My mom and I went and saw Jesus Christ Superstar. I always liked that show. It’s got some great, powerful songs that rock out and does a pretty good job with “The Greatest Story Ever Told” (in this Jew’s opinion.) The production we saw was headlined by Ted Neely, the original Jesus from the film version. Unfortunately, at 65, he’s twice as old as Jesus was when he died. Neely should have hung ‘em up at 33. He was… not good. The show also has a terrible ending. (Did you know he dies?!) After the big production number that should end the show, there’s a ten minute scene of Jesus gasping on the cross in agony. And… curtain.  And… applause?

Somehow I ended up talking about Jesus Christ Superstar with Shane at work. He mentioned that the Indigo Girls did a weird production of it with Amy as Jesus and Emily as Mary. I looked it up. Man, it is weird. There were some production decisions that make me wonder if the Indigo Girls have any concept of the actual story — the Jewish Priests are portrayed as nuns wearing giant crosses and Jesus sings Hosanna — egotistically praising himself. That said, Amy Ray in overalls with a mullet is still a better Jesus than Ted Neely.

Meanwhile, in Guatemala we saw a very different side of Jesus. Antigua gets really into Easter every year when thousands of pilgrims descend on the town to participate in the festivities throughout lent. There wasn’t any electric guitar, but there sure were tubas!

After 3 straight days of traveling, we finally got back to O’Hare and as we were leaving I saw this sign for the “Family Companion Toilet”

Anyone know what this is? Because I imagine something like this:

Photo Credits: Delgoff, foundphotoslj

A bridge, it turns out, requires a lot of mass to keep it from being pulled down into whatever crevasse it happens to be spanning. In the case of the bridge in Guatemala I worked on for the last week and a half, that mass came from rocks and concrete. The Benque River was abundant with rocks of all sizes. Unfortunately, those rocks were in the river, quite a ways from their eventual home in the abutments on either side. After hours of pulling rocks out of the river and stacking them on the banks, we’d form a long line and pass the rocks from one person to the next until the last person could place it appropriately.

I’ve been a member of Engineers Without Borders for several years and whenever someone returns from a trip they are often accompanied by grand adjectives: wonderful, amazing, life-changing. I get the point now. These trips offer something that’s hard to find: a chance to interact with a different culture in a truly cooperative way.

There are a million stories to tell from the trip, and I’ll probably tell many of them here, but the thing I’ll remember most is those rock lines. It was the time when those of us from Chicago and the Mayan Kichi’ villagers who lived near the bridge site really bonded. It’s no coincidence that the two Kichi’ words we all knew by the end of the trip were heavy (al) and rock (pek.) It’s also no coincidence that the English word all of the Kichi’ knew by the end of the trip was “Oops!” Occasionally a particularly “al li pek” would make it almost all the way up the embankment when a combination of mud, sweat and aching hands would compromise someone’s grip and we’d all watch it roll back down to the river accompanied by laughs and shouts of “Oops!” from Chicagoans and Kichi’ alike. Good or bad, we were all in it together.

I’m leaving for Guatemala in a couple of days.  While I’m gone, my brother Aric will be guest-writing on this site.  Enjoy.

This weekend there was a little party for the people going on this Guatemala bridge-building adventure. It was really great to hang out with everyone. The folks going on the trip are all really fun and interesting. We’re going to have a good time.

Aaron’s brother-in-law gave him a gigantic knife along with some other gear to bring on the trip. He also sent a six page letter filled with tips.

Aaron: It’s possible he was drinking when he wrote it.

The best part is the step-by-step guide explaining what to do if you are attacked by an animal:

It will be biting your left forearm. That’s OK. Keep its head occupied with your left arm and attack it with the knife. You will probably be on the ground with it on top of you while this is happening.

Sounds great. We asked if his brother-in-law had killed many wild dogs or mountain lions.

Aaron: Nah. I think he just watches a lot of Animal Planet.

In a couple weeks I’m going to Guatemala to help build a bridge with Engineers Without Borders. I’m not a big traveler. I don’t like being far from home, and I don’t like being a tourist. This trip is as far from being a tourist as one could ask for. We’ve got a five mile hike from the end of the nearest road to get to the site where we’ll be camping and working with 70 villagers to build a suspended bridge, allowing the locals to get to and from health care, schools, markets, and other necessities.

I’m a little nervous about this trip for a lot of reasons. Can we actually get this thing built without any electricity in such a remote location with such a short time frame? Are we going to be okay camping for such an extended period of time? What’s it going to be like in such close quarters with a bunch of people I barely know? I had to get travel insurance yesterday. The second item listed under “additional coverage details” did little to assuage my fears.