Tajumulco - At the Top of Central America

After some more quality time in chicken buses, we arrived in Quetzaltenango (aka "Xela") on Sunday afternoon, April 14.  We registered at our new Spanish school, got settled in at our new digs, and explored the city a little.  On Monday we made our way to Fuentas Georginas for a nice soak:

On Tuesday the 16th, we, along with our faithful guide Saul, set out to hike to the highest point in Central America - the top of Volcan Tajumulco (13,845 feet).

After several hours of public transit, during which we read about the Boston bombing over another passanger's shoulder, we arrived at the trailhead...

...and soon we were above the clouds.

Lindsey is photographed against her will...

After making camp that afternoon, we hiked to the top of a nearby hill.

We thought it was only fitting that we enjoy our first taste of Quetzalteca on this excursion.  It's a cane liquor similar to rum (though a bit more harsh), and costs about a dollar a pint.  Cuidado.

After spending a cold night being serenaded by a snoring Saul, we got up before 5am and summitted for sunrise.  In the background are the tops of a couple volcanoes closer to Xela, including Santa Maria.

Video - the view from Tajumulco

Tajumulco's crater.

To the left you can see the faint shadow of Tajumulco.  To the right is the top of volcan Tacana, which straddles the border between Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico.  It is the second-highest peak in Central America, at 13,320 feet.  

We descend...

The plume that appears higher than the surrounding clouds is actually ash from Volcan Santiaguito, an extremely active volcano closer to Xela

LA ANTIGUA

ANTIGUA

Getting there...

Antigua is beautiful!!! ...but first you have to get there from San Pedro.  We decided to travel via chicken bus or camionetta and what an experience.  We boarded the 8 am bus at the terminal in San Pedro and 10 minutes after leaving the village we encountered a problem in the next neighbouring village of San Juan.  The main streets of the village were filled with people, low hanging balloons and streamers and more elaborate alfombras on all of the main streets.  Our driver threw the bus in reverse and attempted to circumvent the celebration via a dry creek bed.  Unfortunately, we were stopped again when we came to the main road as it had guard rails which did not allow for us to reenter the road.  We all exited the bus and the driver through it in reverse again... we walked thorough the town and found the garage where the bus had parked.  The village was impassible.  So, we grabbed our bags and set down on a bench and listened to the Carl with a ¨K¨Show...

At 1pm we finally boarded a chicken bus for Antigua... only problem was it was jammed full and we were squished and standing in the very back of the bus.  Every seat contained at least 3 people and the aisles were  full of people.  Once a few people exited the bus and we had a little room to move Philip took a video

And we made it...

Cerro de la Cruz

Our first outing with the class was to cerro de la cruz.  The view from the hill overlooks the city of Antigua and gives you a view of the Agua Volcano.

The Spanish Embassy

This is a beautiful building which houses a library, art exhibits, and a cafe.  It´s a great place to study and read.

El Archo

The famous arch in Antigua that was constructed so that nuns could cross the street unseen.

Some of the images that are carried during the Semana Santa processions.

The Cemetery

Various pictures from around the city

The fountain in the central park

Public wash basins

Cooking chili rellenos at my teachers house 

Here´s the link to all of our pictures from Antigua

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rubff6c9b51elr3/a3todOIw5t

Semana Santa (Holy Week)

Palm Sunday

We kicked off Holy Week with Felipe´s favorite pastime... shopping! Chichicastenango (a 3 hour shuttle ride from San Pedro) is the home of the largest open-air market in Central America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichicastenango
Next to the market is the 400-year old church of Santo Tomás. It was built atop a Pre-Columbian temple platform, and the steps originally leading to a temple of the pre-Hispanic Maya civilization remain venerated. K'iche' Maya priests still use the church for their rituals, burning incense and candles. In special cases, they burn a chicken for the gods. Each of the 18 stairs that lead up to the church stands for one month of the Maya calendar year.

Santiago la Laguna - Maximón

The Wednesday of Holy Week we took a boat to the village of Santiago to see the procession of Maximón. Maximón is a folk saint with expensive tastes in alcohol and cigarettes (I´ve included information from wikipedia below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim%C3%B3n

Maximón (pronounced maa-shee-MOHn) is a folk saint venerated in various forms by Maya people of several towns in the highlands of Western Guatemala. The origins of his cult are not very well understood by outsiders to the different Mayan religions, but Maximón is believed to be a form of thepre-Columbian Maya god Mam, blended with influences from Catholicism.  It has been suggested that the name Maximón is a combination of Simón and Max, the Mam word for tobacco. The legend has it that one day while the village men were off working in the fields, Maximón slept with all of their wives. When they returned, they became so enraged they cut off his arms and legs (this is why most effigies of Maximón are short, often without arms). Somehow he became a god following this, perhaps he was possessed by the god prior. Where Maximón is venerated, he is represented by an effigy which resides in a different house each year, being moved in a procession during Holy Week. Worshippers offer money, spirits and cigars or cigarettes to gain his favour in exchange for good health, good crops, and marriage counseling, amongst other favours. The effigy invariably has a lit cigarette or cigar in its mouth, and in some places, it will have a hole in its mouth to allow the attendants to give it spirits to drink. The worship of Maximón treats him not so much as a benevolent deity but rather as a bully whom one does not want to anger.  His expensive tastes in alcohol and cigarettes indicate that he is a very human character, very different from the ascetic ideals of Christian sainthood. Devotees believe that prayers for revenge, or success at the expense of others, are likely to be granted by Maximón.^[2] An interesting aspect of Maximon in the town of Santiago Atitlan is that of the lure of Maximon's laundry water. During the year preceding Easter week when Maximon's clothing is washed, the waste water is saved and distributed to local shop keepers. These vails of gray, waste water are then sold to locals. The idea is that when sprinkled around the threshold of the shop doorway, the waste water will entice customers into the shop to make a purchase.

The procession of Maximón goes through Santiago´s crowded market.  That day the market was crowded with people selling fowl.  Traditionally the families kill and clean their chickens or other fowl on Wednesday of Holy Week in preparation for the traditional lunch on Thursday afternoon.

The pre-Good Friday parade of children from the Catholic school

Before school lets out for the holiday, the children in the Catholic school parade through the streets... it´s a smaller version of the Good Friday procession below, but it still brought out the guys with guns!

Good Friday

My teacher Andrea informed me about all of the beautiful alfombras (carpets) made for the procession on the morning of Good Friday.  She advised that I take photos at 7am before the streets were too crowded...she was right, of course.  The entire route of the procession is covered in these alfombras, which are made the night before and the morning of the procession from sawdust, maize, fruits, vegetables, leaves, pine cones, old egg cartons, feathers, flower petals, etc. The route is about three city blocks.  There are a few shots below, but you can see more here:  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kqt77kvmjffsfzk/MiCP--LZrB/Alfombras¨

Saturday we rounded out the week with a delicious meal with the family.

During the week fo Semana Santa we came across several of these....

The newest card-carrying member of the Rossi Posse...