First Days in The Land of the Maya

Our travel to the Guatemalan airport and then to the colonial city of Antigua went without a hitch. Antigua has the allure of a European village with pebble streets, ancient churches and ruins, and brightly colored facades, but has 2 things going for it you will not find in a European city – cheap prices for food and accommodation and the massive volcano serving as the backdrop to the south of town. Contrary to what all the books and web sites say, Guatemala is quite modern and easy to travel (as long as you do not stay in Guatemala City). Shuttles tend to be the best way to travel, though the “chicken buses” are quite entertaining and safe as well, with prudence.

We arrived in Antigua during Semana Santa, a week of Catholic worship to honor the life and death of Jesus Christ with daylong processions through the streets and festivities. It is said that Antigua is the best place to visit during Semana Santa in all of Central America – and I would say I have to agree. The people that live there create magnificent “rugs” made of colored sawdust, pine needles, flowers, fruit and other interesting items with intricate patterns that take hours to create.

We were honored to help a family create one of these rugs. They were well underway with building the main portion of the rug when we arrived at 1:30am, and we helped until 6:30am shortly before the morning procession arrived. A priest blessed the site, and then a giant “float” held up by over 60 men with hundreds of people following trampled the rug, as is the custom. All of the floats and decorations are carried by the people in the procession. The main “float” in the largest procession has Christ carrying the cross on his back and required 80 people to carry the float. It was an extraordinary experience.

We also visited a former convent in Antigua where the nuns were kept in seclusion, never seeing the outside world once they have entered. We had a picnic on a grassy hill overlooking the tower where the nuns resided while trying to fathom what their lives would have been like during that era.

The nightlife in Antigua was quite bustling and offered all sorts of options including the ability to try the legal mezcal in Cafe No Se, relax in an Indian influenced bar while puffing on a hooka, indulge in local Guatemalan hot chocolate, or catch some live music (although the latter may not be too locally influenced).