We had our breakfast at the hotel at about 8:00 and were ready to leave for Antigua by nine. The first problem was the hotel called for a cab and it was taking a long time. After about 20 minutes we decided to take the chance one would just happen by if we went out on the street. It wasn't long at all. Unfortunately the driver made a turn which put us right into competition with a traffic jam due to a Palm Sunday procession. We were stuck. None of the streets had been blocked by police so the cars just sort of piled up, although not literally. After about 10 minutes, he realized it'd take too long so we did a U-turn and headed back on a one-way street. It was safe as everybody else had also done the same thing.
We got to the bus station which serves Antigua. We got on a chicken bus which was waiting right in line. They're called 'chicken buses' in Central America but we saw no birds. Actually, they are retired US school buses with many in inpeccable condition. It stopped quite frequently to pick up passengers but the distance today was only about 30 kilometers. We arrived in Antigua with what seemed about half the country. Lots of folks were on the trip to see the Good Friday procession here. It goes for about 12 hours! People carry enormous floats with religious symbols. We'd seen these type of things before in Europe. What we'd not seen was the 'carpeting' that is done in the streets. Many sections of the street are covered with coloured sawdust, flowers, fruit, or grains. The carriers don't actually step on them as they sit under the sacred floats. What I also didn't know what that cleaners follow the parade and immediately clean almost as part of the procession itself.
The route taken is a maze of most steets I expect. We ran into the men's and women's floats a number of times. Once we ate street vendor food for lunch. We've yet to see the end as it's not expected to finish until 11 pm. We did splurge at a pricey dinner right down in front of the main cathedral though. We will be in bed soon. For you see, we bought tickets to San Salvador, El Salvador tomorrow. It should stop by our hostel at six in the morning!
