Birthday Week

I welcomed my 30th with my first real visitors to Guatemala and spent my birthday hiking Pacaya for the 4th time.

Thanksgiving Day in Antigua

Followed by ziplinging at Lake Atitlan on Friday

And capped off by paragliding over Lake Atitlan on Sunday afternoon

Day of the Dead

November 1 in Guatemala is All Saints Day.  I went to see the giant kites (barriletes gigantes) in Santiago Sacatepequez.  We got to the cemetery at 6:45am before the giant kites started going up and when the cemetery was still pretty empty.  By 9am smaller kites were being flown and the giant kites started going up one by one, taking about 70 boys to push/pull each one up.

Underneath one of the giant kites as it starts to go up