IT'S A HAPPENING PLACE, Y'ALL

Holy Week procession seen from roof of the hotel

For good and for bad, Guatemala is a happening place, y'all.

Guatemala has been selected as the site for the World Coffee Conference 2010, with over 77 countries participating in this event. This one is a biggie.

Also in town these days, a traveling exhibit of a collection of Picasso portrait drawings. I haven't yet seen it, but will this week, when I visit the National Museum of Modern Art.

Guatemala has also been selected for the International Sculpture Festival, which takes place at the National Museum of Modern Art until March 14th. From what I understand, all artists could select the material they preferred from Guatemala's marble quarries which by the way, just found out that Guatemala produces very good marble! Who knew?

One of Picasso's pieces on exhibit

Now this one is really cool because a dozen awarded international artists will be creating sculptures during this time, open to the public. I read that thousands of visitors are expected. They will also provide free sculpture workshops. I will most definitely drop by this event! Pictures coming soon.

Façade of Museum of Modern Art

Another interesting piece of news here is that (finally!) a commission has been established for the purposes of searching for the thousands of "disappeared" during the years of the dirty war.

Anthropological work has begun at the cemeteries, in the common graves where all unidentified dead were (and still are) buried as "XX". The work will take anywhere from 8 months to a year, and they will search all burials from the late 1970s to mid 1980s, the most active years of the war.

This, as well as the amazing work being done at the archives of the National Police Archives Project, supported by international organizations and the U.N., should provide some fascinating results in the years to come. I just hope that families who had loved ones disappear might find some closure after all these years.

Regardless of where anybody may sit in the ideological spectrum, I cannot imagine a grief akin to having a loved one disappear and never knowing what happened to him or her. I doubt anything more than closure for some will come out of this. By the way, you can read up on the Guatemalan National Police Archive Project by clicking here.

National Police Archives

So there is progress on that side, but on the other side, former President Portillo, who had been incarcerated for laundering millions of dollars from the national wallet and is supposedly awaiting extradition to the US, has been moved to the Military Hospital--of all places!--due to "chest pains" or some generic ailment of the sort, despite the fact that doctors cannot provide any sort of diagnosis or documentation to ascertain that there is, indeed, real cause for the man to be hospitalized outside of the prison system hospital.

Moreover, I read somewhere that doctors sent by the Justice Department found nothing wrong with the man. Oh surprise. Still, he remains hospitalized. And out of prison.

My guess is that he'll just settle for a life of comfort at the hospital until all the brouhaha blows away--or till he can safely abscond. The justice system in Guatemala tends to be--how can I put this?--a travesty? A joke? If you want to brush up on the saga, click here.

wedding party dancers

The weekend before last we were invited to a wedding party, which started at noon at a beautiful hotel and when we left 10 hours later, the party was still going on. The endless supply of food and music never stopped and I am still amazed that the dancing never stopped, not for 10 hours! WOW. This almost tops the New Years' party I went to some time ago, here as well, which lasted 3 days, non-stop. Guatemalans party, y'all!

wedding party

And no, I am not a party animal nor anything of the sort. It just so happens that I go to these parties and then they never end. I don't want to be unpolite and leave too early. Hence ...

Friday night went out to Bar Central, "the" happening bar in downtown, and was talking to Cody, from the University of Arizona, who is doing his doctoral dissertation research, on Nicaraguan history, at the historic archives of Archivos Generales de Centroamérica half a block away from us. All original documents for colonial Nicaragua are housed there. He explained that his interest in Nicaragua started on some vacation visit to the beaches there.

Yes. That's how doctoral dissertations get started. I wrote a thesis on Guatemalan and Honduran politics because I wanted a reason to be traveling around the area. Had heard you could bump into a 3-day party 'round here ...

Bar Central

Just so you know, this is my one claim to fame: I go so often to Bar Central and rave about the nachos so much, that the owners, when publishing their new re-vamped menu, named their nachos "Nachos Trudy" in my honor. Yep, you know it, that one is definitely going on my epitaph! One of the things I like of the place is its mix of neighborhood bar with European expat and artsy Bohemian crowd. It has got a bit of all.

Anyhow, I really wanted to talk about the music. The band was Guatemalan reggae and the crowd seemed to know all the songs because they wouldn't stop singing the lyrics and dancing. Lately there has been a slew of reggae bands playing all over downtown, many of them with original music.

Interesting, because the following is not widespread--Guatemala's cultural environment is extremely conservative and doesn't take easily to change (for example, a majority of people wear what was in fashion in the US like 3 years ago!)--yet, even though not quite mainstream, the following is quite intense.

I am curious to see if this reggae passion "takes" in the coming months. After all, the downtown scene is pretty much the core of artsy happenings, so it may start here and stay here, or start here and radiate. We shall see. Veremos.

Bar Central

Part of this movement is the all-female band Naik Madera. They create a catchy blend of salsa, reggae, hip-hop all with feminist lyrics. Not the stereotypical "man hating" feminist lyrics, just plain positive feminist lyrics. Though I have found that often what men deem "man hating" is just that women want to get out of being the default kitchen duty grunge.

What really surprised me at their last concert, which I happened to go see, was that there were many young men in the crowd (most seemed to be with their girlfriends, though) who were heartily cheering the band and dancing to the tunes. I like a lot of their lyrics, especially the one that goes "¿Callar mas? ¡Nunca más!" Translates (sort of) as More of being silent? Never more!

Naik Madera

Like I said, the music is catchy. Which may be why men were dancing to their feminist consciousness-raising. Plus, it isn't hostile. They are funny and lively.

The women of Naik practice what they sing, as they do a lot of stuff such as organize international art festivals for women artists and things of that nature. Their last event was a call for lyrics from women of all walks of life, especially women in service labor, peasants, even prostitutes, to contribute lyrics from their working experience, as their new CD's theme is Women and Labor. So if you know of anybody who might be interested in participating, have them contact Naik Madera! (They are on Facebook, of course!)

Here is a cool music video of Naik Madera (Watch it, watch it!!!):




Yes, I know, they do appear to be flashing the Cathedral in their promo pic.

Anyhow, it has been a busy week. I managed to go to Antigua to follow up on research archives and resources, which I shall post next time, and we had a whole week of full house--full to the gills!--with a group ordering a 3-course meals three times a day for several days, and then non-guests, who found out that there'd be food, coming to the hotel to buy meals too! Crazy, crazy busy.

Holy Week in Guatemala

Holy Week is coming up, and more crazy business to come, as thousands fall upon the historic center to visit the awesome celebrations. This year, Holy Week begins on March 28, so it's almost here ...

Thanks for dropping by, keep safe and till next post, I bid you adieu.

www.QualityGuate.com

Bed and Breakfast - Lofts - Parking

In the Historic Center of Guatemala

MY BROW DARKENETH

Me with "darkened brow"

No, this will have nothing to do with the ash-on-forehead Wednesday recently past.

These days have been very hectic. Today, had to drive to Universidad San Carlos to register for a first aid course I want to take at the medical school--and turns out the whole periférico highway loop, which takes me directly there, was closed due to thousands of protesting teachers demanding ... I don't know, whatever.

It's complex but they want more money and the government wants them to take some training before they get more money ... Guatemala is the only country in Latin America where teachers have only a secondary school degree, so that's part of the problem ... furthermore, in one of its Byzantine complications, the World Bank, as usual, has given money tied to conditions which don't necessarily help the issue ... but be it as it may, they were blocking my way!

So, forget registering for the class. Traffic hellish and me not interested in sitting in a chaotic car jam. On to the supermarket, for supplies for the inn--we have a large group of NGO people coming in for several days, and they want 3 meals a day!--and also do the shopping for home.

The supermarket--HiperPaiz, owned by Walmart--had to fit into an already tight schedule. Have I ever told you how much I hate going to the supermarket? Just for the record, I hate it. There are also Pricesmart and Clubco, both of which are like Costco in the US. But that's another story.

Encurtidos

There are two cooks here. Manuel, who cooks for the inn, and my personal cook, Catalina. And, in true concordance with local nepotist tradition, they are relatives.

Anyhow. Catalina dictated to me (she cannot write) a list of things required for her fabulous "encurtidos," which are pickled vegetables with peppers. She makes several jars every few weeks and we keep them in the fridge, eat them with everything. They look like the picture above. They can also be "red encurtidos" when you make them with beets and red cabbage, which is also very good.

Anyhow, I made the mistake of buying "the wrong" jalapeño chiles. Catalina was unhappy. Quite unhappy. There was "no way" she could make them with the chiles I bought, she insisted. I said "So, make them without the jalapeños!" I mean, really. You know?

The "right" kind of jalapeño chiles

Long story short, the tyrant prevailed, and I had to walk 4 long blocks, under the broiling sun, through the plaza, where there were thousands (thousands!) of protesters with megaphones and the ubiquitous sombreros--walk! in the heat!--to the market (mercado central) to buy the "right" jalapeños.

My brow darketh. Darkeneth? (see first picture of this post)

Don't know why there were so many protesters in the main plaza, something to do with demanding the creation of a commission to investigate the thousands of people "disappeared" during the years of the dirty war. And the teachers, too. Or something.

Protest for Peace, 2009

Just so you see it is not me being a whiner, you may appreciate, in the photo above, what a mass protest here looks like. That is of another protest at the plaza and one has to walk through thick crowds ... which, okay, I admit can be interesting and sort of gay--in the old sense of the word--what with all the street vendors (ice cream vendors, pizza vendors, cold soda vendors...) selling their wares, local and foreign journalists et al.

I mean, it's just not fun when I have a zillion other things to do and the sun is broiling hot. Deadlines for papers looming, research to do, calls to make, etc. And here I am, on an unasked for quest for the right jalapeño peppers.

Today's pan dulce

Did buy some delicious pan dulce at the gourmet bakery which just opened downstairs of us and they do this evil thing, whence they bake bread twice a day and the aroma makes it impossible to walk by and not buy. So in the afternoons I buy pan dulce, sweet bread, to have with coffee.

Still, back to darkened brows, I have always liked that Biblical phrase, that somebody's brow "darkened" because it is so simple yet so expressive. It's in the Pentateuch, somewhere. I think. It is like the word "upset," which can encompass so many meanings/feelings, all related to frustration.

Talking of religion.

Holy Week is getting close and tourists have started to make their reservations for that week. The celebrations of Holy Week in Guatemala are pretty unique worldwide and the historic center is crowded by way over a million people during those days.

Holy Week 2009, Guatemala

So, we be busy, here, we be busy ... so much so, that I missed the ballet tonight. Some members of the Russian Kirov ballet are in town for a special performance and I was hoping to make it. The Kirov Ballet in Guatemala? I just had to go!

Didn't happen. But that is okay. I got the "right" jalapeños, so alls well that ends well. Right?

I leave you with an image of the periferico (below) and for now, bid you adieu. And thanks for visiting!

www.QualityGuate.com

Hotel - Lofts - Parking

In the Historic Center of Guatemala

HOMESCHOOLING, VEGGIES AND OTHER STUFF

"pan dulce" - typical Guatemalan bread

Carrying a fever and sore throat. Plus ear ache. Can't concentrate much on my work because of the nagging headache. Find myself impatient with others. In short, I get cranky and full of bitchfulness.

View of Historic Center Street

Decided, in my feverish fog, to read blogs and some interesting discussions in Guatemalan expats blogs on different topics. One of interest was on home-schooling--there are 2 expats who home-school that I read of, but the expat I know in person send their kids to private English-speaking schools, at least in the city.

I am not for or against homeschooling in itself. To each his or her own and as long as an education is conscientious and of good quality, whatever works!

Problem is, in Guatemala public education is terrible and private education is better academically, but as one blogger argues--correctly I think--they don't do much for teaching critical thinking skills. Plus, I would add, they are very expensive and quite unaffordable for a lot of people, expats or not, especially if several kids are involved.

Central or Main Plaza facing Cathedral

I happen to know (as probably you do too) that critical thinking skills aren't taught in public schools in the US either, except in some advanced programs or private schools, and I wonder if it just isn't a generalized problem in all of the Americas. Europe and Asia seem to have a jump start on us, at least in secondary level academics.

Oh well. My kids are grown and gone and turned out all right, but we always supplemented their education with more at home. That's the problem with having a nerd mom who teaches college.

Facade, Las Gardenias

I don't know what I would recommend to expats in Guatemala re the education of their kids though. Mine were educated in the US. Don't blame anybody for choosing home-schooling, that's for sure. But it isn't for everybody.

However, people do get quite sanctimonious about the topic, no matter what side they are arguing for. Tag me as one of those people who see shades of gray instead of black and white! And who, admittedly, can be wrong on occasion. (I'm afraid I don't really believe the latter)

Las Gardenias

Damn, I'm SO glad we're at the stage where we can now actually enjoy ourselves without having to worry about kids! And that we do. Living here is, in many ways, like a bit of a honeymoon vacation.

Anyhow.

This week went to lunch with a friend to yet another vegetarian restaurant, the type where they don't use sugar, cook everything fresh and from scratch, etc. I went because I have to write a review of the place (for another blog), which is housed in a beautiful little building which is probably around 100 years old.

The place is called Las Gardenias, located in 7a Ave. in the Historic Center

My veggie dish

The food is good and well-seasoned but frankly, to me a plate full of veggies and no meat or pasta is like ... well, like a plate full of veggies with no meat nor pasta! People must like it though, because it is crowded every day, mostly by the trendy young professional crowd around.

They have 2 or 3 selections a day for around US$3, includes soup and salad, and a sugarfree fruit drink. Really pretty place, but I don't think I'm going back anytime soon.

THE curtains

I had to order curtains for a very large room which was re-designed as a conference and meeting room (several frequent clients have requested one). It used to be a loft. Now we have a nice conference room as well. But curtains and stuff were required. This is what my mom used to do. She was retired here and she managed the hotel's housekeeping stuff.

I visited several amazingly huge fabric stores--some bigger than Jo-Ann's back home in the US--and found one that makes the curtains for free if one buys the fabric there. Choosing fabric, getting measures, ordering a style--I selected the simplest possible--was excruciating. I had no idea how to go about it. But finally managed to get them all done for fabric that went for about US$2 a yard. This was for many windows. Again, the making of the curtains was free and they turned them in exactly on the date they said they would. WOW! Amazing.

The place is a few blocks from our inn, so it worked well, down to their punctuality. Small miracles.

Damn, but I miss my mother. Not a day goes by I don't.

www.QualityGuate.com
Hotel - Lofts - Parking
In the Historic Center of Guatemala

BECOMING MARTHA STEWART'S EVIL TWIN

Leeks, Mercado Central

Okay, so this is a sad admission to make, but I am becoming a Martha Stewart type. Even sadder, I suck at it. Really suck. As in, big time.

Cabbages the size of basketballs
Mercado Central

It all started with my fascination with Mercado Central, a sprawling 3-story complex where they sell pretty much everything. Antiques, arts and crafts, textiles, machetes, all sorts of produce, herb teas and remedies, pottery, groceries, silver jewelry, etc.

Amber rock incense (so pretty!)
Mercado Central

Problem with produce in Guatemala, though, is that although it is much bigger and fresher than anything one usually gets back in the USA, it also lasts much less. My main problem is buying as much produce for the week as I would in the States, just to end up with mushy spoiled matter in the fridge by the 3rd or 4th day. It works better to go several times a week and buy for a couple of days or so.

But who has time for that?

Medicinal herbs and spices Mercado Central

In order to avoid spoilage, then, I decided I must do what I dread to do: cook. Because I don't like to cook, I prefer easy stuff one can place in the oven and then pretty much leave it there till done. So, guided by Gourmet and Living magazines, I set out to make stuff.

Ready-made dough

I bought, at the large supermarket HyperPaiz (which belongs to Wal-mart), a ready-made dough (see above) because all that kneading and pumping of dough from scratch is beyond my limited patience and dedication.

This pre-made dough is good for quiche, empanadas, pies, strudel, whatever.

I know 'cause it says so on the package.

So okay, some kneading is required in order to extend the dough enough to cover a 9" pie pan. Or maybe it is 12", not sure. Also bought it at HyperPaiz. Think I'll need a bigger rolling pin? This part is not fun, but if one is watching a film meanwhile on a portable DVD player, not too bad.

SO glad I can get Pam in different "flavors" at the supermarket here. Wouldn't know what to do without it. I would actually have to season the food myself!

I sprayed "Pam for baking" on the baking pan and then extend the dough. Following, sliced a bunch of ripe tomatoes and covered with basil. These I did get at the market.

I remember--sweet memories!--my grandmother doing this thing with real butter and flour on the pan so the dough wouldn't stick when baking, but since at HyperPaiz they sell Bakery Pam, that's that. I'm not the type who feels like I'm bonding with my ancestors by making my life more difficult.


I am sure my grandmother would have loved Pam for baking, anyway. Because she liked to bake and the spray can says it is the best stuff for baking ever.

Finally sprinkled queso fresco or fresh cheese (bought at Mercado Central) (make sure you put the cheese in a colander for a while so the excess liquid drains off)

... and add some spices like ... I don't know, I used black pepper ... 'cause by then I had lost the recipe ... and somehow black pepper was there and seemed like the right thing to add ...

After baking for like 45 mins. at 350 (I bake almost everything at 350, it's my default setting) I came out with a lopsided thing that vaguely resembled the "tarte" on the magazine picture.

Dismal-looking end result

Of course they Photoshop magazine pictures so one's stuff never quite looks like it, but mine just simply looked all wrong. In so many ways.

Admittedly, I may have veered off the instructions somewhat. It smelled delicious and it tasted all right-ish, so I guess all's well that ends well, but it just goes to show that some of us, no matter who much we follow instructions (or not), just don't have what it takes to be the ideal woman.

Anatomy drawing class exercise

This ideal woman model is something that always comes up in Prensa Libre's "community events" section, whence the Catholic and Evangelical churches announce a myriad events, such as fairs or conferences.

Hence, there are some workshop-type events meant for women to learn about "being the ideal woman" and "what an ideal woman is" and so on. I have read some of the stuff involved and I can tell right off the bat, I am definitely sooooo not a worthy candidate for becoming the ideal woman.

Anatomy drawing class exercise

Other that that, I have been looking at postdoctoral opportunities around the world and have started downloading and filling out some applications. Meanwhile, I continue to pursue art classes nearby. Pathetic, I know, but I just aim to be a half-decent sketcher, is all.

El Paraninfo, formerly the Medical School of Universidad San Carlos (built in 1890), now its School of Art is within walking distance, so I signed up for anatomical drawing. Again.

Whenever I think I am getting better, I see the stuff some of the other students come up with (see below). It never fails to come to me that just as I will never be la mujer idónea (the ideal woman) I will never be anything but a dilettante at art.

I'm half-assed at everything involving manual dexterity, it seems!

Somebody else's anatomy drawing class product!

Still, it doesn't matter much, because when I am drawing I get so into it, I leave behind the world around me and I wouldn't change that for anything. It's like reading a great book or watching a really good film. One just gets lost into it.

Plus, like going to Mercado Central, art school is great for people-watching and the building is gloriously lovely. Reminds me a bit of New Orleans, perhaps because of the French architectonic influence of El Paraninfo.

By the way, the place is supposed to be crawling with ghosts.

Gardens of El Paraninfo
(now an art school)

And nope, haven't seen any ghosts there and don't believe I ever will. In my experience, a pre-requisite to seeing ghosts is actually believing in them.

It's even more pleasant to be drawing in class to the background sound of classical music, rock and marimba, all from the School of Music students, nested in the same wing as we are.

We had several interesting guests at the inn this past week. One was the graffiti artist Demos, from Vancouver. Demos from the Greek The People. Imagine! How scholarly.

His thing is tagging trains, but I introduced him to other graff writers of renown here in Guatemala and they took him to help out at a hands-on graff workshop at "The B-Boys School"---a non-profit center for at-risk kids, where they practice and learn break-dancing, mural painting, and other things.

Main thing is, to me, is that these at-risk minors are kept creatively busy and off the streets.

Demos

Demos is really cool. He greatly enjoyed the Railroad Museum and the Picasso exhibit currently at the Museum of Modern Art, where rather than falling in love with the Picassos, he fell in love with the art of consecrated Guatemalan artists Efrain Recinos and Cárlos Mérida. He kept exclaiming "How have I never heard of these artists before? I was bowled over, they are awesome!"

So a graff writer whose artist name is a Greek word for democracy, pretty much, and who visits modern art exhibits at museums. That says a lot for Canada!

Old archival document

Another interesting guest is a scholar from Alabama--or perhaps it was Arizona, now that I think of it--working on his dissertation, the topic of which has to do with colonial Nicaragua. Lots of US and British expats there at some point, trying to take the place over. And no, I am not talking about the recent past, but the 19th Century.

Since all documents for Colonial Central America are archived at the Archivos Generales de Centro América half a block away from us, most scholars investigating colonial Central America and using primary documents must come to the Archivos Generales. Thus, I get to meet a great many interesting scholars. Not my field, but I hear that Nicaragua has a fascinating history. Will be interesting to hear about his research findings.

I shall leave you with a recommendation for today. If and when you visit Guatemala, you must try a fruit named caimito. From the outside, they look like plums. No idea of its name anywhere else and it is certainly not findable in the US, but it is to die for! Sweet and mushy, you open it in two and scoop out the flan-interior. Just ate half a dozen the other day.

Maybe it would taste great as a sherbet.

See how disgustingly Martha Stewart I'm becoming?

www.QualityGuate.com

Bed and Breakfast - Lofts - Parking

In the Historic Center of Guatemala City

DRESS-UP MADONNAS IN THE WINDOW

Jesus statue in shop window

I know that this is going to sound weird, but whenever I go for walks, if I don't carry my iPod with me--and trust me, in the streets of Guatemala I don't carry my iPod with me--I always have a "playlist" going on in my head. This has been a fact way before such things as iPods were but a gleam in Apple's eye. And driving by myself without music feels like a fate worse than death.

Moreover, whenever I am bored, I think music and imagine my own version of music videos that would go with each song. In other words, I was colonized by MTV in my teens and never broke free.

Lately, whenever I walk to art school I have that Green Day song going on in an endless loop I walk this empty street, on the boulevard of broken dreams ... I walk alone, I walk alone ... That mental playlist includes a lot of Alice in Chains songs, by the way. Remember them?

Statue of a saint
(look at the orthopedic shoes)

So it has been a catastrophe that my hard disk crashed and my fabulous iTunes playlist, amassed over several years, was lost. One of my favorite playlists was titled New Orleans. Not to mention my Pink Floyd playlist. The only thing that kept me from desperation was that all that Haiti earthquake tragedy had just occurred, and it seemed somewhat shallow, with all that going on, to bewail my lost iTunes.

Trying to re-create it from the iPod involves so many Byzantine loops I am thinking of just starting from scratch and re-creating the whole damn thing. There are programs online that help one do that, so I am looking into that. But damn, if this hasn't been aggravating.

Life-size altar boy
(okay, I'll adopt him)

Oh well, I'll survive. I survived raising 3 kids and undertaking a doctoral dissertation, I'll survive this. That's the backdrop of my life right now.

The photos from today are from a store which is very old, named Julio Dubois, Escultor (Jules Dbois, Sculptor). Some Belgian guy, I believe, settled in Guatemala in the 1940s and thrived as a sculptor of saints. Who wouldn't? This country is Catholic sort of in the same way Saudi Arabia is Muslim. I may exaggerate slightly, but only slightly.

Dead Jesus (in assortment of sizes)

The Dubois family is now established in the local collective consciousness as THE makers of saints' statues. Since they also repair antique saints, people take their family statues to them.

I went with somebody who was taking an antique Spanish saint for repair, and that is how I got to see this cavernous, dark and gloomy 2-story shop crammed--I mean, crammed--with all things saints for church and household.

"Shepherdess" Virgin Mary with Child

There was plenty of interest, some of it pleasant and/or pretty, some of it so kitschy and downright ugly it was actually cool. There was an almost life-sized saint wearing, I don't really know why, what looks like the kind of shoes old men wear in South Florida. Kind of orthopedic-looking walking shoes. But some Cristos yacentes--dead Christs--were beautiful.

Some of the smaller stuff (maybe for my desk?)

A great many of the saints are adult-sized or almost adult-sized. Okay, I know this is going to sound brutally mean, but I am just saying it like it is. The almost-adult sized statues I am referring to are actually adult-size for Guatemala, because most people here seem to be under 4 feet tall. I am serious. I am 5'4" and whenever I am in large crowds in Guatemala, the mens' heads reach my shoulder. With the sombrero on, they may reach my cheekbone.

Virgin and child
(how does she balance that crown?)

I am talking of campesino and blue collar crowds, the upper middle classes are much taller. I believe it is part of the Mayan phenotype to be short and possibly--surely--it is also due to the generalized undernourishment of the population at large for many generations.

One of the shop windows of Julio Dubois Store

Now a lot of the saints look exactly the same--versions of what the statues of Jesus would look like if Jesus had lived to be middle-aged--but if it has a rosary it is one saint, if a book it is another saint, if it has staff it is another, if it has deers, birds and squirrels around it is another, and so on.

The deer-birds-and-squirrels saint reminds me of those Disney films where Snow White or Cinderella dance around singing while birds, rabbits, squirrels and deer twirl all around them.

More dead Jesus'

I kind of like the nature-friendly and animal-friendly theme, though. I read somewhere that some monasteries--Franciscans?--were even vegetarian. Actually I should look that up, that sounds really interesting. The eco-friendly monasteries of the Middle Ages.

Now I have yet another excuse to go peruse dusty bookstores. Or... I can google it. But that would be just half the fun. Think I'll do both.

More kitsch

The Disney-ish theme is pervasive throughout the saint paraphernalia in this store. If I were Catholic, I think I would find it disrespectful that they concoct a Madonna as Little Bo Peep, but there were several in that kind of get-up.

Okay, somebody just told me right now that it is in the sense of Christians as sheep, and Jesus as the shepherd, and she being the mother of Jesus... you get the idea. If I did, you do too.

Altar boy
(like I said, need to adopt him)

There are several altar boys, yet no altar girls in this world, y'all. I am going to adopt this one. He has the EXACT EXPRESSION that my kids always had when they were saying "Me? No, I didn't!" or "I don't know. Really, I don't" or "Why must you always think I did it?" and so on.

If you don't have children yet and plan to (reconsider! reconsider now!) memorize that facial expression. And when you see it again, you know it: He or she is lying.

So I shall adopt this altar boy. He will remind me of what I don't have to deal with anymore. The same expression, yes, but he is quiet and stays wherever he's placed.

Pretty statue

The one above, I like. Perhaps a bit overcharged on the fabric stuff, but it's okay. Still like it. That one is a "household" Madonna and the one below is a "church" Madonna. The difference is self-explanatory. I mean, you can certainly purchase a church Madonna for your home, I guess, but it is the kind of piece you'd have to plan the whole décor around it.

Notice how the "household" Madonna is warm and smiling and the "church" Madonna is distant, serious and cold. The familiar versus the institutional? With the second one, it wouldn't occur to you to think "Hey, I wanna play with her hair!" as it would with the first one, right?

What, you didn't think of that? That's the first thing that occurred to me, to do her hair. All kidding aside, though, they do sell all sorts of different outfits for the Madonna statues so you do actually get to change her clothes if you want to.

Madonna statue for church

Okay, seriously. It is an interesting store to visit. It has a rooted place in the local culture and tradition and it is interesting to go with somebody who knows about Catholic lore and symbolism as I did, who can explain stuff. Some (some!) of the things are really beautiful, most are interesting, and even the ugly stuff is interesting. Even more so, I would say.

Interesting, as well, is to overhear the shoppers' comments, because they show that people here have an intensely intimate and familiar relationship with these icons. They "baby talk" the baby Jesus and coo over the Madonnas. Things like that.

Statue of La Pietá.

Many believers here--mostly women--do things like set some saints upside down on their heads to pressure them into granting some request. Yeah, I know, talk about pressure. I was going to make a joke about waterboarding a saint as a coercive measure to get a wish granted, but that may appear a bit disrespectful of these practices. And even though some seem amusing or quirky to me, I am not disrespectful. We all seek spiritual comfort through different means. It's a crappy enough world as it is, y'all.

One of the shop attendants told me that the Pietá (above) is one of their most popular items with older women. Younger women prefer cherubs and the younger-looking Madonna statues. I wonder if they start liking the Little Bo Peep type Madonnas as children, then graduate to the young-mom Madonna and then move on to the Pietá madonnas... see, now that could be a paper!

Men are more into crucifixes and everybody buys rosaries. A great many houses have altars and some even have altars in each bedroom, so the shop is doing well.

3 feet tall Jesus statue

The Jesus in the photo above, he's got MY hair. Yep, that's what my hair looks like if I allow it to do what it will.

This is it for today, just a slice of local culture via a saints shop. Talking of which, my dinner tonight shall be pache. I really like paches by a factor of, a lot.

A pache is a tamal made of boiled potato dough instead of the traditional ground corn dough. I prefer mine vegetarian, but most have a piece of stewed chicken inside. The difference between pache and other tamales, is that pache is made--traditionally--only on Thursdays and they are smaller and hotter/spicier than regular tamales. They tend to have a strip of jalapeño pepper inside.

You're supposed to eat it with lots of freshly squeezed lime juice and pan francés. We often offer paches on our breakfast menu here at the inn and they invariably completely sell out. So I will leave you for today with a picture of what such a dinner--or breakfast--looks like.

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