Corpus Christi - flowers, smoke and ashes

Yesterday I learned that this is a very, very small country. As in 'we've never made it to the World Cup' small (a huge deal here).

One of my bosses (who looks shockingly like my high school boyfriend - doppleganager Junius/Jose) and his wife took me out around town, to a country club, shopping, to the movies. Everywhere we went there were people who knew them, people who were friendly and wanted to meet me, kiss my cheek. If you live in the city you are almost always connected with someone else, even though there are 3 million people here.

Guatemala is also extremely Catholic - today is the celebration of Corpus Christi - something Eugenia (the ama de casa) has been preparing for for weeks. She turned the entire house into a florists shop for the occasion, so she could set up flowers on the balconies and in the garage to receive a blessing when the procession came by.

Here are some pics (for more, check out my flickr or facebook) - the procession travels through the entire town on foot, winding through the streets, and ends up at the Cathedral.