Santa

As if I didn’t already have enough things to love about living in Latin America, I now have another one: Semana Santa. Basically the entire country shuts down for 5 days [usually 7 actually] and everyone just rests, hangs out, goes swimming and participates in cultural activities leading up to Easter Sunday.

Wednesday we had our aforementioned Dia Cultural which was a lot of fun, despite a bit of technical difficulties and the lack of a dance group that we thought was going to come. We got to eat yummy Honduran food and spend time with our families, sharing a bit of US Culture with them and for that I was grateful. The group living in Yarumela watched “Juno” that afternoon which I highly recommend, it was adorable!

Thursday morning I spent at home, practicing yoga and relaxing. Then that afternoon Sarah and her host brothers [Alexander, Ariel y Edwin] took some of us to the ‘ruinas’ that are on the other side of the highway from Yarumela. It is basically just a stone hill that nobody has really taken care of so while it wasn’t Machu Picchu, it was still interesting to see. They are actually Lenca ruins which is an indigenous group from Honduras so that was cool. We goofed around on the top and the others took silly pictures and then we had a dance party on Sarah’s family’s bus…it was fun. We played volleyball/basketball/futbol that night which is always a good time.

Friday morning I got up at 5 am and went to Comayagua with all the PCT’s and Sarah’s brothers in the family bus. So in Comayagua and other larger cities in Honduras [and Latin America] people stay up all night making alfombras [rugs is the literal translation] on the streets. They are basically iconic art made out of colored sand, but really big. And they are amazing. Then around 10 am, the procession walks over the alfombras and they get destroyed and most people think of it as their sacrifice to God/Jesus. It was such a fascinating experience being there, there were lots of gringos and other foreigners there which was pretty crazy. I even pretended to not speak English when some guy asked me a question. Haha. I spent a lot of the day talking with our 3 Honduran escorts, all of who are super buena onda. I’m really looking forward to having more Honduran friends and feeling really integrated…I had such a wonderful time doing that in Chile and I’m anxious to do it again. We finally headed back to Yarumela after lunch at Pizza Hut of all places to watch I Am Legend, which was pretty entertaining.

Saturday a group of us went to La Paz to Internet and ended up hanging out at the house of 2 PCV’s that live in La Paz, which was fun. Then that night my brother Samuel and I went to Comayagua to have a drink and hang out. Because it was Semana Santa, a lot of places were closed so we ended up drinking a beer while sitting on the trunk of his car in a StarMart parking lot. [Note: this is –definitely- legal, there were even tables and chairs outside where lots of other Hondurans were sitting drinking and there were cops everywhere as always] We had a great time, my brother is super cool and laid back, he told me that I –must- come spend a weekend with him at his house in Santa Cruz which is about 2 hours away from here, I’m looking forward to it!

Sunday was pretty laid back. Samuel and I headed back to Comayagua to see a marching band procession which was interesting. I spent the rest of the day at my house, having visitors over and finally in the afternoon Josue and Karen came back from Tegus which I was ecstatic about. I missed them so much! We played Go Fish and danced to music and they told me all about their week.

All in all, an awesome week. I vote for Semana Santa as an official holiday in the US.