Religious fever hits Antigua

Trip Start Feb 23, 2008
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Trip End Aug 23, 2008


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Sunday, February 24, 2008

Finally arrived in Antigua on a chilly morning. Picked up at airport by guy who looked about 14 with one of those poor substitutes for a mouchstache. The drive from the airport was about an hour climbing up into the highlands. You can see the three volcanos that surrounded the city as you drop down into the valley between them. Arrived at the place i will be staying for the next 4 weeks. Its owned by a guy called Cesar Gonzalez who must have assumed i was fluent in Spanish. Maybe by the end of my time here i will be able to decipher what he was saying to me on this first day. Its a pretty nice place with a great view of one of the volcanies from the balcony - i will have to learn how to upload photos on this blog.
After a few hours of sleep and headed off to the town square - the place is crowded because its a sunday andon the lead up to Easter, every Sunday there is some sort of festival. Males walk around town in purple Klu Klux clan-like outfits including little kids Another church
Another church
 . After just hanging out in the park and grabbing a bite to eat i was given a leaflet on the route of the procession and headed of to grab a spot to see what all the fuss was about. At 5pm hundreds of purple clad males lines the narrow cobbled stone streets, they were followed by men dressed as roman centurions who in turn were followed by a huge float with different effigies of Jesus. This float was being carried by more men in purple. Now this procession started at 11am and finished at 11pm outside the cathedral and they carried this float the whole time. Not to be outdone a further float followed behind with statues of the madonna carried by the women. Women would walk beside them and tag team them every so often. All in all it was pretty amazing.
Headed back to the house and meet 2 other guys staying there - one from Sweden, the other Poland who had spent the weekend at Lake Atilan. They were doing spanish homework from the school. I didnt think it would be that serious. So tommorrow my first spanish lesson. Will write soon. Buenos nachos
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