Samana Santa in Guatemala

So I have been back in Guatemala, pretty much just Antigua, for the past couple weeks. I am reenrolled in Spanish classes which are going pretty well. The first week I got here was the week of Semana Santa, Guatemalas biggest holliday of the year, which is centered in Antigua. It is basically a celebration of rememberance of the sacrifice and rebirth of Christ. Im a little hazy on the details as it is a hard thing to have really described to me in Spanish and Im a little behind on my bible studies. In any case the city goes from about 50K people to over half a million durring the week. Every day there are elaborate processions and people make huge alfombras (¨carpets¨ made out of dyed sawdust or pine needles and flowers) which take hours and hours to create then the processions walk over theme ruining them in a matter of seconds. Interesting custome but its pretty cool to watch. We made a pretty good sized one at the school (below).
Some of my buddies on a wasted night out till 5AM The week was a lot of fun with a ton of huge parties and all that but buy the end of it those of us who hade been around for the whole thing were sick of it to say the least. Things have settled back to normal with Spanish lessons during the day and socializing with all the other students at the school and other people who I have me around town passing through or living here. Last weekend I went back to Lake Atitlan with some friends. We partied, jumped off of cliffs, went kayaking and checked out a couple of the towns. On Sunday we went to Chichicastinango which it the biggest outdoor market in Guatemala. It was an interesting experience with thousands of vendors and tens of thousands of people, both local and tourists. I have to pack whatever i buy around with me for the next 4 weeks or so so I avoided making any purchases (not easy to do). Below is a pic of a street in the market but it kinda sucks and doesnt do it justice.

I now have three more days of class till I head to the Copan Ruins in Honduras and then out to the Bay Islands, mainly Utila. I have decided to get my 30 meter open water PADI certification for diving out there as it is a cool place to dive, its whale shark season and its one of the cheapest places to do it in the world. Should be an interesting week with a total of 16 dives of every type from costal coral dives to deep water ship wreck explorations. Well thats about all I have for now. Hope everyone is doing well back home. I have finally purchased a ticket for May 15th back into SF so Ill see all you Bay Area cats for Oysterfest and Bay to Breakers!