Another good day with my eye pinned to a viewfinder. I had no video work today so I was able to relax back into my first and greatest love in imaging, pure photography. There is something very special for me in capturing in still life those tiny cross sectional moments in the lives of people around me. To be doing it here again, back in the company of my Maya brothers and sisters is a great gift.
Some of what I filmed today was technical in nature in gathering very specific images of stove construction and floor laying. For the most part I was able to wonder about the homes of those who were being served today and capture the images I think I do best, children in their own environment.
Tomorrow is a great day that begins at 4 a.m. with the sounds of home made explosives, screaming, and the sounds of people running amuck in the street. Curious yet? The have a habit of celebrating Saints days here in Latin America in very overt, extroverted, loud, explosive,.....you get the point. Beginning sharp at 4 a.m some 10-20 feet from our bedroom windoes ( a brilliantly fortunate consequence) large explosives the locals call fireworks will be lit continually for several hours. Now, I know most of you think you have participate in the real "big boys" of fireworks. Who among us hasn't heard uncle Cleophis tell the tall tales of igniting the quarter stick he and his buddy "3 fingers" home made the summer before they both were "taken away." I love that ol yarn. Go home boys. Sure, some of you have served in the armed forces and heard the "big guns." God bless you for your service but please follow Cleophis to the nearest exit. Even now, a few of you recall the first year your folks allowed you to light your first m80. Please, you are embarrassing yourselves.
These boys in Antigua do not play. I have seen first hand what is about to be launched. Large metal tubes hand crafted from abandoned Buicks of the 50's are filled with wads of explosives the size of Howdy Doodies head and jammed into aforementioned tube. What you end up with is what we affectionately refer to as a pipe bomb. The good news is they have constructed hundreds for the celebration. Remember, we will all be dreaming when the celebration begins.
As I recall my my first encounter with this spiritually guided assault on my senses and the fetal position I thus assumed under my bed believing that the end had in fact come and I had somehow missed the assumption, I fear for the emotional well being of my new friends her at the hotel. By now, several parents and spouses are on the phone to Shawn demanding emergency provisions for the safe exit from this location for the loved ones entrusted to his mission. Relax, I am engaging hyperbole folks. (maybe)
Anywho, I say let the party begin. Last year, I was interviewing Shawn on the roof of this very hotel, a really cool shot in most settings, and we were sure the party had ended. A few minutes into the interview we heard a muted boom and a "thing" was lobbed into the air perhaps 10 feet above our heads, finally exploding with the full force of the previously discussed explosives. Oh goody, they had learned to launch the pipe bomb. Oddly, we were both so tired, exhausted you might say, that we didnt leave the roof. I simple took my camera off the tripod, pointed at the sky and waited patiently for the next to arrive, which of course it dead, several dozen times. I love this place. Heck, growing up in Peoria you got hassled for a few bottle rockets and a bic lighter. Here, they celebrate the amateurs excursion into to the realm of of concussive debatury. Ahhhh, these are the good days. Better get to sleep youngsters, Cleophis has been spotted in the area and he's packing powder. This is going to be great.
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