Lent - Guatemala style

This morning I was summoned by the bells to Church.

I was expecting sombre and orthodox but instead got modern and upbeat.

The young priest had incredible energy and was obviously quite the orator. Shame I didn't understand a word he said, especially as there seemed to some kind of audience participation going on during the homily!

My favourite bit though was during the 'sign of peace'. At home we're all terribly British about this ritual and shyly shake hands with two or three people in the pews around us. In Guatemala you apparently hug as many people as possible in the space of five minutes whilst beaming from ear to ear! And I'm convinced that one of the ladies who hugged me was 110 years old at least :)

The rest of the day was spent in anticipation of the big event: the Cuaresma procession. After savouring another excellent latte, Gemma and I did some more exploring before retiring to our new hotel's roof terrace for a spot of sunbathing.

But we were soon coaxed outside again by the sense that something was imminent. People were busy spreading freshly cut grass strewn with flowers on the street in preparation for the procession and there was definitely a party atmosphere...

We watched the procession both en route and at it's final destination, the cathedral. The sight of hundreds of men dressed in purple robes and (bizarrely) like Roman soldiers was definitely something to behold, as was the magnificent (if slightly creepy) float supporting the statue of Christ carrying the cross on the way to Golgotha.

Nobody seemed to be in a rush to get finished so we were glad that we'd found a good spot from which to people watch and take photos. At points it didn't feel much like a procession, more like a lot of standing around!

A face that will stay with me though is of a serene and beautiful Mayan girl braiding the hair of another girl in the crowd.

And this evening, we opted for something a bit different and went to the cinema to see Maria Full of Grace. A really compelling story about Colombian drug trafficking. And in Spanish with English subtitles - so we can claim we were improving our language skills!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to climb Volcano Pacaya but they currently don't have enough people to run the trip... anyone fancy dropping by?

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Location:Antigua, Guatemala