Home » Guatemala Antigua and Barbuda » Copan, Lago Atitlan's flower power colony and Semana Santa in Antigua

Antigua Guatemala, 4 May 2003

Copan, Lago Atitlan's flower power colony and Semana Santa in Antigua

Odv
2004-09-15 12:04:32

Displayed times (last time: )

and not a single ATM had accepted our bank cards since Mexico. In Chiquimula it was even impossible to get a cash advance on a Mastercard, which in Belize at least was not a problem. After trying every ATM in Guatemala City we could find in an hour, we finally found an ATM belonging to the Pronto network of Credomatic that accepted bank cards with the Maestro logo. This ended the cash crisis.

With enough cash in our pockets we continued our journey to Lago Atitlan (Lake Atitlan). With the last boat we crossed the lake to our destination San Pedro La Laguna. It turned out we traveled back in time at least 30 years on that boat. In San Pedro flower power still rules. We were told that marijuana is the second local product after coffee! San Pedro is also the cheapest place we have traveled to, the most expensive hotel room, cost 60 Quetzal (7 EUR) per night and was clean and had a private shower.

Travelers here are very relaxed and very much cut off from the rest of the world, by the way they walk around they do not seem to have any pressing purpose. For as much as Antigua sometimes looks like a Dutch colony, San Pedro is dominated by Israelis.

Returning to Antigua, strangely felt like coming home. We returned to the house where we had stayed before our so-called Maya tour. We had already reserved the room before we left since Semana Santa is a very busy week.

It was nice to meet our friends again. Fleur was now also staying in the same house as us and Curt has gotten his first tattoo (he told us it was very painful).

The week before Easter is called the Semana Santa (Holy Week). During this week they commemorate each day a different part of the story that ends with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

Processions leave the churches and continue in the streets for hours and hours. Up to 60 people carry on their shoulders podium like displays with large statues of Christ carrying a cross and other decorations. I can't say these displays were really beautiful, actually they struck me as being pretty ugly. They also looked extremely heavy, turns out people actually have to pay for the privilege of carrying these podiums around a block or two.

In contrast what was beautiful to see were the alfombras (carpets). For hours people would be patiently making these carpets, from flours and/or painted sawdust, in the streets where the processions would pass. Only to see their beautiful alfombras being destroyed by the passing procession, sometimes only minutes after being completed!

During the night of Thursday to Friday the alfombra making reached it's peak, people would stay up all night to make them all over Antigua. We stayed up the whole night with our friends, and went on an excursion at 04:00 (4 a.m.) to see all these beautiful alfombras.

Copyright Otto de Voogd

All rights reserved.

Please visit my website