Halloween/Kite Festival!

My sitemate, Val and I in Antigua on Halloween. Val was a superhero.

There I am to the right - See how crazy big these kites are?!

The back of the kite.

A view of the kites from the highest point at the festival

I had a piece of this guy for lunch that day and after reading about how dirty they are, I'm not not too sure I'll be eating this type of meat again.... except for bacon.

So for Halloween this year I was a "Mall Walker". For those that may be foreign to this concept, they are people that basically speed walk in little groups around the mall - a rather tacky form of excercise. Although I have never had the privledge of actually witnessing a mall walker, thanks to "Modern Family" Episode 1 - I was given my Halloween costume. I pretty much picked the tackiest jump suit I could find that was probably dated back to the late 80's early 90's, strapped on a fanny pack, found an even tackier visor, threw on some tennis shoes and some really awful red lipstick and that was my Halloween costume. This year I was warm and comfortable and looked pretty ridiculous.

The day after Halloween a bunch of my PC friends went to a little town called Sumpongo where they fly kites to celebrate "Dia de Los Santos" or "All Saints Day". On the first of November the Mayan community comes together in the cemetary of this little town where teams form to compete to see who can fly their kites the farthest. The kites are thought to call to the souls of the departed and to scare away evil spirits. This was by far one of the coolest events I have been to since I've been in Guatemala. There are these kites, some incredibly enourmous, completely made out of tissue paper and bamboo. The craftsmanship and the attention to detail - it was breathtaking. They were all pieces of art.