In Bolivia there coincides with Trinity Sunday a unique celebration, Fiesta del Gran Poder (“Festival of the Great Power”). It is a synthesis of Aymara folk religion with Roman Catholicism that has sustained a strong popular devotion to Jesus Christ, el Señor del Gran Poder. The devotion began in La Paz with a 17th-century painting of the Holy Trinity that depicted God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit with mestizo features. People in La Paz began to pay homage to the figure of Jesus Christ the All-Powerful in this painting, and miracles were reportedly granted to them. A cult grew around the figure of El Señor del Gran Poder, despite the controversy, and a shrine was built during the 1930s to display the painting for veneration. In the following decades, what began as a candlelight procession by a few Aymara folk on the fiesta grew into a dance festival and ultimately into a massive street festival. Thus this weekend, as is the case every year on the weekend of Trinity Sunday, La Paz is the place to be for the carnival-like atmosphere that Fiesta del Gran Poder brings.
It is much more sedate here in Cochabamba this afternoon. It has been unusually cloudy of late, with nearly overcast skies yesterday and today. Fierce winds swept through town on Saturday, also highly unusual for this time of year. I took a walk through the city center yesterday afternoon, and I could not believe how many heavy limbs had fallen from the palm trees that line the median of the great promenades. Things will return to the seasonal norm this week, with clear skies, warm-but-not-hot days and cold nights.
I am almost ready for the trip to Uyuni. I am debating what to bring and what to leave behind. I will probably bring the bare minimum. It will be sunny and clear throughout my stay from Wednesday, June 19, to Sunday, June 23. But it will be wintry. The low temperature at night will be 20, while the high during the day gets no higher than 60. I am wearing my heaviest sweater and bringing my gloves and both of my brown hooded jackets. Although the climate is sub-polar, the risk of sunburn is high because of the abundant sunshine and the brightness of the flats. For the first time in my life, I have purchased sunglasses; well, not exactly sunglasses, but polarized lenses to cover my prescription eyeglasses. And I will be carrying sunblock. Also necessary is a sleeping bag for the two nights we will be out on the flats. Travelers can rent sleeping bags from the travel agency; that is what I intend to do because I do not want to be encumbered on the airplane rides from Cochabamba to Uyuni and back.
Earlier this morning I made my regular visit to Nuestra Casa. I read more witches’ stories to the girls and played a form of bilingual Bingo with them: hear a word in Spanish, find the English equivalent on your Bingo board. Many thanks to Señora Aracely, the woman volunteer who helped the girls pay close attention and behave very well. Now doing laundry so that I will have my heaviest jeans and sweater available for the trek through Uyuni. This evening, Eucharist at Templo San Francisco and one last convivencia with the student friars before they depart the convent tomorrow for a four-week recess. During that time they will have pastoral work in various sites. We will see them again when they return on July 14.
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