Good news and big kites and cerro de la cruz - Oh My!

If my week was a newspaper, the headline would read NATALY AND KEILA PASS THEIR GRADES!!!  This was the best news I received all week.  Nataly and Keila are the sisters I have been working on math with for the past two months…and I found out this week that they passed their exams and their grades – they are moving on!  WHOOT!!  I am so proud of them and happy for them!!  It is very nice to see successes like this to see that the work we are doing is doing something. :)

This week seemed particularly busy in the office…I had (still have) many things to be doing, several colleagues had personal days throughout the week so there were less of us in the office, and when the youth were there – there seemed to be a lot of them or at least many who needed personal attention (with homework or prepping the snack or something).  Therefore, the time went VERY fast and I was pretty tired once 5:00 rolled around (more like 5:10…5:15…5:20…) It was hard to get out of work on time because of how fast the time went and all the little things that were going on.

Thursday was Día de los Santos (All Saints Day) which is a bigger deal here then Halloween.  We had work off.  The tradition here is to go to the cemetery to visit those in your family who have died (bring flowers, pray, etc.) and then to also fly kites.  The tradition behind flying kites is to be closer to those who are in heaven.  Well, beyond just flying the usual kites, there are also kite festivals in some areas where huge kites are made and presented.  Every kite is very detailed, made completely of tissue paper, and has a message or story behind it.  Some of these large kites are even flown a few days after the presentation!  I was able to go to one of these kite festivals in a town called Sumpango with some friends.  We left Antigua at 6:30am (Sumpango is about 30-40 minutes away) so that we could see the kites being put up and even help pull them up!  There were all different sizes…they start by putting up the smaller of the kites first and work their way back to the largest.  I was super impressed by the beginning kites, not evening knowing what was in store as we kept moving back.  The detail in the kites was incredible!!  They can work on these kites anywhere from 1 month to 1 year!  The largest kite there was 20 or 22 meters in diameter – the largest in history!  Incredible.  I helped pull up one kite and watched many others be put up…very impressive!  Many of the themes/messages of the kites included protecting/maintaining the tradition and culture of the native people (Mayan), life and death, and protecting nature.

On Saturday we were off site with the youth.  We climbed up to El cerro de la cruz (The hill of the cross) that is in Antigua to fly kites.  It was actually Jovita who met the youth in Antigua and climbed up as I met earlier onsite with the leaders who were in charge of the snack that day.  We had to stop and buy bags of water (these are pouches filled with purified water…cheaper than bottled water…you just rip open a corner and drink out of the bag).  We were gifted with a ride up the hill (it’s quite a hike) by one of the drivers from Common Hope since we had all the snacks for the youth (juice boxes, bananas, and wafer cookies).  At el cerro de la cruz we had a kite flying contest, ate the snack, enjoyed the view and outdoors, and ended with some soccer games (as per usual on Saturdays).  It was an enjoyable morning into the early afternoon.  Though, I do have to say…it was quite interesting to step back and look at the situation…40-50 youth with just two adults (Jovita and I) climbing up and hanging out on this “hill” (VERY large hill) and then hiking back down.  We expect the youth to be responsible for themselves and put a lot of trust into our youth leaders to help ensure everything goes well.  When I was talking to Jovita about this and how this set-up would probably never fly in the U.S., she told me how it’s very common for the children here to go off on their own without their parents.  Therefore, they are use to not having as much adult supervision and needing to be responsible for themselves.  She said that if there is an activity where there are a lot of adults, they tend to be uncomfortable because they are not use to it.

Well, this week begins Pre-básico classes, which means I will be working Monday-Saturday (instead of having Monday off)…busy busy, but good stuff.  Send prayers for lots of energy! :)

Guillermo, Andy and I in front of one of the first kites to go up in Sumpango!

Look at that detail!!

We helped to pull up this kite - so we had to get in on the picture with the guys who put it up! :)

The biggest one: 20-22 meteres in diameter

There were some small children flying kites - SO CUTE. This little boy is a little bummed that his is not in the air...

A view of all the kites - so amazing!

The view of volcan agua from el cerro de la cruz

Jovita and I with two of the liders - we all wore our shirts from the fogata that day



Most of the youth with us that day...not everyone wanted to be in the pic



Just another day at the market :) I LOVE this moment when I get everything washed up and lay it out...makes all the walking and time worth it.