Antigua, Guatemala... New Years Party

  Antigua, Guatemala
Saturday, December 30, 2006

There's really something nice about going back to a place that you know. That was the feeling arriving back in Antigua. The town, as usual, was hopping! There seemed to be a lot more people around and there were fireworks going off all over the place!

New Years Eve started with a bagel, cream cheese & a coffee! As it was Sunday we rang home to catch up on all the news and wish them a good 'New Years'. Afterwards, we decided that, again, it was time to go to the market and see if there was anything cheap we could haggle for!

08 Sarah takes a break from shopping at BT!

 

At 6pm (Guatemala time) we ran to the phone to surprise home by ringing at Midnight (Irish time). That was really cool and gave us the feeling for New Years at home.

In Antigua, the celebrations started off in the town at about 2pm that day and so, by 7pm we decided we had better start getting into it! The streets were hopping with street entertainers of every shape and size. The sky was alive with fireworks and there were crowds lining the streets. We had dinner in an open-roofed restaurant (paid 10euro for 2 main courses, wine &
beer!...got to love it!). Of course, we had a great view of fireworks going off overhead.

11 Lets get this party started!

Walking through the streets was a challenge. It started off with a walking fireworks show. Basically this guy was wearing what looked like a box around him but it was alive with fireworks. There was a big crowd around him that screamed everytime he went near them. Wouldn't be allowed at home!!

Another group we met were stilt-walkers, wearing long black dresses and pointed hats, faces painted white and waving sticks of fire around chanting some freaky stuff. Weird!

Heading down the street, we came to a stage in the middle of the road where a boy/girl Band was singing and dancing on stage and the crowd were loving it. Everyone was dancing on the
street. It was packed! 

We decided, obviously, that we were going to stay out on the streets and NOT go into a bar! There was far too much happening outside! We headed for the shop and bought 3 Litres
of beer (for the grand total of 6euro).

09 The preparation for the New Years Party

We found a nice spot in the Central Park (where all the trees were still decorated with lights from Xmas and even Santa Claus was still around!). We sat down for our very own New Years party! The Park was packed with all the locals out with their flasks and sandwiches...
and us 2 Nick Nacks with our beer and our plastic yellow cups!

It felt like we were the only foreigners there because all the tourists were in the pubs. It was like our own little secret! We weren't sure of the time, but there was no fear of not knowing!
Once the clock struck 12...Everyone started going mad! There were more fireworks than any other time (didn't think that was possible!).

Everyone was hugging and shouting 'Happy New Year'. It was really heartwarming. We had a big hug and wished for a great 2007 for us and for our families.

There were 2 blokes (1 Mexican, 1 Argentinean) next to us and we gave them a hug each and wished them a happy year too. We shared our last litre of beer with them and even took a picture together (well, we were after a few too many at this stage!)

And so, our New Years was coming to a close. Nature called and we 'had to' call into a bar on the way back to the hotel. We had 1 more drink there..put on some silly paper hats...sang 'For Auld Lang Syne'' ..until the bar was closed. Across the road were 2 food vendors cooking hot dogs, so we enjoyed one each, which finished off the night nicely.

And so it was, that 2006 ended in Guatemala and 2007 was starting in Honduras. ''Happy 2007 to Everyone!''