San Simon at San Andres Xecul
Trip Start
Jan 23, 2007
1
17
120
Trip End
Dec 24, 2007
San Andres Xecul,
Guatemala
Friday, February 9, 2007
After our Spanish lessons today, our activity was to visit one of the few places in Guatemala where they worship a christian saint & mayan deity hybrid, San Simon.
It took us about an hour to get to San Andres Xecul on a chicken bus, followed by hailing a pick-up truck that happened to be going past (don´t let this make us sound too intrepid - we did have a local guide!).
We were dropped right next to the beautiful (and very yellow) town church, where inside there were mannequins of Jesus and various saints lining the walls. After a short time in the church, we went up the hill behind the church a little, and visited the shrine of San Simon
San Andres Xecul
. The shrine itself was unusual (and slighty creepy for us) in that a mannequin representing San Simon was there, dressed in a cowboy hat (sombrero), wearing sunglasses, and with a cigar in his mouth. Apparently, rum and cigarettes are among the things offered to this idol to get good luck for oneself, and, sometimes, give bad luck to others. The locals who were visiting this shrine were clearly quite devoted to it - lighting candles and making offerings.
Further up the hill, we saw further signs of the ancient Mayan practises and christianity merging, with a site where chickens and goats are sacrificed as burnt offerings, immediately next to a church. As mentioned before, the power of the map is incredible - if you can access it clearly I´m going to have to find a way to put a Google Earth hyperlink in each entry, because today you should actually be able to zoom in a see the church and the burnt ground next to it....anyone have any luck so far?
Anyway, on the way home on the chicken bus, including us, there were 4 kiwis on a local bus in Guatemala. It certainly is a small world.
Have had some sobering news tonight, so apologies for the rather subdued tone of this entry.
Much love to all. Sam & Francie.
Comments
Keep Soaring
Yellow all right - like a sunflower in the centre of your photo. Feel as if we're on your coattails as you journey and its fantastic. Its terribly humid here at 11pm - not sleep weather at all which makes me wonder how the climate is for you guys? Jenny and Mick have snow to Mick's disgust and mine. He doesn't want it and I wanted it earlier. (I think Carl might relate rather well to San Simon.)
hola que tal bonita? from IRELAND
DU QIERO HABLA ESPANIOL SI?
Tengo gusto de usted las bolas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Los sonidos como usted los individuos están teniendo un gran rato, Espera linada para verle otra vez más adelante en el año!
ámele los individuos
de Steve and Sophi