May 27-30, 2013: Celebración de Corpus Christi

Market purchases: tomatoes, apples, peppers, cucumber, carrots, green beans, and leafy greens

The tortillas I make in the U.S. are pathetic, tasteless specimens compared to the amazing tortillas made from fresh masa here.

I used to make my own refried beans with my famous hand blender, but here we have been eating these frijoles volteados--delicious right from the package, with just the right amount of salt.

Jolie is a recent transplant from Michigan and the mother of one of Ava's fellow students at PCI.


This week marks the celebration of Corpus Christi.  Like many holidays in Guatemala, there is a blend of Christian and traditional Maya traditions.  This celebration involves dancers, generally male, called los Negritos.  They are dressed in masks and costumes as women, lions, tigers, and other disguises.  From what I've been told, they alternately dance and drink alcohol, and the festivities become progressively wilder as the afternoon and evening go on, sometimes involving injuries and inappropriate touching of observers.

My Spanish teacher, José, gets his shoes shined while we watch the dancers.

Panajachel's queens for the festival

Three women observe the activities.