Gringo Night

Yesterday morning we went to church at the only Catholic church in San Pedro.  It was packed.  According to one of the teachers at Orbita, there is only one Catholic church in San Pedro but there are seven Evangelic Christian churches. Mass, however, was packed because the majority of the people in San Pedro are Catholic.  Marta is Evangelic so she did not go to church with us.

The Catholic Church in San Pedro
(photo taken our first day in San Pedro - no, we didn't go to church dressed like that)

Last night, we also took a walk to the town cemetery.  Jeff and I had happened upon it on a run one day and wanted to take the girls back to it.  It is very different from a cemetery in the US.  It was an experience to walk around and see how they honor those who have passed.

Cemetery

Outside part of the cemetery.  One row is covered (photo above) and the rest of the cemetery is like this.

This morning's breakfast was once again a learning experience for all of us.  Due to our telling her about our visit to the Catholic church in Santiago, and the priest who was killed during the civil war, Marta got talking to us about how the war affected San Pedro.  She told us about how her brother was shot and killed by the military (Although she didn't say this, this same military was funded by the US under Ronald Reagan in the name of fighting communism), and how his five sons came to be raised by her parents as a result of it.  The boys' mother left after their father was killed, so the boys went to their grandparents.  She explained to us how the men separated themselves from the women and children to keep them safe.  She recalled sitting in the corner of their house, crouched down in fear, listening to the soldiers in the street.  Her parents sheltered their daughters and grandchildren, while the men slept elsewhere.  She said that in the middle of the night men would be taken from the houses and either killed or brought into the army.  She told about mass graves being dug and men being lined up beside them in a mass execution style.  The wives of these men were often raped.  Pretty much every family was affected by the civil war in some way.  She and her brothers and sisters gave their parents part of their paychecks for many years to help her parents raise her nephews.  Although the children of San Pedro stopped going to school, Marta's father continued to educate Marta and her brothers and sisters.  Because of this, five of them became teachers.  Now, the next generation of her family includes many attending universities.  Both of Marta's sons are in medical school, Irving is studying to become an engineer, and Jonna is studying to become a teacher.  We think that Marta's family is an exception to most in San Pedro and Guatemala in general.  It was a very disturbing but interesting breakfast.  It is sad what the Guatemalans have endured.

Lynn and Brooke helped Marta and Irving with their English while Jeff and I went to the school to teach the English lessons.  When Jeff and I returned, the girls and I made chocolate chip cookies and pizza dough with Marta.  She wrote the recipes in a notebook as we cooked, and marveled at the amount of chocolate chips in the cookies.  She told us how her sister makes chocolate chip pancakes by pouring the batter on the griddle and then sprinkling 3-4 chocolate chips on a pancake.  She had a cookie when they came out of the oven, and to our pleasure, she enjoyed every bite.  She said that one cookie would cost eight quezales in a restaurant.  That's about $1 a cookie, which is a lot to Guatemalans.  We thoroughly enjoyed cooking with her.  We took four cookies to class to give to our teachers.

Lynn and Marta with the cookies

 
We made four pizzas tonight - pepperoni, Hawaiian, pesto, and mushroom.  Irving, and a different niece of Marta's joined us for pizza.  The dough actually came out great, which we were very glad about.  We usually buy the pizza dough at Hannaford so the fact that I didn't kill the yeast and the dough actually rose was amazing!  The pizza crust was very thin so it was a traditional NY Style pizza.  The propane tank for Marta's oven ran out while cooking the first pizza (we could only cook one at a time because there is only 1 rack in the oven)! But, Marta urgently called Pedro, the propane man, and he brought us a new tank.  The first pizza cooked completely so we each ate a slice and gave a smiling Pedro the 8th slice!  The amount was perfect, as we only had four slices left over. I was really glad because I was worried we wouldn't have enough.  The chocolate chip cookies were served for dessert.  Marta told us at the end of the meal that her stomach was full and her heart was content.  Jeff told her - "Nosotros tambien!"

Pizza making

Enjoying the finished product!

Overall today was a great day.  We are back into the groove of school and the sun was shining, which always makes one happy!