Orgullo

I had pride for Guatemala this week. I find myself criticizing and defending this country on a regular basis but this week I attended two events that completely spoke for themselves. On Thursday evening, Aubrey, Walter, Shailee (the new third grade teacher who replaced one that left), and myself drove to the museum district in the city for an evening called "Una noche en los museos" or "A night at the museums." I know what you are thinking and no, we were not shrunk into tiny people and held hostage as the artifacts came to life and tried to kill us. But that would have been awesome. Basically there was an entire street of museums roped off and allowing entrance for free. There was a museum of ancient Mayan artifacts, one of modern art, a children's museum, and a few other temporary ones with artists from around the world. There were sculptures in grassy fields, performances in the streets, vendors selling food, and seriously thousands of people there. I was so impressed that Guatemalans were filling the streets on a Thursday late at night (from 7-11pm!) for a one time event celebrating art. It was truly a beautiful thing to see so many people there feeling safe, experiencing culture, and appreciating the art of their people.

To end our perfect evening, Walter called ahead at our favorite pizza place and ordered us a pizza to be ready as soon as we exited traffic. It was on our table at the same time our drinks were and we filled our stomachs and talked about how this evening showed that there is still hope here.

Then, yesterday, the city organized an event I have never seen or heard of before; A NIGHT RUN! There was a 10K race that started at 7pm with over 6,000 people in attendance. Though the race was really frustrating because there were so many people in such small streets, I was encouraged to see that people were getting out on a Saturday night to celebrate their good health. There were people in wheelchairs, little kids, and many first-timers out there last night who were still running past 9:00pm. Maybe cities do this all around the world and I am just unaware, but I was certainly glad to see such a great turn out for Guatemala's first nocturnal run.

Today, I have almost no responsibilities except for watching the KU basketball game and grocery shopping so hopefully I'll get another blog in about my Christmas vacation (don't worry, I haven't forgotten that I still owe you some updates). Happy Sunday :)