Happy Days

We are officially back working San Jose de Armijo Cemetery.  Everyone is happy to be back outside, enjoying the cool mornings and clear blue skies.  The mornings are so beautiful and we enjoy the fresh air and crisp temperatures.  It isn't TOO cold yet, so it is still 'fun' to be working.  We'll see how long that lasts when the temperature falls from the 60 degrees this morning to 40 degrees in the future! 

The only problem is the way this cemetery is laid out.  It is absolutely crazy!  There are no definite rows, so writing down the headstones in an orderly manner is almost impossible.  When we started at this cemetery, as always, I mapped out the grounds into sections.  We take each section and work row by row, starting with row one through the end.  But some of the sections in this cemetery are helter skelter, not in a straight line (not even in a semi-straight line) and sometimes you can't even figure out where the next grave is. 

We worked section 20 today - all of us!  We had to just leap frog over each other doing one row at a time.  There was alot of "did you get this grave?", "isn't this one in your row?", "where does this cross belong?"  Heavens knows if we got most of the markers written down, but as crazy as the section is, I'll be grateful if we got 80% of them.  And of course this is the section that holds the oldest burials and was the first section used.  There is history here!

After an hour and a half of trying to read old cement markers, digging out headstones buried in sand, markers covered with ten (or more) plastic flower arrangements, hand painted rocks, and worse, we are all exhausted!  But we feel that we have accomplished our goal - preserving history and writing down things that will soon be lost to weather and time.

This last picture is the entrance to this wonderful Spanish cemetery where traditions are strong and families are proud of the grounds.  Someone(s) did this wall painting and it is beautiful.  I hope it lasts for many years honoring the dead.