On Thursday there were two big kite festivals in Guatemala- one in Santiago and one in Sumpango. A couple of friends and I went to Sumpango with my Spanish school.
We visited the cementario to see where the families have decorated the gravesites and bring offerings.
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| Our private chicken bus |
The tradition of the kites says that on Day of the Dead the souls of departed family members come back to visit those on earth. They fly kites to reach up and guide the souls down from heaven, to find their loved ones.
These are the large kites on display. Different groups spend months making them. Only the front-row kites were flown, as the others were too large.
Late in the afternoon, they had a contest where each of these "smaller" kites had two chances to fly (if they didn't crash on the first attempt!) and see how long they could stay in the air and how high they could get. You had to be careful where you stood; some of the kites made a gentle landing, but not all!
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| Detail of a kite |
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| Butterfly Kite |
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| Kite crash |
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| cooking Blue Corn tortillas. Tasty?? |
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