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Showing 1-25 of 46 results
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So Much More Than Semana Santa – Antigua, Guatemala
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 1 February 2012
Antigua, Guatemala is best known as the town that hosts one of the world’s biggest and most colorful religious festivals. Holy week, or Semana Santa in Spanish, is celebrated with elaborately made and profoundly temporary street carpets called alfombras and lots of somber and elaborate processions in which hundreds of the devout carry enormous floats (called andas) through the cobble stone streets all in an effort recreate the persecution, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In a word, Semana Santa in Antigua is epic and you should experience it if you can.
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Antigua – Guatemala’s Gorgeous Capital
Blog: Viva Latin America! - 13 July 2011
Our arrival in Antigua was a welcome relief after the overnight bus journey to Guatemala City and then another bus to our final destination. After a much needed sleep we donned our shoes and hit the streets to explore. Antigua is definitely a city in which you can visit all the churches, of which there [...]
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Pastel de tres leches in Antigua, Guatemala
Blog: Jamón, jamón: Alice's Gastronomic Adventures - 11 June 2011
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Children of Semana Santa – Antigua, Guatemala
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 10 May 2011
One of the things that makes the Semana Santa celebrations in Antigua, Guatemala so special is that everyone participates including the children, who were especially fun to watch. Over this year’s week-long Easter celebration (one of the most elaborate in the world) we saw costumed children walking along with their parents in solemn processions meant to tell the story of Jesus’ crucifixion. We saw wide-eyed children watching processions from the sidewalks and roof tops. We saw children helping their families create temporary street carpets called alfombras.
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Semana Santa Processions Part 2: Good Friday through Easter Sunday – Antigua, Guatemala
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 8 May 2011
There are literally dozens of elaborate processions between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday as part of the incredible week-long Semana Santa celebrations in Antigua, Guatemala (check out our handy primer to all things Semana Santa–from andas to alfombras to cuchuruchos). The reverent processions between Palm Sunday and Good Friday tell the story of Jesus’ crucifixion (which is re-enacted ceremonially on Good Friday). Processions between Good Friday and Easter Sunday take on an even more solemn, somber tone as participants and observers mourn the crucified Jesus.
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Semana Santa Processions Part 1: Palm Sunday to Good Friday – Antigua, Guatemala
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 1 May 2011
Semana Santa starts on Palm Sunday and runs through Easter Sunday and the folks in Antigua, Guatemala cram a lot into that week with dozens of processions at all hours of the day and night and thousands of participants of all ages. The processions often overlap so you have to make hard choices about which ones to focus on. The whole week is about telling the story of Jesus’ crucifixion which is symbolically re-enacted on Good Friday. During the processions between Palm Sunday and Good Friday (shown in this post) Jesus is everywhere and many people wear purple.
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Holy Street Art! The Alfombras of Semana Santa – Antigua, Guatemala
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 28 April 2011
If you already read our handy Semana Santa Primer post, then skip ahead to the pretty pictures. For the rest of you…Alfombra is the Spanish word for “carpet” and that’s exactly what these temporary, organic pieces of street art are meant to be–fancy carpets that pave the way for elaborate Semana Santa processions which we witnessed last week in Antigua, Guatemala, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that hosts the most mind blowing Easter celebration in The Americas.
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How to Speak Semana Santa – Antigua, Guatemala
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 27 April 2011
Antigua, Guatemala (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) puts on the largest Easter celebration in The Americas. It’s estimated that around 200,000 people (including us) flocked into town this year to watch the colorful street celebrations between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. It’s all a lot more fun if you know your andas from your alfombras so we put together this handy Semana Santa Primer. Consider it a cheat sheet to guide you through the Semana Santa photos and videos we’ll be posting in a jiffy! You’ll see adorable kids carrying very heavy things!
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Photo of the Day: Reflecting on Semana Santa – Antigua, Guatemala
Blog: Trans-Americas Journey - 26 April 2011
Cool glasses perfectly reflected the final Semana Santa procession from the San Pedro church in Antigua, Guatemala as the biggest Easter celebration in The Americas drew to a close with Jesus rising from the dead and confetti falling from the sky. [geo_mashup_map] Related posts:Children of Semana Santa – Antigua, Guatemala Holy Street Art! The Alfombras of Semana Santa – Antigua, Guatemala Photo of the Day: Resplendent Quetzal – Chelemhá Cloud Forest Reserve, Guatemala
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Palm Sunday in Antigua: the making of the Palms
Blog: Nono in Guatemala - 25 April 2011
Palm Sunday celebrates the day when Jesus entered into Jerusalem and in Guatemala it's a colorful celebration to begin the Semana Santa. The palm leaves (palma real or manaca) are collected in Escuintla, Suchitepequez, and Quetzaltenango and delivered to the vendors, generally women from San Juan Sacatepequez.
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Palm Sunday in Antigua: art with flowers
Blog: Nono in Guatemala - 24 April 2011
On Palm Sunday, the streets of Antigua are decorated with beautiful carpets before the processions wash them away. Decoration is the key to make your carpet unique and flowers are ingeniously used. Carpets are full of colors and smells of flowers.
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Antigua, Guatemala Wishes You Were Here
Blog: Suzy Guese - 4 February 2011
This week’s “Wish You Were Here” post comes from Kim of To Uncertainty and Beyond. Kim and Clark from To Uncertainty and Beyond quit their jobs last year to travel the world. They visited 24 counties in about seven months. Their blog is all about how to plan and execute a successful RTW trip. They [...]
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Guatemala, A Backpacker Haven
Blog: Backpacker Bucks - 23 December 2010
Guatemala is full of adventure and fantastic sights. You will be amazed and want to return again and again.
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A Little Travel Memory…Street Mime in Antigua
Blog: A Little Adrift - A RTW Travelogue - 13 December 2010
Travel Memories: Children Enchanted by a Street Mime Antigua is a directly on the tourist path; in fact, it’s a veritable hub of tourist activity in Guatemala. It’s also pretty swell. It’s an adorably livable city for a traveler in need of a break; these kiddos are in simply rapt attention of a street mime. I just loved the their five figures sitting so close and friendly – body language doesn’t lie and that kid in the orange shirt is intrigued! The great thing about a mime on foreign streets – you understand ...
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Photoblog: Celebrating the Virgin of Guadalupe in Antigua on 12 December
Blog: Nono in Guatemala - 13 December 2010
Just after the Burning of the Devil and the Virgin of La Concepcion, Antigua is celebrating the Virgin of Guadalupe on December 12th. The Virgin of Guadalupe is the patron of America. On this day, the kids from all ages wear traditional indigenous dress and carry the image of the virgin in procession. The tradition originated from Mexico and was brought in Guatemala in 1580.
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Photoblog: Dia de la Virgen de la Concepcion in Ciudad Vieja - 8 December
Blog: Nono in Guatemala - 13 December 2010
La Virgen de Concepcion is the virgin patron of Ciudad Vieja. So there is a big celebration on this day starting with a mass at the church, followed by the burning of granadas. During an hour, the main square is full of smoke and you can hear the sound of firecrackers and fireworks.Then follow the folkloric dances. They originated in the Iberian Peninsula and were introduced in Guatemala during colonial time with local characteristics.
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Photoblog: Convite in Ciudad Vieja 7 December
Blog: Nono in Guatemala - 12 December 2010
On the 7th of December, before the burning of the Devil, there is a convite in Ciudad Vieja. The town is a few kilometers South of Antigua and was the first capital of Guatemala. Convites are allegorical parades the day before a procession.At 2 pm dozen of carriages & vehicles with religious, cultural and sport decorations left in front of the main church to cross the city. It was fun to see!
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Photoblog: Quemada del Diablo in Antigua, Dec 7th
Blog: Nono in Guatemala - 11 December 2010
To start the Holiday season, all Antigua gather on the night of December 7th to see burning a large effigy of the Devil (Quemada Del Diablo). Guatemalans believe that the Devil live inside their houses and by burning him, he'll be expelled from their houses and homes. The date marks the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, and is chosen to symbolize the eternal struggle between good and evil.
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Antigua Getaway: Spend a weekend in a mountain lodge
Blog: Nono in Guatemala - 20 November 2010
In the mountains above Antigua, twenty minutes from the city, Earth Lodge is the perfect getaway for a weekend. Own by a very friendly American Canadian couple and their dogs, this small eco mountain lodge and avocado farm has a breathtaking view on the Panchoy valley and the Volcano Acatenango. Come to relax and enjoy the beautiful surroundings while listening to the birds singing and watching the eruptions of the Volcano Fuego.
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Stay in a beautiful Hotel Boutique in Antigua Guatemala
Blog: Nono in Guatemala - 25 August 2010
A concept designed for people with special tastes, more hotels are opening in Antigua Guatemala, all unique and incomparable in beauty and elegance.Antigua Guatemala, a city of peace and nostalgia, has kept its cobbled streets and colonial style houses with clay tile roofs and elegant balconies. Its temples and monasteries remind you the place has a long history. The city was declared Patrimony of Humanity in 1979 by UNESCO. The whole atmosphere is an essential component for this type of accommodation, the so-called boutique hotels, a style that tends to increase.
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A Place Out of Place
Blog: Joe's Trippin' - 19 July 2010
Growing up, there was a song on a children's show that went “One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong...”.
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Recharging on the restaurant circuit
Blog: Cogs Watch - 5 July 2010
Forty-eight hours on the road will do it to you. Well I lie. There was a window of six hours in a cheap hotel in San Salvador, but the other 42 were spent on the bus, five tedious border crossings to keep us occupied. This is the cheapest way you'll get from Panama to Guatemala and, as seasoned bus travellers now, we thought we'd brave it. But after a two-day supply of Burger King, fried chicken and little sleep, we needed food, we needed rest, and we needed them pronto!
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Guatemala & ‘chicken bus’ delight/fright
Blog: Boodle's Adventure - around the world in 365 days - 29 June 2010
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A Little Learning…Authenticity and a Town I Just Shouldn’t Like
Blog: A Little Adrift - A RTW Travelogue - 23 May 2010
I have a secret confession to make right now. I really like Antigua, Guatemala. And I feel like I shouldn’t because the town seems so tourist-purposed and overrun by westerners; Antigua is such a marked contrast to the “dangerous” and grittier reality in nearby Guatemala City. When I mention to other travelers I spent a month total (split across three visits) in Antigua I often get those judgmentally inquisitive lifts eyebrow of an eyebrow. Antigua’s cobblestone, almost idyllically pretty streets are clean. The low-slung buildings are a rainbow of neatly painted ...
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A Little Food…Macadamia Nuts and a Slice of the Expat Lifestyle
Blog: A Little Adrift - A RTW Travelogue - 17 May 2010
The chicken bus bumped to a stop in front of the Valhalla Macadamia Nut Farm and I got my first glimpse of the expat lifestyle for Emily and Lorenzo, an expat couple that have created an entire non-profit movement in the region toward sustainable farming. The farm is about 15 minutes outside Antigua and fully trades the jostling elbowing on Antigua’s brightly colored streets for a vast expanse of trees lining the curved drive that leads into the nut farm. Walking down the dusty dirt path we dodge the low ...
