Christmas and New Years!

Hello all - well it is back to work officially today after a fun few weeks of celebrating - filled with lots of dancing, music, futbol games, eating, and relaxing!

I know a lot of you are interested in learning about Christmas and New Years traditions, so I will tell you how I spent the time here.

Christmas Eve began with a big futbol tournament. Everyone headed up for a Classic Tournament - turned out the 2 teams vying for first place were 2 of the teams from the community - crazy - we only have 300 people here - but 5 futbol teams - EVERYONE plays :) The team filled with mostly members from my Guatemalan family won - but not without a fight - literally. Unfortunately, there was a discrepancy on a call and the other team literally punched the ref and they all started fighting. It was unfortunate, especially since the 2 teams were of the same community but luckily no one was seriously injured. During the awards ceremony I was asked to go up and say a few words and I just went up and took the mic and told everyone how happy I was to be in the community and to feel accepted like one of the family. And I wished them all a Merry Christmas. Impromtu speeches like that are very common here in Guate and one always has to be ready to step up and take the mic and say a few words. I really like doing it - good thing I'm not shy :)

After a bit of a rest, I went over to my family's house for the first of many tamales. Tamales are made either of rice or potatoes, usually with a piece of meat inside, topped with a type of mole, and steamed in banana leaves. They are usually eaten with white bread - a special treat. Also, we are served ponche - a delicious pinepple punch, with bits of papaya, coconut, apple, and plantains in it. Also, if you're lucky you may get a bit of rum added to it :) After some tamales, we went to the house that the Posada left off at and got ready for the final procession to the church. The kids were lighting off TONS of fireworks and we lit the torches to accompany the procession. I got to carry a torch and we walked down the cobblestone path, carrying the figures of Joseph and Mary, and entered the church. The church was decorated beautifully with the nativity scene and we held the service until midnight. At midnight, everyone started hugging each other and wishing everyone a Feliz Navidad! Then, it was time to eat more tamales! After carefully walking back to the house, in the dark and trying not to get hit by any stray fireworks, we ate more tamales, drank some more ponche with rum, and ate some cookies. What a night - finally at 2:30 a.m. or so I headed home to sleep.

And now on to New Year's! New Year's Eve was spent at another futbol tournament - 6 hours - a triangular tourney. My team won again (undefeated now for almost a year) and then it was time for more tamales! This time they were the paches - made with potatoes with chicken and chile inside. These are my favorites!! Then the sugar cane liquor was brought out - imported from Veracruz, Mexico and the celebration began! My friend Oscar took out the big speakers and we started a dance party on the patios where we dry the coffee. We danced for at least 4 hours - nonstop! All kinds of music from reggaeton to cumbia to merengue to duranguense was played. It was pretty much all family out there dancing and that made it so much fun. We rang in the New Year at midnight with more hugs and fireworks and then it was off to eat more tamales!

The next morning we woke up early to head to the beach for New Year's! I love my family - boy do they know how to have a good time! The beach was packed - but still tons of fun anyway! I spent hours playing in the big waves and even spotted some surfers out in the water. The Guatemalans are pretty conservative at the beach and they don't wear swim suits like we do in the States. They all wear shorts or pants and t-shirts or tank tops. I was a little bummed about this but went with the flow to not stick out more than I already do - and was rewarded. As I was out in the water I felt this weird thing bump into me - turns out a jellyfish had hit me and if it wasn't for my tank top - it would have stung me - so there was karma I guess. Good thing I had on my tank top.

Anyway, I had a wonderful grilled fish lunch at one of the little restaurants on the beach. I ordered the "medium fish" here - was tasty! My dad asked me what kind of fish I had and I didn't know - we order by size of fish, not by type of fish. But it sure was good!

So after a fun day at the beach, we finally made it back to the community by dark and were treated to a beautiful red sunset across the big sugarcane fields - what a perfect way to end the day!

So - now it is back to work - lots to do and lots of fun stuff coming up!
Cheers and Happy New Year! I'm off to finish up my final year now in the Peace Corps!