Visit From Laura and Thomas - April 2023

Laura and her son, Thomas, arrived Wednesday afternoon for a five day visit. Mary had done some excellent planning so as to show them Guatemala and a good time.

First we went to the large relief map that was created in the early 1900s seeking to attract railroad  system builders who might be willing to invest in a track across Guatemala. It is useful to gain perspective of Guatemala´s landscape and neighbors.

Thursday we drove to Antigua which is a city full of  Guatemalan history and perspective. This was a special week as it was part of the celebration of Holy Week. We hired a guide to take us around and he made sure we saw three of the Holy Week processions put on by different churches.

This picture was taken in the plaza in the center of the city. 

You might find the fountain in the background interesting.

Each procession put on by congregations had one float that was hand carried.

This one was carried by females but I think firefighters were close by just in case they were needed. 

There were many males dressed in purple robes and many buildings had purple decorations. 

They wore robes which seemed to be like those Catholic priests would wear and they 

had a cap with cloth in the back on their heads.

One parade seemed different in the sense that it included Roman soldiers.

Many groups created decorations in the middle of the road. They used colored wood shavings and some other plants and flowers. Some of them were quite ornate. In each parade, everyone would walk around these decorations until those carrying the one float arrived and they walked through them. This, obviously, damaged the decoration so trucks would follow the parade to clean up the remains. I think this happens all three days of many parades.

We saw three parades during the daylight hours and one of those in the nighttime passed close to where we stayed. In the nighttime, a cart is pushed behind the parade supplying power to the float and to lights allowing the band members to see their music. There was always a band following every float.

I also call your attention to the roads. All of them are made of rocks fitted together like these. They are durable but not much fun to walk on.