Santa Semana (Easter Week)

We're back in Antigua after scaling the volcano, and the craziness of Santa Semana is still continuing - in fact it's escalating!

The celebrations started months back but for 2 weeks leading up to Easter it really ramps up and it's very different to how we do things back home (ie bugger all apart from maybe giving up some chocolate). They close off the streets and they create these amazing carpets out of sand, pine needles, sawdust and coloured powder. Then, as it's so hot and dry, they have to keep hosing them down so they don't blow away in the breeze. At some point the massive procession comes along and tramps right over them. At times it looks like a purple Klu Klux Klan parade, but most of the time it's a good half a kilometre plus of incense burning, power cable lifting, and carrying crazy heavy 'Easter floats'. I can't really describe it, and the pictures barely do it justice. The massive wooden stages of the cross they carry must weigh as much as Elvis (with full tanks) and some 50 or more men (and occasionally only women) carry it in a strange swaying motion. We're not sure if it's the weight, power lines or some deferential reason that causes this bizarre path forwards, sideways, back, sideways, forward motion but it doesn't look easy work. Plus these processions appear to go on for as much as 12 hours, so we're guessing there must be substitutions allowed but I wouldnt rule out it being a hard core act of devotion.

Amongst all this we took a week of much needed Spanish lessons. Although it was super useful to practice I'm not sure how many times I'm going to use the 3 different types of past tense (depending on whether you finished the action and aren't going to do it again; have done it, are continuing to do it and will do it in the future; or have done it and might do it again), particularly when it is perfectly legit to say it in the present tense and add 'yesterday' or '2 weeks ago'.

Mingled with the educational and deferential we managed to eat pie and mash (twice), have a Texas BBQ (twice), savour a decent Thai meal, eat a scotch egg, watch the Super Sunday footy whilst enjoying a full English (which turned out to be free, as I gave the cockney owner a St George's flag), enjoy terrace happy hours whilst being towered over by volcanoes, and generally enjoying ourselves far too much!!

I have to say although we haven't been blown away by Guatemala as a whole, we have thoroughly enjoyed Antigua. I suspect that it's more to do with having been on road for exactly 11 months now and not really spent any time in full on touristy places, and if we had been here 6 months ago we would probably have hated it!

We even managed to conveniently forget the 5 day limit at the Tourist Police place, and snuck out on the 9th morning, but I think they were all still recovering from Santa Semana to worry about it.Read more