First Sunday Mass

 August 30, 2011

Preparing for Mass

View from Aldea

8/28 Sunday

Padre Pedro Takes Confessions in this Contraption

We kicked off our first Sunday in Guatemala with a nice Mass at one of the aldeas. Because of the shortage of Qui'chi-speaking priests, many aldeas only experience Mass twice a year. With it being only twice a year, Mass is a huge deal for the aldeas. When we arrived at the Aldea on Sunday, we were welcomed to a chicken / tortilla meal with (a nice surprise) bottled water. After breakfast, we took videos of the masses of people that were assembling for mass as Padre Pedro took confessions.

The Mass lasted about 2-3 hours. I got several videos and pictures of participation. A native instrument called the marimba was used during Mass by musicians, and I even got a video recording of an encore performance. About 150 people attended Mass in a large four-walled pavilion. All the girls wore the same types of clothes, while the men wore collared shirts with jeans and the occasional cowboy hat or baseball cap (in hand, of course, as we were in Mass). As Rose and I sat in the back of the Mass, we watched a goofy little kid with a "Thomas the Tank Engine" hat run around and smile at us. Check out the pictures and videos for reference.

Mass

After Mass, we had a second lunch of boneless chicken and another bottle of water, and then it was back to the monastery. The rest of the day was relaxing. Dinner, however, was the same as our lunch. Didn't want to burn out on chicken just yet… so i had black beans and bread instead.

8/29 Monday

More work with the old folk's home kept our morning busy today. We moved several mattresses, scrubs, Depends pads, bedpans, etc. with a few trips in one of the monastery's pick-up. Our afternoon was open today, and we were able to do a bit more exploring around Coban. Today, we came across a wonderful place called "Xcape Coban," an outdoor half  coffee shop, half rainforest. It was a great place to grab a coffee and relax. On the way back to the monastery, we grabbed some pizza and Limon Fanta at a local restaurant. Que Bueno!