Cultural - Easter A Different View - Only Santiago Atitlan Code: Santa1

Easter A Different View - Santiago Atitlan

April 3 – 4, 2007
April 1-6, 2008

6 days/ 5 nights


Tuesday
Leave early and fly to Guatemala City. Arrival time will depend on your departure city. We will be picked up at the airport and taken to Antigua.

Wednesday
We will take the coastal route drive to Lake Atitlan, and join the group already visiting the magic of Guatemala. We arrive to Lake Atitlan or the “center of the world”(as the ancient Maya call it). The vast expanse of blue waters surrounded by volcanoes and hills quilted by “milpas” and coffee fincas is unforgettable. We will drive to the town of Santiago Atitlan, home of the Tzutujil Maya. This town is the center of the Maya Catholicism called “La Costumbre”. Pre-Hispanic deities and customs are layered by Catholic Saints. The patron saint, Tzutujil style, is named Maximon (San Simon) and he is given top billing over “NawaJesuchristo” during Holy Week.

For the next three days we will be staying at a lovely hotel on the bay, Hotel Santiago Atitlan (with private access to the beach and waters of the lake), and observe the Mayan version of Semana Santa. Between the festivities and the natural surroundings, it will be hard to put the camera down. Should things pale, there is kayaking, swimming, hang gliding, walking, bicycling, horseback riding, and boat trips to the other colorful towns around the lake. (Be forewarned…by this time you might be dizzy from all the color in Guatemala and you might want to stay in the hotel with night shades on or watch a black-and-white movie on TV.) We will be here thru Holy Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Saturday
After lunch, we will take the boat back across the lake, and then the van for the 3-hour drive back to Guatemala City. A night in hotel in Guatemala City.

Sunday
We fly back on Easter Sunday. Your Easter eggs and jellybeans will look pretty bland after the swirling colors and Indian pageantry of Guatemala. But the indelible sights and sounds of Guatemala will live on in your mind’s eye and thru your camera lens!

Optional Extension: Spend one more night in Santiago Atitlan to extend the trip to Monday.

 

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