Christmas in Antigua
It´s taken me a few days to get this together but I wanted to write and tell you about our Christmas here in Antiqua. Christmas Eve (La Noche Buena) is the day for all the festivities here and Doña Hilda (the lady we are staying with) graciously invited us to join her family in their celebration. It was a beautiful day with temps in the high 70s/low 80s and lots of sunshine! It hardly felt like Christmas Eve but a quick stop at the Internet cafe where they were playing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" (sung in Spanish of course) served as a good reminder.
In the morning I spent some time studying before Hillarey and I went out to do some exploring in the area around "El Arco". It's one of my favorite parts of town with lots of restaurants, interesting shops, and tourists. There were an amazing amount of Americans there, but none of them were acknowledging each other. After wandering around for awhile we came back to the house for a lunch of fried chicken and tortillas. Then we headed back out to explore some more. It was so beautiful we just had to be outside! Eventually we came back to the house to study some m ore but instead ended up taking naps, which was actually a very good thing!
Doña Hilda's son, Enrique, his wife and son, Diego (age 2) came over and as soon as it got dark the festivities began! First off we found ourselves dashing outside to watch a procession of effigies of the nativity go past complete with wisemen, shepherds, and elephants! A very interesting sight!
Next we ran back out to watch Santa drive past calling through a loud speaker, "¡Ho! ¡Ho! ¡Ho! ¡Feliz Navidad!" Diego got so excited and kept repeating, "¡Ho, ho, ho!" Santa comes door to door here so as we waited for him to come back and stop on our street we watched Enrique shoot off firecrackers and even did some sparklers ourselves. Fireworks are a BIG part of Christmas down here! More for the noise than the color, though!
At last the moment we'd been waiting for arrived and Santa Claus pulled up our little street and stopped! This was like nothing else I'd ever seen - he was riding in the back of an old beater Ford pickup truck decked out with lights to look remotely like a sleigh and with him road two inflatable snowmen and people dressed up like cats and dogs! Santa's helpers set up a stepladder beside the truck and helped him climb down. As he started walking towards us Diego ran to him with arms wide-spread shouting "¡Santa Claus! ¡Santa Claus!" Santa scooped Diego up and posed for pictures, then set Diego down and proceeded to take the gaily wrapped gifts that Hilda and Marcela had brought out and presented them one at a time to Diego who, with eyes sparkling, passed them on to his dad to put back in the house. then with a final "¡Feliz Navidad!" Santa moved on to the next house and the next excitedly waiting child! Back inside we watched as Diego unwrapped his gifts - he was so cute to watch!
By this time it was starting to get late - like about 11 pm - and we were all getting hungry so Doña Hilda set out a tray of chips, crackers, and cheese dip and a basket of grapes (really big grapes) and apples to tide us over since we wouldn't eat supper 'til midnight! (Yes, that's right - midnight!)
On the stroke of midnight the night air erupted with a frenzy of fireworks, firecrackers, and all sorts of other noisemakers, and the noise went on for a solid half an hour, at least! Everyone was hugging everyone and saying "Feliz Navidad" and they included us in all of it! Such fun! Then everyone settled down and knelt around the nativity scene and advent candles while Enrique's wife lead in a prayer of thanksgiving after which the others joined in and said the Rosary.
Then it was time to eat! Finally! A wonderful supper of pork roast, mashed potatoes and rolls! We all sat around talking and laughing for quite awhile before finally crawling into bed sometime close to 2 am.
Christmas Day was very quiet except at 12 noon when the city again went crazy with the firecrackers! There's no big meal or celebration - just a quiet day of resting and recuperating from the day before.
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year,
Sarita
In the morning I spent some time studying before Hillarey and I went out to do some exploring in the area around "El Arco". It's one of my favorite parts of town with lots of restaurants, interesting shops, and tourists. There were an amazing amount of Americans there, but none of them were acknowledging each other. After wandering around for awhile we came back to the house for a lunch of fried chicken and tortillas. Then we headed back out to explore some more. It was so beautiful we just had to be outside! Eventually we came back to the house to study some m ore but instead ended up taking naps, which was actually a very good thing!
Doña Hilda's son, Enrique, his wife and son, Diego (age 2) came over and as soon as it got dark the festivities began! First off we found ourselves dashing outside to watch a procession of effigies of the nativity go past complete with wisemen, shepherds, and elephants! A very interesting sight!
Next we ran back out to watch Santa drive past calling through a loud speaker, "¡Ho! ¡Ho! ¡Ho! ¡Feliz Navidad!" Diego got so excited and kept repeating, "¡Ho, ho, ho!" Santa comes door to door here so as we waited for him to come back and stop on our street we watched Enrique shoot off firecrackers and even did some sparklers ourselves. Fireworks are a BIG part of Christmas down here! More for the noise than the color, though!
At last the moment we'd been waiting for arrived and Santa Claus pulled up our little street and stopped! This was like nothing else I'd ever seen - he was riding in the back of an old beater Ford pickup truck decked out with lights to look remotely like a sleigh and with him road two inflatable snowmen and people dressed up like cats and dogs! Santa's helpers set up a stepladder beside the truck and helped him climb down. As he started walking towards us Diego ran to him with arms wide-spread shouting "¡Santa Claus! ¡Santa Claus!" Santa scooped Diego up and posed for pictures, then set Diego down and proceeded to take the gaily wrapped gifts that Hilda and Marcela had brought out and presented them one at a time to Diego who, with eyes sparkling, passed them on to his dad to put back in the house. then with a final "¡Feliz Navidad!" Santa moved on to the next house and the next excitedly waiting child! Back inside we watched as Diego unwrapped his gifts - he was so cute to watch!
By this time it was starting to get late - like about 11 pm - and we were all getting hungry so Doña Hilda set out a tray of chips, crackers, and cheese dip and a basket of grapes (really big grapes) and apples to tide us over since we wouldn't eat supper 'til midnight! (Yes, that's right - midnight!)
On the stroke of midnight the night air erupted with a frenzy of fireworks, firecrackers, and all sorts of other noisemakers, and the noise went on for a solid half an hour, at least! Everyone was hugging everyone and saying "Feliz Navidad" and they included us in all of it! Such fun! Then everyone settled down and knelt around the nativity scene and advent candles while Enrique's wife lead in a prayer of thanksgiving after which the others joined in and said the Rosary.
Then it was time to eat! Finally! A wonderful supper of pork roast, mashed potatoes and rolls! We all sat around talking and laughing for quite awhile before finally crawling into bed sometime close to 2 am.
Christmas Day was very quiet except at 12 noon when the city again went crazy with the firecrackers! There's no big meal or celebration - just a quiet day of resting and recuperating from the day before.
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year,
Sarita