Antigua, Guatemala - Experiencing the town envelops other senses besides sight and sound!

Antigua in the morning 
Snuggling up against two enormous volcanoes, embedded in a layer of soft pillowy clouds, Antigua nestles in a cozy corner of Guatemala. Morning awakens here with the chatter of hummingbirds searching for a pollen breakfast and wind blowing through banana leaf sails. Flowers and fruits of many sizes and shapes dot the tropical landscape of the horizon. The moment is so quiet here on the rooftop of our hotel, one can hear the fluttering wings of butterflies overhead. What great way to wake up in a town known worldwide for one thing...Coffee!

With a 360 degree exploration from this vantage point one can not help but be impressed with the shear magnitude of the distant volcanoes. These sleeping giants tower two miles over me, like a watchful testament of time and space.

Photo. Observing volcanoes - sleeping giants. © Marna & Josh Cutler.

Experiencing Antigua envelops other senses besides sight and sound. The olfactory experience in the early morning is unforgettable! Local fireplaces and stoves burning tropical timber interspersed with an endless shmorgasborg of sweet flower scents create a hazy scent beyond words. The smell of Antigua is as unique as the delicate warm aroma of their infamous coffee. 

La Ciudad
The colours and architecture of Antigua rivals the palette of Mother Nature. Each corner of town reveals a magnificent array of brilliant blue, red, yellow and orange paint perfectly faded by the tropical rain and sun. Nearly all of the buildings are of Spanish colonial influence and appear as a block long rainbow smear. 

The winding technicolor streets are straddled by numerous galleries, shops and fantastic restaurants. Tapestries of purple flowers rain down over the sides of 400 year old Spanish ruins. The cobblestone cracks catch the fallen petals and pollen of these ancient vines, adding an all encompassing vision of colour, beauty and charm.

Photo. Antigua seen from the top of the roof. © Marna & Josh Cutler.

The shadow of Volcano Agua can not shield Antigua from the brilliant beams of sunlight that toast the town everyday in rays of intense warmth, cooled by a soothing mountain breeze.
 
Semana Santa
As if all of this wasn’t enough to make for a fantastic vacation...we planned this excursion around Central America’s largest festival - Semana Santa (Holy Week). In this pre-Easter celebration the jovial rabbit and Paaz eggs are completely absent. In the valley of Antigua these Hallmark images are replaced with mile long processions of purple clad locals re-enacting the 2000 year old story behind Good Friday.

Photo. From the procession in Antigua, Guatemala. © Marna & Josh Cutler.

 
Throngs of Guatemalans march over the cobblestone streets dressed in Roman soldier garb, some even on horse drawn chariots! Following are miles of violet layered locals cutting through layers of thick incense smoke and candle wielding crowds mesmerized by the fervour. The dramatic march is far from a typical parade as these costumed hordes slowly advance for 12 hours through the night.

Photo. Long colourful carpet made by locals. © Marna & Josh Cutler.

The procession carries wooden floats so massive it can take 100 Guatemalans to move it at a pace of 1 kilometre per hour (that's .6 mph for all of you Americans). These crowds parade through hundreds of brilliantly colored alfobras.   
 
What's an alfombras you ask...Imagine miles of rainbow induced sawdust, flowers, berries and fruits made into street carpets stretching as far as the eye can see. Families spend hours creating these street palettes allowing their creative juices to pour out onto the cobblestone. These blocks long tapestries of tropical flowers are purposely trampled, smeared and destroyed by the oncoming procession. These alfombra offerings add a new dimension to the holiday-replacing dyed eggs with street designs so bright and bold, one often has to squint to properly admire them.

Photo. The procession in the evening in Antigua. © Marna & Josh Cutler.

The combination of a smokey gray incense filled sky by candlelight, miles of purple robed families and rainbows of flower pedals at our feet make this an experience that will be be embedded in our pupils forever. 
 
Ahhh coffee....
Guatemala is coffee country...and before our finale of intense shopping at the local mercado, Marna and I planned to learn about Antigua´s brown treasure...the coffee bean!
 
Made famous worldwide by Starbucks, local Antiguans drink mediocre brew in town. All of the good stuff is exported to the US, Japan and Italy. 

Saturday afternoon we left the beautiful town of Antigua and headed out to the plantations. These fields of endless green stretch for miles in every direction. They are surrounded by the massive towering volcanoes, now covered by a dense tropical mist. Down in the valley, where your local cup of Joe is grown, the distant rain seemed to fade into a soothing drizzle. The run off from the steep cliffs keep the plantation soil moist and extremely fertile.
 
We learned about the intense month long process that goes into a making great coffee...and I thought the wait at Starbucks was long!
 
Adios
Today is Easter Sunday... a magnificent bookend finale to six weeks of Antigua celebration. No bunnies in sight and the only eggs we’ve seen were in our breakfast tamales! We will be home on Monday...but for now, its time to shop!

Josh Cutler, 16 April 2007