I traveled to Guatemala from 03/28 to 04/06. It was the Catholic Holy Week (Semana Santa). I arrived in the evening of 03/28 and the other three friends all arrived earlier than I did. The taxi driver had to drive around in Antigua to arrive at my hotel because many of the roads were already closed due to the upcoming processions. I had no idea what was about to unfold in front of me.
03/29
I woke up very early, took a walk outside, and ran right into the Palm Sunday procession. The local men were all dressed in purple gowns, and women in black outfits, also with a black veil. I also saw the alfombras made by local families. Some with colorful sawdust, others with colorful sand. At first, I thought those alfombras were for Easter and I wondered how they were going to maintain them for the whole week, but I soon realized that people just walk over the alfombras as the procession passed. Then the streets were cleaned, and the families were already preparing for the next day’s alfombra.
A very cute thing was that a family made an alfombra with colored sand, and a dog just accidentally ran across it, leaving its footprints on the alfombra. I walked past it and started laughing, and the family laughed along with me. I asked if they were going to redo it and they said no no, just let it. It was kind of poetic - a dog doesn’t care about the festivals or anything. It’s just another day.
The procession continued until the afternoon and by then I was used to speaking Spanish (again). We walked by a family that was making their own alfombra and I asked “¿Puedo tratar?”, and they allowed me to join. Wow. It felt surreal. I’ve always wanted to not just be a tourist, but to experience things the way locals do. The wish came true again (the last time I had this feeling was playing Pasárutakua somewhere in the mountains of Tupátaro, Mexico).
After dinner I went back to the hotel to pack because we had to leave Antigua for Flores. Negotiating with the shuttle driver in Spanish wasn’t a thing that I was good at, but I did it anyway. We arranged the sunset tour in Yaxha for 03/30 and the sunrise tour in Tikal for 03/31.
03/30
Flores has the weather of southern China - hot and humid, plus a lot of sunshine. I again woke up very early so I decided to take a walk to the little Flores island. It was not as fun as I had imagined, but I did manage to find mosquito repellent at a corner store.
Leaving for Yaxha, we embarked on a bumpy bus ride of more than an hour. About 20 people squeezed in a mid-sized bus and the aisle had fold-up chairs which can be expanded and accommodate more people. A young Latina lady was sitting next to me. Clearly she spoke Spanish but I couldn’t understand much. Later she took out a small Mate Gourd and a large thermal bottle…I couldn’t help but feel so amused - it was such an Argentina thing! Later in the day we chatted and she was indeed from Argentina. Everything made sense then. The accent, the mate… She was working for an NGO. Ah! I was a bit jealous because in China the education system is very stringent and not many college students had the opportunity to take gap years and do such explorations in their 20s. Anyway - back to the tour.
After arrival we took a walk through the forest to see the Mayan pyramids and temples. Occasionally the howls of the howler monkeys arrived from afar. An amazing part of the tour was that we could walk down a long staircase and get very close to the Yaxha Lagoon. It was literally the same lagoon that the Mayans depended on for a living many years ago! I had the impulse to take off my shoes and socks and step in, but I was afraid of the mosquitos there (Flores is a high malaria-risk area). For one brief moment I sensed a peculiar connection with the Mayans but I could not articulate what it was. Now thinking back I was probably realizing how short my life will be, compared to the cycles of this earth. The Mayans too. They prospered and faded, yet this lagoon remains, indifferent and unchanged.
The weather was gloomy so we didn’t see an atardecer as we had imagined. The bus ride back was again quite bumpy and we arrived around 8PM. It was already very dark outside and the sunrise tour required us to be ready by 3AM. We went to Pollo Campero for some fried chicken and quickly went to sleep.
03/31
We had to be up before 3 AM — the shuttle was picking us up at three sharp. I fell sound asleep on the ride and woke up to darkness at the Tikal entrance, which was already crowded beyond my expectation. So many people had come for the sunrise. We lost time at the gate where two staff were manually checking tickets and handing out wristbands, so by the time we entered, we were behind schedule. Our guide set a brisk pace through the forest and we scrambled to keep up. We were heading for Temple IV, the highest point in the park and the classic viewpoint for sunrise.
I made it to the top before the sun appeared. It was deeply foggy, and the tops of Temple I and Temple II floated above the mist like islands. There was something almost impossible about the sight — ancient stone rising out of nothing.
Then the light came. The sky turned into what I can only describe as an oil painting: golds and blues layering over each other, slowly shifting. It was the kind of moment I knew, even while standing in it, that I would return to many times.
After leaving Temple IV we walked through the forest to reach the Great Plaza, where Temple I and Temple II face each other across an open expanse. The Mayans positioned them deliberately — on the spring and fall equinoxes, their shadows align. We also saw the ruins of the royal palace. During some free time I wandered off on my own around the back of the palace, away from the main path. Barely any tourists back there. I loved that quiet corner and took a photo — a place that felt, for a moment, like only I knew it.