Oct 2006

Today was our last day in Santiago Atitlan and it was the day that we had been most looking forward to ... the reason that we came.

Today was the 25th Anniversary of the day in which Fr. Rother was brutally killed in his rectory, only because he tried to help the poor people of Santiago.

We got up early enough and had a simple breakfast. We wanted to visit the Rother shrine in the church before the crowds arrived. There were already a few people there and we noticed that more flowers had been brought in. Also, the booths surrounding his memorial had been expanded to include written histories of Fr. Rother and quotes from his letters. There was also a place where people could leave their own thoughts and reflections.

We noticed several Americans there, later learning that they were Oklahoma priests that had travelled down on their own, separate from the Archbishop's party. Mark and I spent some time there and prayed the morning office together.

Next we visited the Rother chapel in the rectory, a place that I had been many times before. Now, the cabinets housing Fr. Rother's personal effects were opened and the chapel too was festooned with flowers and candles. It was poinant to be there on his anniversary. It was good to be Oklahomans remembering another Oklahoman.

We soon met up with members of the Archbishop's party. Instead of taking the ferry over from Panajachel, this time they had opted for a bus - a full size tourist bus! How it made it from Panajachel and through the streets of Santiago, I'll never know. It was really quite fun to see.

There were no seats in the church reserved for the group for the memorial Mass, so we all scrambled for space as best we could. I eventually ended up with a quite good seat, more than half way up to the altar and just off the main aisle. I'm not sure how I managed that. Mark attempted to find the other seminarians to see if he could help serve Mass, but ultimately he found a place behind the altar.

The Mass was incredible! Bishop Raul Antonio Martinez, Bishop of Solola, presided, accompanied by Archbishop Beltran and many other priests from Oklahoma, San Lucas, San Pedro and elsewhere.

People were jammed into just about every available space, overflowing the doors into the old cloister and down the front steps of the church. Easily 3,000 people. The music, the incense, and the pageantry was amazing for a humble man from Oklahoma. I wonder what he would have thought of it all?

Most of the Mass was done in Spanish, but parts were done in Tzutujil too. The only English spoken came at the end of Mass as greetings and gifts were exchanged by all the dignitaries.

Once Mass was over, the plan was for the group to go to the Posada de Santiago for lunch. We knew that getting the folks on the bus and over to the Posada was going to be an ordeal, so Mark, Tracy and I joined the staff of the Amigos for a fleta ride instead.

We managed to get there about 20 minutes before the bus. Apparently the bus created quite the traffic jam as it tried to negotiate the streets. Wish I'd seen that!

Before sitting down for lunch, the group traveled on to the Peace Park and the mudslide area of Panabaj. Here the Archbishop led us in an explanation of the events surrounding both locales and led us in a prayers and songs. It was very nice to be a part of that.

Today was our really only absolutely free day! Our plan was to get up early enough to catch the 7am ferry from Santiago to Panajachel.

One thing we never really figured out was something that I had never encountered in all my other trips to Guatemala. Apparently, Guatemala has a version of daylight savings time, except that many people take it upon themselves to ignore it.

The locals kept referring to "official" time and "Antigua" time, which were one hour apart. I'm still not sure which one is which, but we managed to arrive at the muelles (piers) an hour early for the ferry. Go figure.

After waiting for awhile, we took one of the "fast" launches to Panajachel, which was fun, but a little less picturesque than the slow boat.

Lake Atitlan

Once again, we managed to arrive in Panajachel before most of the restaurants opened. So after killing some time and looking around a little bit, we finally sat down at a restaurant that has an overlook of the lake. An incredibly beautiful scene, with all 3 of the major volcanoes in the distance, a little fog on the water and clouds rolling in. It was worth the wait....and the wait... The staff of the restaurant took their sweet time in bringing us coffee and then our food.

We did have some entertainment though. A group of high school aged kids were practicing for some sort of dance competition or performance at a place next to our restaurant. They were so self conscious, especially knowing that a couple of gringos were watching them. It was quite fun!

After breakfast and the obligatory walk through Panajachel, and visiting the local parish, Mark and I "negotiated" a boat ride from Panajachel to Santa Catarina - the next town to the east along the lake. We did a pretty lousy job of "negotiating" and paid about 3x what it was worth.

The ride was beautiful and we got to see some really pretty views of the lake. The town of Santa Catarina was really not that special. It pretty much looked like most of the other towns, so a a bit underwhelming.

We returned to Panajachel and took another boat back to Santiago.

Later this afternoon, Mark and I went over to Juana's house to look at some computers that she has. All of them had some sort of problem or another or needed to have their virus software updated. It is always such a problem working on computers there. So often these days, you have to get online to either download updates or validate new software or something. It is always tricky getting a good connection and expensive since they have to pay for the minute for each call. Nonetheless, after several hours of work and chatting with Juana's brother, mother, Pascual and Juana, we had done all the we could do.

After a rather late dinner at the office, Mark and I noticed that the church was still open. A bit surprising since it was around 11:00 pm. We decided to check it out.

As the festival was still going on and people were still lining up for the ferris wheels, etc., we had to weave our way through the streets, past the fried food and taco vendors and the festival games. We climbed the steps up to the church, we found that a vigil of sorts for Fr. Rother was going on around his monument.

A man, I guess one of the religious education teachers, was addressing about a hundred people who were listening. A book called "The Shepherd Cannot Run", a collection of letter written by Fr. Rother, was being used to tell the story of the last months of his life and about how he was murdered. It was a very moving experience to be a part of, even though it was being conducted in Tzutujil.

Another full day, and one more to come before leaving Santiago.