Fr. Aric stopped by for me a little after 6:00 am and we headed to San Vicente. We stopped in Jacintoville to pick up one of the Catechists who went with us to make sure we took the right roads. There are several "y"s on the road going to other Villages.. It was only the second time Fr. Aric has been to this village. 'Wise to take a guide.
Below is the church in Jacintoville.
The Village of San Vicente is on the Belize and Guatemala boarder.
I was in the back seat. Taking pictures along the way. It's a dirt road part of the way so its very bumpy. Have you tried to take pictures on a bumpy road?
From what I learned the roofs make out of the palm branches last about 12 years. They are cooler than metal roofs. Remember I mentioned there are a variety of palm trees? There is a specific palm tree that is used for the roofs.
We had to wait for some cows to make their way across the road. Good thing Fr. Aric is a good driver.
I mentioned some "Y's on the road?
Below is a Health Center in the Village of Jalacte.
Getting closer to San Vicente
Below is a picture of a house that is started with cinder-block. Most houses are made of wood and palm branch roofs. Some build with cinder-block and they build as they are able to. Some use the metal roofs. Yes, houses with metal roofs are hotter. Ouch!
The people of San Vicente made a beautiful, huge, cross out of local flowers. If you zoom in you can see the flowers and leaves.
I kept waiting for the cross structure to be moved to the side before Mass started. It was not moved. I ask the Catechist about that and he said the people were informed that they could not block the alter.
We all need catechesis don't we? Much work to be done to help people understand the importance of what we do and why. There is an important purpose for what we do when we celebrate Mass.
Being that there are only 3 priests serving 30 Villages, most of the catechesis falls on the Catechists along with many more responsibilities. It seems they are doing the work of a Deacon but without the full deaconate formation. Please pray for the Priests and Catechists who are doing their best to teach the faith to so many souls.
As we were waiting for Mass to start a boy brought us something to drink in cups made out of coconut shells.
It tasted pretty good. Cocoa grows in Belize. The drink was natural cocoa without all the additives. It was great. It has small shavings of coconut in it. Nice refreshment for such a long drive.
We were in the mountains. Yup, my kind of territory. Beautiful.
The picture below is the view through a side door of the church, from where I was sitting. The church is on the top of a hill. Be careful when you walk out right?
Mass started. Our guide was sitting next to me so he was telling me that there were some Spanish speaking people there since they are so close to the border. I think we were about 1/2 mile to a mile from the border of Guatemala.
Some of the elders from the community were having a little meeting.
The song book is in Kekchi, the native Mayan language of the area.
Nice incense burner!
In a previous blog, I showed a portion of an arch braided out of a palm branch, at the doorway, at a wedding we went to.
They had the same braided type of arch here at the church in San Vicente for Easter.
This is the other side of the arch.
Below is a picture of the top of the church.
The picture below is after mass. The people gather for a meal. We had to leave because we needed to get back on time for our guide, the Catechist from Jacintoville, to be back for services in his Village and for Fr. Aric to con-celebrate Mass at Nazareth.
On the road again...
More cows...
As we were getting nearer to San Vicente we had to cross a border check point. (I was not able to take a picture on our way in. I took this on our return trip.)
A quick shot of the Community Center as we went through the Village of Santa Elena.
We also passed a local store in one of the Villages.
We stopped at the church in San Antonio, real quick, to say hi as parishioners were leaving Mass. We saw most of them outside. It's a beautiful church. I had only seen the outside as we passed by to other Villages.
We went inside to say hello to those who were still inside.
Below is the crucifix at the front of the church. It is the same one as the one at St. Claver Church in Punta Gorda. It is the black Jesus as it is in Esquipula, Guatemala. I'll share more about it when I have a little more time. It's a great story and the Santuario de Chimayo has ties to it. I've mentioned before that the full name of the church we call the "Santuario" is El Santuario de Nuestro Señr de Esquipula. More to come on that...
This is the outside of the church. I couldn't really take a picture of the full front of the church because it is on top of a hill. If I stepped back to shoot I would literally fall off the hill. There's a portion of the front of the church in the video clip that follows.
The video clip below is a panoramic view from the front of the church and the house the Jesuits stay in when in San Antonio.
They used to have a priest living there but because of a shortage of priests they can't right now.
It would be a beautiful place to stay and wake up to the beautiful view with the sunrise you think?
We made it back on time to drop off our guide in Jacintoville, then back to Nazareth. Everyone is ready for Mass as we wait for the priest to arrive.
After a wonderful Mass, we head to the kitchen and dining room to set up for lunch.
The table was full of guests. I wish I would have taken a picture 😔
Three of the priests came. The priest that was celebrating Easter Mass in one of the Villages could not make it back on time for lunch. They had a visiting priest for a few days who joined us.
We all had a beautiful time, sharing, laughing, and celebrating Easter! 👍🏼😊🙏🏼🥳🎉
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