March 7

Once again we slept in and had to scramble to get ready to hit the highway, so that we could get to church on time. Both Fuego and Acatenango were in rare form, so I decided to show them separately. First, here's Fuego

and here's Acatenango.

I'm going to really miss these volcanoes when we leave Guatemala.

Afterwards, we planned to go into Guatemala City to check out Hiper Paiz and the shopping center on the other side of the highway that we had been told about. First, however, we were going to Ciudad Vieja to go to the 11:00 a.m. Mass. Here's a view towards Volcan Agua down the main street in Ciudad Vieja.


Here's a side view of the cathedral with the parish offices, classrooms and rectory to the right.


We had a few minutes to spare and walked around the plaza dedicated to the Immaculate Conception,

which is next to the cathedral. I had read that the only thing remaining of the original capital was a tree and assume that this is it, as it's the largest tree in the plaza.


It was about 10:50 a.m. when we walked into the Old Cathedral in Ciudad Vieja. To the right of the entrance is a plaque commemorating the fact that Ciudad Vieja was the first capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala.

I found this strange, as everything I've read mentioned that Ciudad Vieja was the second capital of Guatemala.

As we entered the church, we found a pew near the front and waited for Mass to start. While we were waiting, a priest came down the side aisle and stopped to ask us where we were from. We told him and he told us that his name was Father Bernardo (actually Bernard) and that he was in residence here for six months learning Spanish. He's a priest of the Archdiocese of Toronto in Canada. He mentioned that after Mass on Sunday, he goes into La Antigua for lunch. We asked if we could join him and he readily agreed.

Mass was much like our first Sunday attending church here. There was a loud choral group in the choir loft, fourteen altar servers, four lectors, six eucharistic ministers and a church packed to overflowing. In fact, later we discovered that there was an actual overflow area in the parish center (a large patio adjacent to the church) next to the church.

At the end of Mass, while most of the altar servers, lectors and eucharistic ministers process out, Father Bernard, like every priest I've ever known, enjoyed sprinkling the congregation with holy water. Note, there was not the mass exodus we often see towards the end of Mass in the United States. Unlike Father Patrick, our Pastor back at St. John and Paul Catholic Church in Burlington, Father Bernard and the other priests at the CV Cathedral don't use a dinky aspergillum or similar object, they use one-liter squeeze bottles and have two altar servers accompany them with back-up bottles.

Once he had finished dampening the congregation, Father Bernard came back to see us and told us that he needed about 10 minutes to get ready to go. While waiting, I took this photo of the main altar

and this one of the back of the church with the choir loft.

I wonder if they would be open to hosting a visit by the world famous St. Paul's Choir from Burlington, Iowa.

When Father Bernard returned, he told us that another priest, Father Andre, would be joining us and, who, it turned out, had a car for us to ride in.

We walked through the rectory, which has an open design (very chilly, according to Father Bernard) and entered the garage, where Father Andre's care was parked. After meeting Father Andre, who appeared to be Asian, we discovered that both priests were from Korea. Father Andre had been in Guatemala for two years learning Spanish, which he speaks fluently with a sing-song Korean accent. Just recently, his bishop has been talking to the bishop of the Birmingham, Alabama diocese about Father Andre going there to work with Latinos. Nothing is definite, but he's hoping things work out. That Father Bernard was Korean surprised us, as we assumed that he was of Latin American ancestry.

For lunch, we went to a restaurant in La Antigua called “Las Antorches” (The Torches). This wasn't a cheap restaurant by any standards, but was the food ever good! All four of us had the house special (Q125 - $15), which was a huge vertical shish-ka-bob (tender beef, tomato, bell pepper, and onions), a salad, a mound of rice with mushroom gravy and a plate of papas fritas (sounds better than french fries). Everything came on a wrought iron stand with the salad and fries suspended with the shish-ka-bob hanging between. I wasn't thinking or I would have taken a picture. To correct his omission, Linda and I will return to this restaurant and force ourselves to share one of these masterpieces. It's really enough food for two. This time I promise I'll take a picture so that you can see what it really looks like. By the way, the final bill for our foursome was about Q650 ($80.00), which I paid. You'll find out later why this turned out to be a good decision on my part. Unfortunately, the food was do good that I neglected to take any pictures of it or the restaurant.

Following lunch, Father Andre drove us to the south side of La Antigua to a plant nursery that also had a cafe. We first explored the many flowering plants in the nursery. Here are a few of the ones that I took.





Afterwards, the priests and Linda had café (coffee), while I had chocolate con leche (hot chocolate).

After consulting the map and schedule for the Sunday Lenten procession, we returned to Father Andre's car and headed back towards the center of La Antigua to find a parking place. Once parked, we walked towards where the procession would be heading. These are serious processions. They start around 11:30 a.m. and don't end until about 11:30 p.m. They are what you might call an “industrial strength” version of the Stations of the Cross. As with previous processions, there were alfombras (rugs) placed in the street made of pine needles, flowers and saw dust.


Just before the procession started, I managed to take a picture of Linda with Fathers Bernard (one the right)and Andre (on the left).

I have no idea who the strange guy in the back is.

The procession begins with a fanfare by Roman soldiers, incense, and stations of the cross on poles. All ages participate.










The main platform this evening required 50 men to carry it. We were standing at a corner where they needed to make a turn and it was quite a process to see.






Following the main barge were people also taking part in the procession and a band, which provided appropriate music.


There are also smaller platforms carried by women, with the help of some men, that required fewer people.






Following the two larger barges, were several statues on smaller platforms. They were followed by the second band of the procession.


Once the procession had passed, we hurried back to the car and the priests graciously delivered us to our apartment. Before they left, they invited us to be their guest for lunch next Sunday in La Antigua.

Once back a the apartment, we decided to skip supper, since we were still stuffed from lunch. Instead, we had pop-corn, which was sufficient after the heavy lunch.

About this time I began looking for my wallet. Eventually, it dawned on me that I didn't have it. I had been the victim of a pick-pocket. As I think back, I remember that a small woman was standing with us on the side of my body where I kept my wallet (right front pocket). She must have lifted it while I was admiring the Lenten procession.

Making toll-free calls from here is difficult with my level of Spanish, so I called Susan in Houston to get her to help me get my debit card cancelled. Unfortunately, Susan was sick herself, as was Scott. They think that Max, our six year old grandson, brought something home from school. He had been home sick himself, not long before they contracted it. Susan suggested that I call Robyn, which I did and Robyn called Shazam to cancel our card.

At this time, I wasn't too concerned. I had lost about Q500 ($60.00), which I will consider tuition in the school of smart living in Guatemala. I also lost my debit card, my drivers license (soon to expire, but totally unneeded here), and my three medical cards. Fortunately, we have three other debit cards with us and Linda has duplicate copies of our medical cards, should we need them. As for my drivers license, I'll need to renew it when I get back to Iowa anyway.

Update: When I was again able to check my First Federal account information on-line, I discovered that the thief had used my card to charge about $400 in Guatemala City. After contacting my banker back in Iowa, I've been assured that these charges will be dropped from my account.