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Santa Semana in Guatemala for Fishing

By Kevin Styles

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Published: 31May2011
Word count: 727
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Happy Easter from Guatemala!

The fishing season in Guatemala may be winding down, but the festivities here continue in abundance. This is "peak season" for tourism as it encompasses the spectacular feast of "Semana Santa" and the processions and rituals that lead up to it. If you ever want to come and experience the activities of Holy Week in Guatemala, you need to book a decent hotel almost a year in advance.

Easter is a sacred time all over the world, but nowhere more so than in Guatemala. Most catholic, and especially Central American countries regard this as the most important date on the calendar. In the old city of Antigua Guatemala however, this is taken to a whole new level.

Each Sunday of Lent sees the old city come to life with processions and homage to the Virgin Mary and Jesus of Nazareth. This builds until we reach "Semana Santa" or Holy Week - when there starts a sequence of processions on Palm Sunday and continues through the week until Good Friday and on to Easter Sunday itself. Each of these marches becomes more spectacular leading up to Easter Sunday : floats ("Andas") depicting the crucifixion weighing up to 7000 lbs are carried on the shoulders of up to 100 "Curcuruchas" bearing the weight in their robes which start as purple on Palm Sunday - to black on Good Friday.

This unique series of processionals however is probably most famous for the "alfombras" or literally "carpets" of flowers that are laid out on the cobble stone streets for the participants at first to skirt around - but then to trample as the andas pass over them. The most spectacular are the alfombras along Antigua's streets, meticulously designed and, ideally, completed just before the Good Friday procession begins. Sand or sawdust is generally used to level the cobblestone roadway. Sawdust is then collected and dyed in different colors. Favorite colors are purple, green, blue, red, yellow and black. Flowers such as bougainvillea, chrysanthemums, carnations, roses and other native plants and pine needles are also used.

It is almost impossible to get accommodation for this period in Antigua itself less than a year in advance, so if you want to consider mixing this spectacle with a fishing trip to Guatemala, we advise to really consider booking now ! Antigua is (literally "antigua") the old capital of Guatemala ,and makes an easy day trip from the coast and a relaxing layday from fishing.

As we head into May and towards the end of the main fishing season in Guatemala, the fishing has improved significantly.

Late March and even into April was marred by deep water currents that are highly unusual for this time of year, that pushed the fish down deep and way offshore. The fishing had been tough going for over two weeks, with many boats returning to the dock having only raised single digits and in some cases only catching one billfish. If the fishing in Guatemala is known for anything, it is the consistency of the fishing throughout the main fishing season of October - May.............so our groups were understandably discouraged when we were unable to provide the normal quality (and quantity) of fishing that we regularly discuss.

There were several strong opinions from the local Captains as to what had happened - ranging from the deep water currents mentioned above, to there being too much bait in the water (one of our Captains reported seeing sailfish free-jumping and spitting out bait!) - to the water temperature being too warm within 50 miles from the coast. The only rational supported by fact is the last one - as our satellite imagery did reflect abnormally high water temperatures. You can still see large pockets of very warm water up to 88deg F. in the thumbnail below (click on it to go to the full size picture).........

There are still plenty of good size Blue Marlin being caught in the 300-600lb class - as well as (somewhat unusually for this early in the year) a lot of "gaffer" dolphin.

The GreatSailfishing Company has been providing high quality fishing trips to Guatemala for over ten years. They operate their own fleet of Bertram Sportfishing boats and the crews are experienced in both fly-fishing and conventional fishing for sailfish and Blue Marlin. Get a free fishing guide to Guatemala HERE

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