12 a 15 de Marzo
Antigua Guatemala- a city filled with churches, beautiful architecture and wonderful people. Surrounded by mountains, volcanoes and tiny pueblos. It's so rich with culture that the four days I spent there were not nearly enough.
The ride into Antigua was absolutely stunning (See picture at right). Everything was decorated for Pascua [Easter] with purple banners and other violet decorations.
La ciudad pequeña [the small city] really lives up to its name, which means "ancient" in Spanish. All of the houses looked old, and had a definite colonial vibe to them. They were absolutely stunning.
The best part architecture-wise was how these old buildings were crammed in together, and occasionally there'd be a completely run down building squashed between two that were still in use. There were abandoned churches a block from one that was in use. There were crumbling cement walls, tree roots re-covering floors, and walls heavy with ivy. It was absolutely beautiful.
Our host family was super kind. The airbnb is owned by a woman named Violeta and her husband, who run a little shop/restaurant out of their front room which looked like it might have been a garage at some point. Three of their four sons still live with them and help out, and the rest of the bedrooms are rented out to travelers. While we were there we made friends with a French couple, a few students on a leap year or spring break adventures, a woman from Barcelona (pronounced barth-eh-loh-nah) and a man from England. There was also another woman from First Hill. It was really fun getting to know other travelers and get advice for places to go in the town.
Antigua really gets into their Easter Celebrations. Our Airbnb host says that thousands of people come to see the festivities every year, and I believe it. It's one of, if not the, largest Easter celebration in the world (thanks google). When we went out to breakfast our first morning in Antigua, we walked past families and neighbors making beautiful artwork in the streets using wood chips, pollen, flower petals, and other brightly colored natural materials. The photo at left is one of these in progress. They marked the path of the procession that was performed twice in one day- more on that later.
Many men and boys were wearing purple hooded robes made out of what appeared to be a heavy polyester, thus also adding a lovely sheen of sweat since it was hot. I was burning up (literally, since I forgot sunscreen) so I couldn't even imagine what these men and children were going through.
As we wove our way through the streets, trying to find the elusive Blue Sky Cafe, which TripAdvisor had recommended for its stunning views of the city, I could sense the somberness of the occasion. The procession and purple clothes are supposed to replicate, remember, and honor the journey of Jesus into Jerusalem and the process of carrying the cross so everyone was pretty somber and pensive, although there was still the vendors and the amount of people proper for a classic parade and festival.
The view from Blue Sky cafe didn't disappoint. Unfortunately, we were in Guatemala during the middle of a foggy period, so the volcanoes and mountains weren't as prominent as they normally would be. But we could still see almost the entire city (photos at right)
The food wasn't the best as it was definitely geared towards international visitors (read as: menu consisted mostly of american food) and there weren't many gluten free options. The best part of breakfast was the coffee, which came with a cute little jar of fresh milk.
After breakfast, we explored the city and the markets. We got swarmed with people, my chest, face and feet started to burn (#beefsteaktomato). I found a blanket I feel in love with (surprise) and we decided that before we explored anymore we needed to get back to the house to rest and budget.
Little did we know- since our airbnb was right in front of a church, the procession passed right in front of our house. We made it to the end of the block when we were stopped by some sacerdotes [priests] in white robes and were told we needed to stay behind a line made by more men in purple. We slowly tried to wind our way through the crowd, but got trapped about 6 houses down from our own.
It was pretty amazing. We watched as men carried a giant wooden platform with the figures of Jesus carrying the cross and what I assume are other significant scenes from the bible and his crucifixion. There had to have been over 50 men carrying the platform, and each and every one had this look of extreme pain on his face, but also a peaceful reverence. I have no doubt that this was a deeply important moment for them, mimicking Christ's suffering like they were.
After about 30 minutes of being stuck as this procession made its way down our street, I started to get lightheaded from a combination of heat, dehydration and incense, so as soon as the platform was past I had to start moving.
Sasha and I started making our way through the crowd. We finally made it outside the house, but had just about given up ever making it inside past the group of people 5 rows deep standing in front of us when a man pushed past us and started pushing his way inside. We followed close behind and, after 40+ minutes stuck outside in the blaring sun, we finally collapsed onto our beds under the protective roof of our airbnb.
[Photo to the left is an aerial view of the parade that I took during dinner, where we'd ducked inside to avoid getting stuck in the throng for the second time in one day. You can see more of the flower art and some of the hooded men who were leading the procession, cleansing the path with incense.]
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