boats n .....

I´ve got some time on my hands for the next couple days because i am finished with my classes and am not waiting on the arrival of my friend patrick. Im juts going to be doing some little day trips because i don´t wanna do anything to big then go do it again when patrick gets here.

So last night was my graduation party. I was presented with a little certificate and had to do a mini aceptance speech. Well we hung around the school for a while.. had some beer pong games then went out to some salsa bar. Come to think about it, around this time last year, i was abusing alcohol after my graduation... maybe im falling into a habit. After hanging out with everyone at the bar, said bye to some other friends and some teachers as they stumbled away. It´s usually a good idea to walk home in a group in guatemala after dark but i haven´t had any trouble until last night. Ha although it wasn´t much trouble really. A very inibriated man asked me for permission to rob me. Well i didn´t agree, i did chose to chat with him... and discovered he wanted my money, and my phone if i had one. Armed with a little rock and alot of alcohol in his system... his mugging didn´t pass my standards. At that point I asked him very nmicely to leave, where then he apologized for the atempted robbery. I´m guessing he wasn´t too experienced in this and in exchange for some experience, i got a funny story.

After the first day of sleeping in since i got here, me and some others went to a small town called Zunil, where there is a well know following of a character named Saint Simon. This saint is a manaquin dressed up who smokes and drinks, believe it or not. The manaquin itself changes places every year, so when you get to Zunil, you need to ask some locals where he is, kinda like a scavenger hunt. We finally found him in a a big cement room. With tons of candles, bottles of alchool, tabaco and even cowboy boots before him as offerings, this looked somewhat like a type of shrine. We watched some person undergo a ritual in front of the maniquen and was drenched in alcohol and some sort of oil. They were even spat on by the leader of the ceremony. This was one of the most awkward things i have ever witnessed. Bare in mind, that this is a manaqaquin with a smoke in his mouth that is taken out every now and then so people can pour alchohol down his throat. I was pretty speachless the whole time as the people were very attentive to the ceremony, while others were yelling right beside them, listening to the soccer ground and spitting all over the ground in the room. I was continually baffaled by all the aspect of this ¨religious following¨ with a beer cooler in the coner and pictures of half naked girls on the walls..... sounds like my kind of place. After the ceremony we took our turn of feeding Saint Simon the cheapest booze we could find. It was quite the experience all and all. Ill try to put some better pictures up when i get them from the other peoepl i went with.