- P7220212
Breakfast - P7220214
Yoselin dries Ian off after a bath - P7220226
Juan Carlos prepares ponche for the fiesta - P7220228
Julia and Meghan - P7220243
Look who we ran into at the market: Aracely and Eddy! - P7220248
Exploring the market: Julia, Kevin, Meghan, Craig, and Jenn - P7220254
As I was wandering around taking photographs, Craig excitedly motioned for me to follow him. "Check out this guy's shirt!" There, sitting on a bench, was a local man wearing a blue polo shirt that said "Lunenburg Football Kickoff Classic" in white lettering. Thrift stores abound here, where people buy clothes which originate through international donation. Lunenburg, Massachusetts is my hometown. I don't know if this shirt refers to my tiny Lunenburg (whose high school colors were actually blue and white), or the more well-known Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Nonetheless, here it was, in the most incongruous of places. We explained this coincidence to the man wearing the shirt, and he found it quite amusing and graciously posed for a photo. - P7220255
Strawberry milkshakes at the market - P7220257
Strawberry milkshakes at the market - P7220260
After leaving the market, we stopped at Iglesia San Francisco de Asis, where we will be attending Mass tonight as part of Yoselin's quinceañera. We went inside and looked at the various statues. People were lighting prayer candles, giving the interior a warm glow. The Spanish missionaries who came to the area immediately following the conquest were Franciscans. They built this church in 1567. The official name of the town used to be San Francisco de Panajachel, but unlike most of the other lakeside villages, it secularized its name at some point along the way. St. Francis has been a continuous thread throughout my entire life. He was the namesake of my family's parish in Fitchburg. My grandfather worked as a caretaker of the church. I was baptized there, and Craig and I got married there. It is our compadres' parish in Guatemala, where all of the family baptisms and quinceañera Masses have taken place. It is also one of the churches which our compadres in Ecuador attend, and where our goddaughter Sisa was baptized. - P7220269
Prayer candles, Iglesia San Francisco de Asis - P7220288
Meghan with Juan, from whom we bought some souvenirs - P7220297
Happy birthday, Yoselin! - P7220312
Paulina's niece Lety, a talented cake baker and decorator, arrived with the cakes. Her husband Rodolfo helped her to carry the cakes and arrange them. There were three round cakes topped with marooon flowers that matched Yoselin's dress. The topper was a Barbie doll wearing a maroon ballgown. This was the first quinceañera cake where she had made the skirt out of cake and frosting. In the past, the doll had worn a fabric dress. - P7220317
The heat of the day caused the skirt to collapse a bit during transit, but Lety, the consummate professional, had brought her tools with her and repaired it on the spot. Lety and Rodolfo placed some 5-gallon buckets onto the table, draped a satin maroon tablecloth on top of them, and placed the cakes in a very professional arrangement.