Alfombras!

Alright, back in the blogosphere! I survived Semana Santa working as a tía (more on that later), but first, you just have to hear about Tuesday's alfombras at the NPH school. I'd been planning on updating you guys all along, and after talking to Mom yesterday, I definitely have to.

"Just what was that a picture of on your last blog entry? It looks like a carpet or something, but you didn't describe it anywhere!"

Ok, ok, I'm on it, Mom. :)

It is, in fact, a carpet -- well, an alfombra.

An alfombra is a carpet made of dyed sawdust, and they cover the streets of Guatemala (especially Antigua) during Holy Week. I've never seen anything like them before. Last Tuesday, the kids of NPH decorated the entire campus here with these gorgeous carpets. For hours, the kids squared off carpet areas using planks of wood, patted down the sawdust, and kept the colors bold by constantly spraying the alfombras with water.

They used stencils to create elaborate designs, and they added finishing touches with fresh flowers and fruit. The finished products were incredible. Around 10 a.m., when they'd finished, the entire school participated in a procession of the Stations of the Cross, going from alfombra to alfombra. After each station, the entire proecession would walk through the alfombra...destroying it. Kind of depressing after all their hard work, but hey, it's tradition.

Anyway, I took something like 300 photos this day, so I'll quit jabbering now and let the photos (not all 300 of them, chill out) speak for themselves. :)