In the morning I got news that we were no longer leaving NPH property since the kids seem to get super distracted when they leave the gates. This was good news for me because that means the one or two mile walk dragging the cross through the streets was cancelled. We had a meeting with the Religion director and started doing another run through of the stations. Like last time we practiced, he got frustrated with the constant questions and ended up leaving after a few minutes. I felt like I had a good handle on the material though, and he was going to be there to guide us through so I wasn't too worried.
After a pretty unproductive day (I felt like we were all just trying to kill time before we had to start) we finally started getting into our costumes. To help make me look more authentic, the nurses made this crown of thorns out of REAL thorns they found in the woods. They were nice enough to trim the inside down for me.
Here's me trying it on (complete with my bloody undershirt- hooray for beet juice!)
All the kids were already gathered in front of the clinic waiting for us. We were all crazy nervous to walk out there; nothing like being the center of attention for a few hundred people. Here's me helping one of the Roman guards with some last minute costume adjustments before we have to head out.
The stations were set up all over the property and we followed the same format throughout the whole thing. We would come to a station, the Religion director would read a Bible passage about the station, we would act it out, then all the kids would kneel and say a prayer. While we walked between the stations, they all say a song asking God for forgiveness. It was actually a very nice song, I wish I had some video to show you. Here are the kids kneeling when we first came out of the clinic
The first couple of stations went really well. As I alluded to before, we used beet juice to make me look bloody during appropriate parts. It was hard trying to smile at all my baby friends while "blood" was dripping down my face, they weren't amused in the slightest. This is when Jesus meets his mom. We didn't know how we were supposed to interact so we literally just stood there and stared at one another. I like to think that it was an emotional, knowing stare that clearly portrayed the deep emotional agony of both Jesus and Mary (rather than the awkward I-have-no-idea-what-we're-supposed-to-do-here stare that it felt like)
And moving on...
We continued through all the other stations. I'm not posting pictures of my brilliantly acted falls, but here I am shortly after my second one, checking out the crowd thats been growing.
Here I am comforting the women. I did SO GOOD at staying serious through all the stations. This is the one and only time I cracked up, and that's only because the nurses here were laughing and smiling under their veils as they "mourned" for me.
And then the moment we were all waiting for. The director wanted me to have blood coming out of my mouth to make it more dramatic. As I was walking to the station I had to put half a raw beet in my mouth and chew it down as quickly and thoroughly as I could. Then I held that goop in my mouth until he announced my death, after which I let it pour out of my mouth like a B horror movie. I had no idea what it looked like, I was worried that people were going to think Jesus was throwing up. The picture looks pretty convincing though! (Um and yeah, the cross was a little too tall for me)
For the record, my Mom's number one fear was that I'd be crucified in Guatemala! Luckily I walked away unscathed. As I was walking away from the cross, the director announced that we were heading to the next station. Next station?? I thought this ended with me being crucified!! I had no clue what the other stations were so i had to wing it. Thankfully the next one was me being taken off the cross, so all I had to do was lay on the ground and let people cry over me. After that, we went up to the cafeteria. We got there before the kids and the director told me to go hide in the cafeteria. One of the other nurses cleaned me up and turned my gown inside out so I looked nice and clean, then I went inside and waited. I thought, Oh this must be when they put me in that tomb. They're going to come in here to see me laid out. I lay down on a table and wait. As I'm sitting there I suddenly think, wait, wasn't Jesus gone when they came into the tomb?! Am I supposed to be literally hiding right now?! I freak out and jump up from the table. There's absolutely no where to hide in the cafeteria because it's just a big square room with locked doors, so I make a run for it and leave, hoping to get around the back of the building before the kids get in. The nurse who cleaned me up sees me and yells for me. "Where were you?! You were supposed to resurrect!" That's part of the stations?! I thought that was Easter, isn't that totally different?? I run out to the front of the building but the director had already declared it over and all the kids had dispersed. Luckily the day was still considered a huge success, despite the absent Jesus. We spent the rest of the afternoon eating cookies and chatting in the clinic about how awesome we were.
The whole experience was really great. I loved that the kids took it so seriously, apparently in the past they've had problems with the kids not really paying attention. Even the babies were silent through the entire two hours, though I'm sure it wasn't too hard to focus on the big bloody dude walking around. I was raised Roman Catholic but I've swung all over the place as far as what I believe. While I was dragging the cross around I thought a lot about the suffering that a person must have gone through during that time, to not only be sentenced to death but then to have to drag your death implement around while people beat and whip you. I thought a lot about his mom being there too, what she must have been going through and having to say goodbye to him while he's bloodied and suffering. Whether you believe that the story of Jesus is true or not, other people definitely went through this during that era. What an awful way to die.
On a happier note, last night all the volunteers went to La Familia, the little family restaurant/bar in town. We drank a ton of cheap beer and danced, then I came home and passed out. The end.
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