15 de Septiembre

Independence Day. While independence day here in Guatemala does share some similarities with independence day in the US (namely, irresponsible people lighting large amounts of dangerous materials on fire in the street), for the most part, it was a wholly new experience.

The whole ordeal begins something like a week before the actual day- with “entorchas”. I’m not really sure how to describe these other than to say that they’re something like what you’d get if you bred a high school cross country race with the Olympic torch-running, and a giant water fight. Got the picture? Yeah, me either. Apparently the whole idea is for a school- primary, high school, typing school (I actually saw one for the department of health too) to load into a chicken bus (blog coming soon about chicken buses. stay tuned) and then drive from point A to point B, all the while having some or all of your students running the road in front of you holding a torch which may actually be a tin can attached to a chair leg. Meanwhile, your fellow citizens cheer you from the side of the road and peg you mercilessly with plastic bags filled with water until rock-solid. It’s pretty wild.

So for the days leading up to Independence Day there are TONS of these crazy entorchas, and also the random parade here and there. The parades usually consist of several local school bands and lots of cute little kids dressed up in the various traditional costumes of Guatemala. It’s pretty fun. The best part though, is when the town drunks decide it’s a good idea to set off fireworks in the crowd (see picture).

Independence Day itself is quite a hoot and holler, a lot more of the same- parades and such, and of course all kinds of yummy local foods. The whole thing was a great way to get to know my town a little better, and learn about the culture and history of Guatemala. Here are a few pictures of the fun…