Holy Week, Guatemala

Well, Happy Easter.

I haven't been having a particularly good day--I was planning on going to Santiago Atitlan for church and Easter celebration, but woke up feeling pretty sick. Guatemalan traveller disease of some sort, I guess. I just hope I'm okay to travel by tomorrow.

Other than today the rest of my week has been good. On Friday I saw part of the procession here and then went to San Juan. Their celebrations are later in the evening, so we watched them laying down "alfombras"--elaborate carpets in the streets made of dyed sawdust or (more traditionally) flowers, pine needles, etc. The procession destroys these as it passes, but they're beautiful while they last. I was there with my friend from Panajachel, and he introduced me to some women who work with natural dyes and do weaving. Neat stuff.

Yesterday, I went over to San Marcos, just to see what it was like. I met a couple guys who were bouldering (rock climbing, on boulders) near the place where I ate lunch, and they invited me to come to a wall nearby that had bolts in place for ropes. So I spent most of the afternoon climbing, which was great fun. My fingers are sore today.

Tomorrow morning, as early as I can get going, I'm heading for Cunen for a week. Cunen's a town in the middle of the Departament of the Quiche, pretty isolated. So it should be an adventure. Also probably a 6-hour bus ride, which should be hair-raising and fairly pretty.