Guatemala (week 36)
Feeling a little travel-tired, we decided to save Colombia, which was looking more expensive than we’d hoped, for a future trip, heading instead to Guatemala before continuing overland into Mexico.
We spent three days in Antigua, a pretty (but a bit expensive) colonial town, where we accidentally bumped into an interesting procession of statues of Saints being carried around the town to the tune of a marching band. They were playing the theme from Life is Beautiful (La vita e bella) when they first rounded the corner; it was rather mesmerizing watching the Saints sway down the old stone road, on the shoulders of their devotees, in turn with the music.
We spent three days in Antigua, a pretty (but a bit expensive) colonial town, where we accidentally bumped into an interesting procession of statues of Saints being carried around the town to the tune of a marching band. They were playing the theme from Life is Beautiful (La vita e bella) when they first rounded the corner; it was rather mesmerizing watching the Saints sway down the old stone road, on the shoulders of their devotees, in turn with the music.
We moved on to San Marcos, a little town on the shores of Lake Atitlan. The lake – in addition to being a truly beautiful sight with near-perfect weather year-round, is an ancient volcanic crater ringed by three newer volcanoes. Even from there, we could still see the volcàn del Fuego near Antigua. We watched excitedly as it shot plumes of ash into the sky, following the stream of lava pouring down its side (only visible at night, or, in our case, before dawn on our early trek out of San Marcos to cross the Mexican border).