Greetings from the Guatemala Airport

Fresh off of one hour of sleep, I am sitting in Guatemala’s Aurora Airport, incredibly exhausted, semi-sad, excited, and staring at my newly purchased Subway sandwich and Tobleron chocolate (all courtesy of leftover quetzales). Avi’s Guatemalan experience is officially over. Guatemala, I bid you farewell by eating this simple piece of capitalism, something that I have not done even one time while in Guatemala. Goodbye chicken buses, quetzales, fresh fruit and vegetables, amoebas, nature, indigenous clothing, eggs and beans, and hello cars. Dollar bills, Florida orange juice, overpriced stores, proper hygiene, a/c, and sushi. But, I must say, Guatemala did not let me go that easily. She tried hard to keep me here and left me wanting more.

I was fortunate to spend the last two days in Antigua witnessing one of the most bizarre, interesting, and entertaining Semana Santa festivals in the world. The streets of Antigua were absolutely jammed with tourists and Guatemalans alike, all there to take in the sights, smells, and beauty of Antigua. Various processions filled the streets all day, as Guatemalans paraded with handcrafted and handcarried floats, purple robes, Roman costumes, incense candles, and music. The week of celebration is punctuated during from the evening of Good Friday until the next night. Although I was unable to witness the processions of Good Friday, I was there for the best part as 5am in Antigua, Guatemala felt like 9pm in Times Square. Nobody went to sleep last night, not kids, not adults, not 80 year old Mayan women. Well some people may have limped off to their hotels and houses but if they did, they missed an incredible spectacle. All night bars, restaurants, and tiendas stayed open as thousands of Guatemalans and some extranajeros worked diligently making alfombras (basically really elaborate, colorful rugs made from flowers, colored sawdust, salt, pine needles, and whatever other materials were around. The alfombras line the streets before every single procession only to be stepped on by the paraders and then swept off to the garbage. Because Good Friday is the culmination of the grandest processions, people stay up all night making these amazingly beautiful street rugs, trying to strut their stuff for all to see. All along the parks, squares, and streets, people lay down to rest, eat street food, spend time with family, and walk around admiring the work going on around them. Of course I was among the people, beer in hand, freezing in flip flops, and exhaustedly walking around until 5am when I finally needed to go home and pack. Antigua during Semana Santa is amazing and something that should be seen once in your lifetime.

I have so many more thoughts, stories, observations, insights, and photos from Guatemala that I will be posting and sharing with you in the upcoming weeks so continue to check back. I also will let you know whether I will be in Nicaragua doing the Peace Corps for two years on Monday! Get excited people, the best is yet to come.

And now for some sleep.