Hunting all over their homes, the good people of Guatemala find the devil every 7th of December and cast him out along with their year long accumulation of junk, into the street and burn him and his attendant bad spirits – a good thing too. Antigua had a special mass burning to celebrate, so at 6pm we and everyone else who lives or is visiting this town made our way to an obscure district to see the festival. Gill was perturbed to note that the small square was surrounded by three petrol stations and as they were the only ones in town – why did they have to choose here to have massive fires and firecrackers going off? Gill was, however, pleased to see that Health and Safety had paid a visit and insisted upon a very small bomberas voluntarias, which was unfortunately so hemmed in by so many people to have been rendered redundant! Additional safety precautions were provided by what appeared to be half the Guatemalan army with machine guns at the ready milling in the crowd. We have chilled so much that none of this bothered us at all.
Eventually the devil burnt, the brass band played and we went for a drink.....
Eventually the devil burnt, the brass band played and we went for a drink.....
