travel blog - santiago

ah, santiago...
taking a launcha over to this town
which is a fair bit larger than santiago
we left anita back at hotel paraiso
as she was sick with a bout of tummy problems
and mikayla who would join us later
arriving in santiago
we walked up into town
at a restaurant that was neat, clean and had really nice washrooms
(as erin discovered
and after which
we all had to go visit)
i also had a really huge portion of guacamole
that was really tasty
think the place was called el restaurante de pescadore or something
we went off in search of the cathedral-church afterwards
which had a marriage ceremony going on
it was neat sitting under the cool stone archways
watching the locals
we finally hired a little girl and her brother to take us to see
mashimon (sp?)
maximon?
maria is 6, her tiny brother pedro is 3
they´d been trying to sell me beaded key chains
or a photo op for 1Q while i was sitting on the church steps
and were quite the cute lil couple
in the end, sarah paid them 10Q to take us to see
this god figure of the locals
apparently mashimon was an old man who was martyred
and whose ashes from his cremated body were made into a statue
that was kept in the church for a while and worshipped
until they realized it´s pagan nature
now mashimon moves once a year
and is hosted by a local household during this time
we saw a sesserdote (priest guy)
doing a healing ceremony for a woman when we arrived
the incense was super heavy
there were also attendants to the icon
who would feed it alcohol and cigarettes which were brought as offerings
by locals who slipped in and out
we stayed and watched for a while
and at one point
when trying to get closer to sarah to hear what she was saying
i kicked 3 of the candles on the floor over
with a swipe of my foot
which was quite embarassing
and despite the hot wax on my toes
i was more worried about the lit candles
which had rolled under the wooden chest of magical clothes
luckily,
nothing caught fire
and later we left when about 30 tourists
tried to cram into the same tiny little room
causing it to be lit up with the flashes of their cameras
we returned to san pedro shortly after
having met mikayla along the way
and who went to see mashimon on her own
and still managed to catch the same boat as us returning
we picked up anita
who was doing a bit better
and headed off for santa cruz via launcha (boat)
after a brief bit of haggling
one thing,
it really helps to know how much things cost
and then pretend to know perfectly well
what the price is when haggling
the ticketmen all make a perfunctory attempt at a high price
and then just let it go
welcome to guatemala!