Viña says good-bye to Flavio, its videographer

SOLOLÁ — Flavio, Viña Studios’ videographer for nearly the past two years, worked his last day here yesterday, zooming off this morning on his motorcycle.

We’re happy for Flavio as he looks forward to new challenges ahead, but he’ll be sorely missed here as we continue filming Deditos, our Bible-story, finger-puppet video series. In his last week here, Viña’s crew hustled to finish filming scenes of our third video on the life of Moses. The photo above shows Flavio filming a scene at Lake Atitlán, one of the shots we will use to portray the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and the Egyptian army drowning as it attempted to follow.

Flavio told me he enjoyed working in Sololá — his first opportunity to work alongside Mayans. It helped broaden his worldview and learn to appreciate people in a new way. (The photo above shows Flavio visiting with a Kaqchikel girl who is selling hand-made textiles.)

He purchased the typical dress a man from Todos Santos wears and enjoyed buying different brightly colored huipiles (blouses) for Linda, his girlfriend (pictured together here). Flavio commuted here by motorcycle, carrying with his beloved cat, Baudelaire, in a special backpack from Guatemala City every week; he maintained a tiny apartment just around the block.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you may remember reading about Flavio earlier this year. In early June, he was robbed while riding a public bus to Viña. The crooks managed to access his bank account which held the funds from the sale his former motorcycle. He managed to borrow enough money, however, to go ahead with the purchase of a newer motorbike (pictured here).

On Tuesday, we celebrated Flavio’s time here with us by sharing the traditional Kaqchikel meal, pulique. A Kaqchikel worker’s Mayan mother prepared the delicious soup with chicken and tamalitos.