Wild, wild days. Rain all afternoon yesterday, the streets running with small rivers, people picking their way around them to get to the booths that line every street--full of roasted meat or corn, muchissimas hard bagel-looking things, video games galore, shooting galleries, plastic toys for kids, sports shoes, etc etc. We went to see the Queen of San Pedro crowned, when it was reputed that queens from all the other pueblos would come dressed in the tipica clothing indigenous to their pueblo. But of course it was raining, so feet and the hem of my long skirt soaked, I headed for home....only to learn this morning that of course the rain stopped just in time for the event, which I missed.
This morning I headed out to see the procession of "queens of sport" (reina de deportes) from each school in town. Really adorable marching bands in full uniform (a month's wages for some daddies,) and a decorated floats for each of the queens. All the girls were in traje (traditional clothing) and each float had it's own theme---one young girl throwing candy at the crowd from the middle of a huge paper flower, another with Respect the Environment blazoned on the front of the truck, another with "Let's avoid using plastic." I loved both of those. In the left photo, above, is a little sports queen next to two boys in tipical male clothing, playing a marimba. The back part of her float had been ingeniously set up to depict something you often see at fairs, but the announcer was saying not here in San Pedro-- a tall pole which rotates to swing men--or in the case boys--dressed up a monkeys (serves sort of the Coyote function in Guatemalan tradition) at the end of long poles. In the photo on the right you can see the boys in red fluffy suits, hanging---but they are actually having fun. The man sitting at the top of the pole is rotating the pole. Click on the photos to see the details.
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