Host family

This is the fourth host family that I´ve stayed with over the past several years and things have been going well thus far. I had an interesting experience with my Peruvian host family, mostly with my host mother who seemed to be running more of a business rather than providing a home. Also, it was my first experience with hot water being heated by electrical wires coming out of the shower head.

This prepared me for the electrical rigging of my current shower, but this one is a bit more tricky. When the water is turned on, which is only during the day, and off after 17:00, and I turn the shower on, the ¨heating¨machine makes a loud rough noise. In order to maximize the hot water, I have to turn the dial just right, so that I elicit the loudest noise possible. If I hear the noise dying out, it means that there´s cold water acoming, which is painful, when its surprisingly cold here. Since we are at a pretty high altitude, the weather is relatively cold in the mornings and evening. I realize its nothing compared to the winters in the NE, but there´s no insulation or heating here, so I´m usually wearing jeans and a sweater most of the day.

My host family has been great so far. There is Amanda, with her daughter Karen, and her grandson, Luis. There is also another Guatemalan student living there, who is studying law. Amanda´s son also lives nearby and she babysits her 4 year old grandaugther Wed-Fri who looks like the little girl from Monsters INC, so adorable. The other night, we watched ¨El Patito feo y yo¨ which means ¨The Ugly Duckling and Me.¨ A cute story, about a rat who inadvertently ¨adopts¨the ugly duckling and raises him.

I was placed with this family because Amanda has had a whole bunch of vegetarians, and she is quite the cook. Although, the meals tend to be carb overloaded with rice, beans, tortillas, bread, pastas, but I can´t complain because its all good and I get my full servings of vegetables.

Romero and Sunday

Last evening, the Spanish school that Im enrolled in, Miguel Angel Asturias, showed the movie ¨Romero.¨ Its a film that I´ve seen a few times, and wanted to remind myself again about this extraordinary man´s life.

Raul Julia, of Street Fighter fame, plays Archbishop Oscar Romero, a prominent figure in El Salvador in the late 70s. Before he was elected to Archbishop, he had been a relatively quiet, passive figure in the church, which was he was placed in a leadership position. He superiors thought that he would not ¨cause any waves.¨

At this time in El Salvador, there was a great deal of turmoil and the poor were suffering. Some priests advocated for economic justice for the poor and that these people should not have to wait for heaven for salvation, but that salvation can be found on Earth. These priests were labeled as communists and the military and government tortured, kidnapped, and killed many of the people who were speaking out and organizing the masses.

Romero eventually saw the reality of the situation and began to use his influence to speak out on behalf of the poor. The once passive priest was transformed into an active, vocal, and impassioned man. This is a person that I admire and respect, who has been a huge influence on me. One of his quotes has stayed with me ever since I heard it, ¨Be a voice for the voiceless.¨

In the United States, its easy to forget that the Catholic church exists, but like most countries in Latin and South America, the Catholic church in Guatemala has a prominent presence. Most of the pueblos and cities have main plazas where there is a church and its interesting because many of the Mayan beliefs and artificats have merged into Catholic traditions here.

This past Sunday, I was wondering the streets of Xela, when I happened upon a huge procession, with about 50 people carrying a huge casked with Jesus on top, carrying a wooden cross. Here are some pictures.