Mom and Dad, remember when Kelley and Tim called home from Pamplona,
Spain and started by saying, "We are ok." And followed with, "We just ran with the bulls." Mom and Dad, I'm ok. I just survived the craziest, most dangerous/crowded fire.
Really, these people are crazy. Today is St. Lucy's (Suchi's patron saint) Feast Day. Last night the carnival came to town. The rides looked like they were from the 70's and haven't been maintained since. I was sure kids were going to fly right off the tracks. People traveled from all over El Salvador to join our celebration. We talked to people who even flew home from the states and others who walked three hours to spend the evening in Suchi. The church looked like it belonged in Vegas as it was illuminated with neon lights that changed color every few minutes. We packed people in to the plaza. We couldn't move anything but our heads to look up at the...wait for it...FIREWORKS! I've never seen anything like this. This was like Barrio San Jose's firework show on steroids. There were many, many more fireworks, about an hours worth. They sounded like bombs dropping, the whole earth was shaking, fire was raining on our heads, and we couldn't move.
They also celebrated with firey toros running around. They presented saints throughout the plaza on tall, post-like contraptions. One by one they would set them on fire and they had their own firework show around the saints. The saints were shooting fire at the stagnant, imprisoned crowd. It was very beautiful yet frightening.
For the grand finale, there were huge signs with messages like "Feliz Ano Nuevo Suchitoto" and "Que Viva Santa Lucia." They started spewing fireworks, then lit on fire, then POW, shed skin and another sign would pop up. These are actually signs on fire, not fireworks in the air spelling things. Side note for Corvallis people: If you remember the Pepsi plant at Christmas, it was like those moving figures...ON FIRE...shooting at you!
I have a friend with photos of the firework setup. I'll try to post them this week.
After, Suchi hosted a huge disco, reggaeton, rave that went until 3am. Again, I chose to dance my hiny to bed. It is a three minute walk home but the base was shaking my bed. These people are crazy and it's all for St. Lucy.
We celebrated this morning with mass. The place was packed, similar to the plaza last night but St. Lucy didn't shoot fire at us this morning.
Really, these people are crazy. Today is St. Lucy's (Suchi's patron saint) Feast Day. Last night the carnival came to town. The rides looked like they were from the 70's and haven't been maintained since. I was sure kids were going to fly right off the tracks. People traveled from all over El Salvador to join our celebration. We talked to people who even flew home from the states and others who walked three hours to spend the evening in Suchi. The church looked like it belonged in Vegas as it was illuminated with neon lights that changed color every few minutes. We packed people in to the plaza. We couldn't move anything but our heads to look up at the...wait for it...FIREWORKS! I've never seen anything like this. This was like Barrio San Jose's firework show on steroids. There were many, many more fireworks, about an hours worth. They sounded like bombs dropping, the whole earth was shaking, fire was raining on our heads, and we couldn't move.
They also celebrated with firey toros running around. They presented saints throughout the plaza on tall, post-like contraptions. One by one they would set them on fire and they had their own firework show around the saints. The saints were shooting fire at the stagnant, imprisoned crowd. It was very beautiful yet frightening.
For the grand finale, there were huge signs with messages like "Feliz Ano Nuevo Suchitoto" and "Que Viva Santa Lucia." They started spewing fireworks, then lit on fire, then POW, shed skin and another sign would pop up. These are actually signs on fire, not fireworks in the air spelling things. Side note for Corvallis people: If you remember the Pepsi plant at Christmas, it was like those moving figures...ON FIRE...shooting at you!
I have a friend with photos of the firework setup. I'll try to post them this week.
After, Suchi hosted a huge disco, reggaeton, rave that went until 3am. Again, I chose to dance my hiny to bed. It is a three minute walk home but the base was shaking my bed. These people are crazy and it's all for St. Lucy.
We celebrated this morning with mass. The place was packed, similar to the plaza last night but St. Lucy didn't shoot fire at us this morning.
Five of the twelve priests that celebrated mass in Iglesia Santa Lucia this morning. The presiding priest was a Spaniard.
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