Lines, Apple, The Black Christ & Choices

Waiting in Comfort for Apple

Lines, I have never liked standing in lines.  There are lines in the grocery store, the bank, at the movies and lines in the Army.

Recently Apple debuted the new iPad and the lines were spectacular!  People camped out for days in front of Apple Stores and waited for the latest and greatest that Apple had to offer.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Apple products; I even ordered the new iPad online and had it delivered to my sister’s house so that it will be waiting for me when I return to the States.  No line for me!

So this past weekend we went to Esquipulas, Guatemala to see the Black Christ in the Basilica there.  We went with friends from the marina.  What do you think we encountered… Lines!  It was the most amazing thing that I have seen in a long time.

Of course it is the Lenten Season and most Catholics are busy preparing their souls for Easter.  It is a time of reflection on the suffering and death of our Lord.  To my way of thinking the Catholics of Guatemala are doing it right.  Not only do they make pilgrimage during Lent, it is all year round.  When the buses leave Esquipulas they decorate them with colorful brush ropes that make it clear to all that they are from Esquipulas, home of the Black Christ.

A Portion of the Line

The wait to see the Black Christ up close was over 3 hours!  You have a chance to be up close and personal, a chance to leave a fetcha, or milagro that asks for healing or forgiveness.  You walk out backwards so as never to turn you back on the crucified Christ.

Busloads of Latin Americans travel to ask prayers at the feet of the Black Christ.   They wait in line patiently, entire families: small children and babies on their backs without much more than a bottle of water and perhaps some tortillas.  No camp chairs and sleeping bags for them!

The Basilica

On the day we arrived we saw the line and were convinced we couldn’t wait.  We went in and looked from afar near the foot of the Alter.  We participated in part of the Misa or Mass and shopped in the Gift Shop.  We discussed our next plan of attack.  We figured that we only had one more chance to get a photo.  That would be before Mass in the morning.  The first Mass was at 06:30.  Orin, Cynthia and myself decided that we would get up and leave the hotel by 05:45 so that we would be there before Mass.

The Black Christ

We met in the dark hotel lobby and when we emerged into the dawn we found that there was no transportation.  So we walked to the Basilica.  Imagine our surprise when the line was three times as long!  We entered the Basilica and it was full to capacity with people filling the aisles.  We were able to get closer, but not close enough for a photo.  We said our prayers and turned to leave.  Again we found no transportation so we began the walk back, only this time it was up hill and Cynthia was the only one with good knees.  Orin and I were crippled, but determined.  I admit that I wimped out about 500 meters from the hotel and caught the first tuk tuk that I saw.  It was worth the 4Q or fifty-one cents!

So by now I am sure you are wondering what lines, Apple products and the Black Christ have in common.  Our lives are full of lines.  We decide which lines we will stand in and wait.

 I certainly wasn’t willing to stand in a line for a new iPad, though I only circumvented that by ordering online.  In effect I stood in a virtual line.  When faced with the decision to stand in a real line to spend a few minutes in front of the crucified Christ I looked for ways to make it easy.  Instead, like most of the Apostles I stood at the bottom or not at all.  I was not a Mary or a John.  I was more like Peter and the rest.  Standing on the side peering over the heads of others, hidden by the crowd.

Yes, we choose and based on those choices we are judged.

And It Rains in Guatemala

When we moved to Bullhead City, AZ in the Fort Mohave Desert I was so homesick for lush green of the Rio Dulce in Guatemala that I was lost in the beige.  I longed for the flight of wild parrots, egrets, cormorants and the Maria Antoinettes (Lesser Green Heron) of the river.  I missed the masses of wild orchids and Emperor Staffs that bloomed with abandon at the marina.  The Flame of the Forrest by the Marina Office and the sweet smell of jasmine as you walked the path in the evening.

Now I am on my boat on the Rio Dulce and in the morning I sip coffee in my favorite corner watching the clouds cover and then uncover Cerro San Gil.  The shades of gray and green in an every changing dance of shadow and light.

Of late the sun has been hidden in torrential rains that have raised the river enough that I have adjusted fenders on the boat.  The good thing is that our carpenter has been sealing all the leaks!  Today he even came by in the rain to make sure that his repairs were working.  I assured him that all was well with his repairs, but that I had found a new leak.  He tracked it down and assured me that he would return on Monday and do a permanent fix.

I find that my skin is no longer scaly, but plump with the humidity.  My hair is curling in ways that I had forgotten it could.

I miss my walk around bed.  I had forgotten how hard it is to get in and out of the V-Berth.  You swing you legs over your husband’s head and hope that you don’t fall out on the floor.  Because I am not as limber or as thin as I was once was I now have to grab one leg and move it over his head, I can only hope that my heel won’t drag across his nose or forehead.  Now it is time for the other leg to be assisted as it too crosses over his head.  Sliding to the floor with the assistance of a small stool I now rush to the Head, which is only 2 feet away.  However, when you have a full bladder and have just completed gymnastics for the morning 2 feet might as well be 2 miles!

We are busy cleaning out each locker and I do believe that we have removed 10lbs of old paperwork!  Old photos cause us to stop and reminisce for a moment and then Cynthia reminds us that we have work to do.  Tons of stuff has been donated to various people in the village and the orphanage down river.  May-be the river isn’t up as much as I thought, it could be that the boat is lighter and sitting higher in the water.

Think that we need a couple of weeks of good dry weather so that they can finish with the work on the boat.  Then I can start packing the things we are bringing back.  Until then I promise to try and enjoy each day in Guatemala.