Destination: Antigua!
Well- another experiment survived: 4 hours in a chicken bus through the highway 1 in the Guatemalan Highlands- directly next to a mother which suckled his baby and an older farmer lady which had a living rooster in a plastic bag. Not to mention the people offering strangely colored vitamin pills and the abs workout caused by the serpentine.
Finally but safely arrived in Antigua one of the perhaps most beautiful cities i have ever seen arose:
The entire city is covered by cobblestone pavement, the facades and storefronts, sometimes magnificent and high-quality - sometimes old and crumbly, are shining bright and friendly in pastel colours.
The three Volcanoes Fuego, Aqua and Acatenango, kind of surrounding the city, raise majestically over the city while their hilltops are covered in clouds and fog.
In between the shops, restaurants and churches you will find the countless ruins of convents, former official buildings and even more churches. The atmosphere reminds on a mixture of a south-Spanish town, Florence and Kloster Chorin. Not to forget the ridicules amount of Gringos, buying everything which seems to be Guatemalten, even tho it might be Indian, Mexican or just nonsense...!
The beauity of the city is however, amazing and timeless.
Considering the fact that the city used to be the political, social and religious epicenter for more than 200 years I can understand better now the colonial power structures in those times:
Build and maintained by the rural Mayas, the European colonial masters exploited and robbed the local communities and forced them to believe in the catholic church while they celebrated the "Life" and "Art" of the supposingly high cultural in their colourful and glorious properties. Like the Cologne Cathedral the city was supposed to demonstrate colonial power and superiority.
-Now that I have seen the city I have gained an insight in the former colonial rule which will hopefully provide me with a better understanding of colonialism, and therefore also for post colonialism.
I also roasted today some Marshmallows on the top of the active vulcan Pacaya, but that is another story...
During the next week I will stay in Xela- before going up into the mountains for 2 weeks and stay in a rural area to learn Spanish and support the local community...
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