Antigua

La Antigua Guatemala used to be the capital, but a nearby volcano (more of which later), earthquakes, and a high water table meant that it was all but abandoned as an administrative centre in the late eighteenth century. What was left behind was a perfectly preserved colonial capital, still a bustling town, but no longer the victim of progress.

Some pre-advent ceremonies at the mid-sixteenth-century monastery provided lots of music, cross-carrying (seems a little morbid for advent) and breast beating.