One of the benefits to living in Antigua, Guatemala for almost half a year was being able to take part in SO MANY Guatemalan celebrations and holidays. When we originally got an apartment in Antigua, we had no idea what it meant to live on one of the main streets near La Merced church and how often parades would be walking past our little casa. During Easter time in Antigua, there are more processions passing through town than we knew what to do with! Even a trip to the market during this time requires a camera because procession preparation begins at all hours, with small groups and families from different religious congregations carefully marking out streets for specially designed alfombras (carpets) of flowers and colored sawdust to be crafted into designs. Community members can be seen in colored robes lined up to carry andas (floats) in changing groups throughout town. We were told the processions re-enact Christ’s last days in Jeruselum, and get larger with higher attendance by tourists from all over the world each year. As a traveler living in the area, we were lucky to hear band practice every morning before processions began, and could actually smell when the processions were nearing by the clouds of sweet incense rolling under our apartment door when the groups were getting near. Easter in Antigua, or Semana Santa, was a perfect example of why we love to live in new destinations and an incredible end to our long visit to Central America. During this time especially, we met new friends, got to enjoy piping hot street-food and see families enjoying their lives together on the cobblestone streets of Antigua.
TIKAL: ANCIENT MAYA AND MONKEYS
On the road to Belize from Antigua, Guatemala most buses have to stop in Flores. Since this is a long overnight bus, it usually lands in Flores about 6 or 7a.m. This is perfect timing to catch the morning shuttles to Tikal and tour the ancient Maya ruins before the heat of the day. This is exactly what Christine and I had planned. The travel gods, however, had a different plan for us. Since this is how travel so often goes, we were not surprised when out overnight bus broke down, stopped to chat with a fellow driver for an hour, and lost all power at every slight incline. At one point as we climbed a hill I watched two small kids kicking a soccer ball in a very lethargic manner actually overtake and pass our bus. Aside from the slow progress we arrived safe and sound at the Flores drop off no more than six hours late.
Undeterred from seeing Tikal and guessing we missed our connecting shuttle, we made our way to our pre-booked hotel to call the very nice couple that had helped us book both the shuttle and the overnight bus in the hopes that we could arrange an evening tour. To our surprise our original shuttle showed up minutes later and sped us and our three new transport friends to Tikal. We all agreed to hire an English speaking guide and our group set out to explore the ancient city.
My advice to any traveler hoping to see these amazing Maya ruins is to hire a guide, and one that speaks your language. Unless you are an archeologist that specializes in ancient Maya culture, you will get ten times the enjoyment out of your trip with a guide to tell you what you are looking at. He expertly guided us around the city that the jungle had reclaimed. We explored pyramid after pyramid, hiking through the jungle, and saw where Maya kings had lived and the entire culture had worshipped. The old stone tables where human sacrifices had taken place were explained in detail as were reasons for certain artifacts being destroyed by ancient battles between enemy tribes. It was unreal to walk where an entire civilization had once lived and then just abandoned.
As we worked our way to the city center our guide pointed out dozens of exotic birds and some that we were familiar with. Toucans and woodpeckers where everywhere, and so were the monkeys. Since we had missed our original departure time the guide informed us we had come at the perfect time of day to see spider monkeys EVERYWHERE! They were jumping through the trees above us, hiding in bushes eating fruits, and even scurrying through the ruins themselves, completely ignoring the “DO NOT CLIMB” signs.
The views from the top of some of the pyramids were breathtaking and to see such amazing structures built centuries ago was humbling. To imagine this city around 750 A.D. when it was at its peak, bustling with the power house of Mesoamerica, was nearly impossible without a local expert standing there painting the picture for you. Although this sunset tour was not our original plan, it left us all feeling a little smaller in our world as we stood atop the pyramid in the city center and watched the sun sink into nothingness through the surrounding jungle.