One of the most spectacular and elaborate Palm Sunday celebrations in the world: Antigua, Guatemala!
Palm Sunday in Antigua, Guatemala!
“A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” (Matthew 21:8-9)
Today was so incredible. When we got up in the morning, the first thing we did was walk ¾ of a mile to the church where the Palm Sunday procession begins. The crowds got thicker and thicker as we got closer, most of the roads were closed and the streets were teeming with people shoulder-to-shoulder. A couple blocks from the church there was a stage set up in the middle of the road with an entire television news crew.
The procession was set to begin at 9 AM, so we found a spot to sit down and wait… and wait. 9 AM came and went, and no sign of it starting. Then, understandably, the baby started to get impatient and hungry, so we decided to find some breakfast and find the procession again later. We found a table at Cafe Cafe Guatemala, which was excellent. Best breakfast and coffee of the whole trip!
After breakfast, we went back to the Air Bnb to give Robin a quick nap, and then we started hearing the procession coming toward us! As it got louder, we packed up and went out to the street just in time to see the procession coming toward us. It started off with hundreds of attendants shouting “Hosanna!” waving smoke, and controlling the crowds. We got pushed back all the way against the wall on the sidewalk, and as the float got closer we could see why. It was being carried on the shoulders on about 100 men, and depicted the Passion of the Christ. As it came towards us, it needed to round the corner to turn on the next street, and it was almost close enough to touch as it turned!
Behind the float was a huge band, tubas and tympanis and all. Then came another float, this one depicting the Virgin Mary and carried by a hundred women. Then another full band.
I got goosebumps watching hundreds of devout men, women, and children making their way through decorated streets in the hot sun while crowds gathered all around shouting, “Hosanna!” (Save us!)
And the alfombras! All of the streets were intricately adorned with carpets made of multicolored sawdust, wood shavings, glitter, fruits, flowers, flower petals, pictures, bamboo… every block had a different work of art that would soon be trampled by the procession. We spent the day jumping across town to intercept the procession everywhere it went, taking pictures of alfombras, and eating tacos whenever we could.
It was a tough day with Robin going through some new stages of development, plus the heat and lots of walking, but we feel SO lucky to have witnessed such an incredible festival. Truly one we will never forget!
It’s also amazing to me that today is just the beginning of Semana Santa (Holy Week)—it’ll continue for another week! After we’d gotten our fill of the festivities, we got an Uber back to Guatemala City to end our trip. We stayed at Hotel San Carlos for our last night, which had a very secure gate out front. We decided to have our last dinner at the hotel restaurant, by the pool.
The hardest part about traveling with a baby is keeping her fed throughout the day, especially when food takes a while to come to the table. Tonight, we waited for our drink order at our hotel restaurant for an hour, asking to order food and kept being told to wait. Robin’s cries were getting louder and louder, and our drinks never did come out, so we finally left and got an Uber into the city for some dinner. Poor baby was starving, and then exhausted.
Tomorrow, we fly home!
Follow along for updates on our entire trip to Guatemala with our 11-month-old daughter!
If you’re like me and you read travel blogs wondering, “Should I use this itinerary?” – because how do you know if the blogger would do it the same way a second time? I’ll just say, I highly recommend this route! Our original plan included some beach time down on the Pacific Coast, but you’ll see we changed our plans mid-trip. I’m so glad we did!
