Semana Santa

Semana Santa is the week leading up to, and including Easter, when the streets fill with people parading around playing music, dressed in outfits that look like something much more sinister in the US. These guys are called penitentes-- meaning penitents. The pointy cap has its roots in the dunce cap, meant to identify someone who is a sinner, and repentant. Even so, it took me a couple of days of seeing them wander around, doing nothing more than drip wax on the street before my feeling of the creeps subsided.


Initially I thought we would have to camp out to find the parade, but it soon became clear that there were processions going on everywhere, all the time. We ran into the marches several times each day. Usually they had penitentes, followed by these huge floats that are carried by about 20 men underneath. They happened to be doing the changing of the guards right under the balcony so we got to see everyone wrapping up to prevent hernias or blown backs, then wrapping their heads in padding.


The floats were huge and very heavy, so I was impressed that there were people dedicated to marching multiples floats around all day.

AND NIGHT! Theses photos were taken at midnight, and the place was hopping.

So this has gone on for the whole week, and is pretty impressive. I have really enjoyed seeing the cultural phenomenon of everything.