Antigua

On our very last day in Antigua, we stood in the heat under the glaring sun to experience the procession that people rave about. It was absolutely gorgeous. Religiously unaffiliated, I personally noticed the greater sense of community that pervaded the entire ceremony.





These beautiful designs were made out of colored sawdust and the procession eventually just trampled over the entire design, which made me really sad.



People had numbers pinned over their left breast that indicated their position in the procession. Oftentimes, people would have multiple numbers and multiple shifts, but these men carried this heavy wooden pieces with the statues of Jesus and women would carry a Virgin Mary piece. The women would stumble in heels, half bent over due to the weight on their shoulders. The men took steps no larger than 6 inches as they turned the corner where we stood. We could see the men trying to coordinate their switches and the extreme precision required to keep the procession moving.















Beautiful colors draped over a native's head.










A bunch of us noted the striking contrast between the holiness of the procession and the commercialized, carnival-like scene where men and families sold little gadgets and toys, inflated balloons and even food on the same streets that Jesus and Virgin Mary just passed on.

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It has been a busy few weeks. I don't know if I should be saying that it's only the fourth week of the quarter or that it's already the fourth week of the quarter because I felt like I just dived right into school and extra curriculars upon arriving back to Evanston.

The next few days should be fun though. My fellow Rotaract friends and I are attending an exclusive Coca-Cola release party (love our Rotary friends that we meet). Delta Delta Delta is holding their philanthropy event -- Pancake Party, and Charity Denim will be in Norris on Wednesday.

Hopefully I'll snap a few shots! But we'll see how things go.