18 to 21 April 2017 - Antigua (Guatemala)

These few days were spent walking around Antigua looking at the churches (could not go inside) damaged in earthquakes.  I did find one old church with a store of floats/biers that had been used during the Easter celebrations, and walking up the hill behind the hotel I was staying at. I noticed on one web page that a police escort was necessary to go up the hill because of thieves but there was no problem and other tourists were walking there as well. During my stay in Antigua I never felt any threat with people being polite and helpful when I wanted to go somewhere or ask something.
Because of the old Spanish colonial buildings and churches, convents and cathedrals with the city laid out in squares and having cobbled streets the whole city is an UNESCO Heritage Site so nothing can be changed within the old city boundary. So as to have influence in the city Coca Cola paid for all above ground electric cables to be laid underground.

Below are photos of street scenes where traditional dress on the women was normal, and old churches of which there were  many.



On the afternoon of 20 April I moved to the Hotel Posada Los Bucaros to join up with a group of eleven others for an Intrepid Adventures trip through Guatemala, Belize and Mexico. The group consisted of two retired Australian couples, two retired Kiwi couples, seven younger British males and females together with myself and a local guide.

The following day the guide offered to take us on a local tour if we wanted, one not included in the Intrepid trip. We all wanted to go so the first stop was a women's co-operative in the old town hall in the village of San Antonio where we were kind of made to dress up in local costumes. The guide mentioned that once outside of the cities of Guatemala and Antigua the main language spoken was Mayan as 25% of the populating of Guatemala was pure Mayan with the remain being part Mayan.

                                                                                                                                     
It was then off to a jade factory, vineyard for fruit wines and a macadamia plantation.

Macadamia plantation toilet

Lumps of jade

Lunch was at the home of the guide where his wife and daughter had cooked us a meal of local foods, which was very tasty.




                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        After lunch we went to the town of San Juan del Obispo to see one of the first Franciscan convent, church and Bishops residence (all one building built in 1668) built in Guatemala. When the convent and church closed the whole huge building became the bishop’s residence. It is all closed up now but we were told that the rooms and inside parts were very special architecturally.





We also ate street food for an afternoon snack, saw the village launderette and local transport.

Street food

Village launderette 

17 April 2017 - Lake Atitlan (Guatemala)

 One day I booked a trip to Lake Atitlan,  a volcanic lake over an hours ride from Antigua. The attraction was to be the lake itself which was ringed by three volcanoes and the villages around the lake with the advertised local crafts. The town of Panajachel was the access to the lake and having left Antigua very early that was where I had breakfast before going on a local boat to three villages. It was noticeable that the local women wore traditional dress, apparently not to impress tourists but for their own cultural reasons and perhaps because the local people are mainly of Mayan descent.


Photo by Emilio Piovesan


A few years ago the villages round the lake were impoverished so the government gave each village some money to start local industries so as to earn money to pay for their children's education and improve the health of the population. I was told that only one village has been able to keep their project going mainly because everything is run by the village women. This has resulted in the village of San Juan having a very thriving women’s co-operative selling traditional textiles, paintings and weaving.

The village of San Pedro La Laguna is known for the church of St. James the Apostle built in 1541. During the time of the Spanish and Catholic Conquest in the 1500’s, the Catholic church forced conversion of the local Maya to the newly arrived religion. Over the years people have not decided if the church is Mayan or Catholic as both religions survive side by side within the building. Entering the church I saw mainly Catholic items such as carvings of the Saints, paintings and images yet with a Mayan influences as well.






One of the local ladies demonstrated how she ‘made’ and put on her hat.

14 to 16 April 2017 - Antigua (Guatemala)

When I booked the flight from Cartagena to Antigua I did not realize that it was to be on Good Friday and that the Easter period is a holiday and religious festival in South and Central America. The journey from the hotel to the airport in Cartagena only took 20 minutes and the taxi driver even took my bags into the airport for me without being asked. At Guatemala city airport everyone had to press a button to go through the customs area, the button operating a traffic light type signal. If it was red then the bags would be searched; green then the passenger could go straight through. I was told that this was to make the searching of bags completely random. The owner of the hotel picked me up at the airport as arranged and after just over an hour I arrived at the Casa Del Cerro Hotel, about ten rooms and in a very quiet part of the city with about a ten minute walk to the main square.

Antigua from the top of Cerro De La Cruz

A typical street

I was given a booklet with details of the street processions during the Easter period which extended for about ten days. This detailed the time and place of the start and finish of each procession and which group would be carrying the biers/floats (for which I was told they have to pay the church to be allowed to carry the float).

As it was Good Friday I went out in the evening to see the processions which were quite colorful and noisy. Some of the floats were very big and obviously heavy as one needed 52 people to carry the float. Each float was accompanied by a marching band, people dressed up in various ways and children swinging incense burners (censer) making the streets quite foggy at times. Women and girls were dressed mainly in black. As it became darker the floats were lit up by electricity supplied by mobile generators pulled behind the float.



Prior to the procession the cobble-stoned streets were covered with ‘carpets’ made of dyed sawdust, pine needles, vegetables and flowers. These are made by local families or businesses and are large and elaborate. Once the procession had passed over the carpets the rubbish men clean up everything so it was hardly noticeable what was there before.



Processions continued over the weekend when I was amazed how the people who carried the floats were able to change bearers and keep the float moving at the same time.

Incense fog