Hill of Crosses

Hill of Crosses
Hill of Crosses

July 12, 2005

Derek and I caught an early bus and made it to the hill of crosses without too much difficulty. The bus to Saulai went smoothly, but then we had to wait quite some time to catch a bus to the actual hill of crosses. While waiting we met some Mormons and talked to them for a few minutes. They were really nice, and I get the impression that the one was desperate to talk to an American who was not a Mormon. There's a stereotype that missionaries spend every waking moment trying to convert everyone, but he didn’t bring up his religion other than when I asked why he was here and after finding out he was a missionary, what church he belonged to. He was really nice and seemed more energetic about what American TV shows he was missing than in trying to convert me; the conversation was quite pleasant, in addition it helped the time pass more quickly.

We then got on our bus and headed to the hill of crosses, at which point we met another man, who helped point us in the right direction. He said that he comes up to this area a couple times a week, because his uncle used to own this farm, but recently passed away and he inherited it. He didn’t seem to have a lot of interest in farming, but it was extra money. It was a rather large farm and he had some cows, but his motivation for keeping the place up was less than ideal. He was extremely nice and seemed to go out of his way to help us and point us in the right direction. He was kind, but his English was poor and our conversation failed to make it past the kind formalities that every conversation begins with.

The hill of crosses was quite a sight, and as the Mormon pointed out it says a lot of the character and will of the people, but says little about their beliefs. The people are catholic, but the energy towards their religion was ordinary in this ever-more atheistic world. On the way back we bought strawberries from a girl on the side of the street and I think she had a crush on Derek as she watched us leave then came out of her giant strawberry stand in order to get a view of him one last time.