Back to Homepage Back to Travel Photos	Guatemala – Dec 2002-Jan 2003
...... The central plaza in Guatemala City, the capital of the country. Three college friends and I flew into this city December 2002 for a 3 week backpacking trip that would begin in Guatemala, go onto Honduras and then Belize.
The main square in the town of Antigua during Christmas with Santa
A local band playing traditional music
...... The church and former convent of Merced in Antigua, built in the 17th century. Antigua was the former capital of Guatemala until several earthquakes shook the town and left many of its churches and convents in ruins.
...... My friend Amber and I inside one of the ruins in Antigua
...... Some Guatemalan children in the central plaza in Antigua. Many of the women carried filled baskets balanced on their heads and many of the girls and women wore traditional clothing which consisted of hand-woven colorful blouses and wrap-around floor-length skirts.
More examples of the colorful traditional dress of the Guatemalan women
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Street market
...... Guatemalan masks being sold at one of the many street markets.
Some of the colorful cloth many Guatemalans wear
...... Public washbasins were a common site with people hand washing their clothing.
...... My friends Amber, Josh and I in Panahachel, a town on Lake Atitlan which has an active volcano in the center of the lake.
Lake Atitlan
...... While in Panahachel, we took a boat trip around the lake and visited several of the smaller villages where you could see people weaving the tablecloths and clothing using hand looms.
...... Market day in Chichicastenego. Once a week, people set up many stalls in front of the town's church, which these women are sitting on the steps of, selling pottery, flowers, hand-woven tablecoths, fruits and vegetables, blankets, clothing, etc.
...... One of the stalls in Chichicastenengo...this one selling hats and colorful kids' overalls
Food market in Chichicastenengo
...... We visited Livington, which you can only get to by boat and is the only all black comumunity in Guatemala. Here they mainly spoke English with what sounded like a Jamaican accent.
...... The Mayan ruins in Tikal in northern Guatemala
...... One of the Tikal ruins up close
The last place we stayed in Guatemala was the island of Flores, which is outside of Tikal..
The streets were full of people
...... When we arrived, the town was having a big fair complete with rides and game booths which is what this little boy is sitting on eating a corn cob on a stick.
As part of the fair, they had a mechanical bull