Gail's Guest Blog

(see picture album links at end of blog) 
Semana Santa

I am very happy to do this guest blog because it means I was able to partake of Linda and Roger's hospitality in this lovely city of Antigua during the most amazing time of the year - Semana Santa.  Linda met me at the airport in Guatemala City with their number one taxi driver, Kenny.  Kenny knew the shortcut back to Antigua, thereby avoiding the two hour traffic jams into Antigua, as families and visitors were arriving for Semana Santa.   Banks, schools and other businesses were closed from Wednesday through Monday.  Fortunately restaurants and stores remained open.  Linda, Roger and I, after a very good lunch at Cafe Condesa, wandered around town, looking at the alfombras, or carpets.  There are several processions every day and each has a prescribed route.  Anyone living or having a business on the route can make a carpet.  No permits are needed; there are no themes to follow nor are prizes awarded.  It truly is done as an expression of faith.  The carpets vary from a simple cross on a bed of pine needles to multi-colored ones made of dyed sawdust and decorated with flowers, mini- sculptures, animals and religious figures made from fruit and even the face of Jesus carved into the rind of a watermelon.  After the procession has passed over the carpet, city street sweepers follow and clean-up the remains.  If another procession is scheduled along that same route later that that day or the next, the families make another carpet. 

  The Procession

Every procession seems to include two floats.  The first has a statue of Jesus on it, looking to the right.  The floats are decorated anew each year, but the statue remains the same.  The same is true of Mary, who is on the second float.  The women decorate Mary's float; the men decorate Jesus'.  Included in the procession are bands, with clarinets, trumpets, baritones, tubas and drums, playing funeral-like dirges.  Jesus' float weighs 7000 pounds and is carried by 80 men, who may pay 40 Quetzales (about $5.00) for the privilege.  The tallest men carry for the first segment, usually one block, when the next group (the second tallest) takes over.  The transition is completed silently, as each carrier has been assigned numbers, indicating the corner where they begin carrying, and the exact spot on the float they are to carry.  The women carry Mary's float.  Mary's float is half of Jesus' - the cost, weight and number of carriers.  A procession may consist of 60 turns, so 80 carriers times 60 turns times many processions equals a lot of participants.  The men are garbed in purple robes and the women in black and white.  On Good Friday, after 3:00 pm both men and women wear black.  As we watched the processions, we saw fathers carrying their young sons on one arm as the other shoulder bore the weight of the float.  Likewise, with the women.  Young children also walked along side their parents, and were dressed like their parents.   Occasionally we saw someone on a cell phone and the Mahanic's neighbor, Joan, reported seeing one of the marchers snap a photo with his iPad, but generally there was a solemnity and non-commercialism to Semana Santa.  I took Elizabeth Bell's tour at 6:00 am on Good Friday, and we walked one of the procession routes, looking at over a hundred carpets.

 The Food

We have eaten delicious food here, often in a nearly empty restaurant.  Epicure and Don Martine treated us to a complimentary appetizer and dessert (tortilla soup and chocolate truffle at Epicure and eggplant ceviche and fruit platter with rum creme at Don Martine).  I took the cooking class at Pena de Sol Latino and highly recommend it, even though they did not give us aprons to wear that day.  I've taken many cooking classes and I probably did more hands-on prep than any previous classes.  I also took the class at the Chocolate Museum, where I did get an apron!  We ate at Hector's one night, which seems to be the unanimous choice as the best restaurant in Antigua.  Hector's seats 22; after a twenty minute wait, we were seated at the bar which offered a front row view of the kitchen and meal preparations.  The actual open floor space of this kitchen is about two feet by eight feet.  The head cook, prep person, hostess/waitress, dishwasher and even Hector are all in the area.  Their movements are the dance of a well-practiced ensemble, as they efficiently move in the tiny space.

 The Hiking

  On my first day we hiked to Cerro de la Cruz, for a nice overview of the city.  On Easter Sunday, we took the Earth Lodge shuttle to Earth Lodge, about a 20 minute ride, where we had understood we could hike safely.  Locals told us to avoid certain roads as the robbers are especially on the lookout during holidays.  We arrived at the drop off point, walked ten minutes uphill to Earth Lodge, only to be told that it was not safe to hike there, either.  Then one young woman said she had hiked earlier, along the same route we had just come, without any problems, but that we should probably not take our cameras because we would probably be relieved of them along the trail.  So we left our backpacks at Earth Lodge, retraced our path back to where the shuttle dropped us plus a little further, than back to Earth Lodge, where we arranged for the shuttle to take us back to Antigua.  Not quite what we had planned for the day but an interesting experience to see Earth Lodge.  Later that day, Linda and I walked through Santo Domingo, where a monastery that had been partially in ruins has been renovated into a beautiful hotel/restaurant/convention center  - it seemed the polar opposite of Earth Lodge, where (usually) younger people will go and volunteer for a bit in exchange for lodging.

The Hiking, Part II

On Monday, the tourist van picked us up at 6:00 am for the ride to Pacaya Volcano.  There were 11 of us on this bus and we were joined by an equal number at the start of the hike, led by a Guatemalan tourist guide.  The hike was advertised as an easy two hour hike.  However, for those who live in the flatlands of Michigan, it was not quite so easy, as we hiked up for over an hour to the top, which is at 8373 feet.  Accompanying us were three horses and their riders.  They kept saying to us (and by us I mean Roger, Linda and me) 'Taxi?'  I like to think we were at the end of the hikers because we were the sweepers of the hike, not because we were just a little slower than the twenty-somethings on the hike with us.  Finally Roger explained to them in his best and most polite Spanish that if he wanted a taxi he would let them know and to quit asking.  It was effective.  Pacaya was very windy at the top.  There was a small Lava Store, where one could purchase lava jewelry and other souvenirs, payable upon return to your hotel.  Our guide had sticks and marshmallows for roasting over one of the hot areas at the top.  Linda and I patiently roasted ours; Roger ate his unroasted.  Views from the top were spectacular.

 

Textiles

Linda and I visited the Textile Museum on Tuesday, then hit the shops so I could buy  some Guatemalan fabric.  Linda had already purchased some with Carol, and both she and I were practicing restraint as we still have yards of fabric from Bali awaiting us.  The colors are bright and lively.

Miscellaneous

 While Semana Santa (Holy Week) is a very special time in Antigua, with businesses closing for several days, it was interesting to see the places of business that remained open, including a nail salon, where Joan was able to get a manicure on Easter Sunday.

I have made very good use of my "Guatemalan wallet," which I have had for years, but was unaware of how useful it is where one must be vigilant of pickpockets, especially ones with sharp knives.  I expect to be using this wallet on future trips to South America and Africa.

And finally, anytime Linda and Roger Mahanic invite you to join them on any adventure, just say yes.  Cancel whatever else is on your schedule, buy your ticket and be ready for a wonderful, memorable trip. (Roger sits in Pope's chair from 2002 Antigua visit in 2002: "If they didn't want you to sit in it, they'd have put up a rope or something."

Album Links:
General Pictures: Guat5#

Antigua Carpets:  Antigua Alfombras (Carpets)#

Quilt Inspirations:
Quilt Inspirations#