From the Inferno to the Heavens

There are certain things every visitor to Antigua needs to do. High on the list is to climb Pacaya. That's a live volcano about an hour away from town. By live, we mean live--hot lava, explosions, etc.

The last time I was here, I wimped out on the climb, making it about three-quarters of the way up. After all, this is an 8,000-foot-plus mountain, so I didn't feel too bad.

What a lie. I felt just horrendous that I couldn't do it. So I tried again this time, and with the help of an extremely placid horse named Temerario (ie, "Reckless," ha!) I made it yesterday. The horses go about three-quarters of the way, leaving just 25 minutes or so of lava-rock-scrambling in order to reach the highest point the guides will bring you. This being Guatemala, where U.S. ideas of safety and legal liability don't quite hold, that's right up to the point where you can see hot red lava, roast a marshmallow over it, and smell the soles of your shoes melting. Note the glowing red stream in the photo. Woo-hoo!

Today--Sunday Nov. 1--is very special in Guatemala. It's All Saints Day. Families everywhere go to cemeteries, decorate the graves with flowers, and spend some time with the departed. They also fly kites, as a way to send messages to heaven.

In some places they take the kite tradition to extremes. One of those is Santiago Sacatepequez, a town about 45 minutes from Antigua. There, thousands of people descend every Nov. 1 on the cemetery (where the graves of course have been decorated.) Locals picnic there with great-great-grandma, as they do everywhere. But the kite flying has evolved into a competition with immense, beautifully made giant paper-and-bamboo kites. The biggest are too big to fly--it takes a crew of more than two dozen strong young men simply to get each one to stand up so the crowd can see it. (Applause, applause.)

While folks are waiting for the big kites--there were eight of them this year--they also cheered on smaller crews of folks flying medium-sized kites, each about six feet across. All the little kids tried to fly little kites, too. This takes place against a background of noisy bells on ice cream carts, shouts from jewelry vendors, and plenty of folks selling noisemakers. Even in the heavens, they should be able to hear this, and smile. Here are a few photos: