XXI. Agüizotes

Agüizotes Video

On Friday, we came up with something special for the children: Agüizotes were let loose at school! These are beings and characters from old Nicaraguan legends that every child here knows. The preparations started at nine o'clock in the morning. All the performers and volunteers had to be painted and the stations had to be prepared.

At 2 p.m. sharp, the first program started. We had rehearsed a play in a small group to recall some of the legends and create a spooky atmosphere.

As for me, I played the role of La Llorona, the ghost of a woman who lost her children in a mysterious way (she drowned them in the river) and is now crying and searching for them.

After that, the children were divided into groups and did a kind of station run. They had to put the 'monster's eyes' in the right place,...

... guess what was inside the mysterious boxes,...

... get their face painted,...

... and enter the haunted house. We built it with trash bags hung between trees, and Franzi and I had a lot of fun scaring everyone!

In the end, we did it. All the children were painted, scared, and (from what I could tell) pretty happy with the day.

In the evening, we took the bus to Masaya. That's where the actual 'Noche de Agüizotes' takes place. It was pretty wild. Thousands of people (I'm not exaggerating) with masks, costumes, and probably pretty dangerous homemade flamethrowers, parading through the streets to the beat of booming drums and alcohol. In the end, it turned out to be just an excuse to get really drunk, but it was definitely a unique experience.

The weekend was unusually uneventful, with lots of sleep and a bit of laundry on the agenda. And now we're back to work for this week.

So, hasta luego!