Guatemala bordering El Salvador, Honduras, The Carribean Sea and Belize to the East, The Pasific Ocean in the South and Mexico in the West and the North.
There are 16 million people living here and Guatemala City is the capital.
I took the buss up to Antigua. This is an old colonial town, situated in the highland of Guatemala, about 1700 meters above sea level. Most of the people living here are Maya Indians.
For me that had been suffering from a bacteria in my body caused to the humid weather in Central America, this was like comming to heaven. The average temperature during daytime was 24 degrees and at night 15 degrees. No need for a fan and no mosquitoes to fight in the nights.
I rented a room with a Maya family outside the center of town. The mother was sitting in the backyard embroiding clothes in bright colors.
Easter celebrations, the biggest event of the year in Guatemala and the biggest Easter celebration in the world!
Antigua was packed with people from far and close.
They created carpets of flower in the streets for the Semana Santa parade. Each neigbourhood is responsible for their own carpets.The carpet designs reflect Maya tradition, biblical symbolism and scenes from nature.
Processions in the streets every day and night. Men dressed in purple robes and hoods, carrying floats with large sculptures of Jesus on their shoulders, step in tune with the gloomy, heavy and mysterious beat of the marching band. The color purple symbolizes the wait for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Women dressed in black symbolizing the grief over Jesus suffering and death.
The procession is rooted in Andalusian tradition and was brought over by Spanish missionaries in the 16th Century.
At the cementary.
Sceneries in Antigua.
The colorful busses of Guatemala and the vulcano El Fuego in the back.
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