This week is what Latin America calls Semana Santa. It is the week between Palm Sunday and Easter, and there are lots of activities going on around Desamparados (and the entire country) relating to the death and resurrection of Christ. Yesterday (Good Friday) I went downtown to see some of the processions that were going on around the big Catholic church. There were tons of people there, watching or participating in the "parade" with the giant Mary statue and some other statues of people we weren't quite sure who they were. Perhaps Peter since it seemed like he was holding a ring of keys. There was also a statue of Jesus holding the cross on his back. There were children walking in the parade that looked like Roman soldiers, people waving bags of incense, young girls dressed in long flowy outfits, and many people carrying the statues on their shoulders. It was interesting to see how serious everyone was in the procession, and it made me kind of sad at the same time. Below is a picture of my friend Rebecca and I at the procession enjoying copas, which are sickeningly sweet snow cones. Refreshing on a hot morning.
The thing about Semana Santa is that many businesses are shut down around here, as well as most people make a mass exodus for the beach, their relatives' home, etc. My host family took off for the second half of the week, and to be honest, I've really enjoyed the quiet house to myself! I've been realizing that it is a really big deal to go from being pretty independent with my own car, room, bathroom, schedule, cooking for myself, doing my own laundry, etc. Here I have none of those things, besides my own room, and that's been difficult! My value of having independent time has been challenged to say the least.
This morning I went out exploring with my friend (and future roommate) Cailah and her brother. There is a mountain behind her house that is full of coffee plants, bamboo forests, and many other types of flora and fauna. It was a really fun adventure that we went on and I look forward to returning to the "jungle" behind my future home. Here are some photos from our morning:
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| Coffee plants growing |
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| Looking out over Los Guido and the valley |
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| Cailah and me (with lots of sunscreen and bug spray!) |
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| Walking through the bamboo forest, with my trusty water bottle of course! |
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| Cailah swinging from a long, sturdy vine. |
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