Lent is celebrated forty days before Easter the world over. In Antigua, this period is marked by the color purple. Every house has some purple flag or clothing out. And you will find jacaranda trees in full purple bloom all over Antigua. This is in the Central Park. That flag on the church? Purple in color (although it does not come across that way on this cloudy day in the picture)

First time in my life I saw a marimba. For one thing, I did not realize it is so big. I had assumed that it would be the size of a xylophone or something. For sure, I did not know that four people play simultaneously on it!!

Does anybody know the name of the instrument that young kid is playing? It think it was making the noise of a maracas but I could not isolate the noise from it in the middle of the medley.

Mesmerizing music. Stood there listening to them for about ten minutes.

Landed up in the House of Jade a few steps from my hotel. Learnt a few things about jades – their importance in Mayan culture, how Guatemala is one of the few places you can find jade in this world and a place to potentially avoid when I bring Sharmila to Antigua 🙂

What I learnt from my friend William (my local friend and tour guide) is that by looking at the design of the blouse (colors may differ), one can identify which region she is from, what Mayan language she speaks and what their food habits are!!

I loved the colors and the design!

Looked decidedly different from my regular ones. But looks can be deceptive. Once you enter thru the door and walk a few steps, you reach the inside garden and open atrium. It is teeming with birds – and a particularly friendly parrot – and flowers. This is actually an old Spanish hacienda style house converted into a hotel. Steeped in history.

If you walk around in Antigua, this is pretty much what you will see. Long, straight cobblestone streets that are narrow enough that every one of them is one way. The houses are almost always single floored. They are colorfully painted but not as bright as in Curacao, Burano, Valladolid or the Azores for example. They mostly all look similar. The major differentiation is the door. The size and level of ornateness of the door signifies the owner’s richness and standing in the social order.

Check out the cobblestone roads

Remember my experience in El Salvador where I found out that old school buses from the USA are sold to El Salvador and used for transport there? Well, they are all over Guatemala too! In fact, they are called “chicken” buses. Because they often carry livestock on their roof!

There are two types of these “chicken” buses. The green ones are the public buses. The other colorful ones are owned privately. They share one common thing. And that is being incredibly reckless on the roads!!

Found out that now there is a manufacturing facility in Guatemala that is making these buses too!