Easter Sunday

Rest, study, rest, study. Streets are quiet today. Mid-afternoon decide to walk around and find someplace to eat. Want to try Don Martin on the other side of the church. Sounds like it might have some good simple tipico food. It's not open today, so we stop on the corner and eat at Capit án tortuga. Food was not all that great and the prices were high, but we ran into Suzy, who we had talked to while in the line at the bank the other day. We ended up having a great conversation and hearing about all her fascinating travels from her single days. Another one of those adventurous women, now in her 60's, who traveled in her 20's to places where women didn't travel by themselves back then - Africa, Afghanistan... would love to hear more of her stories.
Saw today's only procession, San Pedro - a little tiny one to wind up the week!

Recovery Day

After sleeping in til mid-morning, we walk to the Rainbow Cafe for big breakfasts, pick up a few necessities from the grocery store, and walk back home. Still feeling a bit wiped out from lack of sleep on Thursday night. Gene walks to the deli for cheese and olives for "dinner."
Study, write journals, read, rest.

Viernes Santo - Good Friday

After a brief couple of hours of very uncomfortable "sleep," we awoke with a start at 3 in the morning, just before the Roman Soldiers paraded down our street, elaborately costumed and on horseback. What a show as they were announced by trumpet and stopped at each corner to read the sentencing of Jesus. The electricity had come on and the neighborhoods were alive with alfombra makers. We agreed that we were "awake." Half a pot of coffee later, we were ready to go out into the dark streets again to watch as the alfombras grew on every street around us.
I said that the "informal" alfombras in the streets on Palm Sunday were works of art and that is true. Today's street art was worthy of one of the world's great art museums! Every street was alive with neighbors working on their alfombras. Each was totally different. At each site there were buckets of materials: supplies of sawdust or sand in various colors, multi-colored chrysanthemum buds, all sorts of flowers, and other items as needed. The street is first sprayed with water to keep the sawdust from blowing around. A base of sawdust (or sand) is laid to create a flat surface on the cobblestones. Then the formas (stensils) are used to meticulously create these beautiful multi-colored masterpieces. What an amazing experience to wander through the streets for the remainder of the night, watching these creations come to life! By about five in the morning, the alformbras closest to the church had been completed in time to welcome the procession. The atmosphere that exists in Antigua as the entire town is involved throughout the night and then all day is indescribable. Some of the active participants in the procession are Roman centurions, trumpeters, and cohorts, drums and flutes, Pontius Pilot, the thieves, banners with the Sentencing, incense carriers, children processioners, bands playing funeral marches and numerous floats carrying images including the Prayer at the Garden, the Seizure of Christ, Saint Peter, Christ at the Column, Christ Falling, María Magdalena, San Juan, Marta, María Solomé, María Cleofás, and the large floats with the sculpture of Jesús Nazareno, the sculpture of the Virgin of Dolores.
After a couple hours of watching the procession pass through our area, we wandered around the town through the streets that were still workiing on their alfombras in preparation for when the procession would get to their street later in the day. At some point, we stopped long enough to have a good breakfast at our neighborhood cafe, and then continued walking and admiring the art work until noon, when it was time to walk to the Cathedral in the middle of town to observe the Crucifixion Ceremony. No, they didn't crucify real people, although I had observed that particular custom many years ago in the Philippines. There were 3 more processions which started out around 3 o'clock from various churches (about the time that the one that had started at 5 am returned to Iglesia La Merced and ended). Thus throughout the day and night these amazing events wound through this unbelievable town, eliminating all that beautiful art work as they went! Sometime between midnight and 2 am we went back into the street to watch one of them make its way through our neighborhood. I heard one passing through the area around 4 am, but decided not to get up and go back into the street to see it again. Earlier in the evening (believe me this all runs together after the fact!) we had come out of a restaurant on the corner and stupidly started to make our way to our apartment through the crowd. We eventually figured out that something had gone wrong with one of the processions and two of them had come together at the same time, from opposite directions, at our corner. There was total gridlock for a couple of hours as neither could move through the intersection until the other did so - and there were thousands of people in the streets who couldn't move either. There was a man directly behind me with a huge basket of something on his head who kept saying "Permiso por favor!" I finally turned around to him, which was vertually impossible, and told him I could not move! He told me that yes, I could; that I just had to keep saying "Permiso!" and pushing my way through! Amazingly, we eventually made it down the half a block to our apartment and stood outside for another couple of hours with our landlords watching the processions as the gridlock somehow eventually got untangled.
This is a day that I will remember the rest of my life, in spite of the fact that it is all running together in my mind already. This week is something that I will return to Antigua for every year that I get the chance. It is totally amazing and trying to describe it is futile.
By the way, have I mentioned lately that I could live here?

Will the Lights Come On?

There is a definite atmosphere of waiting for something to happen today. Tonight will be the final preparations for the Good Friday processions. For most people, it will be a sleepless night. After our class, we walk down the street to Kafka's, a really cool tiny courtyard cafe where you can relax in a hammock with your drink or enjoy it from a table on the veranda. Selecting a table, we have pulled pork sandwiches with fries and beer. After a bit of a walk, we plan to study a while and then take naps in preparation for the busy night to follow. Alas! As usual at such times, I am too wired to take a nap, but do some reading and studying. In the evening I sleep for nearly an hour and when I awake, we hear a loud bang and the electricity goes off in the entire neighborhood. We walk in the strange darkness up to the plaza, along with a lot of other people. We think we will go to Kafka's because we know Kevin is going to grill "pinchos" (kabobs) on the charcoal grill. But he's decided it's too much trouble to cook in the dark and is giving up by the time we get there. Across the street, many of the vendors have generators, so we wander around enjoying the crowd for a while and have some fried chicken. I can't help thinking of all those plastic gloved people in fast food restaurants who are not allowed to touch (dirty) money as the woman picks up a chicken leg and hands it to me, accepting my quetzales with the same bare hand! When did we start requiring food handlers to wear plastic gloves, I wonder. Certainly no one wore them when I was growing up. And somehow I lived. Anyhow after the chicken, we buy some churros and make our way home to make hot chocolate in the dark to go with them. Late at night we take a chance and lie down for a while. We keep all our clothes on so that we will be uncomfortable enough to not fall into a deep sleep because we can sleep no more than 2 hours or we will miss all the excitement of the night.

More Procesiones & Preparations

Today was the Procesion Infantil, from the church on the corner by our apartment - La Merced. There were thousands of people in the streets to watch. The floats are enormous - and the carriers are all children. We learned that the carriers for each procession are organized into groups according to height in order to balance the load properly. So the first group to carry a float out of a church will consist of the tallest carriers. At the first change-off, the next group will be a bit shorter, etc until the last group, who will all be short people! The organization involved in these processions is incredible, but the changes of the carriers and other things that happen along the way are done so smoothly that an observer will probably never be aware unless watching for it very closely.
Some of the floats weigh several thousand pounds and require as many as 80 people to carry them. The processions last for as long as 12 hours or more, continuing into the darkness of night or even into the early hours of the next day. The images that they carry may be as much as 400 years old in some cases, and their history is a history of La Antigua itself. There are stories of where statues were moved to be protected and restored after they survived the destructive force of various earthquakes. There are stories of where they were hidden to protect them from being moved when the government was moved from Antigua to Guatemala City after the earthquake of 1776. And stories of images which miraculously moved themselves to different locations in the middle of the night. These images (imágenes in Spanish) are more than just sculptures. Many believe them to have miraculous powers. We hear them referred to as "the Jesus," or "el Seniór," clearly indicating that they are considered to be of significance much greater than merely a representation. The Virgin Mary is usually called "la Virgen" (the Virgin). The activities of lent and holy week are an integral part of the history and culture of La Antigua. Indeed, without the processions, vigils, alfombras and sacred images, it would simply not be Antigua.

La Iglesia de San Francisco

We did our class all day today because we're going to take Friday off because of all the festivities. We took our teachers to lunch around the corner at Fernando's. Then in the afternoon we all took a break and walked down to la Iglesia de San Francisco.
The original San Francisco church was badly damaged in the 1565 earthquake. Work on the current location comenced in 1579, and it became a cultural and learning center for the region. The school taught theology, canonical law, philosophy, physics and mathematics. Ultimately there was a library, music and art rooms, and a printing press as well as a beautiful chapel. The massive 3 story hospital was damaged in the 1689 earthquake. Reconstruction began immediately and the complex ultimately covered 4 city blocks. In 1717, another earthquake hit. This time the complex sustained massive damage. All of the church arches were cracked, the bell tower was partially destroyed. Engineering mistakes made in the reconstruction this time resulted in even more destruction in the 1773 earthquake. Most of the church lay in ruins until the 1960's when another renovation project was undertaken. Walking through the ruins, it is hard to take in just how massive this place originally was. It is said that the current church is very simple compared to what it used to be. It still appears very beautiful and elaborate to me. It receives massive numbers of visitors each year, many of them to pray to Hermano Pedro de San José de Bethancourt, whose remains lie here, and who is credited with miraculous powers of healing.
The church also houses the remains of Fray Augusto Ramírez, who was declared a martyr by Pope John Paul II during his visit to Guatemala in 1992 for his efforts and death at the hands of the national police in 1983.
In many ways this beautiful church seems to represent so much of the history of this amazing country. Earthquakes and rebuilding and earthquakes again. Prayers for miracles. Martyrs at the hands of the police. But always beauty and an attitude of endurance.
After a really busy day, we spent some time studying and then went up to the church plaza for some munchies. We had some surprisingly good pizza and then brought some churros home with us to eat with hot chocolate. We're in heaven. They actually make churros like the ones we loved in Spain. If I eat these as often as I want to, I will gain another 20 pounds.

Palm Sunday

We're just having our coffee at about 6 am when Benjamin informs us they are making alfombras in the street in front of our apartment. This is a very exciting surprise for us, but let me back up a bit and tell you what we had been expecting.
We knew that today there was to be a huge procession from the church on the corner, La Merced. There would be 4000 carriers of the main float, the one which carrys the wooden Christ sculpted by Alfonso de la Paz in 1650. This wooden float weighs about 7,000 pounds and is carried by 80 men. [***] By 10:30 at night when the sculptures are returned to the church, the entire city has welcomed the procession, with some streets being honored more than once as it travels about.
The part that we had not known about was the alfombras (carpets). We knew that the streets would be decorated with alfombras on Viernes Santo (Good Friday), but today was a surprise. On every street the neighbors gathered in the early hours to create magnificent designs in the streets, using pine needles (now we know what they were for!), flowers, branches and corozos (the inside of a huge pod which is popular for this decorative use). Many of them also use the palm bouquets that we had seen being created in the plaza last night. We were told that today's alfombras would be simple affairs. The really fancy ones will be done on Good Friday. If these works of art were simple, I am truly anxious to see the fancy ones. These were amazingly beautiful. By 8 o'clock when the procession began at the church, the alfombras were finished and ready. The procession itself was incredible, with its 4000 carriers for the main float, carriers for the other floats, the bands, and various other participants. But all in all I think we were more impressed by the alfombras. Our street was the first street the procession traveled, and of course once the procession went through, these magnificent art pieces were gone forever!

*** [By my calculations then, each man is carrying 88 pounds on his shoulder. And since there are 4,000 carriers involved, 80 at a time, there must be something like 50 shifts over the 14.5 hours of the procession. So each team of 50 must carry this huge load for about half an hour.]

Sábado de Ramos

Bfast @ Fernando's. Walking back toward our apartment afterwards we noticed many people heading to the church with huge bundles of pine needles on their backs or balanced on their heads. We're wondering if they are to be part of the alfombras or if they're for something else. Hopefully we'll find out eventually.
After breakfast we walked to San Felipe to visit the impressive gothic church & see their amazingly detailed alfombra, which runs the length of the church and is surrounded by gorgeous fresh fruits & vegetables. Don Benjamin, our landlord, had encouraged us to visit this one & when we saw him there, he took us outside the church & told us the story of the history of the church in this town where he grew up. It seems that the wooden sculpture of Jesús was originally in the church in San Lucas Cotzumalguapa, the home of many poor people. When their area was overwhelmed by bats, the people moved to San Felipe. Some time later, the Jesus appeared in the church in San Felipe. It was returned several times to its original home but always reappeared by miracle in the new town. The people from the two towns fought over the sculpture but it was eventually decided that it would stay in its new home, since clearly the miracle indicated that was where it belonged.
Written records tell the story a bit differently, indicating that the neighbors brought the statue to Antigua (then called Santiago) and that the priest subsequently had a church built for it. I prefer Don Benjamin's version, with the sculpture miraculously appearing in the middle of the night. At any rate, apparently the faithful have been praying to the Jesus sculpture since 1620.
After seeing the church and it's amazing alfombra, we talked to woman from Tennessee over cokes at a table in the market. She's here for 3 wks to study Spanish to renew her teacher certificate.
We walked back to Antigua and were walking from the grocery store to our apartment by a very indirect route when we came across a wonderful place called El Sitio. It seems to be an art museum/gallery, theater, exhibition hall and cafe. We had a wonderful lunch in the little cafe and spent some time viewing a big roomful of photography by Jeffrey Foxx, a wonderful artist who has specialized for many years in Maya people, culture and villages. Awesome stuff. We plan to go back again for lunch and to find out what events might be planned while we're here.
In the evening we wandered around the church plaza on the corner. Throughout this time of the year the plaza is filled with vendors supplying the crowds with food and drink. I love "street food" wherever we go. A great opportunity usually for a good supply of grease at cheap prices, and sometimes a learning experience, trying local foods. We had some sort of meat in sauce thing, served on a tortilla and topped with a choice of avocado, cabbage, tomato sauce, etc. As always, I asked the vendor for the name of the dish. And as is usual, I immediately forgot it. Anyhow, it was good! Other things offered are fried chicken, empanadas (but all fruit filled rather than meat or veggies), potato chips, french fries, chicharones (fried pork), sausage, pizza, pupusas (delicious flat things filled with meat, beans and/or cheese - a specialty from El Salvador), chiles rellenos (stuffed peppers), and tons of candy/sweet things.
While wandering around, we ended up talking to a family from the US who come to Antigua every year for Semana Santa. It's easy to see why people would want to return year after year. I think we will.
While at the plaza, I bought one of the palm bouquets. There is one big section of the plaza, directly in front of the entrance to the church, where the sellers of the palm arrangements sit and make the arrangements. It is a beautiful sight, as the women are all dressed in their colorful traditional indigenous outfits. There must be over a hundred people making and selling the bouquets, which are made of special palm leaves brought in from a specific area of the country, along with various other colorful flowers. Some different from the dinky little bow made of a piece of palm leaf that I recall from Palm Sunday in Florida! I was planning to wait until Sunday morning to buy one of these beautiful arrangements, but someone reminded me that the plaza would be so crowded tomorrow morning that I wouldn't be able to get there. So I asked what the price was. I was shocked to learn that these beautiful things sell for 5 quetzales (about 65 US cents), so I "splurged" on one.

Procesión de Los Niños

Breakfast around the corner at Fernando's again. Walked to la Catedral de San Jose on Parque Central to watch the Procesión de los Niños. While waiting for the procession to begin, we watched the creation of one of the beautiful alfombras (made of colored sawdust and sand) on one section of the floor of the church. Fascinating to watch this piece of art come together as stencil after stencil was used to apply different colors. We came across a freelance guide, Don Oscar, who showed us through the churches & ruins at Catedral San Jose as well as Iglesia San Francisco. Both left a huge impression on us, realizing the destructive force of the earthquakes which, along with other disasters, both "natural" and man-made, have left such huge scars on this country. We plan to return to spend more time at these sites.
After our guided tour, we returned to the Catedral as the niños (young people) prepared to lift the huge floats (with their statues) onto their shoulders to carry them out of the church and through the streets of the town. You're going to hear a lot more about these processions, how they are done, how many people participate, etc as I learn more about it over the next week. For now let me say that the girls were so fun to watch. While the boys wore traditional purple robes and head coverings, the girls were dressed in black skirts and white blouses. They wore head coverings and white gloves. It was clear that they took their jobs seriously and some were quite nervous. The boys' float, carrying the sculpture of Jesús Nazareno del Desamparo (made by the Guatemalan artist Salvador Posadas in 1913) is carried on the shoulders of 40 young boys. The float with the sculpture of the Virgin de Dolores is carried by 24 young girls. We watched the procession depart the Catedral through the huge front doors. Followed by the bands and hundreds of onlookers, they descended the massive stone steps and continued down the steet, swaying to the music under the weight of their heavy loads. None of my schedules and books told me how long this procesión was, but it passed our apartment 2 1/2 hours later, so it had to be at least 4 hours total.

Don Benjamin

Don Benjamin
"That's a good question." It's our first conversation with Don Benjamin, our neighbor and landlord and, we hope, new friend. He has stopped us on the street to chat. He wants us to know how wonderful his town is. He wants us to ask him anytime that we have questions about Antigua. He has lived here his entire life, he says, and he's now 83. It's our first day in Guatemala and when I ask him what kind of work he did before retiring, he tells me "That's a good question." Expecting to learn that he was something exotic like a freedom fighter, I am unprepared for the obvious. He worked for the city of Antigua - in the tourist office. It seems we have found our own private encyclopedia of all knowlege about this incredible city! And someone to practice our Spanish with, too, although he dances back and forth between Spanish and English at a dizzying rate.
On Saturday, our new mentor tells us, we must walk to La Iglesia de San Felipe de Jesús. The alfombra (carpet) that the faithful prepare there is one of the most incredible, he says, and the vigil held there is a wonderful experience. But the most important thing, he says, is "la gente," the people. We definitely agree. The people here are incredible.

We're Ready!

One week from today is the departure date for our Guatemala trip! We are excited. I've wanted to see Guatemala for many years, and now that we've lived in Central America for 5 years, we've decided it's time to see some of our neighboring countries. We will be arriving the week before Semana Santa (holy week), and will spend the first month in Antigua, which I hear has the most impressive Semana Santa processionals in all of the Americas. We will be staying right in the heart of Antigua for the first month, and will be right there where the holy week processions will be taking place.