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<Gallery Home Page> Good Friday, 14th
April
Where do you go on Good Friday in Guatemala? Well if Antigua is too busy
then head for Santiago Del Atitlan on the south side of the lake.
Santiago is home to ‘Maximon’ – an ancient wooden deity who moves
annually from one house to another, and whose offerings comprise of
cigars, rum, men’s ties, coca-cola and of course money. He is the
lasting alternative ‘god’ who has endured the influence of the Spanish
Catholic church for some 400 years.
Whilst there, we also saw at
first hand more of the Easter Sunday preparations in the form of more
street religious art constructed mostly of brightly coloured sawdust and
all prepared (and destroyed) on the same day. Again there were few
tourists here, this is a Guatemalan cultural centre which is very much
unspoilt. The colours and variety of life here is spectacular, from the
street urchins to the bizarrely fake white bearded men who lead the
Easter procession.
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This is how it all starts.....
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.....Chalk drawings in the street....
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....then in-laid with coloured sawdust....
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Local 'god' Maximon. bring gifts of tobacco, rum, and of course money!
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Four amigos...
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Main square
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Ice scream?
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I will scream!
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Easter Friday church procession
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(Traveller’s notes: we were recommended to say in Aaculaax in San Marcos
(Q150 – 360 p. night). Unless you stay in one of suites (presumably),
this place is pretty poor – dark, damp, had no hot water, which when
combined with the ‘arty’ effects of used glass bottles made you feel
like you were staying in a rubbish dump. Posado Schumann, where we ended
up for marginally more cash (Q180) is significantly better value and
more traditionally styled and Mayan decorated, and included breakfast,
free use of kayaks and the in-house wood fired sauna. However, if you
really want a great place to stay, try to get into Hotel Jinava just
outside town. While not exactly traditional…….it’s the best place in
town with an eccentric German and a furniture eating parrot called
Mojito. They also do Indian and Thai curries.)
Sunday 16th April
After one more day of lazing around,
swimming and more sea kayaking we caught the 6.30am lancho to
Panajachel, stopping off en route to pick up 4 Canadian/Scottish
'mature' travellers that we had met earlier in the week at La Casa Del
Mundo. With an average estimated age of 70 they proved to us yet again
that you are never too old to travel independently, and you don't need a
Saga tour! They were also en route to Chichicastenango, an traditional
Mayan market town, also without accommodation reservations, and proved
to be very enjoyable travel companions.
We all ended up in a fantastic Posada
(guesthouse) Del Arco which looked like nothing from the outside, but
inside had massive rooms which were more like apartments with log fires
and sofas, surrounding a pretty rambling courtyard - all for £15!
Once booked in we headed directly for
the market which is a vibrant colourful mix of traditional produce; meat
markets with dead and live animals, colourful fruit and vegetables,
textiles and woven fabrics and the usual mundane hardware items, which
even they managed to look colourful and interesting!
There is obviously also a large amount
of tourist fare to be had, ranging from the usual cheesy t-shirts to
amazing hand crafted wooden masks and ornaments and fabrics. Of course
we couldn't resist some haggling despite having absolutely no room in
our backpacks and ended up buying a couple of hand stitched patchwork
bedspreads, some wooden ornaments and a local beer t-shirt for Andy! We
thought we had got some real bargains (esp. as we actually persuaded one
vendor to take a travellers cheque, despite him not having a clue what
it was) until we realised that at the end of the day they are so
desperate to sell what's left rather than lug it all home on their
backs, that prices dropped by half again! Still we were happy we had
paid a fair price and have some lovely souvenirs of a fantastic country.
In amongst all the hubbub of the
market there was yet another procession in honour of Semana Santa and an
hilarious local band playing in the market square. Lets just say they
were a mix between a traditional Mexican band, and Boyzone, dressed like
something out of Saturday Night Fever. Their audience was
even funnier as we watched the old boys who had obviously been on the
local brew all day, stagger around the dance area hanging onto each
other for dear life! Strange how things never change from country to
country....see video below....
Windows Media Player File (1.1mb)
After a fun packed day we had a nice
quiet dinner in an artsy little cafe, watched the traders pack up and
headed for bed.
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Even their cemeteries are colourful!
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(Traveller’s notes: lancho back to Pana should be around Q20 each, with
a pre-arranged shuttle to Chichi US$5ea. Accommodation in Chichi at
Posada del Arco about Q183 per night.)
Monday 17th April
Our challenge for the next day was to
get from Chichi back to Antigua. Getting there was easy, on a
pre-arranged shuttle bus, for the return however we had to opt for the
never to be missed experience of riding a Chicken Bus for a bone
rattling, white knuckle ride via Chimicastenango to Antigua. To say the
bus (aka an old US school bus with seats for 32) was packed would be to
say that tinned sardines reside in relative luxury. I think that we
counted at least 75 people in the bus when it was at its fullest, and no
we didn't get a seat. It was however worth the effort for the
experience. Chicken buses are a way of life here, it's the cheapest way
to travel and there are loads of them. You may have to have a child
sitting on your knee most of the way as we did, but they don't seem to
mind, contrast that with western kids forced to sit on a strangers lap
for 2 hours - waterworks for sure! The trip was safe albeit eventful and
thankfully no-one stole our luggage which was stored up on top alongside
the live chickens and other belongings.
We stayed at the Hotel del Parque
again to reclaim our left luggage, up load the web site at the local
Bagel Barn with free wireless internet and
then off to Utila in the Bay Islands, Honduras.
(Traveller’s notes: chicken bus to Chimicastenango and then to Antigua
around Q24ea, with accomm in Hotel del Parque the usual Q150 per night.)
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