Sacatepequez

So...


I don't celebrate Halloween back in the States, but somehow this year I ended up:


Spending the day in a Mayan cemetery...


The clinic was closed today for holidays, so the staff and I went on a field trip. 
Alls I knew about the event was that it was in a different city and that there would be kites the size of American houses. 
Naturally, I was in.


After a 3ish hour bus ride, then me being the only one getting car sick, then again being the only one who had to pee and making everyone stop, we arrived in the city of Sacatepequez. 


As we walked through the streets on the way to the festival,  I started noticing flowers on everyone's doorsteps (Seen below). 

Apparently, the Mayans believe that the kites in some way signal their ancestors to come down from heaven and visit them. They put flowers on their doorsteps to ensure that the souls of their loved ones find their way to the correct house.

We made quite the trek to get to the festival site, rounded the corner, then.... to my right (below) was this set of tombs... I thought to myself "Huh, that's odd. I wonder why there are tombs at this festival... Where the heck am I?"

Then I looked left and realized that there were a few more people at this festival than I had anticipated. This is about 1/3 of the crowd.

As we were walking through grounds to see where we could get the best view of the kites, I kept on having to step/leap over these huge dirt piles. I was kind of getting frustrated that it was so hard to walk over them, then between them, then on top of them. My Toms were taking a toll. After the fifth or sixth mound, I looked around and started to see concrete slabs, then crosses, then above ground tombs, and that's when it dawned on me. I suddenly thought to myself, 


"Holy crap, I'm steppin' on dead people..."


I was a little freaked out that there were little kids sleeping on the tombs and people drinking beer and eating doughnuts sitting on top of graves... it was definitely a sight to behold.

Here are some of the graves that weren't being used for leisure: 

This is the dirt-mound type I kept tripping over.

Then there were some beautifully decorated ones.

A tiny one.

 

So after working through the fact that I was at a celebration with pagan roots in a Mayan cemetery the day after Halloween, I laid eyes on the biggest/ most amazing kites I've ever seen in my life:

This was the crowd we faced on the way out (below).
If you'll notice, the street was jammed as far as the eye can see.

I must admit, the whole experience was kind of weird. The thought of sprits and souls wandering the earth does not sit well with me at all. I am, on the other hand, glad to have gone. I now understand much better how Mayans view death and the after life. This will, inevitably, aid me in understanding them better as I work with them at the clinic for the rest of my time here.

What an experience.

Love,

Codi