pictures taken by Gretchen in Antigua, Guatemala, during the week I wasn't there
Decorations on a Lent-season processional float.
Onlookers during the procession.
That is the end of broom atop this kid's Roman helmet.
The uniform of float-carriers is always purple, and all float-carriers are kids of about this age. Luckily for Guatemala's processions, this is about the average age of Guatemalans. But, given the demographic crisis this implies, it's a little strange that so far there have been few floats themed around the idea of a "hellbound handbasket."
Delicious street helado!
Inside the Paseo De Los Museos, a cluster of museums set in the ruins of an old Antigua monastary.
A work in the Paseo De Los Museos.
A display of crutches, as cast aside by miraculously-healed people.
Formulaic expressions of gratitude, some of the authors of which used those crutches.
Gretchen's madre for a week in Antigua.
This ruin is fairly intact and provides symmetry to help with any future restoration.
Mannequins making paper at a mock paper factory.
Colorful sawdust (or sand) that is laid out in elaborate designs on the streets of Antigua, only to be ruined by Easter marchers the next day (and then redone to be ruined again). It's a microcosm of life in an earthquake-ravaged region where nothing is permanent.
A copy from the original printing of Don Quiote.