The whole world was in San Lucas today..

San Lucas is about 20 miles out of Guatemala City. The cemetary in this city hosts the biggest kite festival in the country, and I mean BIG in both contexts. We got to the city early, thank goodness, and we were able to park about 5 blocks away from the cemetary. The street vendors were just beginning to open their shops and the smell of food cooking was almost irresistable. We are not allowed to eat this food as it is a source of hepatitis and parasites, but it looked and smelled so good. We walked to the cemetary along cobblestone streets and we were just a bit early as the kites were just getting the finishing touches. The kites are huge, I estimate about 15-20 feet in diameter. Aztec and Mayan designs or just random designs, made each kite unique. Each kite takes a team to pull it up to the top of the crematorium where they are finally launched. If the wind is right, it will take the kite and pull it upward. This was a perfect day. Sometimes the kites went right up, and sometimes they fell into the crowd. People cheered or gasped depending on the fate of the kite. If it fell, the team would run over, attach huge ropes and pull it up to the top of the building once more At one time, we saw 19 giant kites overhead. They also had two 50 foot kites that were not meant to fly. They put up 50 foot poles and a man would shinny up the pole and set up a pulley. When the kite was finished they would pull up these display kites with the pulley and attach it to the pole. It takes 10 or so men to move these kites and put the covers on them. The designs were elaborate and elegant and everyone gasped when they were raised. We stayed for three or four hours and by the time we left the whole world was coming as we were going. Shoulder to shoulder we marched along the roads. There wasn't room to breathe and everyone was kind. It was truly a holiday atmosphere. During that crowd, however, one of our friends had his wallet picked right out of his front pocket. It was so deftly done that he didn't notice it right away. We were prepared for this and hadn't taken anything with us, including our camera - so no pictures unless someone kindly imports their pictures to our computer (fingers crossed). The streets were jammed and parking was stacked up into the next town. People had to walk 3 or 4 miles to get to the kite festival. When we left we saw one street with a whole fleet of yellow schoolbuses. This was the event of the year! We were so lucky to have stumbled on to this festival. Between all the senior missionaries we always manage to find fun things to do. We have a great group of friends in Guatemala. We feel very blessed.

I love kites! When I grow up I want to learn how to make kites.