So tomorrow is Virgin of Guadalupe Day, which is celebrated here in Guatemala. For those of you who are not up on your various virgins, this is the one who appeared to Juan Diego (hey out there... correct me if I am wrong) in Mexico during the process of converting the local population to Catholicism. Juan Diego was an indigenous Mexican, and the virgin appeared to him with dark skin, just like his, and dressed as an Aztec princess, speaking in Nahuatl. She left her impression on a piece of cloth, with instructions to build a shrine to her on the spot where she appeared. The cloth is enshrined in Mexico City, and many people travel to visit it, often on their knees, to offer homage.

I went to see it many years ago, and I remember waiting in line quite a while, next to people whose journey had been much more arduous than my metro ride, and then as we got near the cloth, a conveyor belt sped us past the image, so that no one would spend too much time lingering. I know that friends of mine in Mexico described journeys that members of their families had made, on their knees, bleeding, to ask a certain favor of the virgin. One friend told me that she had been very sick as a child, and her father made this journey many miles to save her life.

If I remember, Mexicans do a big mass in honor of the event. Susana, don't you take your family to church at 5 AM or something like that?

Here in Guatemala, the holiday is marked by dressing all children up in indigenous clothing. Given how poorly the indigenous population is treated here, it is a little odd. In Mexico there is a saying... something like "so proud of our indigenous past, so ashamed of our indigenous present," and it seems that Guatemala could say the same. Is that an old saying? Why do I think that it was Carlos Fuentes. Again, smart readers out there, correct me if I am wrong.

But quite a few people have asked if I plan to dress Liana up for the children's parade, and so I went out yesterday and got her yet another outfit. Here she is trying on some clothes at the market! I think I ended up buying a different top. I'll try and take lots of photos of the events tomorrow!

If I may change the topic abruptly.... you might hear in the news that the Guatemalan Congress has passed a new adoption law, which creates a centralized bureaucracy to administer all adoptions. Sadly, I fear that Guatemala lacks the infrastructure to care for the children who are orphaned or abandoned or who have parents unable to care for them. Please remember that this does not effect my case. According to Guatemalan law, Liana is mine. I will keep you updated as I hear more about this law, and how it will effect other families and most of all, the kids.