The Good Old Summer Time

With the arrival of November we mark the change of seasons in Guatemala from winter to summer. No Guatemala is not in the southern hemisphere, but they recognize only two seasons: winter – when it rains and summer – when it is dry. The rainy season has come to an end and the schools begin their annual vacation period. School will resume in January. “Winter” doesn't come back until May. So Christmas, New Years and Easter are all “summer” holidays here. They do not have a Thanksgiving Day.

November 1 is All Saints Day and this is the day, similar to Memorial Day in the US, when Guatemalans visit the cemeteries. They spruce up their family crypts and gather together there as families to socialize and reminisce. Another event on All Saints Day is the flying of kites, symbolizing the souls of the dead rising to Heaven.

Family crypts in the cemetery at Sumpango

Some have to settle for less elaborate resting places

The town of Sumpango, about an hour west of Guatemala City, is the kite flying capitol. They construct some of the largest and most elaborate kites. The larger ones would probably require a hurricane to fly, but they build them anyway. They do manage to get some to fly, up to maybe six feet in diameter, depending of course on the strength of the wind that day. It came to me that the large kites being unable to fly shows how hard it is for the great and the proud to make it to Heaven!

Yes - those are all kites, although the big ones will never get off the ground!

Where we live on the coastal plain summer is also “safra” which means the season of sugar cane. Most of this part of the coast is covered with cane fields once you get out of town. And many of the residents get very busy working the sugar industry, whether it is working the fields, trucking the cane to the refineries, or working the refineries. Now that the fields are drying out, the big trucks can get in and harvest the cane. Before cutting the cane, they set fire to the field to burn off the leaves, leaving only the stalks to deal with. This results in black ashes all over the ground and anything that is outside, such as our car, washer and dryer. Those who live on the edge of town and right up against the cane fields must get it much worse than we do.

This stuff can grow 12 feet high

The cutting is still done mostly with machete in hand. In order to use harvesting machines, the ground needs to be very flat and free of large rocks, which is not the case in most of the fields. Semi tractors pulling two or three huge trailers haul the cane to the refineries. This operation goes on 24/7 during the six dry months then shuts down suddenly on May 1 when most of the cane workers have to look for other work. The cut cane is left in the ground and will regrow for five years. After that it has to be dug up and new starts planted.