Guatemala~ Day of the Dead~ November 1

Halloween does not hold a candle to the celebrations here for the ‘Día de los Muertos’. It’s a national holiday where the entire country starts the day in the cemetery to clean, whitewash, light candles and decorate the family graves. Enterprising venders sell candy, plastic flowers, ladders for rent or whatever one might need for grave enhancement.

Later in the afternoon we followed the festivities to Santiago Sacatepéquez a small town with a big name a few miles outside of Antigua. This is where the annual festival of kites is held. Think Big Kites! These kites have been in the making for months and the competition for the biggest and best is awe inspiring. Belief has it that the prayers for the dead are carried by the kites directly to heaven. Therefore it seems logical that the festival must take place in the cemetery. Remember all that careful tending to the graves earlier in the morning? Dust, all gone to dust by the afternoon as everyone tramples and tears across the graves to fly there huge kites. The height of sacrilege? Maybe to us but not to anyone here, they were all having a great time.