I´ve just returned from a Halloween party in San Martin, which is about an hour away from San Juan Comalapa. I went with some of the Long Way Home crew and our other volunteer. Our host is a friend of the Executive Director of Long Way Home and the annual Halloween Party has been a tradition for four years. There was a live band from Chimaltenango that played a mix of metal and rock. The crowd was mostly young men and we gringos were certainly the only ones dressed up in costumes. Halloween is not a popular holiday here, so the fact that there was any kind of crowd was a success. The next day we went over to the cementery to watch some of the festivities of Dia de los Muertos, which is a Catholic holiday that honors the deceased. The tradition is to decorated the headstone of the loved one with flores, candels, and their favorite foods or drinks. Also, people fly kites to allow the souls to reach heaven and decorate them with paper that makes loud noises to scare away bad spirits. All day we watched thousands of these kites fly high up into the sky. As I watched, I wondered why is there not a holiday in my culture that celebrates the lives of those that have passed on? Is it not important to us to remember? Or is it that we are not a Catholic nation?

I´m sure it is a mixture of things, but I feel blessed to have experienced such a special holiday. No matter my culture or religion, I have decided to celebrate this holiday for years to come because I believe it is important to give an offereing, an act of rememberance to those who have gone before me. I want to have a special day for them.

In other news, yet another volunteer has arrived from Cananda and I am excited she is here. It is always nice to have more company and another travel buddy. I believe we are going to go to Antigua next weekend to check out some sites.

Work is going well. We collected 300 river rocks while we were in San Martin to finish one of the buildings known as the garrita. Last weekend we finished pouring concrete on the upper level of aula 0, which will someday be the art building. Sadly, two staff members, the Project Mananager and the Volunteer Coordinator, are leaving to the States next week so there will definitely be a different atmosphere around the worksite. It will take some adjusting, but I´m sure we will manage.

I´ll let you know in a couple of weeks.

Shannon