last few days.

back in Antigua for Semana Santa and so far it's been pretty crazy. Yesterday marked the real beginnings of the festivities, with ceremonies, parades and the alhombras. All night long last night, people from Guate made these colored sawdust carpets (alhombras, (sp?)) on the streets for the parades and processions to march through. Some of these carpets are flat-out spectacular, with amazingly creative designs and colors. Then, these hour long parades with 1000+ people march through them all and destroy them. It's a pretty wild activity. Plus, there are these giant floats of religous scenes that the people in the parades carry, some requiring 80+ people to get the job done.

Last night I grabbed a couple of hours of sleep before hopping back out to witness the spectacles and catch a procession beginning at 5 a.m. The rest of the day will be filled with more processions and ceremonies. Tomorrow I'm heading back up to the lake for my last few days before flying out wed. Time to go back home!