So last weekend, Jonny and I were supposed to go to Honduras, but we literally changed plans last minute and decided to go to Guatemala instead. We were supposed to take a boat to Honduras, but last minute decided to take a boat to Guatemala and then take a bus to Honduras, and then once we were on the boat we decided to scratch Honduras completely and just go to Guatemala - and we are so glad that we did as it ended up being one of the best vacations of our lives.
When we were on the boat, we met this guy who was driving to Guatemala City and he offered us a ride, so we jumped on it and drove to Guat City with him. I've never been to Guatemala City before (or hitched a ride with someone I have never met in another country) and everything that I have heard about it is that it is so dangerous and that you just want to get in and get out. However, on the boat ride we also met this girl who was going to Guatemala City and then down to Antigua and she said that she was staying in a really safe part of the City, so we went with her and stayed in the same hostel and it was great - super nice and felt pretty safe.
The next morning we woke up at the butt-crack of dawn we went down to Antigua for Semana Santa. Antigua is famous throughout Central America for it's Easter celebrations and rightfully so as it was one of the most amazing Easter celebrations that I have ever witnessed. They cover the streets in these elaborately designed flower carpets and then they have these massive processionals where they walk through the flower carpets, and then they just make new flower designs throughout the day - it is so beautiful and a phenomenal cultural experience.
During the processionals, everyone is either dressed in purple, black or another color. The people in the processionals carry these massive, extremely heavy floats on their shoulders that sometimes weigh up to two tons and they carry them for hours to represent the pain and struggles that Jesus went through. One thing that I loved about this (among many) is that the men all carried a float, and then the women all carried one just as big and as heavy. A lot of times in Central American countries, women do not have as much importance as the men do and therefore wouldn’t participate in something like this – however in every single procession, the women were right there alongside the men – working just as hard and carrying almost as much weight – and I loved that.
I don’t think that my words or pictures can do this experience justice, as it is something that one has to experience in person. With that, I highly encourage all of you to someday make the trip to Antigua, Guatemala for Easter as it will by far be one of the most profound Easter celebrations of your life – it was for me anyway.
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