The Devil on a Bicycle

Chicken Bus!

Sunday I took my first ride on the chicken bus into Antigua! It was uneventful (phew!) and inexpensive (Q2.5 = $0.31). Hannah’s daughter was convinced I could get everything on my Christmas shopping list and I thought she was bonkers! I ate my words though because a few hours later I had bought everything for my entire family and all my friends for just over $200. Even without the bartering, I would have spent so much more in Canada on gifts of lower quality and less personal meaning. One particularly interesting item I found is a leather wall hanging that was made with pyrography, which means "writing with fire" and is the traditional art of using a heated tip or wire to burn designs onto natural materials like leather. Burning can be done by means of a modern solid-point tool or hot wire tool, or a more basic method using a metal implement heated in a fire, or even concentrated sunlight.

Leather wall hanging (Mayan god of medicine and health)

Wall of tradition clothes and masks used in dances during festivals

Busking...Antigua style!

Enough about shopping, let’s talk about ol’ el Diablo! Tuesday was quema del Diablo (burning of the Devil) and I am so glad I was there in Antigua to see it! Each year in Guatemala, communities get together for a big fiesta with convites (allegorical parades with floats) that vary from religious to cultural and sport themes. The parade in Ciudad Vieja was very fun with elaborate floats, people dressed in crazy costumes and lots of venders selling super sweet Guatemalan treats (helados (ice cream), algodón de azúcar (cotton candy), melcocha (sugary/molasses type candy) and lots of toys.

Virgen de la concepcion float

Cuties dressed as pirates!

Little ones dressed up for an environmental preservation float

Seven dwarfs...lacking a snow white, but I'm ok with it!

A float depicting several of the occupations in town (cafe finca, barber, tortilleria, stone mason, etc)

Some one dressed up in crazy costume..have yet to figure out what he represents!

Later in the day (6pm) everyone gathered in Antigua to burn an effigy of el Diablo after reading his will. This year, he was riding a bicycle. Why? No clue, but I liked it! The actual burning of the Devil only took a short while, after there was music, dancing and venders offering lots of delicious food! I had some elote asado (roasted corn on the cob) and buñuelos (fried breads in a sweet syrup that tasted faintly of licorice). Aside from burning el Diablo, families collect garbage in front of their house and burn the pile on December 7^th every year. I heard that children take it upon themselves to collect the biggest pile as a sort of contest. I don’t want to know what the prize is!

Burn baby, burn!

And...there goes his torso and head! (see flaming pile on bottom left)

Tasty treats

Roasted corn on the cob with salt and lemon! Mmmm!

Tuesday night it was as if the volcan (volcano) knew this was an exciting time of year, because it was making a ton of noise overnight! I’m not sure if it was Fuego or Agua, but one of them was belching all night long. I wanted to make an audio recording of it, but I was honestly too scared of the horrendous noise to go out on the clinic patio at 3am by myself. Make fun if you like, but I would like to see you do it! If I were to describe the noise, I would say it was like a car backfiring but 1000x louder. It shook my bed and although I knew exactly what it was, my heart was racing. Naturally I was a bit sluggish for my Spanish lesson the following morning!

December 8^th is when Ciudad Vieja celebrates the Virgin Patron’s day. It is called Dia de la Virgen de La Concepcion and the amount of fireworks was staggering. I guess there are these wooden ‘globes’ on posts called granadas and they are stuffed with fireworks and colorful decorations before being blown to bits. Aside from fireworks, there was also traditional dances starting around 2pm. I read about the ‘Dance of the 24 Devils’ that is a satiric dance meant to depict good and evil with men dressed as women, death and even monkeys. The purpose of the dance is to ask the Virgin for her blessing but it also touches on daily issues and political topics. Some other dances are the ‘Dance of the Seven Vices and Seven Virtues’, ‘Loas’ and ‘Baile de los Moros y Cristianos’. Most include characters like the devil as well as virtuous figures.

Can't take credit for this shot of of one the traditional dances

Shot of the granadas (bundles of fireworks on decorated globes) I found in a magazine

Late in the afternoon I was having a little siesta (nap time!) when I got the long awaited call from Hannah….another birth! Unfortunately she also informed me that the woman that came into the clinic with light contractions had her birth high-jacked by a controlling family member and was taken to a private hospital! I was upset to hear that things did not go as we had hoped, but there was not much time to dwell on it since that evening I was off to another birth! We left for the city around 7:45pm and by 9:15pm mother and baby girl were resting in bed. At 7:15pm Hannah had been told that she was dilated to 4cm and when we arrived at 7:45pm she was at 5cm, that was some very efficient cervical effacement! This baby had been given a weak biophysical profile (heart tones, muscle tone, size, respiratory movements, amniotic fluid levels) so everyone was prepared for a ‘delicate’ birth. Also, it was thought that this baby was at 42 weeks so membranes were stripped the previous day and ¼ dose cytotec (misoprostol) had been administered to encourage strong contractions. Once Hannah looked at the baby’s feet, she knew she was only 38 weeks as only two thirds of the sole was wrinkly. I am definitely learning to expect the unexpected!

Yay another birth!

Beautiful baby girl!

More births to come soon!