Guatemala part 1: Antigua

For Semana Santa (Holy week/Easter/spring break), Christina and I had the week off of teaching so we decided to head to Guatemala. My sister, Reina, also decided to fly down and join us for the adventure. This is the first of three installments about our trip.

Sat. March 15
At 5:40am Christina and I took a taxi to the Hedman Alas bus stop in Tela. We went in to purchase our tickets to Guatemala but they were sold out. We had just been there 2 days prior and they said we didn't need reservations. Honduras is so frustrating sometimes. Instead, we bought tickets for Copan Ruinas on the Honduran/Guatemalan border hoping we could get a ride to Guatemala City from there. The tickets were 428 Lemps (L) ($23) each.

The bus was very fancy. They took our picture before boarding, handed out cookies, water, and juice, and we reclined in our plush seats. About 2 1/2 hours later, we stopped in San Pedro Sula where we had a 2 hour layover until leaving for Copan. Isn't waiting always fun when you are on a tight schedule to get somewhere? We anxiously wasted the time by reading, eating, and just wandering around the immense bus stop/mall.

Finally our bus departed and we arrived in Copan at about 1:40pm. Unfortunately, all the Guatemalan bound buses and shuttles had already left. There was another bus leaving but not until 6:30pm. We had to meet Reina at the Guatemala airport at 7:00pm. Two guys offered to drive us, in their shuttle, to the Guatemalan border town, Chiquimula, about 1 1/2 hour away for the ridiculous price of 1,000L ($53) each. That is 1/4 our monthly living allowance! We really had no other option so we grudgingly coughed up the dough. At the border we paid the small fees and arrived in Chiquimula at 3:30pm. It was a dusty, busy town. We transferred to a bus headed for Guatemala City. The ride to Guatemala was not very scenic. The whole countryside was brown, dead, and very dry. Quite a change from the evergreen Honduras.

After what seemed like a thousand stops, we got to Guatemala City at 7:30pm. Christina and I checked our watches about a thousand times along the way hoping Reina would not panic at the airport if we were late. We quickly exited the bus and got in a taxi to the airport for 30 Quetzales (Q) ($4) each. Guatemala city was large, very densely populated, and every business seemed to have a creative painting on the outside advertising it's services. At the airport, we found Reina and our shuttle for the hotel anxiously waiting for us. The shuttle was $11 each to our hotel in Antigua, about 45 min. away.

The cobblestone streets were the first sure sign that we had entered Antigua. We stopped at the central park to use the ATM and then went to our hotel, Umma Gumma. The reservation was for the three of us to share one private room but they ended up giving us two private rooms for the same price, $10 each per night. Reina's and mine was a bright room on the second floor with a balcony overlooking the street below. Christina's was in a corner on the first floor and very dark. Every part of the hotel was colorful and filled with character. It was late so we sought out the nearest restaurant, ordered pasta and drinks for about 60Q ($8), and then went to bed.Sun. March 16
I woke up at about 8:30am to loud music coming from out on the street. It sounded like a band marching in a parade. I looked out the window and, to my surprise, there were people creating a huge alfombra on the street below. Alfombras are amazing works of art created during Semana Santa on the cobblestone streets and in the churches with pine needles, dyed sawdust, colored sand, fruits, vegetables, and flowers, creating great scents throughout the entire city. Groups of people work for hours to create them. You have to enjoy them quickly as soon after they finish, large religious processions come down the streets trampling them and they are swept away.We watched the artists at work and walked to the central park. The central park and the adjacent cathedral were packed with hordes of Guatemalans, Central Americans, and a few other tourists. Many women were in very traditional Mayan dress with colorful, clashing patterns and babies were carried in slings around their backs. People were selling intricately arranged bouquets of flowers, boys were carrying around their shoeshine boxes, many men pushed ice cream carts, and numerous religious scenes were being performed by costumed people on the streets. Inside the church was a beautiful alfombra, stained glass windows, large platforms with statues waiting to be carried in the processions, and many paintings and statues.We got breakfast for 25Q ($3), walked though an artisan souvenir market, and took in all the people and chaos around. Walking around the streets, we witnessed a few processions. In the processions, the men dress in deep purple robes with white head scarves and the women in black and white with black veils. They carry large, insanely heavy wood platforms with religious statues built on the top. The platforms have padded shoulder crescents all around the bottom for the people to slip their shoulders under to haul it. They are preceded by men waving incense all around and followed by large marching bands. The processions last for hours trampling over the alfombras on the cobblestone streets. Click on the link to see a quick scene of one procession: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JodheZgYFM

Later we walked through the large market which had all sorts of goods from food to souvenirs to swap meet junk. We found stalls selling stencils and colored sand for the alfombras and stalls with a seamstress to sew you a purple robe. The market led to a cemetery. All of the tombs were family mausoleums and most were decorated with flowers. It was very lovely. Heading back to the hotel, we got pupusas at a roadside stand, checked our email, and had a beverage on the rooftop balcony. The other guests were all young backpackers from Sweden, Maine, Chicago, Wisconsin, etc.. Passing by the central park later that night, it was still bustling with people. Many vendors were still hawking their wares with their young children sleeping on the streets beside them.Mon. March 17
We woke up to a much quieter day, ate breakfast at a cute place with a garden, and went to check out an old church, La Merced. The original construction for this church began in 1548. Inside there was a beautiful alfombra, numerous statues, and a large Jesus cake. Adjoining the church are the ruins of a monastery. It had waterlily shaped fountain in the center with great views of the surrounding area from the crumbling second floor. Afterward we browsed some colorful artistic shops along the main road and to my surprise... I discovered an Irish pub, on St. Patrick's Day no less. Of course we had to celebrate the day with a drink and snacks. The beers were reasonably priced except they wanted 60Q ($8) for a pint of Guinness! They even played traditional Irish music. Very serendipitous.At 1:30pm we went back to the hotel to meet up with our shuttle. Guatemala has numerous volcanoes and we were off to see an active one, Volcan Pacaya. The shuttle was packed with 3 Germans, 2 people from Chicago, and a family of 6 from Iowa. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get to the base of the volcano. Getting out of the shuttle, we were bombarded by little boys selling walking sticks. We each bought one for 5Q ($0.60), paid the 40Q ($5) entrance fee, and started our ascent. The second we started the hike, local men offered up their horses for us to ride. They kept the pressure on for the entire 1 1/2 hour hike. It was a bit tempting since it was all uphill but they wanted 50Q ($7) just to go up. Out of my price range. We finally reached the peak and witnessed the amazing view of the immense lava covered mountainside. We hiked down the loose, rocky, narrow trail to get up close with the lava. It was obviously dangerous and the cooled, brittle lava rocks crumbled under our feet and could possibly collapse into hidden caverns beneath at any moment. A fellow explorer noted that in the US this whole area would be fenced off and would only have a viewing deck from up on the cliff... if even that. Immense heat emanated from the slow moving lava. One guy got too close and singed his leg hair. Some people had brought along marshmallows to roast. Reina even got some lava on her stick. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience.It was dark by the time we left so we had to hike down the rocky trail carefully. It was very dangerous since we couldn't make out anything in front of us. Everyone slipped a few times. At the bottom we returned our walking sticks to the boys clambering around to see who could get the most and rewarded ourselves with another St. Paddy's Day refreshment. We rode back to Antigua in the shuttle, arriving about 9:00pm, and got a bite to eat before passing out at the hotel. The next day we slept in and then were headed off to Lago de Atitlan.

Stay tuned for part 2 of our exciting adventure in Guatemala...