Candles for the Devil E-Book

Kai Althoetmar

• Herausgeber: Globetrotter Publishing
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Guatemala - land of eternal spring, land of eternal dictatorship. In the final phase of the civil war, Kai Althoetmar crosses the land of the Mayas during Semana santa, the turbulent Holy Week, from Quetzaltenango in the highlands to the jungle district of Petén. He climbs the Santa Maria volcano, meets spiritualist Mayans sacrificing to the devil at an altitude of 3,800 metres, experiences the monumental Palm Sunday processions in the old colonial capital of Antigua and travels fifteen hours in a ‘chicken bus’ through the jungle on the way to the pyramids of Tikal. Bloody seriousness and raging comedy are always close together. A heaven and hell ride through the land of the Mayas. - Illustrated eBook with numerous photos.

Leseprobe

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Candles for the Devil

Kai Althoetmar

Candles for the Devil

Semana Santa. Holy Week in Guatemala

Imprint:

Title of the book: Candles for the Devil. Semana Santa. Holy Week in Guatemala.

Year of publication: 2025.

Publisher:

Globetrotter Publishing

Kai Althoetmar

Am Heiden Weyher 2

53902 Bad Muenstereifel

Germany

Althoetmar[at]aol.com

Text: © Kai Althoetmar.

Cover photo: Mayan women, Guatemala. Photo: ebany, CC BY 2.0.

The research for this book was self-financed and without grants or benefits from third parties.

If you want to be close to heaven and hell in Guatemala, you climb a volcano. Because there you are close to God and the spirits. And also the ‘world president’ - the devil. But only just before Easter, on St Joseph's Day, when Catholic faith and Indian superstition mingle in clouds of mist and clouds of smoke, when prayers are said for a thousand Toyotas and when the ‘world president’ gets to hear something: namely the thunder of a few Chinese firecrackers.

It all started so harmlessly: Rolando Herrera had to climb the Santa Maria volcano for about the fiftieth time in his life. The volcano rarely spits ash, and the summit at 3,772 metres is easy to climb in a few hours - because the foot of the volcano is already two thousand metres higher than the waves of the nearby Pacific Ocean. Rolando is the director of a Spanish language school in Quetzaltenango in the highlands of Guatemala. Every three weeks, he climbs to the roof of Guatemala with language students from all over the world. Not to meet the ‘world president’ at the top of the volcano, but because climbing the volcano is a popular part of his Spanish school's weekend programme.

At half past five in the morning, Rolando's ancient lorry unloads us at the foot of St Mary. The view of the mountain forest and its misty crowns is eerie and imposing. Only Mike, a language student from the USA, had a premonition. At the top of the volcano, we would have to sacrifice a few chickens. As we ascend, however, it is not chickens that flutter around our ears, but miniature helicopters: dazzling dark green hummingbirds sucking nectar from calyxes in flight.

---ENDE DER LESEPROBE---